Here's Where It Gets Interesting - How to Be a Good Internet Citizen with Glo Atanmo

Episode Date: August 2, 2021

In this episode with Glo Atanmo, Sharon sits down to talk about how we consume social media and the person behind the posts. Glo has many titles, roles, and passions but is best described as a creative educator. She has traveled to over 80 countries, and with every post, she approaches them with an educational lens, because she loves to learn and share experiences with others. In this conversation, the two open up about having public platforms and the pressures that come along with this. There is no blueprint for following your passion and throughout the discussion, Sharon and Glo discuss their personal experience with being in the public eye and how they got to where they are today. For more information on this episode including all resources and links discussed go to https://www.sharonmcmahon.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends. Welcome. Thank you so much for joining me today. I am excited to share my interview with Glo Atonmo with you. If you already follow Glo on Instagram, then you're currently pumped. And if you don't, you're going to be soon. She is a fascinating human being. We just get along so well. I find her inspirational, educational, funny. She's a motivational speaker. She works with some of the biggest names in the education space. Let's just dive into this fantastic interview with Glow Atonmo. I'm Sharon McMahon and welcome to the Sharon Says So podcast. I'm so excited to talk to you today. Gosh, kindred spirits meeting up. I'm always, even virtually, I'm always honored. This is what real life looks like now. So let's. That's right. Yes, it's truly an honor. And tell people a little bit more about what you do,

because you have a super cool job. Yeah, you know, it's interesting because if anyone who's listening who's also a multi-hyphenate, multi-passionate person, you probably are used to changing the label based on the room or conversation. So in the last decade, I've been a travel blogger, a graphic designer, a business coach, a creative educator, a celebrity ghostwriter. It changes. Photographer, videographer, filmmaker. So right now, the title that sticks the most with me is creative educator. Even though I've been to 85 countries and I travel a lot and I share that kind of stuff, with everything that I post, I try to have an educational component or educational lens through it. I love to learn. I'm a learner and you are too, which I love.

Yeah. And we're also, when you're a learner and you're generous, you can't keep what you're learning to yourself. It's so true. So you start creating content around it, realizing, well, hopefully someone else cares about the stuff that I do. And then your page blows up and it kind of like turns into a whole beast of its own. And I'm actually really excited for this conversation because I know that we share a lot of similarities with our stories and some of the things that we experience. Yeah. That intermingling of education and also a little bit of your like lifestyle slash personality, it is a very unique job. Just to give people a little bit of context about the type of content you share. I absolutely love your travel content. I love watching you enjoy the world. You know what I mean? Like I just love it. You're doing things that most people will never do. And so there's

a little bit of that aspirational quality. And then you also have this amazing educational aspect to your platform as well, where you are helping other people who want to educate on social media, be better at it, be more authentic, have a code of conduct. And then you're also educating the consumers of this content, how to act right. That's my thing. It's like, go ahead and believe what you want, but you better act right. Yes. And it's crazy because it feels so a little bit all over the place. Cause I'm just like one day I'll post about travel the next day. It's like life wisdom,

but I'm like, I understand the reach and I understand the impact. And when I really started speaking on race relations and racial reconciliation last summer around George Floyd, I understood the power of words. And for the first time, I got to see the results of how my words and the way I was teaching inspired and impacted people who never in their in their past thought about how they were acting or how they were being complicit in upholding a racial society. So it just, it was really actually inspiring for me as well. Like, oh, wow, actually I do see and hear and feel the difference in my own little way. Because a lot of times, as well as educators, we put the world on our backs. Okay. I'm going to change all this. I'm going to fix it. It'll be fixed one post at a time. Okay. But it's just like, whew, taking a step back from that, taking the pressure off of ourselves to say, you know what, if all this post does is inspire one person to live or think differently, I can be happy. Yes. You know, there's this older Saturday Night

