Unlocking Us with Brené Brown - Part 6 of 6: Brené with Ashley and Barrett for the Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection
Episode Date: July 28, 2021It’s the final episode of our six-part Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection with my sisters, Ashley and Barrett, and we finish strong with the last of the Guideposts, #9 and #10 (Cultiv...ating Meaningful Work: Letting Go of Self-Doubt and “Supposed To” and Cultivating Laughter, Song, and Dance: Letting Go of Being Cool and “Always in Control”). We talk about how doing meaningful work connects us and how being cool is honestly very lonely. And we finally reach the moment Ashley and Barrett have been waiting for all along — and possibly the only reason they agreed to do this series — they finally get to share their top five songs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
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Hi, everyone. I'm Brene Brown, and this is Unlocking Us.
Welcome to our Sister Strong six-week series I'm doing this summer with my sisters,
Ashley and Barrett, on the gifts of imperfection. It's so fun to see all the different ways people
are joining us. There are in-real-life book clubs, is like really neat to see after such a long time.
There are online book clubs.
Sisters are getting together to do it.
Friends are getting together to do it.
I even know some couples that are going to do it together.
Here's what I would do if you're interested in following along.
You can use the new 10th anniversary edition of The Gifts of Imperfection, or you can use
your original book.
Both of them are perfect.
I would start, before you listen to the podcast,
I would take the wholehearted assessment.
You can just go to brennabrown.com.
It's in The Gifts of Imperfection hub.
Totally free.
It's really interesting.
It gives you kind of a score on all the guideposts,
where your strengths are
and where your opportunities for improvement are.
Okay, y'all, it's our last episode. I can't even believe it. Can you believe it?
No. It's been such an amazing experience with you two.
Yeah, it's been fun. It's been fun. It's been hard.
Yeah, hard too. I did not like the in real time unfurling of my private neuroses. Holy shit, man. Okay. So we are tackling the last two
guideposts in The Gifts of Imperfection, letting go of self-doubt and supposed to and cultivating
meaningful work and letting go of cool and always in control, cultivating laughter, song and dance.
This is going to be a good one.
Yeah.
I'm excited about this one.
Although I have some stuff in here.
Do you have stuff in here?
Yeah.
Do you have stuff in here?
Yes.
You for sure have some stuff in here.
I scored the highest here too.
So I'm interested to see what you guys have to say.
Oh, you know what?
Guidepost nine is my highest.
And then guidepost 10, being cool and always in control versus cultivating laughter, song and dance is probably about closing in on three
quarters. Mine's closing in on three quarters. Both of these last two are. Where's your meaningful
work one, Barrett? Both of them are three quarters. All right, stay tuned. We're digging in.
Thank y'all for being here.
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I just don't get it.
Just wish someone could do the research on it.
Can we figure this out?
Hey, y'all.
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and I'm hosting a new podcast at Vox
called Explain It To Me.
Here's how it works.
You call our hotline with questions
you can't quite answer on your own.
We'll investigate and call you back
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So follow Explain It To Me, presented by Klaviyo.
All right, y'all, let's just jump in.
Let's start with guidepost number nine,
cultivating meaningful work
and letting go of
self-doubt and supposed to. What are your thoughts here? This is all of our highest scores?
Yeah. Well, it's my second highest. These last two tied for my second highest.
Got it. Okay.
Me too. The values one at the very end is my highest, highest.
Oh yeah. That's during values. So it's not one of the guideposts. Yeah.
Oh yeah. So this is my highest meaningful work.
Is it?
Yeah.
It's my highest too. So I'm going to do it in opposite. Let's start with supposed to.
Do you think we got a lot of messages growing up about supposed to?
Oh, yes.
For sure.
Really?
Yeah.
Around work?
Yeah.
Say more.
You're not supposed to email me from a business account.
I'm just kidding.
Dad's always been so weird about emailing him from work.
I know, but this is a guy who doesn't want to talk to you on the cell.
He's like, can't you call me from a landline, sis?
This could be monitored.
No one's going to steal the book ideas, Dad, promise.
