The Courage to Give and Accept Support: How Jessica Varian Carroll Turns Vulnerability into Impact - podcast episode cover

The Courage to Give and Accept Support: How Jessica Varian Carroll Turns Vulnerability into Impact

Mar 20, 202533 minSeason 1Ep. 104
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Episode description

Today’s Featured Uplifter: Jessica Varian Carroll

She started her business with a box of Hefty garbage bags and zero experience. As a single mom of four with spotty child support, Jessica Varian Carroll's motto was stark and simple: "Work or be homeless. Those were the only choices I had."

There was a time when Jessica collected the loose change from her dryer just to feed her children. The water company had shut off service to her small ranch house, forcing her to send her kids to their father's just to shower. Yet even at her lowest moments, something in Jessica resisted accepting help. When friends encouraged her to visit St. Vincent de Paul for assistance, her first reaction was, "I don't deserve this help. This help is needed by others."

It's a paradox many of us recognize - our willingness to help others coupled with our reluctance to ask for it ourselves. Research shows we consistently underestimate others' willingness to help by nearly 50%. We're literally walking around assuming people will say no to our requests at double the rate they actually do.

Today, Jessica's organizing company has rehomed over a million items to charity. She's the author of She Had No Business, co-founder of the SOAR symposium for women, and a community activator who can raise $1,000 in a single day for families in need. Her journey from the shy girl in the corner to someone who confidently extends hundreds of invitations is a testament to what becomes possible when we transform our relationship with asking.

Listen to this episode if:
  • You find yourself hesitating to ask for help, even when you really need it
  • You've ever felt like an outsider waiting for an invitation
  • You want to make bigger impact with limited resources
  • You're seeking practical ways to build community around your mission
  • You need permission to be braver about inviting others into your life or work

Her Courage Practice: The Radical Art of Invitation

Where most of us wait for permission or suffer silently, Jessica boldly extends invitations that create ripples of positive change.

It started when she was in the corner at a networking event, desperately wanting to belong but too shy to insert herself. A simple "Hey, we're going for drinks at Watermark for my birthday. Do you want to come?" changed everything for her.

That moment became a template for Jessica's approach to community building. For every event, she now invites hundreds – not because she expects everyone to come, but because she remembers how it felt to need that explicit invitation. "I over-invite everything," she explains. "I sent out 750 messages for our first S.O.A.R. event because you don't know who needs that personal invitation. And then guess what? They show up and become your biggest fan."

Jessica continues this invitation practice even when resources are scarce. When she couldn't afford to host a birthday party, she found a public place where people could gather without cost to her. When families needed Christmas gifts, she leveraged her network to raise $1,000 in a day. Her invitations have rehomed over a million items to charity, creating a community-powered pipeline of generosity.

Listen to more Movement Makers here

Let’s keep rising higher together.

💓 Aransas

Transcript

TUP EP 104

Aransas Savas: [00:00:00] Hey there, you wonderful human beings. This is Aransas. Welcome back to the Uplifters. I had this moment last week where [00:00:15] I needed help carrying this ridiculously heavy desk up three flights of stairs. And there I stood in the cold, staring at my phone, scrolling through my contacts, [00:00:30] half writing and deleting text messages, just paralyzed by the thought of asking somebody to help me.

And it really got me thinking about this. Paradox that most of us live in, there is a gap between [00:00:45] our willingness to help other people and our reluctance to ask for it ourselves. So I started looking into the research on it and it kind of blew my mind. It shows that We consistently underestimate other people's willingness to [00:01:00] help by nearly 50%, literally half.

We're walking around assuming people are going to say no to our request for support at double the rate that they actually do. It's like we're playing this strange game [00:01:15] where we're ready to jump in and help somebody else move their metaphorical desk, but we'd rather throw out our back trying to drag our own up the stairs alone.

Sitting a little close to home here. Anyway, I started wondering what else we're missing out [00:01:30] on in this hesitation because When we help other people, our brains actually light up the same reward systems that activate after a good run or a perfect piece of chocolate. There's something called a helper's high, and it's this beautiful [00:01:45] biochemical reaction that makes supporting others feel good.