Live sketch with this weekend update, you know, like the little phone news show that they have, where there's this character named Oscar Rogers. He's like a financial guru. His shtick was, tomorrow morning, when I wake up and I'm eating my bowl of multi-grain Cheerios and I open the newspaper, the newspaper better read, it's been fixed. I don't know why that stuck with me all these years, but I see little Oscar Rogers face. It better read the newspaper tomorrow. It's been fixed. Sometimes that's how I feel. Somebody needs to fix it. I love it. And fix all of it. Cause it is a lot of it. Fix it all. It better read. It's

been fixed by tomorrow. Right. That's how I feel sometimes when I'm like, okay. And even the content creation process, because for me, I don't know about you, but like when I get that just idea and it lands on me, I'm like, Ooh, this is a teachable moment. I just whip out my notes. It's literally the notes on Mac book or your phone. And I just start brain dumping. I don't have any type of formality to the initial skeleton of an idea, but I love how casual the process can be because I think some people from the outside looking in like, oh, wow, this is so thorough and comprehensive. It must take a lot of time. And it's like, sometimes it just flows.

You're a conduit. Yes. Yes. And my goodness, when you have that stream of consciousness and you're just like allowing the words to come out the way they come out, you don't judge yourself in the moment. A lot of times we edit as we write and it's like, oh, that's going to sound, I'm like, nope, it's coming up, boy, it's coming up. And then before I post, I'm like, oh, okay, glow. What will people criticize? What will people get triggered over? Then I post, but it really can be a simple process to any, you know, aspiring thought leaders or

online educators out there. It doesn't have to be this really intense and crazy thought out process. It can start from like you just speaking from the heart and allowing the format to shape as you go. I love that. That's great. That's fantastic. Tell me more about advice you have for people in your audience or in my audience or just consumers of content on social media. What kind of advice do you have for people who want to be good consumers? Oh my gosh. Okay. First, because this just came up recently, understanding whether a message is for you or not.

A lot of times people with large platforms, they might speak to mothers one day and then to kids another and then to entrepreneurs the next. If a message is not for you, there's no need for you to get triggered or worked up by it or to even respond. Recognize that this message is for a certain target audience and that isn't me and just keep scrolling. But I think a lot of times we can be selfish consumers to where we feel like every single thing we see online is for us. And if it doesn't align with the values and the ethics and the lifestyle that we've already feel rooted in, then we're like combative. And it's like, you free yourself from the need to respond to everything that doesn't align with the way you live. Yes. Yes. I would like, I'm going to just mute you

and yell the word. Yes. Yeah. Free yourself from this idea, the weight, the burden of feeling like every single piece of content online is for you and you have to respond to it. It's not the truth. My goodness. There's also a quote that says like, not everything in the news is worth responding to. That took me a while because again, the news, they work off of our emotions and they know how to make us like, yeah, trigger happy. Like we just get triggered by this, triggered by, and it's like, no blow, like just detach from all of that. You could, the day-to-day news you don't need, but the big stuff, get a newsletter subscription where only the most important things happening in the world are delivered to your inbox, which you check at a time where you feel like you have the capacity to consume it.

That's really good advice. Like, okay, all right. I have my coffee. I'm feeling good. Let's see what's going on in the world. That's very different than just being like assaulted by the news. And you feel like I want to be a good citizen. I want to care about my community. And so I am obligated to consume 11 hours of news every day. And that is not healthy or sustainable. And it's going to give you hair trigger where you're going to be triggered by everything because you have no margin. You have no capacity.

