Have you ever considered how much more we as women could get done if we chose to lift each other up instead of getting caught up in comparison traps, jealousy, and the feeling of ‘not enoughness’? It has been famously said that comparison is the thief of joy, but becoming aware of how you compare yourself to yourself and to other women online and in real life can be a hard nut to crack.
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Key Takeaways
If You Want To Become A Strong Woman Who Lifts Up Other Strong Women:
- Find a coach or a trainer who knows how to support women in all aspects of their lives
- Stop focusing on jealousy and comparison by getting curious about your unique values and goals
- Notice, name, and normalize your emotions
- Take small steps every day to amplify other women’s voices and help lift them up
Strong Women Lift Each Other Up with Molly Galbraith
Molly Galbraith has been a coach in the fitness industry for over 17 years. It became clear to her early on how underserved women were in health and fitness, which is why she co-founded Girls Gone Strong almost ten years ago. Her new book, Strong Women Lift Each Other Up, helps women overcome their own personal struggles with comparison, jealousy, body image, and competition to feel strong, confident, and empowered in their body while supporting other women to feel the same.
Getting Out Of The Comparison Trap
Molly believes that when you know better, you do better. This is why she has dedicated herself and her new book to help women improve all areas of their lives. Everything from teaching coaches what they need to know in order to better serve women to helping women get out of the comparison trap by noticing, naming, and normalizing their emotions act as foundational tools necessary to help lift women up in everyday life. By getting radically clear on your values and getting curious about how we can support other women, revolutionary change is possible.
The Ripple Effect
In a world where women’s voices are often drowned out, and it’s challenging to be heard, amplifying other women’s voices can go a long way. The ripple effect that can be created through women empowering women isn’t always obvious, but it can play a huge role in bringing the values we want to see into the world.
You don’t need a lot of resources, money, or a big network to lift up other women in your life. All it takes are small, simple steps that can help you feel stronger and help strengthen the women around you. Lifting up all women is a group effort, but the ramifications can change the world as we know it.
Are you ready to get away from your comparison traps and scarcity mindset and embrace the beautiful possibilities that come from being a strong woman who lifts up other strong women? Share one way you are working to actively lift up other women in the comments below.
In This Episode
- What made Molly start GGS and help create a community of strong women (5:54)
- The reason that Molly’s new book was needed for our current strength landscape (19:40)
- Tips for getting over your comparison traps and scarcity mindset once and for all (25:07)
Why identifying your core values and what truly makes you happy can be a gamechanger (30:49) - Simple ways that you can lift women up in the world regardless of your time or resources (34:05)
Quotes
“We believe that when women feel strong, confident and empowered in our lives and bodies, that we can change the world.” (4:30)
“Coaches and trainers, we are on the front lines of such important conversations with our clients. And I truly believe that we have the power to impact women’s lives positively more than almost anyone else in their life.” (15:17)
“I envisioned a world that I wanted to see for women and saw that it wasn’t our reality. I wanted to see a world where all women and girls get the support and opportunities they need to thrive and succeed. Where women believe that we are enough just as we are, and that we are actually happy to see other women succeed because we know there is enough success to go around. And I wanted to see a world where there was an equitable presentation of all women in important places where decisions are made, and that is not our current reality.” (22:00)
“Taking the time to identify my values has just been life-changing. It has allowed me to feel so steadfast in the decisions that I make.” (31:03)
“We have the opportunity to massively lift people up and create huge ripple effects through very small actions, and I want people to know and feel empowered by those possibilities.” (38:42)
Featured on the Show
Strong Women Lift Eachother Up by Molly Galbraith
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Ep 147: The Importance Of Feeling At Home In Your Body with Molly Galbraith
How Strong Women Can Lift Each Other Up w/ Molly Galbraith FULL TRANSCRIPT
Steph Gaudreau
President Theodore Roosevelt famously said, “Comparison is the thief of joy”. Perhaps you’ve been working on being more aware of how you’re comparing yourself to other people, whether it’s online or in your real life. And that can be a really interesting and powerful mindset shift. But what about when you are comparing yourself to yourself, that can be a bit of a harder nut to crack. Today’s guest on the podcast is my friend, Molly Galbraith. She is the co founder of Girls Gone Strong and the author of a brand new book called Strong Women Lift Each Other Up. On today’s show, she’s sharing why she wrote this book, and specifically how you can break out of things like the comparison trap, and the feeling of not enoughness. She’s also sharing simple but powerful ways that you can lift other women in the world up regardless of your time, resources and connections. The next evolution of Harder To Kill Radio is here, welcome to the Listen To Your Body podcast. On this show, we’ll explore the intersection of body, mind and soul health, and help you reclaim your abilities to eat and move more intuitively, hear your body’s signals, and trust yourself more deeply. I’m Steph Gaudreau, certified intuitive eating counselor, nutritional therapy practitioner and strength coach. On this podcast, you can expect to hear expert guest interviews and solo chats that will help you deepen your trust with food movement, and your body. Remember to hit the subscribe button and share this podcast with your friends and loved ones. Now, onto the show.
