The School of Greatness - 629 The Power of Hope to Heal with Elizabeth Smart

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is episode number 629 with New York Times best-selling author, Elizabeth Smart. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro-athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Anne Lammett said, hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and you try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. Welcome to today's episode.

Starting point is 00:00:43 And today is a special one with Elizabeth Smart, who is a child safety activist and New York Times bestselling author. She also gained widespread attention at the age of 14 when she was kidnapped from her home and rescued nine months later. You might've heard about this on the news a while back. Now she helps promote the National Amber Alert, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, and other safety legislation to help prevent abductions. She's also a news reporter covering crime stories. And in this episode, we talk about the biggest lessons she learned about forgiveness since being found. Also how forgiveness and self-love are related. Her definition of hope, the importance of owning your story no matter what, and the biggest lesson she learned from her captors.

Starting point is 00:01:33 This is a powerful one. I'm so excited for you to dive into this information. But before we get in, I want to give a shout out to the fan of the week. This is from Ryan Hill who said, this podcast has totally changed my outlook on life. It's given me the strength to shape my future and choose what I want to do. Every episode seems to relate to real world situations that I deal with every day and I take this knowledge and apply it every day. Keep it up, Lewis. I hope other people are feeling as motivated as me after hearing your message each time they listen. So Ryan Hill, thank you for listening, for leaving the review.

Starting point is 00:02:10 It means a lot to me. And make sure to leave a review over on iTunes if you haven't left one yet. I'd love to hear from you on how this podcast has impacted your life as well. And let me know what you guys think of this episode. Take a screenshot. Tag me on Instagram. The link is lewishouse.com slash 629 with the one and only Elizabeth Smart. Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness podcast.

Starting point is 00:02:36 We have Elizabeth Smart in the studio. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. All the way from Utah. You have a book out right now and congrats on everything that is in this book. It's helping a lot of people right now, so congrats and I recommend you guys go get it. You have an amazing story which you've told thousands of times and a lot of people know about, but for those that don't know, you were kidnapped as a teenager, a young teenager, right? You were 14 and essentially held captive for nine months. Yes. Sexually abused, starved, you know, mistreated, misused, all the things that are horrible to think about. And you came out on the other side,

Starting point is 00:03:18 now happily married with kids and helping give back to humanity, which I think is a beautiful thing. So I want to acknowledge you and congratulate you for coming out on the other side of what some would say is one of the most horrific experiences they could ever imagine happening to them. You've continued to give back and use this experience as a blessing to give and inform and help and educate and inspire humanity. So I want to acknowledge you for that. Thank you. Yeah. What's been the biggest lesson about forgiveness for you that you've learned, you know, not over the last 15 years since this

Starting point is 00:04:00 happened? What's been the biggest lesson for you about forgiveness in general? since this happened? What's been the biggest lesson for you about forgiveness in general? Well, I think actually when I came to write this book, the biggest lesson for me, I mean, I knew how I always felt about it. I just never really knew how to say it. And I'd always grown up hearing forgiveness is not for you. I mean, forgiveness is for you. It's not for the other person. And when I'd hear that, it just kind of went in one ear and out the other. But then when I finally sat down to write the chapter on forgiveness, and I really had to think a lot about what I felt forgiveness was, what it meant to me, what it's meant to me in my own life, it got me really thinking. And it, of course, brought me back to that same phrase,

Starting point is 00:04:42 forgiveness is for yourself and not for the other person and as I sat there thinking about it and how I felt about it and as I interviewed these other people for this chapter about forgiveness that phrase really brought new meaning to me that it is for yourself it's not for the other person I think we so often think that forgiveness is like a two-way street right that it takes someone to be like the offender and the other person to be the victim and the forgiver. But as I went through writing this book, I changed my mind on that. I don't think that it is a two-person thing. I think it's very much an individual thing. I mean, I think I feel like forgiveness is probably the greatest expression of self-love you can give yourself.