You have no ability to even built in any sustainable systems based on your own personality. Know yourself and know when you're feeling good and you can handle it. Of course. Yes. Do people just walk around feeling mad all day? I really, I asked the same question because some of the DMs and the hate comments I get, I'm like, what did I just unpack for them? Because this has nothing to do with me. Right. Is this your existence that you feel this rage that needs to come out when you see something that like one little word that you're like, I don't appreciate your use of that word. Like it's the rage is like right there and it needs to come. Is that your existence? There's so many books that I have to read on compassion and empathy because we carry

so much weight and we're also like punching bags. People don't realize how much we get attacked and hate comments in our DMs and the comments. So we have to shield ourselves from that to a degree. But reading on compassion and just like more about human psychology and just the way the brain works, I have to realize that when someone is attacking me or projecting on me for something that I might've said a general statement and then they were reminded of a memory and it made it very specific and hurtful for them. I'm like, I start to feel a little bit of like pity for them.

I'm like, oh man, I get it a little bit. Like they were just reminded of something very traumatic. And I was the one that ripped off the bandaid for that. And so I had to learn how to really, yeah, dig into a compassionate place in my heart. A couple of days ago, I talked about how your Instagram can be a part of your legacy. Like you die tomorrow. Where are people going first to your Instagram to see what you posted? Thank you. And I wanted that to be like inspiring for people. So many were like, oh my God, I would hate myself. You influencers, that sucks that your legacy is your social media. Oh, you, you must not have a good life if this is your life. I was like, oh, bless them. Like they must really, I don't know, maybe there's something that is unfulfilled in their life. And they see other people who do use online platforms as a part of their legacy. And they're reminded that maybe they haven't done anything for theirs. You trigger them. Yes. It's so much deeper than what you post. Yes. So much wisdom behind practicing empathy and trying to put yourself in that other person's

shoes for just a moment when you really don't have to, you really don't, you could just be like goodbye and block. You really could. Um, and so I admire that you're doing the work to be like, I'm going to continue to practice being compassionate and practice empathy because it's what is good for me. It's what's good for the world, even though it is difficult. So I admire you for doing the difficult work. Well, and I will say this. One, there are absolutely people that it's like Glennon Doyle says, block and bless. Block them and bless their heart because there's nothing constructive about their comment. They're there to just spew hate. And it might even be harmful.

They might use words that will offend others. So that's a block and bless situation. even be harmful. They might use words that will offend others. So that's a block and bless situation. But on the other hand, if I live alone, if I spend 95, 99% of my time by myself, it is very easy for someone else's words to become a downward spiral in my mind. And so it's almost like a defense mechanism. Glow, you can't hide from social media forever. You clearly have this voice that's meant to inspire a lot of people. Are you going to let the 10% ruin it for the 90? And I would always like okay glow do it for the 90 do it for the 90 percent that do agree that do show up that do show compassion that are just considerate that are

kind you know it's so many more people are aligned with what i say and sometimes the positive people aren't the ones commenting positive people don't always take the time to be like, Ooh, this is so good. Then, you know, cause they're like, Oh, double tap, scroll, scroll, scroll. Yep. It's negative people that take the time to be like, you suck at everything you ever touched in life. Uh, I love that though. Like do it for the 90, do it for the 90% like tolerate the 10% because of the blessings you're bringing to the 90. Yes. And we have to remember that most of life is going to be like that. 90% of your dream life is going to be amazing. And then there's 10% of the admin stuff that sucks for me. My emails are an avalanche that I have yet to find a way to tackle. There's always going to be 10% of

anything in life that is going to suck. I mean, and that's the human experience, right? If you like are just rolling in fields of clover all day, there's no context to the happiness, right? You know, like you have to have some level of like, well, I don't like that in order to enjoy the things you do like. That's just the human experience. Yes. There's so much spectrum in my life. I had a traumatic childhood, but a really fulfilling adulthood. And someone said, you don't have to experience the depths of sadness in order to appreciate the extent of joy. And I was like, actually, I disagree politely. I think because I've been in such,

I've been suicidal twice. Like I've overcome such a dark chapters of my past that when I do have joyful seasons, I'm just relishing in it. Cause like you said, context, I have the context of what it's like to not be here. And so I can appreciate so much more when I do have that joy and that alignment and that purpose. Cause it's like, I know what it's like to not have this. I love that. I heard somebody say, and I don't remember which person it was, but I've hung on to this idea for a long time that if people can't stop you from doing what it is that you're meant to do, stop you from doing what it is that you're meant to do.

