Betsy Wiersma is a social entrepreneur, a creative genius and a gift to so many.
In this episode of the NEW you, Network for Empowering Women podcast, Christy Belz interviews Betsy Wiersma, a serial entrepreneur, international speaker, event organizer, and podcast host. They discuss the importance of love, the value of breaks, and Betsy’s resilient journey of self-discovery. Betsy also shares her experiences with a life-changing accident, the loss of a loved one, and how she has transformed these challenges into sources of inspiration and empowerment.
Betsy highlights the importance of faith in a higher power, letting go of control, and seeking a supportive community for positive change. She also emphasizes connecting with like-minded people and making a positive impact. Drawing from her TEDx talk, Betsy stresses authenticity, trust in one’s journey, and having faith in your path, embracing uncertainty as an adventure, and trusting the process.
Join us for an enlightening discussion about discovering our true selves and embracing our inner strength and mission.
In this episode, you will learn the following:
- The power of love.
- The importance of pausing.
- The value of second chances.
- Finding your chosen family.
- Trusting in a higher power.
- Letting go and letting God.
- Embracing change.
Visit Betsy Wiersma’s social media pages
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/betsywiersma
Website: https://www.betsywiersma.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betsy.wiersma
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betsywiersma/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ph/bigideagal/_saved/
CampExperience Network (Podcast): https://www.campexperience.com/
CampExperience Network (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/user/campexperience
Watch my TEDxCherryCreekWomen talk here: https://buff.ly/2tbOMkx
Check out The STEW: Smart Talk Exceptional Women https://campexperience.com/the-stew
Learn more about Christy Belz Social Communications:
Website: https://christybelz.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristyBelzCoach/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christybelzcoach/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christybelz
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00 Christy: Welcome to New You, Network for Empowering Women podcast. I’m your host, Christy Belz. Enjoy our array of talented, open-hearted guests and their willingness and courage to share their stories of second chances, life-changing choices, and new perspectives. We’re here to uplift and empower you and your journey.
00:00:25 Christy: We are here to share and hear the amazing stories of powerful women through the uses of their voices, giving life to the feminine journey and the reflection of their choices.
00:00:50 Christy: Today, I’m so excited about my guest and the opportunity to launch this podcast with the amazing Betsy Wiersma. We will be inspired and we will become more aspired to become our most authentic selves and step into our power and purpose.
00:01:08 Christy: But before we begin, let’s give ourselves permission to pause. That’s just a few moments to just take a deep breath, get centered in your body, be still, and be here now. Take a deep breath and let’s pause. So beautiful, right? It just takes a moment just to find that center, just to find that place inside of us to be still. We women need to give ourselves permission to pause. It’s so important.
00:01:43 Christy: All right. Today, we are going to launch this podcast, as I said, with the amazing Betsy Wiersma. I have been so honored to share the journey with this woman named Betsy, both in her work in community and in her work around philanthropy and the shared experiences of doing retreats and being together just to support one another. What a great honor and gift it is to have Betsy Wiersma here with us. And I just want to start with a welcome.
00:02:14 Christy: Betsy. I’m so glad you’re here.
00:02:16 Betsy: Oh, honey, I’m still over here pausing. Can you give me more permission to pause for about a day? Because that is so wonderful. That is one of my favorite tools of yours that you taught us. In the worst battle of the world, I go, excuse me, permission to pause. I do a Christy Belz. I call it do it a Christy Belz. So thank you for that permission to pause. It’s a great way to start a podcast and a fabulous way to live a life.
00:02:40 Christy: Yeah. Thank you for that. And boy, yes, pausing is so important. Can we say that again? Let’s say it together.
00;02:48 Betsy: Pausing is so important. Well, my gosh, and for listeners who don’t know what we’re talking about, really do it. Just take a minute and take a big in-breath. And it is amazing the shift in perspective when you give oxygen to your body, your starved body that you’re pushing and pushing and pushing and you kind of forget to deep breathe. So that is one of my favorite, top 10 favorite Christy Belz things, permission to pause.
00:03:11 Christy: Yeah. Well, one of the things I love that you teach, Betsy, and I want to start with this, if we could, is you say “Love is the antivirus.” I love that. Will you share a little bit with us about what it means when you say love is an antivirus?
