Self Compassion and High Adventure: How having both will Make you a Better Mom | Brittany Crane

BRITTANY CRANE [0:00]

You’re not superwoman. You do need to sleep. And so, I’ll take that time and I’ll go rest. So, things like that, asking for help and knowing when I need to rest and taking those opportunities to rest. And sometimes, I do miss out on fun things and that’s okay. I know that I’ll get my fun later. I think that’s one of greatest things about self-care, why it works so well, is because you trust yourself that you’re going to take care of yourself. Nobody’s going to come in and take care of you.

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CAMILLE WALKER [0:35]

So, you want to make an impact. You’re thinking about starting a business sharing your voice? How do women do it that handle motherhood, family, and still chase after those dreams? We’ll listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know. This is Call Me CEO.

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If you’ve ever been curious about what you can do to get yourself through depression, hard days, a sense of not knowing who you are anymore as a mom, I want you to listen to this episode because Brittany Crane, the owner of Get Out There Girl is all about discovering who you are through self-compassion and giving yourself permission to play and get yourself out there. So, listen in for today’s episode on how you too can create happiness and adventure in your life today.

Welcome back everyone to another episode of Call Me CEO. This is your host, Camile Walker, and today is special because one of my dearest friends is going to be on the show with us today. Her name is Brittany Crane. She is the owner of The Get Out There Girl Adventure Company as well as a host of The Brave Talkshow where she is together with three other women where they talk about topics that are brave to talk about, things that we want to talk about, but sometimes you only talk about with your dearest friends. If you’re ever wanting to listen to something where you want to hear the inside thoughts of what some people might say, go and check out their show. It’s so fun.

And Brittany and I are very good friends. We’ve adventured all around the world together, which is amazing to say because we’ve only been friends for a few years, but it feels like a lifetime. So, Brittany, thank you so much for being on the show today.

BRITTANY [2:14]

Thanks, Camille. That was an awesome introduction.

CAMILLE [2:17]

It’s all true. I feel like I could go on forever because you are just amazing. Tell us about yourself.

BRITTANY [2:22]

Thanks. I’m a mom of five, new five by the way. I have a fourth month old baby who was a very big surprise. Got pregnant while on birth control. We thought we were done having kids, but guess we weren’t. So, can’t imagine life without her now. She’s so wonderful. Her name’s Vera. She’s four months old. My oldest is 14, so that’s my age range with kids.

I really got into adventure probably five years ago, so not even that long. I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors. I’ve always liked camping and hiking, but five years ago, I really went full head on into adventure and started making it a part of my daily life really.

And how that got started was I suffered from severe post-partum depression after my third baby. It got to the point where I had suicidal thoughts and there were a few times where I couldn’t be left alone and got therapy, got help and was able to pull myself out of that using some tools that the therapist recommended and taught me. The biggest one was self-compassion. We’re going to talk about that more today, which I’m excited about.

But after getting out of that depression, I got pregnant with number four. And shortly after he was born, we took a spontaneous trip to Moab, Utah. And it’s beautiful in Moab, just red rocks everywhere you look. And I had this moment while we were driving around where God told me that I needed to get out and play. And I know that sounds so cheesy, but I’ve seen it come true.

As I’ve gone out and played, as I’ve done things that I’ve loved, I put myself back on the priority list and started taking care of me in ways that actually fulfilled me and it’s made the biggest difference. So, last five years have been some of my best years because I found what brings me alive, what wakes me up and what fulfills me in a way that things didn’t before. And because of that, I’ve been able to better take care of my family and I’ve become a better wife and a better mom because I take care of myself and that dynamic was so foreign to me before I started adventuring and experiencing it.

I had heard about self-care before and I was like, yeah, yeah. I don’t know how true that is. But after experiencing it for myself and seeing the benefits of it, I’m a believer and not only myself, but I started inviting some of my friends and then they invited some of their friends. And soon, I had strangers asking to come on these adventures with me.

And I would watch the same thing happen to every single one of those women where they would go adventure in the outdoors with me and they would wake up. They would come alive and they would feel like I’m not just a mom. I’m also this dynamic person that has all these emotions. And the mountains are healing. Adventure is healing.

Adventure’s also great because you can’t focus on anything else. You can’t think about your to-do list. You can’t think about your kids’ schedules or what’s for dinner that night. You’re just in the moment when you’re adventuring. And women would go home better able to take care of their families. Their husbands would notice a difference. They would notice a difference. And it’s just started this momentum, this journey where I’m like, bring all the women. Let’s take everybody. Let’s go play outside and let’s all just be better humans because we spend time in the outdoors.