They will try to make it so you don't enjoy it. And I was like, and I'm not going to let that happen. They can't stop me. So they're going to try to make it. So I hate it. And I'm not going to let that happen. I'm Jenna Fisher and I'm Angela going to let that happen. I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey.

We are best friends. And together, we have the podcast Office Ladies, where we rewatched every single episode of The Office with insane behind-the-scenes stories, hilarious guests, and lots of laughs. Guess who's sitting next to me? Steve! It's Steve Care Steve. It's me, Coral, in the studio. Every Wednesday, we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories from the office and our friendship with brand new guests. And we'll be digging into our mailbag to answer your questions and comments. So join us for brand new Office Ladies 6.0 episodes every Wednesday.

Plus, on Mondays, we are taking a second drink. You can revisit all the Office Ladies rewatch episodes every Monday with new bonus tidbits before every episode. Well, we can't wait to see you there. Follow and listen to Office Ladies on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. I remind myself of that truly regularly. I remind myself of that. Like, I am not going to let you rob me of my joy from this. I'm not going to allow it. Profound. I had that in my heart. And you know, like I whipped that out as often as needed. You're not going to stop me. And you're also not going to rob my joy. That's not happening either. I would love to hear, just for fun, some of the things that people say to you or have said to you in the past. Do you have any good stories for people?

There's so many. I'll start with one aspect of my life is a travel component. So traveling so much, it's very easy for people to just assume daddy's credit card must be it. And, um, I think one time I shared my story of how I got to travel and, you know, living on $10 a day, living off of bread and butter, you know, building up my travel portfolio and someone commented, they're like, Oh, you know, this is good to read. Cause I thought you were a spoiled brat just traveling on your dad's credit card. And I was like, I thought you were a spoiled brat just traveling on your dad's credit card.

And I was like, thanks. Thank you. Yeah. Am I supposed to be flattered? And I think a lot of people also assume that, again, and this is not to shame anybody that does this, but the sugar baby lifestyle where you fly with rich men and they're taking care of everything. And so a few times I'll get a DM, like, why don't you show the person taking your photos? Why don't you show the person you're

traveling with? Who's the 80 year old that's really funding this trip? Again, triggering the fact that like, they probably aren't able to travel or they never have experience to travel. It was so triggering for them to be like, how is she doing this? It must be like this. That's the way I'm going to feel better about myself. because I'm not sleeping with an 80 year old. I don't have a rich old man funding my trips to Guam. I'm mad that you do. I'm mad that you do and you won't show him. Yeah, right. Right. I want you to feel some shame for your choices. I want to see that old man so I can shame you. Here's another thing about shame and guilt. I always tell people that I leak my own bad news or my own sad news. And what I mean by that is a lot of people do feel

shame about different things in their past. Whatever I feel shameful about, I'm like, ooh, how can I turn this into a lesson? Because you can't shame me for something that I shared with you because I chose the narrative. And I think a lot of things just, again, being suicidal in my past, being depressed, being broke, having a traumatic childhood, having parents that didn't support me, having my dad pass before my first international trip, whatever it was, I would share it with the lesson. And here's another thing about vulnerability online. If you have a personal brand and you are trying to build a personal brand, trip, whatever it was, I would share it with the lesson. And here's another thing about vulnerability online. If you have a personal brand and you are trying to build a personal brand, vulnerability is the quickest way to connect with your audience and to build an audience that actually cares about you.