Steph Gaudreau
Thank you so much for joining me on today’s podcast. I’m really excited that you’re here because today’s guest is somebody who I really admire and respect. She is Molly Galbraith, the co founder of Girls Gone Strong. And on today’s podcast, she’s sharing more with us about her experience in the fitness industry and how she’s really transitioned not only herself but her organization to go from solely helping women get stronger to helping women lift each other up as a result of their inner and outer strength. I know you’re gonna love this podcast, because Molly is making it really actionable for you. Let’s go ahead and dive into the episode.
Steph Gaudreau
Hey, Molly, welcome to the show.
Molly Galbraith
Hey, Steph, thanks so much for having me. I’m excited.
Steph Gaudreau
I’m excited to have you here you are somebody who I’ve known for a long time. And I have really admired you personally. And also you as the just the person who is doing so much amazing work in the world with your organization that you run. And I’m here to just kind of amplify your message today, because I think it’s so incredibly powerful and important. But let’s just kind of jump into to some basic stuff right away. So okay, if somebody hasn’t heard of you and what you do, give us the quick sort of like overview, because we’re going to get into talking more about your book today. So I want people to have a little bit of sense of who you are, and what kind of led up to all this amazing work that you’re doing.
Molly Galbraith
Yeah, thank you so much for all those kind words. So I’ve been a coach for over 17 years now in the health and fitness industry. Almost 10 years ago, I co founded an organization called girls come strong. And it started as an organization that just really wanted to like preach the gospel of strength training to women. It was with a group of women whose lives had been changed through strength training. And we wanted to share that share that message and share that those possibilities with other women. And over the last 10 years, we have evolved into the world’s largest platform providing evidence based so research backed interdisciplinary, women’s specific health, fitness, nutrition and pregnancy education for women and professionals who work with them. And we do that because we believe when women feel strong, confident and empowered in our lives and bodies, that we can change the world. So fitness is the vessel through which we carry out this mission. But truly it’s about helping women feel strong, confident and empowered in their lives and body. So we create education for women and professionals who work with them. So tons of articles, we have over 1000 articles on the site, dozen free courses, certification programs for health and fitness professionals who want to learn more about working with women and coaching for women. So essentially there’s lots of education and lots of helping people get from where they where they are now to where they want to be. Whether it’s a woman who has some sort of physical or you know, mental emotional goal, or a professional who wants to feel more confident and prepared working with women, that’s what we help people do.
Steph Gaudreau
It’s such an incredible body of work and really collection and community of people that you have not only running, you know, ggs and, and creating the educational experiences for people and really looking at the materials, but your community as well, and the people that you’re impacting through that work, which then sends that ripple out into the world, right. It’s like helping trainers and coaches and professionals do better when they’re working with women so that they have that better experience, if you can kind of cast your mind back to 17 years ago, first started in the industry. I mean, what were some of the maybe at the time, I don’t know of looking back, it’s kind of like hindsight, but at the time, what were some of the things that you are experiencing as a new professional in this space, and just thinking like, we have to do better than this?