CAMILLE [6:00]

I can attest to that because I’ve been on some of these adventures and every single person that I’ve talked to, even if it’s just one day or an overnight, it’s like light is given back into these women’s eyes of having a sense of self and being able to explore and really dig into what they’re feeling on the inside by moving their bodies.

I think a lot of times, as women, we forget to play or to push our body or to put ourself outside of our little nucleus family or whatever that might be. What do you think holds people back from doing an adventure like this or putting themselves out there in your experience from what you’re heard from women?

BRITTANY [6:46]

A lot of it is because it’s unfamiliar. It’s new. A lot of us didn’t grow up, me included, rappelling and going on these high adventures. And so, the thought of it is, is it safe? First of all, how do I do it? Who takes me? There are all these unanswered questions. And so, I’ve found my role with Get Out There Girl is to iron out all of those kinks, to solve all of those problems for women so that they literally just have to show up.

And I found that that’s one of the biggest keys to getting women outdoors is getting all of the logistics solved so that they don’t have to find, one, friends to go with. They don’t have to find a company that has a good reputation or that’s safe. You know what I mean? They don’t have to Google search and just wing it with us at Adventure Company. And they just have it all laid out so they literally just show up.

I think that’s one of the biggest obstacles is the planning process, also the friends. Finding a group off friends that are willing to go do something crazy with you and that are willing to step away from their family for a day or a weekend, it takes a lot for a mom to leave. It takes so much to get everything orchestrated so that a mom can step away for a couple days. And so, to find another mom friend who’s willing to put in the effort and that work, that’s not always easy. And so, by providing a network of women that are willing to show up and do that, I think that solves one of the problems too.

CAMILLE [8:28]

Yeah. Now, I want to circle back to your self-compassion piece where, right now, you’re in the middle of recovering from the very early stages of having a new baby. And I’m curious what the parallel looks like to you or the juxtaposition as it were. Does it feel the same? Do you feel different? Does it feel easier? This baby hasn’t been the easiest baby. She’s been one that likes to be held a lot. So, now that you have the tools of self-compassion and what you gained in knowledge over the past years, how has it made it different this time with Vera?

BRITTANY [9:09]

That’s a great question. So, it’s been the same in some ways and completely different in others. It’s been the same as in my hormones are still very off in every baby. Counselling and talk therapy, they don’t change my hormones. And so, biologically, there’s a lot of things that I’m still dealing with, my mood swings and my body image stuff with the extra weight that I’m still carrying. There’s a lot of things that are still very much the same with Vera than they were with my other four kids. And so, I have to remember to be compassionate with all of that.

But that’s where things are so different. Because I know self-compassion, I’m able to give myself grace. Body image has always been a really big issue for me. And in the past after having a baby, I would hibernate. I would just hide from the public eye or from my friends and I wouldn’t be in pictures. I don’t know. I would just hide until I lost my baby weight because I was so self-conscious of it.

But this time, because I have self-compassion as one of my tools in my toolbox to fight post-partum depression and different issues that I’m facing, I haven’t been shying away from, one, being in front of the camera, two, adventures, and I think about that all the time.

I’ve had an incredible summer. The kids and I have made incredible memories. We’ve gone on amazing trips. And I keep thinking I would be missing out on all of that if I didn’t have self-compassion. If I was worried about what I looked like, if I didn’t allow myself some grace, then I would be missing out on all of these incredible experiences and memories with my kids and my family and for me personally. And so, that’s been a huge one as far as body image goes.

But also, there are times where I just need to cry. And before, I would think something’s wrong with me. I’m getting depressed. I’m just sinking. And I would let that give me anxiety and it would just be this black hole that I would go down easily. Whereas now, with self-compassion, I’m able to be like, okay, I’m having a bad day. I’m having a very emotional day. I’m able to label my emotions more and I’m able to get curious about why I’m having those emotions.

This is my self-talk in my head, “Brittany, you’re emotional today because Vera had to be held.” Literally, one day my husband and I counted up the ours, Vera was held 22 hours and 45 minutes out of the day. At night, she had to be held and slept on our chest. She had severe reflux.