But vulnerability without boundaries or without a lesson, it's a missed opportunity because if you're just vulnerable and you're sharing something, again, highly traumatic for you, but you're still in that traumatic season, all of the comments might trigger you. All of the things that people say like, oh, well, you should have just done this. Oh, well, I have a person for that. You know, that might be triggering for you. So wait until you're out of that season before you share it. And then when you share it, have a takeaway because someone might be in that season currently. And because you shared it openly and honestly with the takeaway, they now can come away from that. Like, Ooh, I have a little bit of hope now because this person went through it and they got out of it. And here was their lesson. That's

how we just pass on wisdom and depth to our communities as well. I love that. Shame multiplies in secrecy. Yeah. like it loves the secrecy. And when you're like, actually, these windows are wide open. It doesn't flourish in the same way. But you absolutely do. I think what you said is so right on. You have to have boundaries around it.

Many times you have to have some distance from it. You can't just be sharing like, well, I had a huge fight with my significant other and he really sucks. Have a good night, everybody. You know, like that is not helpful to anybody. It almost attracts the leeches. Ooh, what did he say? Are you getting a divorce? Like, it's no one's business. But if you come out of that, like a year later, or just a few months later, you can say, Hey, I had a rough patch in my marriage. Here are three things that we read or did to overcome that season. We're a lot happier now. Yes. That's bringing, that's valuable to you because it gives you the chance to reflect and be like, what have I learned from this?

And it's bringing value to your audience that they are going to be encouraged that things can get better for them too. I love that you just model this so beautifully for people, both for entrepreneurs and also just for, you know, content consumers. You do such a beautiful job of creating that mixture of content that I think is really winning on social media right now. I feel like sometimes the accounts that are to one note, it doesn't hold my attention as well as being able to see different aspects of a person, of being able to see your travel content, your beautiful graphic design, which I've noticed for a long time where people have shared your stuff. And I've been like, this graphics person is great. And then also your

educational content. Like I really think you're just hitting all of those right notes. And if somebody just loves the travel content, you're giving them enough content to want to stick with you. They don't care about this other stuff. You're still giving them enough to stick with you and vice versa with all the other topics that you talk about. You're doing such a great job at that. Thank you so much. And I think that's a good point as well for like those content pillars, because you do have a lot of people who call themselves generalists. They can speak generally about a lot of things and they're like, well, I want to speak about motherhood and I want to speak about finances and I want to speak about racial education. Like there's so many things they're passionate about and they're not

sure how to build an audience if they're speaking to so many things. And I think if you can divide it up to like 50% what you're passionate about, 30% what you think your audience needs, and the other 20%, like something that it's on your heart, you know, and like almost giving yourself a percentage or a ratio so that you don't feel landlocked into like only speaking about one thing forever. Because I have had clients in the past where they built businesses they didn't even enjoy anymore because they outgrew that. And it's so important that we give ourselves permission to play around with different aspects of ourselves.

Yes, I love that. That's really great advice. I would love just for fun to talk a little bit more about some of your travel experiences. Because I, okay okay here's the thing I am terrified of flying but I do love to travel so it's one of those things that is like well you can't if you want to travel you can't not get on a plane but then almost the anxiety of

anticipating the flight is worse than the actual flight most of the time. You know how that is? The anticipation is worse than the doing. It's true of many things in life. You're not afraid to fly, are you? I was in the beginning. Yeah. I mean, it's a decade later that I took my first international flight or just first flight in general. And I always say this, when you come to peace with the worst case scenario, you allow yourself to say, OK, I could die. Like, again, morbid here. Worst case scenario, plane goes down. Every time I would say that, OK, this could be the last I could die.

So I would send those text messages in the beginning, like, I love you, sister. I love you, mom. Don't forget me. Because you just never know. And so at least I wanted the last thing I say to the people that matter is that I love you. And so at least they can say, okay, well, she, she loved us. Right. Right. And then she said, I love you. And then it's like, gosh, I I just and literally a decade later I still do it and so it's almost like because I know that that's the worst thing that can happen and it hasn't happened yet hundreds of flights later you could even look up percentages if you want how many planes have actually yeah you know so it really the success rate there's just was it

thousands of flights a day oh they all they all make it you know so there's just, what was it? Thousands of flights a day. Oh. And they all make it, you know? So it's just, it's a really, really, really, really, really low chance. I bring like really good books and audibles and I usually cry on flights. Do you? Do the flights, are the flights cathartic for you? Like all the trapped emotions have a chance to come out? It's interesting.