Starting point is 00:05:27 Because I think that it's letting go of the terrible things inside you. At first, I think you do need to acknowledge what's happened to you. I think it's perfectly natural and normal to be angry, to be frustrated, to feel pissed off at the world or whatever. Yeah, exactly. To feel all those feelings. I think that's okay. You probably should feel it. I don't think you'd be human if you didn't. And so I think feel those feelings, but then also come to a point where you decide, okay, like I've acknowledged it, like I've expressed my emotions and now I'm going to move on with my life. And I don't necessarily think that that's like, okay, like everything's just going to be, you know,

Starting point is 00:06:07 like butterflies and roses moving forward. But I think it's having that goal of continually moving forward, loving yourself enough to let go of like those poisonous feelings inside you, to like allow peace and joy and love and as tacky and cliche as it sounds, all of those kinds of positive emotions back into your life to replace where all that negativity was. So I do believe that forgiveness is a very individual thing. And it's not necessarily like a condonement of the actions that have happened to you from someone else. I mean, for instance, my case, I'll never be okay. to you from someone else. I mean, for instance, my case, I'll never be okay. I'll never think that rape is okay. I'll never think that kidnapping is okay. I just never will. And so I feel like I

Starting point is 00:06:52 have had forgiveness brought into my life. I've forgiven my captors. I've moved on. But that doesn't mean that I'm okay with rape or kidnapping. That happened to anyone ever. It means that I've accepted it's happened to me. I've felt anger. I've felt frustration. I've felt that pain and I have released it. I've let it go and I have moved on in my life and filled that space with positive things. Yeah. How long did it take you to forgive and move on? Well, my mom, the morning after I was rescued, she said, you know, Elizabeth, these people are terrible. They've taken so much of your life from you.

Starting point is 00:07:29 They've stolen nine months that you'll never get back. But the best punishment you can give them is to be happy, to move on with your life. And so she said that right when I got home. And that just immediately made sense to me. So I was like, well, yeah, of course I'm going to do that. And I definitely had my ups and downs. There were definitely times when I would think this is so unfair. Why did this have to happen to me? I didn't deserve that. I didn't do anything to bring that upon myself. But I eventually got to a point where I don't ask those

Starting point is 00:07:59 questions anymore. I don't feel sorry for myself anymore. I don't, sure, I wish it had never happened because I wish those things didn't happen to anyone. But I've accepted the fact that it has happened to me and I've been able to go on. If you could go back to that day and change the story, would you wish it didn't happen to you? Or you actually feel like you're better off for it happening because of what you've learned and how you can actually help more people in the process it's an interesting thought and I've thought a lot about it what I there are some things that I'm like that would have been really nice just to you know just have a normal childhood be like everybody else like so there have definitely been times that I've been like, what would I have been?

Starting point is 00:08:46 What would I have done? Where would my life be now? But I also recognize the fact that I wouldn't be doing half the things that I'm doing today had I not been kidnapped. I wouldn't have half the voice that I have today if I hadn't been kidnapped. I have today if I hadn't been kidnapped. As much as I'd like to think that I would care as much about these topics as I do today had I not been kidnapped, I honestly just don't know. So I guess- Because it wouldn't have had an effect on you.

Starting point is 00:09:16 I don't know if I would have gone back and changed things, but I'm not sorry that they did happen to me because of how it's affected my life and because of the opportunities it's given to me that I wouldn't otherwise have. Yeah. What was the biggest fear for you during that time? Well, definitely that, I mean, they threatened me every day that they were going to kill me. They were going to kill my family. So the thought that they would kill my family, that was pretty scary.

Starting point is 00:09:48 Because there were times when I was like, death would be better than this. But the thought that they might go after my family or go after my sister, that was scary. And so that's why I did what they said. Just did whatever, yeah. What was the feeling when you saw your family for the first time? Well, when I first saw my dad, I mean, I had gone from being with my captors. They had handcuffed me and put me in the back of the car, which I immediately started thinking, I'm in trouble. Wow.

Starting point is 00:10:19 I mean, because, like, who gets put in the back of a police car handcuffed and not be in trouble? So I immediately thought, I'm in trouble. Shoot. And so they brought me to this room and no one told me what was going on. And so I just kept thinking, like, I'm going to jail. I'm going to jail. I'm going to jail. I'm going to jail.