00:03:26 Betsy: Oh, sure. Well, you know, let’s go in the way back machine, like I was that kid, right? I was a kid that in fourth grade had a macrame bead bracelet business with my best friend Mary Elliott and she’s been in heaven for a long time. But Mary, I always call you out because I’ve been that entrepreneurial kid. I was ahead at an entrepreneurial dad, a working mom, and I came from the middle class and had to really pay, you know, for my college. I mean, it’s real. So what I figured out as a youngie and took it to the junior float in high school and took it to the yearbook staff in college, love, loving, unconditional loving was the point of everything good because love eliminates judgment and love goes for what does work. As Kathy Hawke, our friend would say, what is working?
00:04:21 Betsy: And I didn’t know that I was coming up with a philosophy. I just figured out the way to make friends was to start with a compliment or to figure out what you had in common. And I was spreading love as a young kid and I think I use that as a tactic throughout my whole life. And then when COVID came along, “Oh, my gosh, I was so just overwhelmed by the hugeness and the negativeness of the world, all saying we’re all going to die.”
00:04:47 Betsy: So I’m like, wait a minute. What if we’re not all going to die? What can I do? What can a little we me do? And I decided that every single day of COVID, I’m not making this up, that I would do a video called Love is the Anti-Virus. Love yourself, love your family and community. And the third part is be part of the possible. And what that means is look for the solution and try to look for the next, you know, share something awesome.
00:05:15 Betsy: So I made a video every day and to make it interesting, I did them when I got out of the shower. I never had makeup on. I never was put-together Betsy. I was Betsy in the raw and it’s funny. A year later, I walked into Gina Shrek’s, you know, village workplace and someone said, “Are you the ‘love is the antivirus’ woman”? And I’m like, “Was that the day I came out of the shower?”
00:05:41 Christy: I love that. I love that. I love that so, so much. I have to share with you. This is so funny, you know me that I have a morning practice, so I journal in the morning and I was doing a meditation and this morning and I heard the Beatles song, All You Need is Love. Yeah, love is the anti-virus. All we need is love. Oh, my God.
00:06:05 Betsy: I will be your backup singer. You know, and it’s funny, Christy, like, you know, people try to make everything really complicated. And I’ve been in this season of my life really getting back to some spiritual roots, right? And trying to study some really basics. And if you kind of take everything apart, if you go back to, you know, Jesus, who I love, all he said is love. Love your neighbor as yourself. And, you know, I’m like, wow, that’s the thing I can understand. I might not be able to quote scripture from all the, you know, [] and the blah, blah, blah. But I can get the love thing. So it’s my experience, it’s the 101 of a life that works.
00:06:45 Christy: Yeah, you use love, my friend. You use it. Use it. So I want to just back up because you know what I would love? I know your story, but I would love for you to share a little bit about your journey, that what brings you here? What brought you here today and makes you so remarkable and amazing? Would you share a little bit about your story?
00:07:04 Betsy: Well, thank you for channeling my mom and dad, who are the two people that would use the words remarkable and amazing.
00:07:11 Christy: Yeah.
00:07:12 Betsy: I appreciate that. You know, I’m not so much about that, about me, as you know, I kind of feel like my job is to serve, period. And that goes back to the love thing, right? If I’m put on this earth for a reason, it’s to serve. And I think the exclamation point of that was on March 21st, 1983, I was just a normal college kid, right? We had gone to the prom, the big dance the night before. We had a cooler full of leftover beer. There was a blizzard. So seven of us decided to go snowmobiling. Yeah, that was a smart choice.
00:07:45 Betsy: As a mom, now I look back like, who would do that in the middle of the night at a blizzard, go snowmobiling? Oh my gosh. But we did and we took the leftover beer because that’s what you do in a blizzard outside of Purdue University. Yeah. Your senior year of college. And then the truck wouldn’t start but you know what? We were industrious, so we got through that and we jumped the truck in the blizzard with the beer at one in the morning.