The concept of like 3D consciousness and 5D consciousness, 3D is like ego-based and it's like, you know, conditional love. And, you know, you see things for what they are at face value, but the 5D consciousness, you pull yourself out of the realm of the day-to-day and you're like, wow, I'm in the sky. Wow. Those are clouds. Being in the sky and taking yourself out of the day-to-day normalities makes you feel just like, whoa, I'm so blessed. I'm so thankful. Everything is amazing. We're drinking wine in the sky. In the sky.

It's just, and you do get emotional. Like, I'll start writing or I'll be reading a book and I'm like, oh my gosh, we've advanced so much. We get to fly. Oh, I love that. I can relate to that. I don't have those moments on a plane, but I aspire to, but I have those moments other times where I'm like, look at this baby, you know, like it grew from an invisible thing and now it weighs eight pounds you know like i i have

those things as well yes say there's like an actual scientific study of like just the chemical effects of being in the sky how it makes you more emotional so it's just interesting yeah and also i've noticed this too like you actually can't do anything else. You actually just have to sit here. And so you're literally kind of alone with your thoughts. You have to sit there, sit here. There's no options. And so that also puts you in a different mental state than in your ordinary life, or even when you're, when you arrive at your destination, where you feel like you want to be doing insane things. And I find it very meditative because like the stillness, a lot of us don't allow ourselves the permission to be still.

We don't have any silence. We don't have any solitude because there's, life is so noisy and busy. And we let the day-to-day monotony just like grab our attention. And we're always in reactive mode. But like you said, like the stillness of like, Oh, I ain't got nothing to do, busy and we let the day-to-day monotony just like grab our attention and we're always in reactive mode. But like you said, like the stillness of like, Oh, I ain't got nothing to do, but to sit here until I land. Yeah. Okay. These are just like my more curiosity questions about travel. So, um, are you ever afraid of turbulence or are you just annoyed by it or do you love it? Oh my gosh. I don't know if anyone loves it like yikes something's probably going on there I'm kidding but I think what the first time I

experienced it of course you're like okay this is it this is the death I was talking about I'm glad I sent the text so the first couple times it is incredibly scary you'll you'll even hear people scream and that's what makes it worse because it's like they add to the horror of the moment. But once you start to get used to it, and then also pilots have been really good these days about saying, okay, we're entering turbulence for the next 10 minutes. Everyone put on your seatbelt. They didn't do that 10 years ago. You just went through it and you're like, and then the pilot wouldn't say anything until like five ten minutes later um sorry about that uh we just had a bumpy i'm like we're all panicking and you're right ten minutes later yeah we just had a couple uh sorry about that i'm like oh oh did we oh i hadn't noticed oh okay

thank you for letting me know here was the worst story oh my goodness we're getting ready to land and all so you're just you feel yourself on the descent and all of a sudden like plane dips and shoots up and my goodness you feel like the whole plane just yeah everyone's bracing back everyone's looking at each other pilot isn't saying anything flight attendants not saying anything everyone's just like and it's the scariest probably two three minutes of my life i thought we got hijacked like i thought someone we're landing and literally the plane shoots back up so i'm like oh my god this is this is it this is the time i knew it was coming it was a matter of time it was math it's math it's math that one of the planes i will be on will be hijacked that's just math but what ended up happening is the landing strip was crowded two planes were coming in about five

minutes apart and so it was just too close of a call and so the pilot said sorry about that we had to go back in the sky and take a couple laps because uh there's another plane that landed early. And so it's blocking up the strip. And you can just feel the collective like, oh. Thank God. Thank God. Yes. Yes. When you are flying to 85 countries, which is very impressive,