Starting point is 00:10:40 Like, oh, my gosh. I can't believe it. I survived nine months of these people. And now I'm going to jail. Like, oh my gosh, I can't believe it. I survived nine months with these people. And now I'm going to jail. That's just it. And so I didn't like have any warning. And my dad just walked into the room. So it kind of took a moment for like the dots to connect in my brain. Wow. But I remember, I remember he came running in and he just looked at me for a second and then he said Elizabeth is it really you and then he came over and he just picked me up in this

Starting point is 00:11:10 huge hug and sometime in there that like I finally like realized what was going on and it was that moment that I remember just knowing that whatever lay ahead of me, it was going to be okay. I still thought I might be going to jail. I still wasn't reassured that I wasn't, but I knew it was going to be okay because my dad was there and he wasn't going to let anybody else hurt me the way these two people had hurt me the last nine months. What was your thought process and was there something that you told yourself every day or something you thought about that held you on to the hope of getting out of there? Well, for me, which actually is, I mean, it's wonderful for me, but it's so tragic for other victims because my kidnapping was by strangers. All of the terrible things that I went through came from strangers. And so when I was kidnapped, I was able to find

Starting point is 00:12:16 my hope in my family's love that they would never stop loving me. Maybe nobody else would. Nobody else would want to talk to me or be my friend. That was going to be okay. But my family would still love me. And the tragic thing about abuse and rape and violence and kidnapping in today's world is that actually most of the abuse that happens, most kidnappings that happen, they actually come from your family. Really? Kidnappings? Or from someone that you know, someone that you trust. And I just feel sick about it because that betrayal is so deep. And where are they going

Starting point is 00:12:55 to go next to find their support? I mean, it divides so many families because half of the family believes you. Half of them is angry at you for bringing this up because you've caused this rift. And they don't think, how could this person do that? You know, that person is my husband or my father or my brother or my uncle or my best friend. They'd never do that. I know them. They'd never do that. And so the survivor is left, you know, not being supported, not having a safe place to be,

Starting point is 00:13:24 you know, living in fear, doubting themselves if they did the right thing. Should they have just kept quiet? Are they making it a bigger deal than what it is? And that always makes me pretty sick to my stomach. That always makes me really sad because no victim should feel that way. I mean, every victim needs support. Every victim needs a safe place to go. They need healing and kindness. And they shouldn't be made to doubt themselves. Right. Do you feel like you're still healing today?

Starting point is 00:13:55 Or do you feel like you've fully healed from the process? I think we're all healing from life. I mean, I certainly don't have a perfect life, but I feel like I have healed sufficiently from what I went through that I can function as a normal human being and still try to make a difference. Yeah. What's your definition of hope now, and has your perspective changed over the last 15 years on hope? have changed over the last 15 years on hope? I think hope is finding something that you can hold on to no matter how dark your life may seem, how bad things may seem. And that one speck of something you find is going to carry you through. You can hold on to it no matter what. I guess I feel like that's what hope is. It's that little piece of light, whether it's family or faith or sports or a passion in life, but it's holding on to that to get you through

Starting point is 00:14:55 whatever crappy day or crappy thing you're going through. It's holding on to that. What if you feel like there is no hope? I beg to differ. I think you just have to find it. I think there's always hope. I do recognize that there are a lot of people who do struggle all the time. Everybody has a story. Everybody has something. And it can get pretty dark.

Starting point is 00:15:19 It can seem like it's pitch black. But I think that's just when you have to look all the harder to find it. And, you know, maybe it's seemingly small or silly, but finding that and holding on to it, it could be anything. Yeah. Hey, guys, I want to take a quick break from this conversation with Elizabeth to tell you about one of the best sources I've found for running your online business. If you're looking to build your brand online, then look no farther than Weebly.com slash greatness. Now this is a place where Weebly lets you build your brand, promote your products, and process payments, manage inventory, and engage directly with your customers all in one convenient place. And because every business is different,

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Starting point is 00:16:25 easy to build online store templates, powerful e-commerce tools to help turn shoppers into buyers. There's integrated marketing tool to help connect your customers and keep them engaged. Tons of apps, so much available here. Make sure to check it out at weebly.com slash greatness to learn more and get 15% off your first purchase.