00:08:10 Betsy: Yeah. Okay. So we get out to the site and I’m holding the beer and a great big guy is sitting in front of me named Paul. We were on the back of a snowmobile sled and he’s like, Betsy, this isn’t working. You’re small, you should be in front of me holding the beer, so we pulled off the road. Paul got on the back. I was sitting kind of in his lap holding the beer, the cooler of beer in the blizzard in the snowmobile. Yeah. Go there. We pull back onto the road and our friends were going 60 miles an hour and hit us and killed Paul. Sent me down the road 78 feet scraping the whole gravel road into my face. I ended up on my shoulder and my hip and then intensive care for 21 days, my senior year at Purdue University.
00:08:53 Betsy: And when I woke up, all I heard the doctors say is she brain damaged or will she ever walk again? And I was like, wait a minute. I interviewed with the Olympic committee last week out in California. I’m those outstanding senior women at Purdue. You know, I started seven internships. Do you know who I am? And I was stopped in my tracks. And from that, it really changed who I was, my trajectory, good word, trajectory. I just really was thankful that every single moment is a gift and Paul had gone to heaven.
00:09:28 Betsy: You know, right there in that moment, our senior year. And matter of fact, my speeches for like two decades, I always dedicated to the memory of Paul Helmick and, you know, it wasn’t my time and maybe it was his time, but it was a very, very sad thing to happen in college. So from that, I woke up just saying like, okay, every day I’m going to have all the fun I can help all the people I can and go to bed tired and if I’m blessed with another day, rockstar, yay. And if not, amen. I did what I could do and I helped who I could help.
00:10:01 Christy: Wow.
00:10:02 Betsy: So that’s a little tidbit of Betsy knowledge.
00:10:06 Christy: Yeah.
00:10:07 Betsy: March 21st, 1983. And, you know, it’s funny here we are in 2023. Look at how many years ago that was.
00:10:12 Christy: That’s amazing. And I’m so sorry for that experience in your last Betsy, but boy, I tell you, you are remarkable in the regards that you take things that happen and you turn those into something so positive in your life has been so significant to so many people because of your choices from that experience and to choose to live and to live it fully, which you do. I know that for sure.
00:10:38 Christy: You, you live to the fullest. So I love that. I mean, you talked about the takeaways from having that experience and losing Paul and being so young and going through that. What do you think you really took away from that? Like what was the nugget deep down inside of you?
00:10:54 Betsy: You know, two words for me is big God.
00:10:57 Christy: Yeah, big God.
00:10:58 Betsy: Big God. Yeah. Like non-denominational, no judgment back to that love thing. I got that. There was a reason that I had something else that I was going to do on this earth that was meant for me in my gifting and my style, which, you know, is a little bit wild in my way. And I just got this big God and I really, I have built my life on solid ground in going back to a strong faith that ebbs and flows and changes. It’s not a way. It’s not a brand. I say, I have no brand preference for my God, but I really got big God. And for me through everything recently, the loss of my dad, you know, through the sadness.
00:11:41 Betsy: I just have to go back to big God, like you just got to be here now and be who you are in this part of this lifetime on earth. And when you’re done, which I just witnessed when my dad was done, he left the building.
00:11:57 Christy: Yeah.
00:11:58 Betsy: You know, his, his soul left that body. That was just done in my mom’s body four years ago. She was done. And you know, you have had this same situation with your losses and I got a credit a lot, Christy, to the work I’ve done with you and uproot because, you know, I was nurtured and planted well, but I also took responsibility for my growth because my parents played golf on Sundays, you know, and they, they partied and that was great for them, but they did not anchor.
00:12:25 Betsy: They kind of ran away from their big God. Although I just picture my dad going to heaven going, “Oh, this is it. Love is the antivirus.” I got it. It’s not about dancing and playing cards. It’s like, so, so good. I kind of pictured him at the pearly gates with my mom there. Here’s your cocktail, honey. He’s like, this is great and I don’t have to be in this terrible body. So yeah, that’s, I kind of got my, my foundation out of it all.
00:12:51 Christy: Yeah. Yeah. You and I have a similar journey. You know, I, my, I lost my dad at a young age and I just came back from doing this workshop called the Hoffman process, which was remarkable. And part of what we looked at was the parents and the patterns that we, we created or got from our parents. And I was really shocked when we had to do some, I had to do some work around my dad.
00:13:15 Christy: My dad died when I was 19 and so he’s been gone 41 years. Right. Can you imagine?