And anyway, I would talk to myself and be like, “That’s okay. That’s why you’re emotional. It makes sense why you’re emotional. Give yourself some grace,” and I validated myself. And I’m like, “Tomorrow’s a better day. Tomorrow, I have this to look forward to. I can get some help.” I could call somebody and ask them to come hold her so that I can get a nap.

That’s another part of self-compassion is I ask for help more. which sounds like it’s interesting that’s a part of self-compassion, but it totally is. Allowing help is giving yourself some grace and knowing that you can’t do it all. You’re human. You’re going to make mistakes and you’re fragile. You do need help. And so, I’ve asked for a lot of help this time with Vera and it’s made a big difference.

CAMILLE [12:58]

Gosh, yeah. I’m thinking through even just if I go without sleep for a long period of time when I’ve had children or kids have been sick or whatever the thing is, it’s hard to operate as a person. You get to a point where you just start to feel like a zombie. So, gosh, I can’t imagine that.

So, what I’m hearing you say for self-compassion is being able to ask for help, being able to process emotions and not shove them away, talking to yourself in a way that is compassionate and understanding of being curious about your feelings, and also putting yourself out there and enjoying life when you can. Yeah, those are all amazing, amazing things.

Is there something that as thinking about this summer that you had with your children and the memories you’ve been able to make, what has kept you going energy-wise with such a demanding situation of your child needing you so much physically and not having sleep? Are you just wonder woman? How are you getting through this?

BRITTANY [14:04]

No, not at all. No, I’ve had help. On my vacations, I’ve brought my parents along where they’re able to either take care of my other four kids while I’m taking care of the baby or they’re able to take care of the baby while I’m making memories with my other four kids or if I just need a nap, I’ve asked a lot from my husband this time around. And I’m really grateful I have a very supportive husband and he’s experienced the depression with me firsthand. And so, he knows it’s worth it for him to help me so that I don’t get into that depressed state.

But yeah, it’s just asking for help and knowing my limits. That’s the word I’m looking for. There are times where I have FOMO really bad. I’m the type of person, I’m like, I want to go have fun. I want to do that. I don’t want to miss anything. But there are sometimes where I’m like, no, I need to take a nap. As much as I want to go golfing or pickleball or whatever my kids are doing with their dad, I’m like, I want to go do that, but I’m like, no, Brit. You’re not super woman. You do need to sleep. And so, I’ll take that time and I’ll go rest. So, things like that, asking for help, and then knowing when I need to rest and taking those opportunities to rest.

And sometimes, I do miss out on fun things and that’s okay. I know that I’ll get my fun later. I think that’s one of the greatest things about self-care and why it works so well is because you trust yourself that you’re going to take care of yourself. Nobody’s going to come in and take care of you. Nobody’s going to rescue you. Nobody’s going to save you. You need to save yourself.

And if you can plan that self-care and rely on yourself, then you’re like, no, I know I’m going to take care of me. I know fun is coming. I’m going to have fun, but not right now. Right now, I need to rest. My body’s telling me that I need to rest. So, I’m not going to get jealous of other people’s fun. I’m not going to have FOMO. I’m going to realize my fun is coming. It’s just coming a little bit later. And right now, I’m just going to rest and do what my body needs.

And that’s translated into everything for me from these trips this summer to even my husband having hobbies. I used to get so jealous every time he had a hobby and he would leave and go have fun and I’m just stuck at home taking care of the kids and doing dishes. But me, having hobbies and me having self-care, it’s made it so that now I trust myself. He goes out and has fun. And I am fully supportive of him having fun. I’m encouraging him, “Go on your trips. Go have fun.”

And I know that I can do that because I know my fun is coming. I can trust that I’ll take care of me. I’ll plan my fun. I’m not going to wait for him to plan it. I’m not to going to wait for somebody else to be like, “Hey, Brittany. You should come do this with us.” I know and trust myself that when I need fun, I’ll schedule it. When I need rest, I’ll schedule it. And so, just learning how to trust yourself and read your cues and know your body and your mental state is pretty big.

CAMILLE [17:28]

I love that so much. Trust yourself that you’ll take care of yourself because I can totally relate to feeling jealous of my husband, especially when my kids were younger and I had a lot of little ones at home that physically and emotionally were very demanding on time and needing me or nursing or whatever it was and thinking, gosh, I want to get out. I want to do something fun.