Starting point is 00:16:44 That's w-e-e-b-l-y.com slash greatness to learn more and get 15% off your first purchase. That's W-E-E-B-L-Y dot com slash greatness. Weebly, more than just a beautiful website. Now back to the conversation. What about those who have caused the abuse or the trauma or the kidnapping or the rape? abuse or the trauma or the kidnapping or the rape how do they find hope once they've been caught and had their punishment or gone to jail or whatever has happened how do they find hope in coming out the other side better well I guess I'm a lot more sympathetic to victims and survivors than I am to predators and victimizers.

Starting point is 00:17:33 Well, there's a lot of them out there. There are. You know, with all the people who have been sexually abused. Women, you know, one in six men. I mean, I think. I think there's a lot of predators out there in the world, unfortunately. There are. That means there's a lot of predators out there in the world, unfortunately.

Starting point is 00:17:44 There are. And so is there hope for a large portion of the world that is predators? I mean, you're almost getting me to go back on what I say. I mean, I do believe that there's hope for everybody. But there are some things that I think if you make those choices, there's no coming back from it. No coming back. You can't redeem yourself. If you rape a child, no, I don't think you can come back from that. I'm not God though. Right. What should happen if someone does that or does something, they kidnap someone or rape someone or what do you think?

Starting point is 00:18:26 Do they have no hope the rest of their life to live a meaningful life if they make a mistake or commit this horrible crime? Is raping a child a mistake? No, that's a choice. That's not just, oh, my penis slipped out of my pants and up this four-year-old's vagina. That doesn't happen like that. I mean, it is a very conscious decision. It's not a mistake. I'm agreeing with you. I'm just playing devil's advocate in the sense of if someone makes this choice, right, this conscious decision to do something horrible, they're 25 years old and they do this, whatever it is, kidnap someone,

Starting point is 00:19:00 rape a child. I was sexually abused and raped when I was five. So I understand. And it was 25 years of trauma and heartache and a lot of pain and suffering. So I'm not defending anyone who does this because I had it happen to me. I'm asking your point of view of if someone does do this and makes that decision to hurt someone else's life do they have are they unable to live a meaningful life for the remainder of their years if they have a very long life to live do they suffer the rest of their life can they not contribute to humanity anymore or is anyone who makes a small mistake, do they all suffer for the rest of their life? So... And where's the line of, well, that's really bad, and that's just bad, and raping a kid

Starting point is 00:19:54 is bad, like, no coming back. Kidnapping someone for a day, maybe you come back, but kidnapping for nine months, never, to, you know, all the different crimes and things that are out there. once, never, to all the different crimes and things that are out there? So I'm a person of faith, so I mean, I do believe in God. I do believe in Jesus Christ. I do believe in his atonement. So if I said there's no hope for anybody, that would not be very Christian of me. So I would say that, yes, I do believe there's hope for those predators,

Starting point is 00:20:29 but I also believe that they forfeited certain rights. So do I think they should have the same freedoms as everyone else? No, I don't. There are some crimes that I feel like are so heinous that you do forfeit, in some cases, your life because of what you've done. Do you forfeit living a happy life? I think in many cases, yes. And I look at my own captors, and I think of them. Do I think they're sorry for what they did to me? No, I don't think they're sorry. I don't think they regret it. I don't think that if they could go back in time, they would go back and not kidnap me.

Starting point is 00:21:18 I think they would. And I think during the trial, there was ample proof of every life that they touched, they tried to destroy. Wow. They poisoned. So both of them, they both had prior marriages. And Wanda Barzee's daughter came and lived with them for a while. And Brian Mitchell was extremely manipulative, very, very controlling. One day, she decided to go out with her friends not come home

Starting point is 00:21:47 and what happened but that night they fed her pet rabbit to her without telling her yeah so I mean I think that they they were evil people and so they won't ever be sorry for what they did I'll never get an apology from them I'll never, I'm so sorry I did this. We should have never done this. Like, I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to make amends for that. I don't think they're going to do that. And I think actually there are probably very few predators that actually would feel that way. I could be wrong. I mean, I haven't spent tons of time with predators other than my own captors. Right.