I mean, supposed to be the best, supposed to be the top, supposed to be
not using all of your vacation days, pushing through when you're not feeling good. I think
that there is a lot of supposed to be. Yeah, I agree, especially the pushing through.
Yeah.
Brene, I think you have a blessing and a curse, one of the deepest dig deep buttons there is in the world.
You can dig deep and push through anything, which I think is a blessing and a curse, mostly a curse.
Really?
Yeah.
I think you can keep going and keep going and keep going and keep going until you just drop.
So I don't have an endless dig deep button.
But no, I have a pretty bad deep.
I can dig deep for a long time.
And I think that was how we were raised.
More curse than blessing?
I think it can be.
I think for all of us, we have a tendency to push through.
I think the older we get, the more aware we are of it.
But I think we do have a tendency to push through when we should probably stop.
I'm listening.
I think if I were you.
Yes, Ashley. I would really struggle with the same thing because the ass of you are so big and a lot of the time so important, but there's still just only one of you.
Do you know what I mean?
You sound just like my therapist right now.
Yeah.
Oh, great.
Well, my hourly fee is. Yeah.
And then terrible that it falls right up in your shit with your number one on the Enneagram.
Oh, God, it is really a lethal combination of having to change the world by myself and
then actually having some opportunity to do some of that.
I think if you were like, guys, today's my last day. I'm retiring. That the gift that you've given the
world, it's irreplaceable. Yeah. And it keeps on going. But the problem can be too, is that
the ask from you, there's not really many people that could take some of those from you.
Do you know what I mean? Like we talk about it all the time. Like, it's not like we're Acme Brick. We're Brene Brown. Our team is
supporting a person, a thought leader, you know what I mean? So it all just can fall on you. So
that's a lot to hold. And I imagine I'm not as in it in y'all's sector as y'all are, but.
Yeah, I don't know.
I score off the charts on meaningful work.
I don't think I'd be where I am with my work today if I had a lot of self-doubt.
I mean, I have self-doubt,
but I don't have a lot of professional self-doubt.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
And I don't have a lot of professional supposed to.
Every now and then I'll stop and be like,
shit, where's the blueprint for what I'm supposed to do next?
And Murdoch or Steve or somebody will say,
or Chaz will say, like, there's no blueprint.
No one's really kind of doing what you're doing.
No one's-
So I guess maybe for me then,
define what you mean by work supposed to.
Yeah, maybe that would be helpful.
Because I feel like we did get messages
about how we were supposed to do things,
which we maybe were thinking about it in the wrong way.
Well, I think you're supposed to care about making money, not meaning.
You're supposed to grow up and be a...
I didn't feel like there was pressure in our family.
Like everyone needs to be a lawyer.
Everyone needs to be an engineer.
Everyone needs to be a doctor.
Or you're supposed to really love every moment of what you do.
Or you're supposed to hate your job.
No one loves their job. Or you're supposed to quit your every moment of what you do, or you're supposed to hate your job. No one loves their job or you're supposed to quit your job and follow your
bliss.
Cause that's,
you know,
like,
I don't think we were raised with a lot of expectations around work,
except for,
we did get some supposed to around terminal uniqueness.
I think we got some, we're the Browns. Yeah. Yeah. You're a Brown. I remember the first time
I went to go apply at Cactus Records or something, I was like, man, dad, there's no girls that work
there at all. It was like 14 and a half hardship license, pickup truck. And he's like, well, damn it, sis, you're a brown.
You want to work at the record store?
You'll work at the record store.
You know, like one set of rules for the world and one set of rules for us.
Yeah.
Or if I got a bad grade that I didn't think I deserved, he would interrogate the teacher.
Oh, Lord.
Just some terminal uniqueness.
Yeah.
Did y'all not experience that?
Oh, no, we totally did.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And when you look at the questions that are on page 144 about the supposed to, I don't
feel like I got any of those.
I feel like I could say, I'm going to be a teacher.
He'd be like, I love it.
You would be so great.
The passion that you have.
Don't care about money. Like, love it. You know I mean? Like I feel like we've always been supported in
those senses. Yeah. And I think we all love the work we do now. Oh yeah. Yeah. But there can be
too much of it at times. That's true. Yeah. And I think, what about self-doubt? I can have self-doubt
at work sometimes. Oh, for sure.