Uplifters know it really well. But there was a Harvard study that found that while 75 percent of us report being willing to help our friends and colleagues. Only about 25 percent of [00:02:00] us actually reach out when we need that support. There's a massive disconnect between what we offer and what we allow ourselves to receive.

I've been experimenting with this in my own life lately and just [00:02:15] telling myself that I have to let myself be seen in moments when I need support. And yes, I still get the vulnerability hangovers, that flush of embarrassment that comes after revealing [00:02:30] that I know, shocker, I don't have it all figured out.

And apparently, most of us feel that same anxiety asking for help. I don't know, it feels better knowing that I'm not alone in it. But I also think it's fascinating that the people who [00:02:45] witness vulnerability, researchers don't actually see it as weakness. And think about it, you probably don't see it as weakness in other people.

You probably see it as strength. And so anyway, thinking about all of this has just left me feeling more empowered, more [00:03:00] trusting of us. And as I go into my 50s, that's really what I want more of, trust. I want to bravely, boldly accept. That asking for help is a sign of strength. So today I'm going to dive into this [00:03:15] conversation with Jessica Varian Carroll, who's the founder of Organize by Design and Organize to Home and the co founder of SOAR, which is an annual symposium for women and the author of She Had No Business.

She's also a [00:03:30] partner in Inspired Girl Enterprises and an all around asker and giver of support. So as we talk, maybe you'll want to consider areas in your life where you might enjoy asking for and [00:03:45] offering a little more support. Let's get into it. So do you like to be called Jess or Jessica?

Jessica Varian Carroll: Well, professionally, it's just Jess and Jen.

But outside of that, it's really just Jessica, but I'll answer to anything you call me. Well, thank you so much for [00:04:00] hanging out with me today, Jessica. Oh, thank you so much. I'm completely honored. The guests you've had have just blown my mind and I'm like, how am I even a consideration? So I'm so grateful to you.

So thank you for thinking of me.

Aransas Savas: [00:04:15] I have wanted you on this show for so long. Several of our early guests had worked on books with you and so of course I peeked at what you were doing and it seemed like we had so much in common in what our passions and our interests were and what our sense [00:04:30] of purpose was.

So I already had wanted to get connected to you and learn more about you. You were nominated for the show from the most unexpected source. My real estate agent hooked me up with her blinds [00:04:45] guy, calling the blinds, he's like, so what do you do? And I tell him and he was like, Oh my gosh, I have the perfect guest for you.

And in those moments, I always know I'm going to meet somebody really, really special. I [00:05:00] was like, I already knew. It did just feel like it was meant to be, like we really had to talk. Amen to that. Absolutely. I am so honored. But you clearly really inspired him and you [00:05:15] epitomized for him what it means to be an uplifter.

Jessica Varian Carroll: Aww.

Aransas Savas: Thank you.

Jessica Varian Carroll: Thanks,

Aransas Savas: Jeff. I know that you run an organizing company, you run events for women, you've written [00:05:30] books. Full disclosure, I haven't read your book, so I don't know your story yet. Will you tell me what that story is that made Jeff say, this woman, [00:05:45] this is what defines an uplifter.

Jessica Varian Carroll: So I met Jeff right around the time my first book came out.

My book is called, She Had No Business, A Real Life Tale of Faith, Courage, and Beating Yods. And my partner, Jen, in SOAR, [00:06:00] Was traditionally published for Harper Collins, but it took her 20 years of nonstop grinding to make that all happen. And she said, you know what? I want to cut the red line, cut the red tape and take an author through the journey and make it [00:06:15] much quicker.

And get it out there without, you know, giving up or just saying, screw this, it's just too hard. Jen and I have been partners for a couple years and I thought of all of the other people that deserved this opportunity to work with Jen and have their [00:06:30] story told because they had marvelous stories, they were inspiring, they've helped others.

So immediately I thought of everyone else. And then I go, what about me? Here? I am a solo single mother of four, all of these [00:06:45] things that would have potentially caused a person to crawl up in a fetal position and like never leave. That wasn't an option for me. For me, my mentality was work or be homeless.