Starting point is 00:22:26 But, I mean, I think what people end up being sorry for is that they get caught. Mm-hmm. And that's why I think predators who commit sexual crimes are so dangerous. And that's why I think that their crimes are so serious because it's so often they are repeat offenders and so I think that when they when they commit those kinds of sexual crimes that they forfeit their right to freedom that they do need to stay locked up yeah not not just to mention that but I mean if you're a survivor of it then you know like it's not like a crime like murder. It's not just over and done with.

Starting point is 00:23:07 It's not a crime of theft. It's not just over and done with. I mean, being a victim of rape, of sexual violence, is something that can haunt you for the rest of your life. It can destroy you from the inside out. So, I mean, it's not just a simple, easy crime to say, right, five years and you're done. Ten years and you're done. Because it's something that will haunt some victims until the day they die. Yeah, absolutely.

Starting point is 00:23:33 What's your thoughts on, is there a difference between a collective community having hope versus one person having hope? Is one more powerful than the other? I think the more people that you have, certainly it's going Is one more powerful than the other? I think the more people that you have certainly it's gonna be more powerful but that's not to say that one person's hope can't overcome anything else. Mm-hmm. Is there anything that you've given up hope on? Anything that I've given up? Well I did used to dream of being a rodeo queen. I think I've given up hope on that one. Have you?

Starting point is 00:24:06 I think so. What about, I mean, in your own personal life, personal healing or forgiveness? Is there anything that you've yet to let go of? I think that, no, I feel like I'm pretty at peace with myself, with my experiences. I don't feel like there's lingering anger or malice. I certainly have very strong feelings towards topics that I work on and talk about all the time, but I don't feel like I have negativity left inside me because of what happened. Yeah. How can people be more educated to not commit these things? And what do you think the root cause is of people doing these things?

Starting point is 00:24:53 I've thought a lot about it. I have thought a lot about it. And I don't know that there's like a one size fits all answer. I mean, I think there's probably a lot of factors into it. A lot of times I recognize that people have abuse in their own lives themselves. I don't think it's a cause and effect. I don't think just because I was kidnapped and raped, I'm going to go out and kidnap and rape someone. So I don't think it's, I don't necessarily think that's true, but I'm not sure. I know that there are influences that can impact predator behavior a lot. For instance, pornography.

Starting point is 00:25:37 I think pornography is terrible. Because my captors, they used to bring pornography into this, the hidden camp where they held me hostage at. And he would sit there and he would just, it wasn't looking at pornography. I mean, it was being like fully engaged, just like completely engrossed in looking at these women. looking at these women and looking at them having sex and looking at how they were naked, looking at how they opened their legs up. And every time he looked at pornography, every single time he looked at pornography, the next thing he would do would rape me.

Starting point is 00:26:18 And it was always worse. It was always worse. So I think there are definitely influencing factors on that kind of behavior. And I think pornography is one of them. I think pornography is extremely damaging and extremely dangerous. Yeah. Do you believe in people? Yes, I do.

Starting point is 00:26:38 I think, how could I not? I mean, it was people who brought me home. I mean, almost not a day goes by that I am not approached by someone who said, there are times that you remember in your life exactly where you were at. And the day that you were rescued is one day where I remember exactly where I was at. And I prayed for you every single day while you're gone. So yes. That's pretty amazing. I absolutely believe in people. What do you wish more people knew about owning our own stories?

Starting point is 00:27:12 I wish that, I don't know, I wish people would be a little bit kinder to each other. I wish people would be able to find hope a little bit more because we've all experienced something in our lives. We've all had bad days. We've all gone through things, whether it's losing someone that you love, getting a disease, going through experiencing a violent crime, whatever it is. We've all been through something. And you'd think that because we've all experienced some kind of hardship in our life, we'd all be able to be a little bit kinder to each other and a little bit more compassionate and have a little bit more empathy to each other, but we don't. And I think that's sad. So I do wish people could see that.

Starting point is 00:27:54 And I also wish that people could realize that no matter how dark your life is, no matter how hard it is, there is always a reason to keep going. There is always a reason to find your little bit of hope and to not give up. What's the reason? What's the reason? It's going to be, I think, different for everyone. But I think common themes you'll find with most people is family, is love, is faith, is the hope for a better future, the hope to see a change come about.