00:13:20 Betsy: Wow, no.
00:13:21 Christy: I was like, yeah, like I have a hard time even remembering things that were challenging about my dad. But one of the teachers said to me, well, think about all the things that your dad missed by leaving so soon. And, oh my gosh, Betsy, I like, you know, we talk about grief. You and I’ve been talking about grief with your loss and you know, grief is hard, but I didn’t realize all the grief I had stored up about not having a dad for 41 years.
00:13:48 Betsy: Oh yeah.
00:13:49 Christy: That was like an, oh my gosh.
00:13:50 Betsy: And Charlie, not knowing him. Yeah.
00:13:52 Christy: Yeah. My guy not knowing him. Yeah. So fascinating. So yeah, the grief process is really challenging. And I think losing a parent, I mean, aside from, I think losing a child, you know, we’re not supposed to lose our kids before we go, but I think losing parents is just so difficult. And that I just wrote a blog about father’s day and gave some tips and tricks that people can look at for, you know, what do you do with your grief and how do you process your grief and what are things that you can do? So those blogs are on my website and people can go there. I know you and I talked about that. Any particular things that you’re doing to support yourself right now with that?
00:14:29 Betsy: Well, I purchased a couple fun things just for fun to think about my dad in a positive way, like some super wild tennis shoes because I’m walking so much, but I got these wild, crazy ones with rainbows on them and they were on sale, of course, on Amazon. And I have a billion tennis shoes that I make tennis shoes. So there’s no excuse, right?
00:14:52 Christy: I was like, what?
00:14:53 Betsy: I purchased tennis shoes though, because they were frivolous and fun and just something fun, right? I am, we’re having a celebration of life for my dad in August, but I don’t think they’ll be listening to this podcast so I can let out the secret. I made a puzzle of my collage of my mom and dad’s pictures. I mean, my mom in a two piece bathing suit, my dad’s service papers when he was released from doing his military service. And I made a collage of all the places they lived.
00:15:20 Betsy: And then I made a puzzle, Christy, you love puzzles.
00:15:23 Christy: I love puzzles.
00:15:24 Betsy: I made a puzzle of Norma and Cliff Wiersma for every family in our family. So I made nine puzzles, including one for the senior center where they hung out. So I’m surprising everybody with puzzles of my mom and dad. So that makes me happy because I love art and I love them. And I think people can remember them in a fun way and the kids as they grow up will have this puzzle, you know, of their grandparents. So I did that for fun.
00:15:46 Betsy: You know, I’m just trying to, like I said to my husband, we’re going to live our life now. Like we’re in our sixties. So we, you know, made a trip to the Holy land this fall because we wanted to go there and I’m like, let’s do it. Let’s live this life, this rich and gooey life. Let’s do it now. And of course, you know, we got the house in Florida to copy off of you.
00:16:07 Betsy: So in the winters, I can be a couple hours away. We can be in sun. So that’s a living life now. So, you know, I think all things in celebration of the rich foundation that my parents gave me and my work ethic and my husband’s partnership and the good graces of a big God have got me to a place that I can now go do my philanthropy, my podcasting, my clothing line and get it out in the world to serve.
00:16:30 Christy: Love it. And I want to give a big shout out to you and your creativity because of all the crazy stuff I’ve seen you do when you started your clothing line out of your art creation, I was blown away and I could tell you, I don’t know how, what do I have 20 pieces of your, your.
00:16:45 Betsy: You are my best supermodel.
00:16:48 Christy: I love your clothing. All right? So art on purpose. If you love crazy, fun, really comfortable clothes, Betsy’s clothes are the best. They’re so fun, everywhere I go, people ask me about them. So, and they’re unique and.
00:16:59 Betsy: Shameless plug art on purpose dot us. I’m purpose.us.
00:17:05 Christy: We’re going to let people know how creative you are and beautiful and amazing. Your artwork is okay. This is so much fun, but you know what? We have to take a break. Go to break. We’ll take a little break. We’ll be back. We’ll be back.
00:17:23 Christy: Hey, it’s Christy Belz. Many of the people you meet on my podcast have participated in my course called uproot this 15 week course takes you through my transformational process of understanding your roots. What’s down there in the dirt. You’re not looking at reviewing your path and collecting the tools for life success.