And that's the only choice that I ever had. So in 2011, I started. [00:07:00] Had this idea. I watched hoarders and I was like, is organizing a thing? And I brought up to this women's group and they're like it definitely is now we're 15 years deep I've rehomed over a million items to charity and I started with not a business [00:07:15] plan a box of hefty bags And I have over 300 families.

We've helped so far. So all of these things I traditionally shouldn't have had I was a teen mom at 19. I had my son. I never went to college. I was a mediocre student [00:07:30] I didn't have an influx of cash or support. So all of these things that we traditionally shouldn't have done. And I just showed up. I didn't know how, and I made it happen.

So anytime that you're going to throw an excuse at me, I can [00:07:45] say, well, I've been there. I've done it. I hear you, but it can be done. And here we are, you know, with monthly late workers events, we do all these type of things. And it's just from showing up, participating and saying, yes. I wanted to be [00:08:00] the best role model for my four kids to show them that anything is possible.

I mean, I had the odds stacked against me, but I kept showing up and here we are today.

Aransas Savas: Wow. You very casually said my motto was [00:08:15] work or be homeless. Yeah. So Were things pretty dire at that point?

Jessica Varian Carroll: I got married very young, and we really didn't know what we were doing. My parents were teen parents, my mom was 16, my dad was 18.

They just did the best [00:08:30] we could. But we weren't given a lot of guidance, and like, hey, this traditionally is how it works, and this is, you know, what you normally do. For me, it was get a 9 to 5, you get married, you buy a house. So that marriage wound up not working. I was the first divorcee. [00:08:45] Everybody just stayed together and I looked at some of those examples and I'm like, I don't want to live my life for the next 50 years in a relationship that looks like that.

And I want to be a good role model. So I mean, I left my marriage relatively early. The [00:09:00] house at the time was under foreclosure. So I moved to this small little tiny ranch with the four kids. Child support was infrequent at best. And I just had to show up to work. I had to make ends meet. So I started this organizing company on the [00:09:15] nights and weekends while I was working at the car dealership dealing with sexual harassment because I didn't know better.

I didn't know how to stand up because, you know, I really feel it that when I turned 31, my eyes opened and said, no, this marriage isn't a thing. This [00:09:30] work environment is. you have to go. And then I was being surrounded by women that I would show up to be in a room with, that I was like, Oh my gosh, please don't look at me.

Don't talk to me. I'm in the room. I'm here, but I'm, I don't belong here. And gradually over [00:09:45] time, those became my best friends. So I was supported by a tribe of women that were doing things and making things happen and supporting me along the way. And it was really that catalyst that really helped me look bigger than my current [00:10:00] environment.

At one point, the water was turned. My ex would take the kids to shower, but bring them back. So I needed to figure out what programs New Jersey offered. I had to get in line. It's like a full time job to get assistance in New Jersey. It's not just like, oh, here [00:10:15] you go. And they have a program called St.

Vincent de Paul. So you can go there with any type of needs. I was signed up to go talk to them because the rent, the utilities were kind of adding up. I was like, I don't deserve this help. [00:10:30] I don't need this help. This help is needed by others. And then my friend that is on that committee, she found me. She goes, Jessica.

You are as deserving of this help as anybody else. Come, come in. And they said, this is nothing to [00:10:45] be embarrassed about. Everybody has situations, so there was no guilt. There was no shame. Let us help you. And then going to the food pantries.

Aransas Savas: It sounds like you are someone who no matter what life has handed you, even when they were limited, [00:11:00] you tapped into whatever resources were available to you to create something that was of service to what you cared about most.

Jessica Varian Carroll: Yeah, absolutely. 100%. I mean, I remember having four kids [00:11:15] and I would collect the change that you'd find in the washer dryer in the laundry cap. And at one point in time, that's all the money we had what was in the change cup. And you know, like, what do you do? You have children, you have like this much money, and how do you [00:11:30] figure it out?

And it was asking for help at the time when my godfather stepped in, handed me 100 bill, and you would have thought it was a million dollars for me at that time. But it was just, you know, giving and receiving and being open and saying, yeah, I'm struggling a [00:11:45] little bit. And, you know, okay, here, let's help, you know, no judgment, take it.

