Welcome to the celebrate brave podcast. I’m Nicole Trick Steinbach,  I’m your host and the International bravery coach. On a mission to redefine brave, how we identify it, live it, and most importantly, celebrate it. Because when you build your brave, you change your world. And that changes the world. Talk about something to celebrate. Let’s go.

Hello brave people. Ah. Today is about saying the wrong thing. I’m recording this as a US American citizen. On January 20, 2021. Like all podcasts, there’s going to be a delay between when I make this and when it’s published. And a good part of me, even right now, talking into this mic is screaming, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. This is scary. Danger, lion, bear, coyote Danger, danger, danger danger. Because in this episode, I am going to say the wrong thing. I am going to say something that I don’t agree with, that I learned the better about when this gets published, and people are going to give me feedback. They’re going to point out my privilege, they are going to show me another perspective I’ve never been exposed to and never had to think about after this is published. So I’m going to say the wrong thing. And that sounds freakin terrifying. It feels horrific. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. And it is always the right time to do the right thing. 

This podcast is called celebrate brave. And I am already getting emotional. I moved my family to this country in early 2016. We moved here from Germany. My husband is German and my children. Neither of them was in school. They were both in preschool ages. It was a really hard decision to leave Germany. Even at that time in 2015, it felt like a really illogical decision. Sidewalks and safety, schools where kids are safe. They don’t get shot up. Never. Happened once in 13 years that I lived in Germany and never happened again. Health insurance. I was on bed rest for six months with my second pregnancy. I kept my job, I continued to earn my income. I was in the hospital with my daughter for two weeks around the birth. And I walked away with zero debt because health care is a right. I am proud to pay taxes to cover health for the population.  

Job security, unionized positions. It was illogical to move to the United States. And it was the right thing. At that time. It was the right thing for a woman as incredibly ambitious as I am who is also a mom. It was the right thing for a child who’s learning needs required more flexibility and more investment, a different mindset. It was the right thing because I had lived in Germany for 13 years. And my beloved had lived there his entire life. But it felt illogical. And then we landed in 2016. The candidates were what the candidates were. And one of them was incredibly racist, incredibly sexist, abusive, narcissistic, damaging. And I feel very, very strongly in saying that because I lived, I lived it. I lived with an adult in my life, who behaved in very similar ways. And it was very scary to realize other family members had continued in that vein. And it was heartbreaking to realize that those small comments I had never interrogated. They meant a lot more. I didn’t ask the follow-up question I didn’t have to. I’m white. I got educated. I lived in Germany. And then suddenly, I had to ask, I had to have the conversations I had to get clear. It was hard. And with a foreign husband, it was agony, agony to experience the minority. But the majority and something we have over here called the electoral college support.

Support a movement of inequality of money over people to an extent where name-calling, lying, abusing, avoiding. I laugh because it hurts. And then the work continued. One of the biggest benefits that I experienced over the last four years, was knowing there were places to go, where it was full of tens, hundreds, thousands of people also living in the United States, who shared at least a good slice of my same values. Who I didn’t have to be worried about them teaching my children at the time German speakers, the the N word. People who I could talk about policy with, and not the humanity of others, or even of my own family. That was a benefit. There were many difficult times, I thought the US had shown an incredible lack of empathy and imagination, and accountability. When children were slaughtered in their elementary school, and then I saw children be put into cages ripped away from their parents and put into cages. That was not the bottom of the barrel. And it was heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking. 

So I’m going to say the wrong thing. I’m going to say the wrong thing. And that’s scary. And I’m doing this because it’s the right thing at the right time. And I hope that it inspires you to say the wrong thing. As you build your brave, as you ask the second question instead of filling the gaps. As you expect clarity from yourself, and also from the people around you in your life and in your career. As a result of the last four years, I have completely changed how I collaborate with people, completely. The people I collaborate with don’t need to agree with me on everything. And one, one dehumanizing comment, and that collaboration will never move forward. One, about people who are also transgender, about people who are also Democrats or Republicans, people who are also white, foreign, black, refugees, brown, religious, indigenous, spiritual. One dehumanizing comment. And so, and that is scary. I have left a lot of money on a lot of tables. I’m leaving money on the table right now by making this podcast. Because I’m going to say the wrong thing. I’ve already said the wrong thing. And the work continues. 

The work started generations before you and I were born. It will continue generations after we are gone. There will be Tango forward. There will be dips, and there will be Tango backward. Some of us won’t be impacted directly, like others, so we have to choose to be impacted. We have to choose to feel impacted, we have to remain committed. Of course we take breaks, of course we celebrate our wins, we celebrate brave, and there will be losses. And that’s when we stay committed. Today, January 20 2021 is the end of a specific phase and the beginning of a specific phase in the United States. Some can argue this has a global phase, I will not make that argument. I will talk about the United States where I live right now.

But it does not begin or end an arc of justice. It does not mark the beginning or the end of the hard work of equality, the hard work of inclusion, the hard work of self-development, group development, cultural growth, does not start and it does not end. I celebrate today the hard work of the millions of people in the big ways and in the small ways and the moments and in the consistency I celebrate you, and I celebrate me and we are not done. The work continues. I share this on the celebrate brave podcast, as the international bravery coach, as an example, as an inspiration. And also as a reminder, how we do one thing in our lives is how we do all things in our lives. Your career growth, your professional and personal development. It does not stop, it does not start. The arc is your life and the ripples of the life you leave the legacy you leave. So celebrate. Celebrate your success, grieve your failures, and then celebrate them. Connect. Be clear. Build your momentum, Own your path. And Gosh darn it, say the wrong thing. Say the wrong thing with the right intention. Listen to the feedback, build your empathy and your leadership, build your compassion, and then go do it all over again. This is the heart, this is truly the heart of all the work I do. Who do you want to be? Who do you want to become? And then do all the things including saying the wrong thing on your way to achieving that? Build your brave, deep in your brave. Celebrate your brave. Congratulations, everyone. The work continues. 

Thanks again for listening today. If you are ready to build your brave or more money, deeper relationships, and more opportunities in your life. Reach out to me Nicole Trick Steinbach, I would love to help you. And please remember to rate and review this celebrate brave podcast so that more people can support power movement to redefine brave, how we define it, live it and celebrate it