How Purpose Sparks Bravery with Carrie Heimer

Hi, Carrie.

Well, hello, Jackie.

So good to be here.

I am so happy to have you on the Ideas Love Community podcast, and the reason I wanted you to come and share your story was because you have this incredible, this incredible story to tell that I think straddles audiences in a really unique way, and I would love to have you just kinda kick us off with the story that you really feel you have to tell.

Well, thank you, and before I dig into that, I wanna thank you for helping me put more words to this story and help me better explore some of the experiences that I've had along the way, and so I owe a lot to you for helping me get to this point.

But the, the name of the story that I wanna tell is Prisoner of My Mind, and it's something that I recently wrote a piece that I shared on Substack that, um, kinda gave a glimpse into how I've lived my life over the last many decades and some of the lessons that I've learned along the way.

So my, my...

I would love to have the opportunity to unpack that a little bit more today.

Let's do it.

What does that even mean? What does the prisoner of your mind mean?

Well, what's so interesting about that, and I am not sure if I'm gonna give credit to the appropriate person, 'cause, you know, you listen to so many podcasts and you hear little tidbits from here and there, but, but regardless of if I get the right person, give credit to the right person, the, the story is the same.

I had been listening to a Mel Robbins podcast where she interviewed somebody who had been sentenced to incarceration for 65 years.

He was a former athlete, um, had gotten caught up in, in drugs, and found himself with his life turned upside down behind bars for 65 years, which is unimaginable, right? But what he has since gone on to do, he was released early from prison, and what he and a couple of others that I've listened to have gone on to say is, "You know what? While we may have been confined behind bars in a physical pr- prison, so many of us live our lives in a prison of our own mind, and we have no way to be set free." And while that might be where his story started, he was in a prison of his own mind, and he ended up being confined physically.

And I thought, wow.

I mean, that story just hit home, and it gave me language for what I've experienced most of my life.

Mm.

Well, how does that show up for you?

Yeah, so what that shows up for me is excessive worry, anxiety, rumination.

It also manifests itself in hypervigi- vigilance or fixation on certain things, wanting to solve and care for and create safety for everyone.

Mm-hmm.

My mind never really rests or rarely rests, and, and so that has, you know, over time has manifested itself in different coping strategies that were not healthy.

And I'll talk, you know, at some point I'm sure about my first experience with mental health with a, with an undiagnosed eating disorder.

But I have some insights into...

You know, a lot of times you, you f- you think back and you reflect on your story and, you know, people say, "Well, what is your origin story? What are kinda the red threads that you would, um, would highlight or, or summarize?" So when I think back from my earliest memories, and I'm talking four years old, I can remember feeling different.

You know, feeling like I didn't quite fit in.

Hi, Carrie.

Well, hello, Jackie.

So good to be here.

I am so happy to have you on the Ideas Love Community podcast, and the reason I wanted you to come and share your story was because you have this incredible, this incredible story to tell that I think straddles audiences in a really unique way, and I would love to have you just kinda kick us off with the story that you really feel you have to tell.

Well, thank you, and before I dig into that, I wanna thank you for helping me put more words to this story and help me better explore some of the experiences that I've had along the way, and so I owe a lot to you for helping me get to this point.

But the, the name of the story that I wanna tell is Prisoner of My Mind, and it's something that I recently wrote a piece that I shared on Substack that, um, kinda gave a glimpse into how I've lived my life over the last many decades and some of the lessons that I've learned along the way.

So my, my...

I would love to have the opportunity to unpack that a little bit more today.

Let's do it.

What does that even mean? What does the prisoner of your mind mean?

Well, what's so interesting about that, and I am not sure if I'm gonna give credit to the appropriate person, 'cause, you know, you listen to so many podcasts and you hear little tidbits from here and there, but, but regardless of if I get the right person, give credit to the right person, the, the story is the same.

I had been listening to a Mel Robbins podcast where she interviewed somebody who had been sentenced to incarceration for 65 years.

He was a former athlete, um, had gotten caught up in, in drugs, and found himself with his life turned upside down behind bars for 65 years, which is unimaginable, right? But what he has since gone on to do, he was released early from prison, and what he and a couple of others that I've listened to have gone on to say is, "You know what? While we may have been confined behind bars in a physical pr- prison, so many of us live our lives in a prison of our own mind, and we have no way to be set free." And while that might be where his story started, he was in a prison of his own mind, and he ended up being confined physically.

And I thought, wow.

I mean, that story just hit home, and it gave me language for what I've experienced most of my life.

Mm.

Well, how does that show up for you?

Yeah, so what that shows up for me is excessive worry, anxiety, rumination.

It also manifests itself in hypervigi- vigilance or fixation on certain things, wanting to solve and care for and create safety for everyone.

Mm-hmm.

My mind never really rests or rarely rests, and, and so that has, you know, over time has manifested itself in different coping strategies that were not healthy.

And I'll talk, you know, at some point I'm sure about my first experience with mental health with a, with an undiagnosed eating disorder.

But I have some insights into...

You know, a lot of times you, you f- you think back and you reflect on your story and, you know, people say, "Well, what is your origin story? What are kinda the red threads that you would, um, would highlight or, or summarize?" So when I think back from my earliest memories, and I'm talking four years old, I can remember feeling different.

You know, feeling like I didn't quite fit in.