00:17:42 Christy: I would love to help you on your journey. Learn more about the uproot course. Take my quiz and see where you might be stuck down there in the dirt and explore my transformational retreat opportunities at christybelz.com forward slash uproot.
00:18:05 Christy: Hey, welcome back as we continue our time with Betsy Wiersma. Where’s my, oh my gosh, where are we going to go from here? You know what? I think we should talk about Ted talks, right?
00:18:16 Betsy: Oh yeah. I almost quit because of you.
00:18:20 Christy: So those of you that don’t know, I’ve been co-curating the TEDx Cherry Creek women’s event with the amazing Dafna Michaelson Jenet and her husband Michael for the last, I don’t know, seven or eight years. And part of the process is getting amazing, powerful women to the stage to share their idea. We’re spreading and Betsy spoke this past two years ago on the topic of choose your family, change your life. And I love this. We talk a little bit about that and share your experience at the TEDx Cherry Creek women event.
00:18:54 Betsy: Okay. Here’s the backstory. I’ve been a public speaker in 20 countries all over the world and I get to TEDx and I have this inferiority. I’m not enough complex, which hit every one of my buttons for that. I learned in my uproots training from my roots of my mom telling me you’re not skinny enough, you’re not pretty enough. So good thing you’re smart. And when I got to Ted and Christy was my coach, I just wanted to be this perfect thing and I made up a story called, I wasn’t good enough in what I was, which caused ultimate frustration.
00:19:32 Betsy: And even though I knew I was a good speaker, I just was so horrified that I would get feedback that I wasn’t enough, that I just wanted to quit. That’s a coping mechanism. And I remember the day I’m crying in the living room at Dafna’s house and I’m like, I can’t do it. I’m not going to be enough. And they’re all like, everybody does it. This coaching, everybody cries at this part. Don’t quit, okay? So I roll, she got me through it. So it was a fabulous experience in a couple of ways, very interesting. If you don’t know about the TEDx format, it’s an idea we’re sharing. It is not a speech presentation and I used to be in a keynote. Come on, we’re going to get the crowd running. Let’s get up and dance. And then, you know, and this was different. This is an idea we’re sharing. Number two, you had to memorize everything, not a script, not anything, not, you know, you, you had to know it and speak it from your soul. Not hard for me, but important. It’s a talk.
00:20:26 Christy: Like you’re talking to your best friend from the stage.
00:20:27 Betsy: It’s a talk. Yeah. Not in the too polished people aren’t what they’re looking for, they just want the talk. And then number three, you know, I just had a conversation about what I wore and my body image and so many things. Oh my gosh, but I don’t want to go back to, I hated those jeans. Okay. Now my topic that was very important. I had moved to Colorado to spend a life with a man.
00:20:53 Christy: Oh man.
00:20:54 Betsy: And I had had a practice marriage when I was young and I had moved to Dallas, Texas. And this job didn’t work out, I was super frustrated. I was working for a really bad guy, but my soul was good. I was doing a lot of personal work, but boy, my job was bad. This big bad guy I was working for says, well, “I’m going to lay you off and you have to find another job.” And I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I’ve owned my own company since dirt.” What am I going to do in this cute boy from Denver said, why don’t you move here and date me?
00:21:23 Betsy: And so I’m like, well, I’m 38. I have two choices. I can date the hot guy in Denver and go to a foreign city in the West or I can go back to Indiana, my old life, you know, and try to recreate what happened before I moved. So I trusted a big God and moved to Denver. So I had to find a new family. I did not have any siblings. I did not have any friends.
00:21:47 Christy: Oh, your sisters were back in Indiana, right?
00:21:48 Betsy: Yeah. Everybody, everybody I knew was in Indiana. The only, I just knew the hot guy here, that’s it. Cute boy. Who, oh, by the way, side note, I did marry. We’ve been married 23 years and our baby turned 21 this week. Our one day old adopted baby turned 21 this week, but that’s a whole another story. So here we go, so I had to find a family here. And so the story, my idea to share was when you choose your family, you change your life because you find my experience is like hearted people around something you share advocacy for children interested in foster parenting pets, as we share, you know, fashion, clothing, thrifting. Okay?