Yeah, I can too.
I'll share a secret. Don't listen if you're in the public. Sometimes if I read a really shitty comment about a book or a review or something, I'll go and find shitty comments
from books and authors that I really love. And I'll be like, that's okay. This person got one too.
It's so hard. It's like what they say in AA, misery doesn't love company, it demands it.
I'm like, okay, we're good. But I do have self-doubt a lot.
Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, no, I don't know. Do I?
They're laughing in there really hard because I said, I don't think I have self-doubt, do I?
I think I do for sure, because sometimes I feel like I'm on an island by myself with the part of my job that I do.
There's not a lot of collaboration on that side, and that can feel hard.
So that's when I can get into my self-doubt as opposed to having someone to bounce ideas
off and stuff.
And it goes back to you around connection.
I know.
It's crazy.
Do you think the self-doubt for you is more about feeling disconnected and people not
understanding or valuing your contribution and what you do?
Yeah, probably.
And my question to you, Brene, would be, do you have self-doubt or just a lot of curiosity?
I don't have a lot of self-doubt.
I don't think you do. I think you have a lot of questions, but I think that's part of the process.
I'm insatiably curious about things.
Yeah.
But I don't think I have a lot of self-doubt around my ability to do meaningful work.
I think we've all kind of found our
right seat on the bus. And I think we're all sitting in some grounded confidence in where we
are. That's my experience of where we are right now. I don't think this is a lucky thing that
it's our highest score. I think I don't want to back into for people who struggle with this one
that might have higher ones where we have low ones and are struggling with this one, I think there's a lot of skills building that we've put into
even with our kids. It's not the follow your bliss thing that I'm not critical of that,
but it just doesn't resonate for me probably. But there is a lot of, if you're doing what you love,
you will make a huge contribution no matter what that is. But I think we've done a lot of, if you're doing what you love, you will make a huge contribution, no matter what that is.
But I think we've done a lot of skills building around getting us into the right jobs, doing the
right things. There was a time where I had a lot of self-doubt in my job since I've been a writer
and a research professor. I think y'all both had a lot of self-doubt in your jobs, but I think we work very hard to understand what
is the value we bring? What is the best position to leverage that value and to contribute? What
are the skills we don't have? How do we skill up around those things? And so I want for people that
are like, oh my God, my whole life is riddled with supposed to and self-doubt career-wise,
and I don't have meaningful work.
I don't want you to think that we score high on this one because it's easy for us.
I actually think we work on this probably hours and hours and hours a week.
I agree.
I agree, too. I think this is the function of the three of us working together in a company where
just it looks at this every, I mean.
I mean, it's part of our goals meeting.
It's part of our meetings.
It's part of how do we balance this?
What is their values?
What are your personal values?
What's the alignment?
So where do you want to be in five years?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I think if we took any of the ones that we struggle with on the guideposts, like anxiety
and calm and stillness or rest and play and put as
much time into those as we put into trying to figure out work, we'd be in better shape.
Yeah. And I think it's really cool the work we do because you can actually see
a difference. Some people work, work, work and work and don't really ever see what their work leads to.
But for me, when I'm implementing the daring way, I can see the change it's making in people.
Yeah.
We have a lot of evidence and a lot of validation.
I think one thing that I will say about meaningful work and self-doubt is as I've ventured in,
I mean, I do a lot of work around
race and I do a lot of work around oppression and I do a lot of social justice work. That work
can fill me up with self-doubt. And I think one of the things that has really allowed me to walk
into those issues and try to be a good co-conspirator and a great ally, and sometimes I
am and sometimes I'm not, But I think what helps me around the
self-doubt is this insatiable learning thing is that I'm just here to get it right. I'm not here
to be right. I don't value being right as much as I value learning and trying to get things right. a big part of meaningful work is a mastery over success. Always learning, always getting better.
And I'll tell you the other thing that helps me around self-doubt and work is, I don't know,
do you think a day goes by, Barrett, where I don't get some kind of hard feedback about something?
I don't think so.