are you flying in tiny planes ever? A couple times. So when you're going to the Caribbean islands, you might find that a couple of transfers, like the major airlines will fly you to like maybe a mainland. And then when you're going like to again, really small islands, that's when you're getting on the small jets. I think the smallest one I've ever flown was maybe, gosh, probably in Belize or the Maldives. And I will say this as well, because you talked about flying 85 countries. Some of them have been trains. I think when you get into Europe, what's nice about Europe, their train system is so well connected and you can literally, you can see most of Europe through train. So that's really nice. But yeah, those small, those small planes are terrifying. First of all, I'm also six feet tall. And so to get on the plane,

I'm like, oh, this is a plane for hobbits going to die in this hobbit coffin. That's how it feels. It feels like I'm in a hobbit coffin. All right. Tell me about some of your most recommended destinations. Where should people be going? Ooh. And this is, of course, up to, you know, the comfort level, you know, because right now it's not really post-COVID yet. We're still kind of like, you know, in COVID and who knows how much longer it's going to be.

But a lot of countries now are only allowing vaccinated travelers. Indonesia is just made a new regulation as of a couple weeks ago. But I would say, especially for stateside travelers, the Caribbean is, it makes a lot of sense. One, because most of the flights are direct from like, let's say Miami, North Carolina, New York, Atlanta. If you're on the East, there's a lot of direct flights are direct from like, let's say Miami, North Carolina, New York, Atlanta. If you're on the East, there's a lot of direct flights to the Caribbean. So the Bahamas, St. Lucia, Grenada, Bonaire is where I just was. That's a Caribbean Netherlands. So yeah, I mean, I would say chase the deal, not the destination. And if you go to skyscanner.com, they have an

option where you put in your home airport and then you type in everywhere as a destination. And if you go to skyscanner.com, they have an option where you put in your home airport and then you type in everywhere as a destination. And what that means is they'll just show you the cheapest places to go from your home city. And so many times in my journey, I've been like, oh, let me just, where is it cheap? Where's a hundred dollars ticket? Yeah, absolutely. Because ultimately would I like to experience a variety of places? Yeah. because ultimately would I like to experience a variety of places? Yeah. And if it costs me $98 to go there today, instead of $600, then I'll go to that place. I want to go. And people don't realize like flying coast to coast, LA to New York might push you back 700 plus dollars flying Miami to the Bahamas, $120. So it's like, you can literally go to another

country for cheaper than to fly to the other coast of our country. So it's like, you can literally go to another country for cheaper than to fly to the other coast of our country. So it's, it's amazing what deals are out there. And I think a lot of us think that travel has to be expensive and luxurious. I started off backpacker. I started off with a $10 a day budget. I was just hungry to like, just explore. So I didn't have too many like standards to be honest. I was like, oh, I'll sleep in a hostel, 20 other beds. Cool. I get to make friends. I was solo maintenance, you know? And then as I grew my just career and got more financially stable, then I was like, okay, I'll get a private room now. And okay, I'll get a hotel now. Yeah. I deserve my own bed.

Yes. I always had my own bed. Yes. I always had my own bed. No, I always had my own bed. In a room with a door that no one else is sleeping in. Yes. Yeah. It's, it's literally so like automatic now, but I never want to forget about the days where it was such a luxury to get a private room. Because in Europe, that might be the difference of four euros, which is approximately five US dollars versus 50. And I would look at that $40 difference, like actually that's food for a week. I can't, I can't, I gotta go towards the four euros. So yeah, it's amazing how far

I've come just in my own travel journey. Yes. All right. So people, especially from the U S you feel like explore the Caribbean more. What are your favorite destinations in Europe? Oh, okay. Oof. Montenegro, Norway, um norway and tough question it is because i'm like i'm just like flashback of all the places i'm gonna go with because i can't say those are too close together i want to kind of spread it out so montenegro's in the balkans adriatic towards the south. You have Norway, which is Scandinavia in the north of Europe. Then I'm going to go with so tough. Man, I want to just say Greece because Greece feels cliche.