Molly Galbraith
Hmm, well, I know my own experience in the weight room. So I don’t want to say it was, I don’t wanna say it was all bad. But I will say that there were a lot of times that I felt unwelcome in spaces. I remember one time I was sitting on the bench getting ready, like getting ready to warm up for bench press, and this guy walks over and picks up my bar and starts to walk away. And I was like, I was using that he’s like, oh, you’re a chick. I just thought you were gonna do abs and I’m like, No, dude. I’m benching like, like, give me my bar back. And as there were, there were some experiences like that. There was a lot of sexualization and objectification. So a lot of like leering staring, you know, comments and things like that, being so young, and being someone who had not been through kind of my own journey of recognizing, you know, my own self worth, and really craving that attention. You know, there were times it was unwanted. And then there were times that I was kind of like, yeah, I’m the hot girl in the gym, you know, like I like, like the affirmation and attention felt really good. But looking back now I can see kind of the space that that was coming from. But yeah, I would say there’s times that I was feeling unwelcome times that I was very sexualized or objectified in spaces, so many inappropriate, what I can see now is totally inappropriate comments by, you know, trainers that I worked with, or like colleagues, other professionals, the way that women were spoken about, like it’s just like, looking back now with my, you know, 2021 goggles, I’m like, oh, wow, I cannot believe that kind of stuff was said and done and talked about. And so there’s, there’s that kind of aspect of it, that throughout my 17 years, I realized just how massively underserved women are in health and fitness. You know, pre and postnatal women like I was in the industry for almost 10 years before I realized how much there was to know about coaching pre and postnatal women. I was reviewing some material the other day, I realized 35% of women have painful sex in the 12 months postpartum. And I tweeted, I was like, if 35% of dudes had painful sex for one day the whole world would know about it, you know? Yeah, like, come on, you know. And and so we try to just beyond the really solid like strength and conditioning information and really solid nutrition information. We dive deep into topics that health and fitness professionals need to understand about working with women. So body image disordered eating, obviously within a coaches scope of practice, right? Who can they refer out to? pelvic health, hormonal issues, menstrual cycle menopause, we teach coaches, how to what what they need to know about these topics in order to better serve their clients, and then what their scope is and what their role is in understanding these things. And who the professionals are that they can work with to help their clients get the coaching and care they deserve.
Steph Gaudreau
Yeah, I was gonna say, you know, TGS has really not shied away from your tackling head on some of the most either taboo or contract or controversial even to some people I guess, I would say, or just you know, otherwise topics that people would rather not talk about because they feel like it makes them uncomfortable. So things like as you mentioned, your body image is something that’s just we know it’s there but can feel so we’re just like how do I help somebody with this or sexual harassment right you all have have tackled that topic pretty head on I know you talk pretty frequently about you know, people are always like stay in your lane. And this is you know, should be about like protein, protein shakes and squats and, and I really appreciate that message as well. And y’all do an amazing job of, of not just talking about it, but then going that extra step to say like for you know, coaches and professionals. Here’s the education that you can engage into, like no better no more, you know, choose to make different decisions and do it in a really empowering way.
Molly Galbraith
Yeah, thank you. We try to do that, you know. I’m a huge fan of the Dr. Maya Angelou quote, “Know better do better”, because, you know, these weren’t things that I thought about and definitely not 17 years ago, even 10 years ago, 7 years ago. And so we’ve really tried over the last, I’d say five to seven years to make the information as inclusive, as inclusive as possible. Just really respecting people’s lived experiences, their unique identities, so that we can equip health and fitness professionals to help the real everyday people who walk in their door who come to them with, you know, trauma who come to them with, you know, who maybe they’ve experienced, you know, harassment or abuse who come to them with body image struggles, who feel like they don’t belong in the gym in the first place, right. So we really try to equip health and fitness professionals with the knowledge, skills and tools to serve the everyday people who walk into their gym. so important.
Steph Gaudreau
Looking at GGS’ body of work, what do you think has been the most maybe surprising topic that has has received the most either gratitude from people of like, ‘Hey, I didn’t know I needed this and it’s been so super helpful like a big gap in my training’ or you know, the the topic that’s going to be created the most controversy over the years. Can you think of anything? I’m always curious about this.