Yeah. I get a lot of corrective and hard feedback every day,
publicly, behind the scenes. And so I've become very good at listening, taking what I need to
learn from, and fairly good about letting go of the rest. Sometimes it takes a toll on me,
but most of the time. So I think, I guess what I'm saying is, just like everything else in this book, this is a practice. This is a real practice.
And you hear us putting this practice through this whole podcast series. I think Barrett has
said a couple of things that were very Jim Collins. She said that we're on the right seats
on the right bus. That's a Jim Collins. We've talked about our priorities at work. That's Jim Collins. We've talked about Simon's work.
We just read a lot and do a lot of that work.
All right, last one.
Being cool and always in control,
letting go of that,
and cultivating more laughter, song, and dance.
I was going to go,
ca-caw!
But... I was going to go, caca.
So I will tell you this, that letting go of being cool is hard because cool was a very high value in our family.
Higher than self-worth, higher than safety, physical safety, higher than doing things legally.
I mean, like, it didn't matter what you put at risk, who you put at risk, including yourself,
as long as you had a really funny, cool story at the end of it.
I'm pretty through that.
But are y'all pretty through that?
I think one of the things that's gotten me through this is all of the many Daring Way
trainings that we've done where you have people face each other, laugh and dance and stuff.
And just the common humanity in this one in particular has really helped me through that one.
Yeah, I mean, we do a lot of exercises around this because there's a lot of vulnerability around laughter and singing and dancing in that order.
Yeah.
I remember growing up and hearing people, especially women, laugh loudly and kind of guffaw and knee slap and dad being like, hey, now, pull yourself together.
Yeah.
Like that's losing a little bit of cool, right?
Yeah.
So I think when you see people, when you ask people to laugh and sing and dance, and you see the people in these trainings that we do fold their arms over their chests and turn
purple, and literally it's like, this is going to kill me.
I cannot physically allow myself this physical vulnerability.
Yeah. You do see the myself this physical vulnerability. Yeah.
You do see the shared humanity in it.
Yeah.
What about you, Barrett?
This has been a hard one for me.
I think I was always trying to be in the cool arena.
But damn, I just don't want it for Gabby.
So I just make myself do it.
And the older I get, the less I give a shit about being cool anymore. Now I just want to
have fun and make memories and be silly and that whole cool straight jacket. What is it for?
I think it's part of the armor that I'm getting rid of in midlife.
Where do you think you got that? Because I always thought of you as probably the coolest,
or at least...
Pretended to be.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I think it was perfectionism.
I think it was a way for me to be in control.
I think it probably being an athlete my whole life.
Yeah.
I just always felt like I could never let anything get to me.
And so on the outside, I don't think I could ever show that something bothered me.
I think it's a weak thing, honestly.
You can't be weak.
Yeah, don't be weak.
What about you?
I don't think of you as super cool.
That's Ashley, by the way.
That's Ashley that I'm talking to.
No, I think of you as... I do think of you coming down the stairs, like Barrett kind of coming down with some swagger and her basketball underarm and her socks.
Like, don't mess with me.
Like, mess with me at your own peril.
And then you coming down, like, singing the theme song of Gigi.
Yeah, thank heaven.
For a little girl.
Yeah, I see you coming down with that, really, with a parasol for your first day of kindergarten.
Mom didn't let you take it.
She's such an asshole.
Just kidding.
I definitely think that there is time in my life where I wouldn't get up and dance and I wouldn't be in the laughter and stuff.
But I think it was more my own shame than it was fear.
So I think it was the worthy and the enough stuff that stopped me from doing that.
Like if I walked away from this party in sixth grade when my friends come look for me, crazy stuff like that.
But I feel like the older I get, the more I'm like, I think for one, music means so much to me that it's really hard to separate the song and dance. And I also think
the personality that our family has, it's hard to get away from the laughter because we're pretty
much smart asses. And that starts with dad, mom, all of us. So what about you, Brene?
I think cool has been a hard thing. Yeah, I think cool's been a hard thing.
I just don't think I was very cool.
This is one of those times that is really hard because I look at you and I think some
of your stories are so cool, but they also must have been really scary.