00:22:27 Betsy: Those are all the things we share. Travel, good weather, cruises, okay? And then through finding like hearted people, which I found in creating a camp experience network, I found women who wanted to help other women. So the call was, can you help others with your time? Talented treasure. You’re welcome here, but we do good and we have fun. So it’s fun, a fun thing and we do good. And then that brought together this yummy mix of 5,000 women, a million dollars raised called the camp experience network.
00:22:57 Betsy: So my point in the talk was people have to believe what’s possible. And if they’re not in the context of a safe place, sometimes they can’t hear that. And my best example was going to Norway and doing a vision board making workshop and an 83 year old woman stood up at the beginning and said, “I don’t have any dreams.” And I was like, my little inner voice was, “Oh no, I’m going to fail.” I’m in Norway. It’s an international gig. “Oh no, what am I going to do?” And instead my angel said, just stand with her in the process. And I said, well, what do you like to do?
00:23:28 Betsy: And next thing I know, she’s like, well, I liked a garden and I liked the sunshine and I like, you know, nature. And next thing I knew, she made four vision boards because 24 people in a classroom age 20 to age, she was 82 all told her she could. And they just loved her back to love as the antivirus. So international setting, you know, it wasn’t a failure. It was a huge success, that lady was 20 years younger when she walked out with her four vision boards, pictures of hats, you know, big brimmed hats and beautiful cotton dresses. So anyway, I digress. So the story of this story is find like hearted people and do good and have fun with them and your life will be changed by a family by choice.
00:24:12 Christy: I love it. I love it. And I’ve been to camp experience numerous times and I could tell you it is remarkable to watch that group of women come together for a weekend and have fun and do good and create unbelievable, like really unbelievable. And yeah, it changes your life, yeah.
00:24:33 Betsy: It’s magical. And, and again, you know, until you know that you can, you can’t, because my famous saying is everything you know, for sure. You’re right.
00:24:42 Christy: That’s true.
00:24:43 Betsy: So if you limit yourself, whether it’s philanthropy, adventure, friendships, you know, if you say, I can’t find a friend, well, then you’re right. So make up a good story and say, I’m going to find Christy Belz and she’s going to be my sister forever.
00:24:57 Betsy: Amen.
00:24:58 Christy: The amen, right? Oh, that’s so fun. Gosh. I just love you. You know that, right? Like you just, you inspire me so much.
00:25:07 Betsy: And you inspire me so much sister-friend.
00:25:09 Christy: On track on track.
00:25:10 Betsy: We got a mutual admiration society.
00:25:13 Christy: Yes, we do. I love it. So there’s another thing you talked about big God, big, big God. And I know your faith and how deep it runs and how, how important it is to you and how you share that with so many people. But one of the things you and I’ve talked about is this whole idea of letting go and letting God. And I wonder if you’ll just expand on that just a little bit here.
00:25:35 Betsy: Well, it’s been a, as my coach and your coach and friend, Cathy Hawk would say, I’ve been in the gray for a long time and the great is where you’re not exactly sure you’re next and I have to just trust in this big God that he knows my next and example of that is the camp experience network we’ve been referencing for 18 years. I ran it. I was a chief cook bottle washer committee of 24, $200,000 of sponsors raised 24/7. I worked seven days a week, 10 hours a day. And every single thing in my life revolved around how does it serve camp experience sisters? How does this sponsor fit? How does this message fit? How does your uproot class, Christy, thank you for all your teaching. You’ve done Cathy Hawk all of her teaching.
00:26:20 Betsy: That was my sole focus for 18 years for my professional career. And recently that has transitioned to a nice young gal that’s running it her way and her style. And I was complete with it, so I said to God, one of two things will happen. It will be done and complete, which is great. It did its thing, or it will go and meld into something new for this next generation of women. And that’s it’s melding. So now I am the founder. I am the founder. Now I am the also the past, you know, used to be, and that’s been a really interesting transition to separate myself from being so identified with this project that I invented that God blessed. That was his service.
00:27:02 Betsy: My little ministry, how I met friends, how I did good, you know, that was so interwoven in me.
00:27:07 Christy: Absolutely.