And I think that's why I'm so passionate with giving back in my community. So when I work in my organizing company, what I do is I bring everything [00:12:00] home and then I take pictures of it and I put it on free sites because would it be easier to take goodwill and dump it 100 percent but I photograph it and then these people come pick it up from my porch because I know what it's like to have very little.

So it's a passion of mine to give it [00:12:15] back.

Aransas Savas: How incredible. I can't imagine you felt ready to do anything that you've done. Based on what you've said.

Jessica Varian Carroll: No, no, no, no, never. I, uh, I remember I had left my toxic [00:12:30] car dealership where I was making a good amount of money by dealing with sexual harassment for years.

There was one comment in the shop. And I was like, this is it. I'm done. Like, I'm just done. I had the four [00:12:45] kids and I was like, oh, I'll get a job right after. I couldn't find work. I remember going retail. And at this point it was like Target and they're like, how much do you want to make? And I, you know, put in a lower number than I had been making at the time.

And they're like, oh [00:13:00] no, managers make that. I'm like, how am I going to survive off of anything less? And so I would go to weekly mass and I would talk to the priest there and I'm like, do you have anything? And he's like no no no, but one day he said yes He goes we need a [00:13:15] little help with the after school program and I had no You know history in that kind of area, but I had four kids And he goes and we need some young blood in this dinner dance committee You know, all the women are 60 70 plus they're kind of over [00:13:30] it.

It was big in its heyday and it's just dwindling. I had never really done anything for fundraising, but I had contributed to the school at times. So I said, yeah, I can do that. I learned so many lessons in the church basement. I was given the kindergarten class and the kids would [00:13:45] be coming in in pajamas.

They would never have their book bags gone through. And we were living in that small little house and my kids didn't have a lot, but they had a lot more than these kids. So then it was funneling stuff from my kids to these kids and sharing the [00:14:00] message with my social media. What can we do? How can we help?

What do you need? And it was just, my eyes were opening to like awareness, bringing awareness, like it's right in our backyard. So people jumped on board whenever they could. You know, we did really massive [00:14:15] parties, food drives, things like that. And then the kids were like, wow, look at all of this. And then I learned back in the day for the fundraising.

So I flipped open the yellow pages and I just wrote letters. So I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm going to [00:14:30] try it. And so the secretary of church would keep me, you know, loaded with hundreds of letters, stamps and envelopes. And she's like, we've never seen this done before, but go for it. So for that harvest moon dinner dance, we had over 120 baskets.[00:14:45]

We had double the attendees because I wrote a letter to everybody said, come join us. So I didn't know. Any of that. But I just was like, let me try it. So I'd be at football practice with the boys, and I would be licking Sam's and doing all of that. But it was like jumping the net [00:15:00] will follow. I mean, so I didn't have a playbook.

I just tried to figure it out along the way, you know, build the parachute on the way down. That's what I was doing.

Aransas Savas: Do you feel like now that you found better ways of doing [00:15:15] things by not knowing how they were done?

Jessica Varian Carroll: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm still doing it. You know, Jen and I, you know, we're doing a monthly series now called the lightworkers and we're like, okay, let's pivot.

Let's try this. And you know, before it used to be very stressful, [00:15:30] perfection paralysis, we'd want to know everything, you know, six months in advance. Now we show up and the magic just appears. It's just, you know, having those good intentions that gives you all the grace. So you just show up doing the right thing, knowing you're doing the right [00:15:45] thing.

The universe has your back.

Aransas Savas: We tend to say no to anything that feels out of the ordinary or like we don't know how we're going to fit in or what we're going to do or say. We limit our abilities. [00:16:00] to discover what's possible when we just put ourselves in an uncomfortable position and show up and say, now what?

Jessica Varian Carroll: Yeah. Amen to that. I mean, I've shown up to groups that I didn't [00:16:15] necessarily understand, but I was just like, what the heck? Worst case. We don't connect or it doesn't fit. I don't have to show up again, but I literally just talked about this in our March series. It was on luck. And for me, it's not luck. It's showing up.[00:16:30]

So some of my best connections were just these opportunities that I was like, okay, I'll be alone and solo, but let me like feel it out. And I've met the most incredible people. That's where the magic happens for sure. [00:16:45]

Aransas Savas: Do you feel like that idea of just saying yes and showing up? Is what has allowed you to experiment and expand the way that you have?