Like after high school on your journey across Europe.
I think, oh my God, she's so cool.
Yeah, I know.
Like, oh my God, thank God she's alive.
Yeah. Yeah. And the only reason I got to go is because they were in the middle of this divorce.
Yeah. Dad was like, yes, you can go to Europe. And mom was like, she's 17. So it was like a
proving thing that I got to go, but I had no business there. I barely survived probably.
Just that you even wanted to go though, I thought was cool. I always feel like you've been,
you had a bright yellow room with a goodots. You're like a trendsetter.
You're always ahead of the curve.
I always thought you were really cool.
You dressed cool.
You drove a Volvo before Volvos were cool.
I mean, like.
I drove a Volvo in the 90s.
It was from 1969.
So I don't think I was.
Even cooler.
I don't think I was early on the Volvo thing.
And it was so rusted out on the floorboard you could see the street.
There's nothing wrong with a little Flintstone.
I was a little Flintstone. It's a little Flintstone.
No, I think I always thought of y'all as cool because I was more like
kind of pot smoking, French club.
I wanted to get the hell out of Dodge because I was reading books about Studio 54 in Paris
in high school.
What's the fast train out of spring Texas?
How far could I get from spring?
And back then I thought the furthest point in the
whole world would be Europe. Yeah, I were popular in school. I was not popular in school.
But Ashley was popular in school.
I did. I had a lot of friends, but I feel like I was starting to replace
what I wasn't getting at home with my friends.
Got it.
Yeah. I always looked up to you, thought you were really cool.
I thought Barrett was always really cool too because she played sports and she was so good.
I was one of your biggest cheerleaders at all your games, even to the point where I
got in trouble because I was so loud.
But I don't know.
I just, I always thought of both of y'all as cool.
I mean, even to this day, I look at y'all and I think there's always pieces from y'all
that I want to bring into my own life.
Oh, me too.
Yeah, me too.
Yeah, I don't worry about being cool very much anymore.
No, no, I'm totally over that.
It's so exhausting.
Why?
It's so exhausting.
And man, I can tell you for the parents out there listening, if you put a lot of value on cool with your kids,
you can just really expect high risk behaviors.
Oh yeah, that was me.
Yeah, that was me too.
Me too.
Yeah, and self-destructive high risk behaviors.
So I think, I don't know, for me,
I think that's sometimes hard about having teenagers.
It's because you see them paralyzed by some of the cool stuff.
Yeah.
They can get right in your stuff really fast. You're like, I'm pretty sure that my kids,
well, Alan thinks I'm awkward and weird and that's good. But Charlie, I think he's like,
oh, you're so uncool. Sometimes on purpose, I'll use whatever the newest word is
in the wrong way. And he'll be like, don'll use whatever the newest word is in the wrong way.
And he'll be like, don't use it like that.
But yeah, I think it is cool is lonely.
Cool is lonely.
And it's a straight jacket.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's easy to pass down to your kids.
So what does laughter, song and dance bring y'all?
We're a very music family.
We are.
Yeah. Which I love. It's weird because mom and dad are not music
people really because no even this weekend dad was like will you please put on some roy orbison
okay i remember going to the river or something and we would all be in that damn suburban and
he'd put on this tape and be like chantilly, Chantilly Lace and a pretty face and a pony tail.
What's the song he always sings?
Poison Ivy.
Yeah.
Yeah, he did like Chantilly Lace and Poison Ivy.
Well, and I remember too on Sundays waking up from my room listening to the Houston Oilers song.
That was because football was on.
That's different.
Houston Oilers.
Houston Oilers. Houston Oilers.
Houston Oilers number one.
Yeah, that one.
There was a small album too.
I was at 35.
Yeah.
What was it?
45.
45.
Yeah.
Whatever it takes.
Yeah.
I think we're a good amount of goofy with our kids.
I do too.
I think so too. I amount of goofy with our kids. I do too. I think they do.
And grateful for how when we don't have the right amount of goofy, the other ones do.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Ashley's always got us covered.
I'll take it.
I love it.
No, it's good.
And then really, if they're short supply, there's always Steve, my husband.