And I think that there are seasons of your life that you as the mom, a lot of times, you do have to hunker down and be that base especially for a baby and a small toddler. I love that idea of trusting yourself enough to create fun and care for yourself, resting when you need to rest and incorporating play.

And that’s what I love so much about your example with that because if you’re not following Brittany, you’ve got to because on @get_out_there_girl on Instagram, I love seeing that you’ll show that juxtaposition of this is my husband having fun and I can support him because I know I’m going to have fun and you’re going to create that for yourselves because depending on your personality and I think that the majority of us are the type that would wait to be invited and that you wait for something to almost fall into our laps.

When as a teenager or a college age student or whatever, things like that do happen. There will be mixers or socials or parties or whatever and you will be in the vicinity. But as a mom, that doesn’t happen. You’re not in the middle of this social party where people are like, “Hey, guess what is happening and come to this and do that.”

So, tell me about the moms who have come on your adventures. How have their lives changed? Because I know you have some examples and you don’t have to go into massive detail, but if something comes to mind where perhaps you’ve had someone that has allowed themselves to have some fun and how it changed them that you’ve been able to see that transformation.

BRITTANY [19:30]

Yeah. So, there’s so many stories and honestly on my Instagram profile and one of my highlight bubbles, there’s one that’s reviews and that’s a bunch of women who have talked about what going on an adventure has done for them. And so, that’s pretty amazing.

But I’m thinking about one woman in particular who she refused to leave her family. She just got severe anxiety any time she thought about leaving her family. And it was two-fold. It was she didn’t want to leave because of control issues, but then she also didn’t want to leave because she loved her family. And she’s like, “I love being with them. I’d rather just go on an adventure with my family and not with random strangers,” which is totally legit. I can see that. If you love your family, you want to be around them.

So, it was a big leap of faith for her to come on one of my retreats. And she was nervous. I think she said that there were some tears spilled before she came and just it was the unknown like am I going to like these women? Am I going to make friends? Am I going to fit in? Am I going to worry about my family the whole time that I’m gone? All of these thoughts are going through her mind.

She said, before the trip, and then the trip itself, she came and we had a workshop on self-compassion and she just cried. She just cried and knew that that was where she was supposed to be in that moment and learn the tools of self-compassion and it was everything that she needed in that moment and during that time of her life.

And she said that that retreat has changed the whole trajectory because not only did she learn self-compassion and learn how to practice it at that retreat, but she also made new friends and life-long friends she still keeps in touch with. That’s one of the great things about these Get Out Girl retreats is you leave with 12 new best friends. So, she left with some new great friends.

And then, she realized everything was okay at home. She did miss her family, but she had a lot of fun without them too. And she came home and everything was okay. Her family was fine. Nobody had a big accident when she was gone. And everybody got fed dinner and everybody made it to school. And so, it was just this big relief for her where she was able to be like, okay, I don’t have to be with my family 24/7. I can let go of some of that control and I can go have fun. I can take care of me and not just be the caretaker of my family.

And then, ever since then, I have a workbook, 15-day self-compassion workbook that she’s gone through and I’ll still get texts to this day every now and then where she’s like, “I’m just thinking about your workbook. I redid a couple of the pages and I’m so grateful.”

And it’s just that tool of self=compassion. It literally is something that you will use at least a dozen times every single day of your life. It’s amazing how being critical sneaks up on you and you don’t even notice it sometimes until you train yourself to be like, “Oh my gosh, I’m being so mean.” And then, you can rewire things and think of things differently, but that’s just one example.

CAMILLE [23:03]

Yeah. I love it and I know that there are multiple and multiple, so I loved that you pulled that right out because I feel like that’s very relatable, that a lot of times, if we’re going to invest money into something, a vacation or a getting away or our kids’ practices, whatever the thing is, oftentimes, moms are the last ones to spend money on themselves.

And so, it seems like a big risk. But I would challenge you. If you’re listening to this and thinking, “Man, would I ever do that?” I would challenge yourself to consider that. Investing in yourself in that way is an investment in your family because it does make you a more present wife and a more happy mom, at least it does for me. Because I know when I get out and I give permission to invest in remembering who I am as an individual and having fun that my cup is much more filled to pouring into others as we say. Would you agree with that for me?

BRITTANY [23:59]

Yes, 100%. I’ve had stories of husbands where their wives come back where they’re like, “I don’t know what we need to do, but you need to make sure you go with this group again. We need to schedule an adventure for you.” Because wives come home so full of life and just changed and different. And so, I’ve had one husband that said, “Let’s set up a savings account,” because it is expensive. So, I did. I had a couple girls say that they now pull out from every paycheck, whether it’s $20 a month and that’s their adventure fund.