00:27:08 Betsy: And so now this transition and, you know, unsuspected to me, I went to one art class, which was one angel was, was a 38 angel deck, which was a blessing journal, which was the stew book. Thank you again for being part of that, which was one piece of clothing, which is 200 pieces of clothing, which is for manufacturers and outreach across the United States, okay. And that was the last five years, so I’ve had to embrace dear God, what is this next? And I believe it’s serving people by making them beautiful by having beautiful art to wear so they can wear art and be happy and have an interesting conversation in the world.
00:27:43 Betsy: Oh yeah. I met this girl in Colorado where I saw this on Christy Belz and I bought it at artonpurpose.us or I got some fun sneakers, you know, I just wanted it to be a positive conversation. So I am having to let go of my old self, be my new self, and then really grow in my podcasting and my media content to put good God in the world. So I’m holding onto this e-ticket ride, we’re going up that rollercoaster.
00:28:06 Christy: That’s right. Yeah. I want to just pipe in here a little bit because a couple of things you said in there that are just so relevant, you know, in all my years of coaching and working with women as an empowerment coach and whether it’s in their organizations or individually, that sense of identity that we tap into that we are what we do is such a sticking point, right? Because everything changes. I teach one of the pillars and the roots is this resisting change module, right? Because we resist change and when change is coming our way, we’re like, “Who am I if I’m not what I’ve done for the last 18 years?” Which I’ve seen you grow through this and yeah, just you have but it’s really, it’s a really interesting developmental point in our lives when we have to let go of an identity of who we think we are based on what we do or did and really live into what is next for us.
00:28:58 Christy: And I love the analogy of the river. I teach this a lot in my practice too, right? That you really, there’s a flow in our life and we can call it God, we can call it universe, we can call it whatever we want, but the river’s flowing. And when we’re on retreat at your house in Keystone, right? I take every woman to the river and I make them sit there and just let them watch the river flow. And then when we come back and we start to process that, I say, does the river know where it’s going? And they’re all like, “Yeah. I’m like, put your boats in, put your boats in and put your oars up and let the river take you where it’s supposed to go because the river, God, spirit source, it knows where it’s going.” Right? And we just have to let go.
00:29:36 Betsy: Yeah. I love that exercise we did with you and Christy and I have co-led retreats and Christy leads her own fabulous retreats where we threw down river, what was not working, right? We let it go, we threw like away, we discarded, we released what was not working and then we received going up river flowing into us. We received, you know, the next God’s wishes, the blessings of the angels, you know, opportunities that were flowing, using your words, our way.
00:30:06 Betsy: And I think that’s what I love so much about working with you Christy and your courses is you have experienced so many things that you are a translator. So you can look across so many modalities and teachings and then bring home in this uproot, what is most effective to just get where we are now and grow. I think you say, you know, grow through, go through the growth through some little Christy Belz says, and I really believe that like, but you got to have again back to that safe, safe place, a class, a workshop, a program, a camp experience network, a church, a synagogue, you know, a charity, a place where like hearted people come together for you to go through and grow through.
00:30:47 Christy: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. All right. Time is starting to tick down here. Darn it, but I want to just have one question, simple question, cause we are limited in time, what do you want to share with the audience that can help them step more fully into their most authentic, powerful, empowered life?
00:31:05 Betsy: Well, I think the big thing would be trust the big God, trust the big God. I see miracles all the time. One being in my now 21 year old daughter, you know, that I had to trust that she would grow through her adolescence and her angst. And I hear, I love you, mom. And that’s a miracle.
00:31:27 Christy: It’s a miracle.
00:31:28 Betsy: It’s a miracle that you and I both know.
00:31:29 Christy: Yeah.
00:31:30 Betsy: So, and, and you know, I see growth in my husband and our, our love and our friendship and our love relationship. I see, you know, one phone call, one meeting at a time, the chance to put my art in the world for a great boutique in New Smyrna or a…or you know, a museum in St. Augustine and great museum in Salt Lake City, you know, and I just have to trust the big God that mine is mine and it will come in his time and all this hurry and push and fret doesn’t help anything. So if it’s mine, it will happen. And if it’s not, I say, you know, give me the people, places and things to serve you Lord, let all others fall away. And that is bitchy friends, you know, you know, non-suppliant friends in the day.