Molly Galbraith
Controversy was for sure our sexual harassment and assault free course that we did. You know, I think guys felt very attacked by that. Yeah, they felt very attacked by that course. And really, we tried to set it up in a way that was like, hey, like, if you’re taking this course, you’re someone who cares about this, like, so you like you’re already on the right track. Here are some things like some things, some seemingly benign things that really laid the foundation for the more egregious stuff, right, that did occur. And so that one is definitely most controversial. I would say the ones that have the one that has gotten the most attention, people saying I didn’t know I needed this would be our information about disordered eating, because of the way that the health and fitness industry has glorified so much about behavior for people to think that it’s normal. And so I’d say that information about that, and again, related to body image, and just constantly thinking, like, smaller is better, and you know, centers healthier, and like there’s this hierarchy of bodies, and this is a better body or worse body, I would say that type of information has been the most like trainers and coaches like whoa, you know, like I didn’t, I didn’t that I didn’t know that because of the way that again, the industry treats these behaviors. And then the most kind of like, Oh, I had no idea would definitely be the stats about incontinence about things like pelvic organ prolapse. So there was a survey done in Perth, Australia, maybe 2016. And they surveyed almost 400 women ages 18 to 82, who were attending fitness classes. And these women, this was, I think 49 and a half percent of them said that they experienced incontinence during exercise. And this was regardless of whether or not they had had children, and only 15% had been screened for pelvic floor dysfunction. So I did a quick little poll in my stories the other day, 75% of women said that they leak urine when they cough, sneeze laughed, job exercise, and 8% said that they had been screened for pelvic floor dysfunction. So and one other one last really mind blowing stat is that up to 19%, up to 19% of women will have surgery for pelvic organ prolapse or incontinence at some point in their life, and 30% have multiple surgeries. And these are things that can often be treated or mitigated with great coaching pelvic health physiotherapy, like there are things we can do about this stuff. So So I would say those kind of topics are like most controversial will definitely be sexual assault and harassment. The ones that kind of are paradigm shifting for people who take our education, I would say would be the disordered eating and body image and most surprising like, oh, wow, I had no idea women were dealing with this would be the incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.
Steph Gaudreau
Wow. Yeah, you can’t see my face but as Molly was saying, those stats, my eyes kind of got really wide because I didn’t even know those statistics were so prevalent. I mean, I’ve coached and coached in a weightlifting setting before and so we’ve definitely had, you know, sometimes women are like, I need to I need to just run to the bathroom before I do this. And, and so we kind of know that it happens but it’s still not a topic that a lot of people talk about very openly it’s there’s a lot of like shame associated with those sorts of things. And so yeah, if you’re experiencing that there’s definitely things that you can do to try to seek help and, and get it from trained professionals who know what they’re doing and can really make a difference in quality of life. So I appreciate you sharing that I’m always just curious because it’s never always what I expect it will be.
Molly Galbraith
Yeah, yeah. And I just feel like, I feel like coaches and trainers, like we’re on the front lines in such important conversations with our clients and like, I truly believe that we have the power to impact women’s lives positively more than almost anyone else in their life, we see them more we talk to them more, they’ll open up to us about more stuff, you know, like, we have that, like, we often have the thing that they really want, you know, like, people don’t want to go to the, you know, they don’t want to go get their mammogram, right, they don’t want to go get their like yearly, like yearly gynecological exam, but they’re excited to work with a trainer or someone who can help them with their nutrition. And so it’s like, you know, we’ve we, we can harness that desire to want to work with us and, and use it for good to help them improve so many areas of their life.
Steph Gaudreau
Absolutely. And I really appreciate that all the things that you’re doing in all areas, especially the body image and disordered eating aspect, as obviously, something that’s really important to me on a personal and professional level. And, you know, lately I’ve just been seeing, so I mean, it’s always been there, but just so many things, you know, in both the fitness and nutrition space, and it’s like, let’s do better with this with the messaging that we’re putting out as, as professionals and the things we’re doing. And then also like being attuned to those things that clients will say, and like being that person who can be there and listen, and perhaps if they’re looking for a resource to say like, Hey, I know somebody that could maybe help with that, if you’re interested, let me know, I can pass on some information, like be that resource. And I just really appreciate that you are taking that on.
Molly Galbraith
Thank you. And one thing that I’ll say that we’ve done somewhat recently is super cool. As to our intake forms, we have added a section where clients can opt into these conversations, which is so cool, because people would say like, oh, how do I bring up her menstrual cycle? Like guys, like, how do I how do I talk to my client about her, you know, period or whatever. And so it’s like, well, you know, if you if you aren’t uncomfortable with it, then they’ll they’re less likely to be uncomfortable to like, hold on a second, there’s this kind of like, often that needs to happen, right? There’s women that need to like, give permission, because for some women talking about their menstrual cycles, not awkward at all, but they sure as heck don’t want talks about their nutrition, or their sleep, or they don’t, they don’t want their trainer to talk about food or whatever. So we have added this little part to the intake form. It’s like, Hey, there are a number of areas of your life that may impact like your training or that might be helpful for me to know about in order to help you achieve your goals. So check this box and say like, Yes, I am. I am not willing for my coach or trainer to ask me questions about these topics. And it’s, you know, nutrition, sleep, you know, menstrual cycle, pelvic health, like all that kind of stuff they are so that they can opt in and say yes, I’m open to talking about this or like, nope, this topics off limits. And they can change their mind at any time. And so it really kind of lets the coach say, okay, she’s actually comfortable with me talking to her about these things.