Jessica Varian Carroll: [00:17:00] Yeah, a hundred percent. At the time I met my partner Jen, me and my friend were writing another book and I just kind of put it out there. We're writing a book. Anybody has any knowledge, let me know. And a friend said, you have to meet Jen Toomey Young. So I [00:17:15] shoot her a message. She goes, I'd love to meet you.

From there, we had the most magical friendship and turned into a business partnership because I was throwing it out there. I was being uncomfortable and her saying yes. I mean, she was very busy at the [00:17:30] time and she wanted to pay it forward to a future author. So it was almost like a sacred contract for the two of us and now we're able to help so many more women and men that are now showing up to our events through the magic that [00:17:45] pulls together.

Jen and I are just the conduits. Magic happens in the room. We can't orchestrate that.

Aransas Savas: I hear again and again how you make invitations. So whether it is, hey, come pick up all this stuff, [00:18:00] or hey, come to this event, or hey, do you want to write a book, or hey, do you want to give a basket, hey, do you want to sponsor this, right, like you are constantly making [00:18:15] invitations.

And I think that's really scary and vulnerable for a lot of people. And it's, people often ask me like, so many people will come to your events. I was like, it's because I invite a lot of people. I don't leave it to [00:18:30] chance because, well, then there's a very good chance nobody would be there. Then I'd be bummed and I'd feel like, oh, this thing isn't good or wanted.

But unless I make sure that the people who need it. [00:18:45] know about it, then I'm not doing my part as, as the inviter. Yeah, absolutely. Like I hold the vision, so I, I have to find the people who see it. Amen, [00:19:00] yeah. So how

Jessica Varian Carroll: do you think about that? When I first started dipping my toe in the water, like putting myself out there outside of, and I joined this women's group, which I didn't feel I even belonged to be in, but a friend invited me.[00:19:15]

And after these monthly events, the women would go out and grab a drink. And I was like the shy girl in the corner, like, I want to be here, but don't like, oh, I can't take this. And then one time. This girl, Natalie Holm, one of my best friends now, she [00:19:30] goes, we're going for drinks at Watermark for my birthday.

Do you want to come? I thought the heavens opened up because I was the shy girl in the corner. I needed an invitation. I needed that part. You can't say, okay, we're going here. I needed like, Hey, come hang. [00:19:45] And in her mind, she doesn't remember the instance, but for me, it was a big deal. So I think for me, that being such a pivotal moment for me, I invite everybody to everything.

I have a birthday [00:20:00] party every year to celebrate my birthday because I think it's important to celebrate. I'll invite 200 women because that one woman that we don't interact, but she needs that invitation. She won't ask for it. So I over [00:20:15] invite everything. I mean, for our first store. I sent out, you know, 750 messages, Hey, Sarah, we're having this event.

I'd love to see you because you don't know who needs that [00:20:30] personal invitation. And then guess what? They show up and then they're your biggest fan. They're coming, everything, but they need that. So I think because that was such a big deal for me. Like, I'll throw it all out there and I mean it, join me, come hang.[00:20:45]

And I think just because I was on the other side of that and I remember. So I think that it is a big deal.

Aransas Savas: Another thing I noticed in, in your reflections is that you are somebody who looks back at your past state and uses that for [00:21:00] inspiration to help decide who you want to be in the present. Yeah. What is your reflection practice like?

Jessica Varian Carroll: I think when I wrote the book back in 2019. I felt like I had plateaued personally and professionally, so I wanted to dive deeper [00:21:15] to see if I was needed to open up any gaps or if I needed to revisit anything. So that's where I really got some of those aha moments. I'm still putting myself out there.

We're still doing wild and crazy things. A friend of mine does short films, [00:21:30] and he said, I have the perfect part for you. I have no acting experience. I never even Thought of doing something like that. It's not in my nature, right? And he goes, it's the perfect part. Would you be interested? So I'm like, I have to say yes.[00:21:45]

And so I said, yes, it was a wonderful experience. Was I ready? Was I the right choice? I don't know. But I said, yeah. What's the worst case?