CAMILLE [24:41]

I love that. That’s so cool. One thing that I really admire about you and Benton is that you get out together as a coupe with small children. You are out there doing the things, rock climbing, rappelling and camping. And for people who are listening and maybe have the idea that you can’t adventure with kids, what is it that makes you able to do that? Especially, gosh, watching you now with the four and this little baby, I’m like you are amazing. So, what are some tips that you would give for those listening about how to make that a part of your lives so that you can create adventure and fun within your family?

BRITTANY [25:19]

Yeah. So, adventure with the family is a lot more work. It just takes more prep and honestly, it does take more patience. But one of my tricks is snacks. I know that sounds so cheesy, but snacks make it so that my kids complain less.

Another trick is bringing friends along that entertain my kids. If I were to take my kids on a hike, just my kids, I guarantee even though we’ve done a million hikes, tomorrow, there’s still going to be some complaining. But if I invite some of their friends to come along, it changes the whole dynamic where all of a sudden, they have people to converse with. They’re showing how tough and strong they are and how to hike up a hill, just different things. So, those are my two tricks. Snacks and friends.

But then, it really does come down to why. Why do you want to go on adventures with your kids? Because it is a lot of work. And so, you have to have the why behind it. Is it going to be worth it? And for one, every time it is. It takes so much work and it is. It’s listening to complaining on the drive. I get exhausted. Sometimes, I need a vacation from my vacation with the kids.

But when I look back at those memories, that’s the why. That’s why I put in all the extra effort and that’s why sometimes I do wear myself out taking the kids where it would be easier if I just found them a babysitter and I went by myself but I need both. I need trips by myself and I need trips with my kids.

We do Chatbooks. I don’t know if your audience will know Chatbooks, but those are just little photo albums that we make and my kids are obsessed with ours. They just sit there and read and look through the pictures. And they’re like, “Remember this time, mom, when we did this? Remember when I jumped off that wall?” I’m like, “Yeah, that was amazing. You surprised us. You did something hard.” And that’s what it brings up so many conversations with us where I’m like, “Remember when you did something hard? You didn’t know if you could make it to the top of that hike. You didn’t know if you could make that seven-mile hike and you did it. And so, that reminds you that you can do hard things.” And so, we just use those as parallels to apply them to our everyday life when we bring in memories and we’re like, “Remember that time?”

But another reason of my why bringing my kids on adventures is the conversations, just the talks that we have that time with my kids. You only get 18 years with your kids before they’re gone. I’ve only got 4 more years with my oldest and I’m like, holy cow. That went by fast. In the moment, it didn’t feel like it went by fast. But now that I’m looking back, I’m like, whoa, I’m really losing her. And so, getting her away from her everyday life, getting her away from school and different things and being in the outdoors and doing making these memories together, that’s just something that’s precious and that is worth every ounce of effort, I think.

CAMILLE [28:34]

I love that. And I can totally relate with that because our kids are the same age and I’m looking at Jackson and thinking, my gosh, it flies by. And especially in the last few years, I feel like they want to spend time with their friends more. And so, your window of opportunity of actually connecting and talking and creating memory with them, it’s so small.

And not to be doomsday or make people feel bad or anything like that, but I love that you bring out the factor of the why. What is the purpose behind wanting to create those memories and letting that fuel the process of getting through the hard times? Because we just came back from Wyoming this weekend and the kids were able to go boating and hiking and we took them fishing. And it was amazing. But the car ride sucked. They fought. There were hard times that they don’t always love every minute of it, but at the end of the day, it’s worth that investment for getting through it as a parent. I totally agree with that.

BRITTANY [29:40]

You bring up a good point. Have realistic expectations. It’s not going to be magic the entire time. There’s always going to be some hard moments where you’re like, why did I do this? Turn around, if I have to pull this car over. You’re going to have those moments. You’re going to have those times, but if your why is important to you, then it’ll be worth it. And then, talk about you, you just had surgery and you’re out to Wyoming already.