Starting point is 00:28:26 Yeah. What's the biggest lesson that you learned from your captors? The biggest lesson that I learned from my captors? As a victim, as a survivor, that there is, you didn't do anything wrong. There's like, whatever your situation is, you didn't make the wrong choice. This was not because of something that you did or you deserved. This came from the actions of other people and it doesn't need to define who you are. I think it's so easy to, when we go through kind of these big experiences in life, to feel like, well, that's it, that's me. Like, how will I ever move on from this? And I think probably that biggest lesson is to recognize

Starting point is 00:29:21 that we actually have fairly small control over what happens to us, over the circumstances around us. But we do have 100% control when it comes to how we react, when it comes to what we're going to do next. And so I think accepting, realizing that it's not what happens to you that defines who you are. It's ultimately your decisions that define who you are. I think that was probably my biggest lesson. Did you learn that while you were in this nine month period? Did you start telling yourself that it's how I react to what they do to me? I don't think it was like as articulate as that, but I think it was just do what you have to do to survive.

Starting point is 00:30:08 Elizabeth, whatever decision you make right now, it's not wrong because you're doing it to survive. So even if that's doing things that you promised yourself you were never going to do, it doesn't matter. They're not wrong because it's going to help you survive. And I actually think that's really important for victims to acknowledge because I think too many victims, and not just of sex crimes, but victims of anything feel this too often, that somehow they start feeling guilty because they might seemingly have joined in or they allowed it to happen.

Starting point is 00:30:44 But truthfully, could many of them stop it? Probably not. Or it might have been worse off. Exactly. Might have been worse off. And so I hope that victims, that survivors have a sense of relief because the decisions that you make to survive are not wrong. Right.

Starting point is 00:31:04 If what we go through doesn't define us, what does define us? It's your decisions. It's how you live your life moving on. It's what you decide to do next. I mean, some things are very difficult to move on from. Some things feel like they're monumental and how could I ever get past this but I think even just making that decision that decision to have the desire to move past it I think that's the first step yeah I think it's okay there's no timeline it's not saying I went through this today and tomorrow I have to be okay next month I have to be back at work following month I need to get a raise or a promotion I don't think there's there's a timeline mean, I think it's going to be a process for

Starting point is 00:31:49 anyone. And that process is going to be a different period of time for anybody. I don't think it's healthy to compare yourself to anyone else, but just even have that desire to move on, to not just wallow in self-pity. Because we're all human. I'm sure we all do it sometimes. But to eventually come to that point where you say, okay, I need to deal with this. And then I need to let it go. Was there anything that they did that you thought was good? Anything that they did?

Starting point is 00:32:22 Or that was nice? good anything or that was nice or that you were like huh there was like a a glimmer of like some wow there's something good about these people or was everything always wrong did they ever do anything nice for you or say something thoughtful or was it always always manipulative and negative? My captors were very smart. They were very smart. And you were young. In how they appeared to the world. They were very smart in how they acted and how they played out this facade.

Starting point is 00:33:09 So they never just sat there and said, you're so dumb or you're so ugly. They never said that to me. I mean, they'd say things like, oh, you're so special. That's why God chose you. You're so special. Like, that's why you're meant to be my second wife. Wow. And that's why I was commanded to go and get you. It was because you weren't as evil as the rest of the world. Wow.

Starting point is 00:33:34 So I feel like that was almost worse, actually. I think I would have rather had someone sit there and say, well, you're dumb. Right. Well, you're ugly. Well, you know, this is your fault. I think I'd rather have someone say that to me because they tried to take things that were very special to me, being that I do have faith in God, that I do believe they took those things that are very special to me, and then they try to twist them and twist them and twist them and ruin them. And so that was, I feel like, extremely manipulative.

Starting point is 00:34:15 And I feel like a lot of abusers, a lot of predators are like that. It's not just like mindless crimes. I mean, a lot of them, what makes them so terrible is that they are thought out. It's that they are just the way that they've portrayed everything is what makes them so bad. Yeah, yeah. This is called the three truths, a question I ask everyone at the end. You've written a couple of great books. You've shared a lot of your message all over the world on the media.