Yeah.
Who has zero of this. He really has zero of this. He is really centered on just Steve. What's good laughing song and dance for Steve.
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Hello, I'm Esther Perel, psychotherapist and host of the podcast Where Should We Begin,
which delves into the multiple
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Should We Begin, sponsored by Klaviyo. All right, rapid fire questions.
I don't know these. I mean, I know them, but I don't know them.
Okay, we'll start with you then, Ashley.
Great, cool. Fill in the blank. Vulnerability is?
Vulnerability is the pathway to happiness.
Barrett?
Hard as shit.
Okay, Barrett, you're called to be very brave, but your fear is real.
You can feel it right in your throat.
What's the very first thing you do?
Just keep moving.
Ashley, fear is real.
You can feel it right there in your throat.
I'm probably really mean.
Do what? I'm probably really mean. Do what?
I'm probably really mean.
So you work it out on somebody else?
Yeah, offload.
Offload.
What about in your ideal self?
In my integrated self, I would thank you kindly for the invitation.
Keep doing it.
Okay.
Barrett, what's something that people often get wrong about you?
That I'm silly.
That you're silly?
Yeah.
That I can be silly.
You can't?
No, I think people get that wrong.
They think that I'm in control and cool and I can be silly.
Oh, got it. Okay, yeah, because I was like, you can be silly. Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking the same
thing. What's something people often get wrong about you, Ashley? I'm really, really nice.
Fair enough. Okay. Ashley, the last TV show that you binged and loved.
Oh, I just rewatched Sex and the City. That was good.
Yeah.
Barrett?
Okay, I've got two shows that we've been watching and we love them so much.
They're more like family type shows, but they're so good.
And the first one is Mighty Ducks Game Changers.
It's on Disney Plus and it's kind of an extension of the original Mighty Ducks.
Oh my God, it's so good.
And then the second one is also on Disney Plus and it's kind of an extension of the original Mighty Ducks. Oh, my God. It's so good. And then the second one is also on Disney Plus.
And it's called Big Shots.
And it's John Stamos.
And he's a basketball coach.
And it's really good.
But during the pandemic, we as a family have been binging these shows.
And we really, really loved them.
Barrett, favorite movie or one of your favorite movies?
Love and Basketball.
Oh, man.
I was asked this the other day and I think I said Sound of Music.
That's perfect.
Barrett, a concert that you'll never forget?
Oh, Garth Brooks with the three of us in San Antonio.
Oh, God, so fun.
Yeah, that was fun.
Operator.
Put me on through. I gotta send my love down to Baton
Rouge. Hurry up. Gotta put it
on the line. Gotta get
to my girl. I gotta
got to her. Concert you'll never forget?
Concert I'll never forget.
I'll go with Garth. Garth.
Garth in San Antonio with all of us. Yeah, it was really fun.
So fun. Okay. Not the Garth
where you caught your nail on fire with your lighter.
My fake nail?
Yeah.
Okay, listen.
If you haven't caught a long fake nail on fire with your lighter at a concert, are you really alive?
Come on.
Can we just take a second here and talk about our very first concert?
Ashley and I, Brené took us to see ACDC, but we really just wanted to see White Lion
because they were opening for ACDC.
And then they were passing a joint down our aisle and Brené was like, just look forward
and do not accept anything.
We were like in sixth grade or something.
Oh my God, I think there's a big pot smoker then too.
I don't know.
That's probably why she didn't want us to look
so excited.
Oh man.
I was like
y'all were like, oh my god
why?
I was like, who
is this?
Who is this?
Wait.
Wait. Wait.
I never had a chance to love you.
Right.
Oh, my God.
Y'all see this?
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
Y'all threw me off with the white lion.
Okay.
Wait.
Is this when they were still at the summit?
Yes.
And we had dad drop us off.
And he was pissed off because there was traffic.
So he dropped us on the wrong side of the freeway and made us run across the highway
Yeah, like on 59.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I remember that.
I was like, serpentine.
It's like zigzag.
Yeah, like Frogger.
Okay.
Okay.
Favorite meal?