Aransas Savas: Yeah. Well, I think that's it right there. As I'm listening [00:22:00] to you, what I'm really listening for, what are the reasons that many of us don't say yes? Or don't invite others, right?

And uncertainty is a major player in all of that. So how do you talk yourself through the, [00:22:15] I don't know, I don't know how this is going to work. I don't know if people are going to want this. I don't know if people are going to say yes. I don't know if I can do it.

Jessica Varian Carroll: For example, I talk about celebrating my birthday before I wrote the book before I met this one friend [00:22:30] Birthday was a date on a calendar.

I never did anything. It wasn't big deal. You know, i'm barely Surviving with the four kids like let's order a pizza We're good and she goes how you celebrate your birthday is how your year is gonna go and then i'm like, oh crap I'm [00:22:45] screwed And so ever since then, I just kind of found a public place where we could all go because I didn't have money to pay for it.

Didn't cost me anything, but I put it out there and invited people. So I think we're like, I don't [00:23:00] even know, 10, 12 years, you know, down the road. And I'm still doing that. And people look forward to my birthday in August. And it's just, you know, just throwing it out there. If nobody shows up, cool. I just had a friend, it was her [00:23:15] birthday and she was worried about inviting everybody to go.

Listen, do you care if you and I are there? She's like, yeah, that's great. I go then forget it all, throw it out there. If people show up, cool. If not, it's you and I what's the big deal. So it's just forgetting about what [00:23:30] the negative scenarios could be. It's like, you're bold and you're courageous and you can do this.

Aransas Savas: Yeah, I'm trying to capture as I listen to you what this recipe really is. And I think the first [00:23:45] is to know your intention. What is it you really want or need out of this invitation, whatever it might be? How do you create it in a way that works with the resources you do have available? Is [00:24:00] number two, right?

So instead of creating the invitation that isn't a good fit for your current situation, how do you use what you do have? And for you, that was a network of people or it's those ride or [00:24:15] dies or it was the stamps. And how do you use what you have? And then third, this question of, well, what's the worst that could happen?

Exactly. A

Jessica Varian Carroll: hundred percent. I mean, here I wrote this book in 2019 and [00:24:30] I did have to invest a certain amount in that. And that was my biggest investment in myself that I had ever had. But I knew my goal was if I could impact just one person, job done. You know, I had the excuses, [00:24:45] I could still be working in traditional 9 to 5 with health care benefits and all of those things, but I would have slowly died inside over time.

I wouldn't be able to help the people that I help and create awareness. I just would have [00:25:00] been a different person and I knew that in my first marriage, if I stayed in that, I would have slowly lost my spark. So I needed to honor myself and step out of that. And it's been okay and my kids are rock stars.

Aransas Savas: I guess the first ingredient of the recipe [00:25:15] is not even just having a clear intention but having a clear purpose.

Jessica Varian Carroll: Absolutely. A hundred percent. I mean, it's never easy messaging and texting and, you know, all of that. And, you know, at this point in time when I [00:25:30] have events, I thought I'd be at the point where I wouldn't need to personally invite people, but guess what?

The work still needs to be done. Like, I still need to put in the work. I haven't gotten to the point where it's like, okay, cool. The room sold out. It's five minutes later. [00:25:45] It's not easier yet, but it's all rewarding.

Aransas Savas: Yeah. And I feel like that work I don't love. It's not my favorite part. And I like you, I would like for that to just happen automatically.

I don't know when that moment [00:26:00] comes. But. The experience itself of bringing to get people together is the reward for that hard work and that wouldn't happen without the work.

Jessica Varian Carroll: Yeah.

Aransas Savas: Now, for a lot of people, when they write a book, things [00:26:15] happen that hinder their willingness to invite people to read it. We put out all these words and all these stories and then we get afraid of judgment.

And so we're like, I'm going to tell everybody [00:26:30] I'm talking about it and I'm going to say I'm talking about it, but I don't really talk about it because then people will read it and well, half of me wants them to read it. The other half of me is like, please don't read this, please don't read this, because you might judge me.