Starting point is 00:34:46 You've spoken everywhere, done workshops. And you're probably going to continue to do these things for a long time, I assume. But imagine it's the last day for you many years from now, and you get to choose when that day is. And for whatever reason, you have to take all of your message and your work with you when you go. So there's no more work available for other people to read of yours. There's no videos to watch. You have to take it all with you. But you get to write down on a piece of paper the three truths that you know to be true about your life that you would pass on to everyone else. This would be your message to the world in three lessons or three truths. What would you say are yours? That I learned or that I want? You'd want the world to

Starting point is 00:35:28 know. Three things you'd want the world to know and this is all that they would have access to of your information. Okay. It came down to three lessons or three truths that you can help the world with and share with. Okay. I would want people to know that no matter how dark your life may seem, there's always light to find. I would want people to recognize the fact that we all have our experiences and it doesn't hurt to be a little kinder. It doesn't hurt to have a little bit more compassion. And the third thing, it would just have to be that it doesn't matter what's happened to you. Ultimately, you decide who you are. That's true. So I guess it would be those three things.

Starting point is 00:36:16 Those are great. Those are great. I appreciate and acknowledge you for all the work you're doing again to help people, to share with people the information about how we can have more hope because there's so many challenges that we all go through, even if it's not sexual abuse or being kidnapped or other tragic things. There's other things we go through, and you talk about different stories

Starting point is 00:36:37 of people you've talked with who've had instances in their life where they feel like there is no hope, and you talk about how you can find that. So I acknowledge you for doing this work and make sure you guys check out the book. It's called Where There's Hope, Healing, Moving Forward, and Never Giving Up. Make sure to go get a copy of the book. Where can we connect with you online or your website? I'm on Instagram or I've got my website. Where do you hang out the most online? Probably Instagram. What's the handle?

Starting point is 00:37:06 ElizabethSmartOfficial. Okay, cool. So if people connect with you there, you'll probably see it most likely there? Yes. Awesome. And what's the site? Is it ElizabethSmart.com? Well, there is ElizabethSmart.com, but then there's ElizabethSmartFoundation.org as well.

Starting point is 00:37:21 Awesome. So we'll have that all linked up here on the show notes as well. foundation.org as well. Awesome. So we'll have that all linked up here on the show notes as well. Is there anything else that you'd want to share or that you think needs to be said before we wrap things up and get to the final question? I'm sure I'll walk out of here and think of a date. I didn't say that. I should have said that. I missed it because that always happens, doesn't it? It's always. I don't know. I feel pretty good about it. Well, then I have one more question and that's what's your definition of greatness? My definition of greatness would have to be putting the betterment of humanity before yourself.

Starting point is 00:37:59 There you go. Elizabeth, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Yeah. Thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. Thank you for having me. There you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this one.

Starting point is 00:38:16 And if you did, again, make sure to let me know what you enjoyed the most about this. Tag me on Instagram, at Lewis Howes, on your Instagram story. And let's have a conversation over there. Post it over on Twitter, Facebook, all the places that you'd like to hang out. The link for this is lewishouse.com slash 629. And you can watch the full video interview back on the website there. We also just hit a quarter of a million subscribers over on YouTube. So congratulations to everyone who's subscribed. Thank you guys so much.

Starting point is 00:38:42 And if you haven't subscribed to our channel yet, just go head over to youtube.com slash Lewis house, click on the subscribe button because we put out videos each and every week. Lots of great content. I don't want you to miss out on again. Thank you guys so much for being a part of the school of greatness community. We continue to grow and spread this message to so many people around the world. I get emails every single day and messages from people all the time talking about the specific episodes that influenced and changed their life forever. So continue to share with us and our whole team who's listening what the podcast has done for you, how it's impacted you in your personal life, your fitness, your career, your business, whatever it may be, we want to hear from you. Feel free to send us a message over at lewishouse.com and tell us your story about how you've enjoyed the podcast,

Starting point is 00:39:31 what it's done for you, and who you've shared it with. Again, Anne Lamott said, hope begins in the dark. The stubborn hope that if you just show up and you try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. I love you guys very much. Thank you for all that you do. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. សូវាប់បានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា Bye.

The School of Greatness - 629 The Power of Hope to Heal with Elizabeth Smart

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