00:32:16 Betsy: Yeah. You know, or, you know, and it doesn’t make them wrong. It’s not about making a person wrong. It’s just saying, I’m not going to invest my energy into that person, place or thing. It doesn’t serve me. It doesn’t serve you God. It doesn’t serve the world. So I’m just going to hug and release. “Hey, you’ve been a great friend for this part of the season and, you know, go on and be that way, knock yourself out, you know?” So I think that’s it. Just trust the big God. It’s yours and have fun in the journey. Like have fun, wear art, support small entrepreneurial businesses, get involved in something you care about, donate to something, love a pet, love a person, spend more time with someone who’s in their final seasons of life and really get, you know, the nuggets.
00:32:59 Betsy: I’m so glad I had that last week with my dad before he was super bad when we can just, you know, share what we loved and watch his favorite TV’s and work on a puzzle.
00:33:08 Christy: Yeah, exactly.
00:33:10 Betsy: So yeah. And Christy, just a note, just thank you for your work in the world. It has been life-saving literally to me and to so many. And I think this podcast is just another way for people to get a little Christy and for you to put your amazing teachings in the world. So I hope everyone listening really gets that this is a place, this new you network for empowering women podcast for you to fill up. And it’s always going to be interesting people because I know many of them. Great, great format for doing good in the world. So thank you for having me as your first guest.
00:33:42 Christy: I am so, so grateful, grateful for you, grateful for your presence in the world, grateful for all that you teach me, for our friendship and for your stewarding and encouraging me to step into a bigger part of me to do this. So I love you. I appreciate you so, so much. And I want you to tell the listeners how they can find out more about you and your work.
00:34:04 Betsy: Okay. Well, if you want to wear art and be happy, go to artonpurpose.us that’s A-R-T-on-purpose.us and you’re going to find two different sites there. Actually, there’s four different sites there to order whatever you want. Betsy Wiersma, B-E-T-S-Y-W-I-E-R-S-M-A dot com. My own podcast, my new Underwired Live, which is a video podcast you’re going to love, my Boost Power podcast, which Christy is a recent guest on mine, and all kinds of our Do Good in the World Fund. So yeah, love to hear from anybody. We have a little VIP list. You get some interesting conversational blogs. Yeah. Love to see you.
00:34:43 Christy: Yeah. Please, please follow Betsy. She is a remarkable blessing on this planet. So thank you. Thank you, thank you.
00:34:51 Christy: So I just want to end by sharing a couple of things with you. I call my company Empowerment Coaching, and I always want you to remember what Kenneth Blanchard says, “Empowerment is not about giving power to people, but releasing the power they already have.”
00:35:08 Christy: And to end our time together, I always share Cree’s blessing. Each and every day as you walk in this earth and dance in this world, you get to function from approval because upon your creation, you were already approved. When you were made, you were made amazing. You are amazing. The power in me honors and adores the power in you and the power in me loves, respects the power in you. Blessings to all.
00:35:33 Christy: On our next show, we’re going to be talking to Dafna Michaelson Jenet, my co-curator of TEDx Cherry Creek. Can’t wait. See you soon.
00:35:47 Christy: Hey, it’s Christy Belz and our next New You Network for Empowering Women podcast features the remarkable Dafna Michaelson Jenet. Dafna and I have been co-curating the TEDx Cherry Creek Women event for the last seven years, and she is one remarkable woman, state legislator, community leader, extraordinary, brilliant, bright, and talented.
00:36:11 Christy: I will dive deeper into her topic of 52 in 50, which is her journey around the country, talking to people about making a difference in their community. You’ll enjoy listening to Dafna, her brilliant ideas and her sharing of her journey.
00:36:29 Christy: Please subscribe and learn more at christybelz.com forward slash new podcast.
00:36:45 Christy: It is my joy to showcase the voices, choices, and stories of women and the messy details of life’s journey. As you’ve experienced, my guests are thriving with purpose and authenticity, but that does not mean that their life is easy and without challenges. I’ve dedicated my life to you and your journey.
00:37:05 Christy: Thank you for listening to New You Network for Empowering Women podcast. Please subscribe and learn more at christybelz.com forward slash new podcast.