And it's such a [00:26:45] messy recipe for disappointment. Yeah. So how did you, brave enough to say to people, this is me, this is what I have. I want to invite you to [00:27:00] read it. And I'm proud of myself.

Jessica Varian Carroll: Yeah. It was difficult because my parents were both now passed. My mom was alive at the time. But I mean, they were young parents, they lived the hippie lifestyle.

[00:27:15] So I knew that I needed to be honest about that, but honest in a way that's respectful because they were great parents. But I mean, I grew up in scenarios that weren't traditional. And my mom was like, I want to read the book before anything. And I [00:27:30] knew I couldn't give her the book because I knew she wouldn't appreciate it.

So when it did come out and I gave her the first copy, she read it in a day and there was red sharpie crossing out this, that she hated it because it was so vulnerable. But [00:27:45] after the death settled, she grew to appreciate it and she loved it. So it was just that initial shock of like, well, my mother would think of it this time, but everything else, my whole thing was, if I could just help one person through a situation, [00:28:00] just like.

Trying to show people that you could do a lot with nothing. As long as you put yourself out there, you be vulnerable. There was a time Christmas was right around the corner, rent was due. And I'm like, I'm not sure how this is going to work. You know, [00:28:15] I don't know. And being a single solo parent, so like no child support.

But I put it out on Facebook and I remember a guy had messaged me, a family friend, and he goes, how much do you need? And he goes, I'll leave it in your door. You [00:28:30] know, so he just left me a check for, you know, a couple thousand dollars. And he said, don't ever think about it. Talk about, worry about it again.

And you know, it was just being vulnerable because I could have been a not share. And then it's not [00:28:45] have that experience. And just like now, when I hear something, if it trickles into my ear and I feel passionate about it, I'm sharing it. I mean, for Christmas, I raised 1, 000 in a day for a local family that wasn't going to have Christmas.

We did [00:29:00] 200 packages of socks for the food pantry because I know I can put it out there with the community's help. And they're very passionate. Jessica, what do you need? Venmo, Zelle, this, that. Because they don't know people that they can touch and that helps [00:29:15] others. So that's why they like to jump in and make, you know, make things happen with me because I couldn't do it alone.

I'm still not swimming in money over here. And, you know, with the community, we make big things happen.

Aransas Savas: It's such a powerfully symbiotic [00:29:30] relationship in that you see the need have the creativity and the resource of courage to ask for support. and make those invitations. [00:29:45] And other people have maybe the financial resources available and the willingness and the interest in helping.

But it really does depend on that invitation. The world really needs what I call activators, the people who [00:30:00] get others. Moving, history is filled with the people who have followed that urge to invite. And yet on the other hand, I think in society, so many of us, especially as women, get the [00:30:15] message that we should stand back and let somebody else lead, but it is one of the most powerful methods of leadership as evidenced by your stories.

Jessica Varian Carroll: Thank

Aransas Savas: you. Thank you. I'm so happy we got to meet [00:30:30] finally.

Jessica Varian Carroll: Yes. This is amazing.

Aransas Savas: I'm almost sorry it's all over. I know. I mean, this is just our first date. Yes. Yes. Of course. We will get together again, no doubt, and I really look [00:30:45] forward to that. Me too. Me too. Thank you for listening to the Uplifters podcast.

If you're getting a boost from these episodes, please share them with the Uplifters in your life. And then [00:31:00] join us in conversation over at theuplifterspodcast. com. Head over to Spotify, Apple podcast, or. Wherever you get your podcast and like follow and rate our show, it'll really help us [00:31:15] connect with more uplifters and it'll ensure you never miss one of these beautiful stories.

Music: Big love painted water, sunshine with rosemary, and I'm [00:31:30] dwelling. Boxing though you find it faxing. Toss a star for be around best love for relish in a new prime land, a tree in springtime dance. With that all hindsight, [00:31:45] bring the sun to twilight. Lift you up, oh, Lift you up, oh, Lift you up, [00:32:00] oh,

Lift you up, oh.

Lift you up, whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, [00:32:15] oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh [00:32:30] Beautiful.

I cried. It's that little thing you did with your voice. Right, in the pre chorus, right? I was like Mommy, stop crying, you're disturbing the peace.

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