But my goodness, not only is it a beautiful country, but the men are gorgeous. I'm just kidding. There's more than one thing to look at. Yeah, one thing to look at yeah so uh yeah have you been to Svalbard oh in Norway yes the big polar island in Norway I have not I was gonna say I've been to Trolltunga which is I but gosh that yeah I have not been there. I'm going to DM you my favorite Instagram account from a woman named Cecilia who lives on Svalbard. Shut up. She's, she's Swedish, but she lived in the U S for a while. And now she moved to Svalbard

because her boyfriend lives there. It's a pretty good size Island, not far from the North pole. friend lives there. It's a pretty good size Island, not far from the North pole. And it is full of like walrus, polar bears, all the very stereotypical Arctic things that you think of as fall bar is very well known for its polar bears, like hundreds or thousands of polar bears. And they also experienced like the polar night where the sun doesn't come up for like three months. Oh, and then, you know, like the day that where the sun doesn't go down for several months as well. It is also where the world seed vault is. Have you heard of the world seed vault? I have not. It is like dug into the side of a mountain on Svalbard. And it is where all of these other nations of the world send their seeds, the seeds of their indigenous plants, Amazon rainforest, you know, like here are the traditional crops that we have in Kenya, et cetera, as a repository in case of some kind of

nuclear catastrophe, where it is very unlikely that any kind of catastrophe would reach this bunker in the side of a mountain in the Arctic. So the world seed vault with billions of seeds is there, which I find fascinating. You can't like go take a tour because they worry about contamination. Like they don't want spores on your clothing or whatever to mistakenly infect all of the seeds that they have in a repository there. That is the coolest thing I've ever heard. You have got to add Svalbard to your travel list. It's definitely on my list. You fly there from Norway and they have commercial flights, you know, like a few times a week. You can also take a ferry, but that takes like two days. That's how far away

from anything it is. Yes. There, there's a bunch of cool things about Svalbard, but the world seed vault is one of them. That is so fascinating. I love the world. See stuff like that just reminds me that we're just so fortunate and blessed to live during this era, during this time. Yes. Thank you. I say that all the time. Like, do we have a lot of work left to do? For sure. A hundred percent. Nobody is like, well, we fixed it all. Nobody has said that yet. It's been fixed. But the idea that a woman can just like open her computer and be like, I would like to visit, pick a destination and then show up at an airport and have a grand old time doing that by choice. The idea that somebody would have the ability to do that has never existed.

That's a nugget, y'all. I hope y'all are catching that. Oh my gosh. I truly do feel like we must do this again. Oh, part two. It's coming, y'all. Many things we could talk about. Many things. It has to happen. Yes's coming. Things we could talk about many things.

It has to happen. Yes. This was truly a pleasure. I enjoyed every second of this conversation. Thank you so much for joining me and for all of your wisdom and thank you for doing what you do. Yes. Yes. Thank you so much in honor and thank you for what you do and the way you continue to show up and just serve and selflessly educate it. I hope y'all listening, like you really understand that Sharon does so much for y'all for free. So thank you again for just devoting and dedicating so much of your time to just further educating the masses. Thank you.

Same right back at you. Thank you so much for listening to the Sharon Says So podcast. I am truly grateful Thank you. Same right back at you. Thank you so much for listening to the Sharon Says So podcast. I am truly grateful for you. And I'm wondering if you could do me a quick favor. Would you be willing to follow or subscribe to this podcast or maybe leave me a rating or review? Or if you're feeling extra generous, would you share this episode on your Instagram stories or with a friend? All of those things help podcasters out so much. I cannot wait to have another mind blown moment with you next episode. Thanks again for listening to the Sharon Says So podcast.