CAMILLE [30:10]

Yeah. That’s why we’re friends because we do crazy things like that even when we’re suffering. I just had this surgery. I’m just a couple weeks out now. And I was like, I’ll just bring my special recliner chair if I’m starting to feel tuckered out. And I think it’s really cool for our kids to see a young mom with a baby or someone who’s just gone through a surgery or something hard or whatever your hard is at the moment because everyone’s dealing with hard to still create time for joy and connection.

And I think that that example of putting yourself, especially for girls in my opinion, putting themselves in a position where they can be around and available and a part of the excitement is important. My daughter has three brothers and very much my husband comes from a family of the boys are going fishing or the boys are going hunting or the boys are going golfing. And I’m like, not just the boys, your daughter wants to come too. And I understand that there are times that it’s great to have just a boys’ trip and a girls’ trip, I’m all for that, but to see that she’s interested in the adventure and she wants to go too. It doesn’t have to be this gender divide of this is for boys and this is for girls kind of thing.

BRITTANY [31:33]

Yup. I see that all the time where it’s so many women that come with me. They’re like, “Why didn’t I do this growing up?” It’s like because it was predominantly male. Girls weren’t invited in this kind of thing. And so, it’s taken a lot of years to figure out, wait, this is amazing. Why did I miss out on this? I don’t want to miss out on this anymore.

So, going along with what you were just saying about examples to your daughter, one of my favorite quotes, “Be an adult woman that makes your daughter excited to grow up and be an adult woman.” That changed things for me where I’m like I don’t want to show my daughter or my sons in that we’ll get married and have a wife that becoming a mom means the end of your life that it’s just dishes and laundry.

I want to show my daughter that she can keep living. Being a mom will just be one part of her, but she’s going to keep growing and keep developing and she can keep having fun. And it’s my job as her mom to show her what that looks like. I don’t want Hailey to grow up and get married and then think that just stay home and think that life is over. No way. I want her to have so much fun and I need to be that example to her.

CAMILLE [32:54]

Wow. I have chills everywhere with you saying that. I’m like amen, I totally agree with that. So, moving forward, what’s happening your business? What do you want to happen for you? We didn’t even talk about your talk show, but what is your goal with you have a new baby and of course I just want to mark my calendar is what I’m trying to say. But when do you want to get back at it or what are your goals or you vision for the future for Get Out There Girl and for you, Brittany, what do you want?

BRITTANY [33:29]

I want to keep getting outside and I’ve already done a couple local things. We went bike riding up on electric bikes last month and I want to get back into my hiking. I had a really rough pregnancy too where I had this pain in my legs that I literally couldn’t walk. And so, hiking became impossible for me, which was so sad. But I want to get back hiking and just doing day hikes here in the Utah area.

And then, once Vera is sleeping through the night and I’ve weaned her where I can leave for a couple days, then it’s back on to retreats for sure. I’m dying to go rappelling. I’ve missed that. White water rafting has been on my list forever. And so, I know I’m going to plan a trip for that. And just getting back out there, I miss the connection with the women. I miss the overnight retreats. It feels me meeting and connecting with other women and hearing their stories. And I’ve missed that the last nine months to a year.

So, I’m excited to get back into retreats and the retreats will come, I’m hopefully going to do one this winter. If not, then for sure, next spring, but in the meantime, I’m just going to be doing local stuff and getting gout there, especially now because the other four kids are all in school, which is amazing. So, that means, I can actually go on hikes. I can just bring Vera with me. So, that’s what’s in my future, more hiking.

CAMILLE [35:12]

I love it. Tell our audience about The Brave Talkshow before we let you go and what that’s all about so that they can tune into that as well.

BRITTANY [35:21]

Yeah. It’s so fun. It’s been this little passion project of mine too where 10 years ago, I had this idea. I’m like it would be really cool to have a talk show with four just normal everyday women who share their opinions and talk about things and don’t shy away from the hard conversations. And I had that idea 10 years ago, the idea never left me, but there were so many different reasons that it wasn’t time.

One was my mental strength, my mental health. I wasn’t able to put myself out there and my opinions without worrying about what people thought about me before. But last year, it was just like all of a sudden, I’m like, it’s go-time. I’m ready. I can handle it. And I put it out there into the universe. I was like, okay, I want to do this talk show. I called a couple of friends. And they’re like, okay, you need Vanessa Bonner, you need Robyn Warner, you need Theresa Hemsath. And so, I reached out to those women. They were onboard 100% and so excited about it.