Barrett. Frankie's grilled cheeseburgers. Yeah. Mexican food. Okay. Favorite meal? Barrett.
Frankie's grilled cheeseburgers.
Mexican food.
Anything.
Okay.
Specifically.
Oh, queso and fajitas.
Okay.
Barrett, what's on your nightstand?
Advil PM.
Zysol.
Three water bottles
and a lamp
I got a lamp
I got that like
if you're feeling a little older and don't remember if you've taken
your medicine box
the Monday Tuesday Wednesday
yeah I got that
and then I have some books
that's funny
she's laughing at your medicine box you'll be there soon And then I have some books. That's funny.
She's laughing at your medicine box.
You'll be there soon.
Y'all are exactly nine minutes apart.
You'll be there in nine minutes.
Okay.
A snapshot, Ashley, of an ordinary moment in your life that gives you joy.
Oh, hanging out with Amaya.
Barrett?
Playing volleyball in the pool with the family.
Okay.
Tell me one thing, Ashley, that you're grateful for right now.
You too.
I'm grateful for you too.
Thank you. Ditto. You too.
I'm grateful for you too.
Okay. We'll skip the music stuff.
No, I've been working on this list
for five months
okay
mini mixtape
Ashley
five songs you can't live without
The Story
Brandi Carlile
Dreams
Van Halen
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Heavenly Day
Patty Griffin
Blue October Fear Garth Brooks Brooks, You Move Me, and Gambler, Kenny Rogers.
I told you you could only have five.
I couldn't do it.
Okay, Heavenly Day, then slow down and go ahead and cheat.
Where did I stop?
Heavenly Day.
Heavenly Day.
Did you get Blue October Fear?
No.
Garth Brooks, You Move Me. The Gambler.
Kenny Rogers. Okay. In
one sentence. Cheater
cheater. Pumpkin eater.
In one sentence. What does that say
about you? That playlist. Your mini mixtape.
My mini mixtape
says about me that
lyrics
are very meaningful to me, comma.
I really enjoy connection, comma.
And I have a diverse library of music loves, period.
That was so cheap.
You look like dad.
Like you were doing it comma therefore and two for out
okay
Barrett five songs
okay I'm gonna start with
number one Rise Up
Andra Day
number two For Her The Chicks
uh huh
number three
Amarillo By Morning, George Strait.
I can get on board.
Okay, me too.
Number 4, Maxwell, This Woman's Work.
It's a great song.
That's a great song.
It's from your movie too.
Uh-huh, Love and Basketball.
Yeah, I love that song.
And number 5, Colin Baton Rouge by Garth Brooks.
Good.
Thank y'all.
We did it.
Wait, so I'd like to tell you what this.
I'm going to borrow President Barack Obama's answer to this.
I have exquisite taste in music.
Can you please tell us your five?
No.
Okay.
For another podcast, maybe.
It's fair
we can sing them out
because they've gone
through so much
with us
should we sing
our nice
unlocking us
crew out
oh yeah
oh sure
let's do it
one
two
three
delta
dawn
what's that
flower
you have
on
could it
be
a faded
rose
from days
gone by okay we'll stop there bye bye you have on could it be a faded rose from days gone
bye
okay we'll stop there
bye bye
bye y'all
thank you for joining us
for this series
and you're like
well I just don't
trust her anymore
alright this is the end
of the summer series
on the gifts of imperfection.
And we value imperfection, including your music list.
No, it was a good music list. Okay. I thought it was good. Don't forget that we're taking a
short break. We've got great lineups for guests this fall, both podcasts Unlocking Us and Dare
to Lead. And just grateful for y'all. How cool are the people that listen
and share their thoughts and ideas on social? It's just...
So fun.
Yeah.
I'm so excited to see how everybody went through this and what they learned with each other too.
Yeah, I love it.
Yeah.
All right, y'all take good care. Stay awkward, brave, and kind.
Unlocking Us is produced by Brene Brown Education and Research Group.
The music is by Keri Rodriguez and Gina Chavez.
Get new episodes as soon as they're published by following Unlocking Us on your favorite podcast app.
We are part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Discover more award-winning shows at podcasts.voxmedia.com.
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