And everything just fell into place. We found a studio. The topics, we talk about sex a lot because we found that women really want to talk about sex, but they’re scared to talk about it and they’re scared to Google it. They’re scared to get a sex magazine or sex book, but they want to talk about it because they’re like, okay. Especially for those of us who grew up in a conservative religious background, sex wasn’t talked about or experimented with.

And so, for me, I was a virgin when I got married and I’ve only had my husband as my partner. And so, it’s like how do I learn more? I really don’t want to Google it. And so, I need some good trusted friends to talk to. And so, the talk shows have lots of sex conversations, lots of mom conversations, just we have this slogan that nothing is off the table where we’ll talk about anything. And we’ll talk about it honestly and openly.

And it’s been really neat to find out that we’re all a lot more alike than we are different. And even when our opinions are different, we can have a civil conversation about those differences. One of our conversations was about abortion in the last couple of months. And we have some very differing pro-choice, pro-life, very strong opinions, but once we sat down and uncovered what’s at the root of those opinions, we’re like, wait, we actually have the same whys underneath.

And I think that was one of the biggest eye-opening experiences for me on the talk show where I’m like, okay, so much of the world right now is contention where we’re fighting and arguing with people who have differing opinions.

Whereas if we were to sit down and to actually listen to those opinions with an open heart and open mind to actually listen instead of to fight, we’d see that we actually have a lot more in common than we think. And there are some common ground where we can walk away, not having changed each other’s opinions, but just understanding each other a little bit better and being like, okay. I still believe in pro-life and she still believes in pro-choice, but we understand each other a little bit better and we’re still friends. We can do this. We can have different opinions and still get along. And I think the world needs that right now so desperately.

CAMILLE [39:00]

Yeah. I know. I feel like the pandemic of what we’re really going through right now is exactly that. People not being able to have open hearts and open minds and be accepting of other people just for the sense of contention. It’s so sad. So, I love that your show offers that that it can show both sides of many different topics and that it’s still okay and that we can still be friends. We can still have our same opinions and go about our lives without feeling that animosity or that hate in our hearts.

BRITTANY [39:38]

Yup. It’s so wonderful. Every time we film, this is so great. We don’t plan it beforehand. We don’t rehearse the conversations. We pick a topic and we just discuss and it’s pretty remarkable to see. Women are awesome. That’s what I’ve learned through Get Out There Girl and through The Brave Talkshow is that women are incredible. And I’ve never met a woman that I didn’t love after I heard her story and it’s just creating those opportunities to hear each other’s stories and to listen and create that connection that women are awesome at.

CAMILLE [40:14]

Yeah. We need more of you, Brittany Crane, in the world. You are amazing. I’m just so grateful to be able to call you friend. Please tell our audience where they can learn more about you and your adventures and also where to follow you online.

BRITTANY [40:26]

Yeah. Get Out There Girl on Instagram and there are underscores between each word, so it’s @get_out_there_girl. You get the idea. So, @get_out_there_girl on Instagram. I’m very active over there. So, @thebravetalkshow on Instagram. The four of us run that account and you can see the four different hosts and follow them individually from there as well. I’m on Facebook. I’m not as active on Facebook, but I’m still there, Get Out There Girl adventures. And I’m in the process of getting my website up and revamped and everything like that. So, stay tuned for more retreats and more adventures. But I always post everything on my Instagram when I plan a local hike or anything. I’ll post it there.

CAMILLE [41:15]

Yay! Awesome. If you guys are nearby or even want to fly in by next year, we are for sure doing something cool and I will be there. So, stay tuned. Make sure you’re following along. And Brittany, thank you so much for being on the show today.

BRITTANY [41:29]

Thanks, Camille.

[MUSIC]

CAMILLE [41:32]

Thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you too are looking for more adventure, please go follow @get_out_there_girl and follow me along too @callmeceopodcast and @camillewalker.co. I promise you that there are friends out there who are waiting to get to know you and there’s also the most important friend that you need to get to know is the person inside yourself. I promise you if you will invest that time with getting to know yourself and taking time to adventure, you will be happier. And that’s what I want for each and every one of you. Thank you so much for tuning in and please leave a rating and review and share this podcast with a friend who you think could use this help and this podcast. Thank you for listening.

Hey, CEOs. Thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you found this episode inspiring nor helpful, please let me know in a comment and a 5-star review. You could have the chance of being a featured review on an upcoming episode. Continue the conversation on Instagram @callmeceopodcast. And remember, you are the boss.

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