Steph Gaudreau
I love that. So, so important in putting the power in people’s hands to decide whether or not that’s something that they want to take on. If you’re listening to this podcast and thinking, yep, you convinced me stuff, I want to get stronger, I am ready to take that next step. Or it’s just been a while since I’ve worked out and I’m ready to get back into it, then I want to invite you to sign up for my free strength workout mini course, not only do I walk you through all of the incredible benefits of strength training, but I’m also giving you three workouts completely done from start to finish with all of the tips and pointers, you need to make sure that you are executing them as well as you can and getting all of the benefit out of them. So if you want to get this free strength training mini course, it is super simple. Just hop over to Steph gaudreau.com slash workout, that Steph gaudreau.com slash workout and get enrolled in my free strength workout mini course. So I want to shift gears a little bit and talk about your book that came out recently. What’s the title?
Molly Galbraith
Yes, so the title is called strong women lift each other up.
Steph Gaudreau
I love that. I love that. You know, that’s right in my wheelhouse which is why I wanted to have you on the show. So okay, tell us the reason that this book came about, like, as you know, I’ll tell anybody from personal experience you don’t one does not just write a book. You know, it’s a an undertaking. It’s a commitment. It’s a community project. It takes more than you so it’s a team effort. So why, why this book? Why now and, you know, just give us that sort of big overview and then we can dive into some questions.
Molly Galbraith
Yeah, so the short story is that I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t write it. So there’s that I gave a keynote speech in Melbourne, Australia in 2018 called strong women lift each other up with a lot of, you know, the premise of this book and It was so well received. I mean, it was like I literally got up there and read 28 pages of a talk for like 80 minutes. And my partner Casey was there. And he’s always paying attention when I’m talking to like, you know, how are things being received, he works closely with me and girls going strong. And he said, everyone was like edge of their seats. No one was looking at their phone. They were all just super engaged. And then it was like the standing ovation afterwards. And all these women came up to me, they’re like, how did you? Where did I just, what did you write that? Where did that come from? You just put into words, all of these things that I’ve been feeling for so long, but didn’t have language for. And all of a sudden, it like in my insides. It was like, Oh, this isn’t a speech. This is a book and I’m like, doing it. I don’t have time to write a book and stuff. This book would not leave me alone until I wrote it. It was banging on my insides like, let me out. And that stuff doesn’t typically happen to me, especially not with work. Like, that’s just kind of not, you know, I’m not, I’m not someone who like feels into what I’m supposed to be doing for work related stuff. And it would just wouldn’t let I couldn’t sleep Christmas 2018. I could not sleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about the book. And so finally, my partner was like, well, we don’t have time for this at all. But like, okay, let’s dip our toe in the water and see what’s going on. And so, basically, like, what what happened is like, I envisioned a world that I wanted to see for women and saw that it wasn’t our reality. So I wanted to see a world where all women and girls get the support and opportunities they need to thrive and succeed. where women believe that we are enough just as we are, and that we’re actually happy to see other women succeed, because we know there’s enough success to go around. And I wanted to see a world where there was equitable representation of women of all women in important places where decisions are made. And that is not our current reality. And I noticed that there were things holding women back from doing the work to support one another. So I wrote the book, to help women overcome their personal struggles with comparison, jealousy, body image, feeling like other women or their competition. And I wrote the book to give them the actionable tools, they need to actually lift other women up in their everyday lives to make that world that we want to see a reality. And so as we’re reading the book, I remember Casey was like, So is this a book about like, women overcoming their own stuff with comparison, jealousy, body image competition? Or is this book about changing the world? For women? I’m like, it’s both, it has to be about both. Because we have to get our own stuff, right?
Molly Galbraith
Before we can be strong women who want to lift all women up, because like, that’s the thing like we, we, it’s like, it’s not that we want to lift our pack of friends up, you know what I mean? It’s like, No, no, no, we have like, we have to get to a place where we see and understand the importance of lifting all women up in all areas of our life. So the first half of the book is about getting right with ourselves to overcoming things like scarcity mindset, the comparison trap, struggles with body image, seeing other women as competition or the enemy, and then gaining the tools to become a strong woman who wants to lift other women up. So getting clear on our values, learning how to retrain our brains, or retrain our thoughts, overcome self doubt, overcome our doubt of other women. Because that internalized misogyny is real. There’s like something like 59 to 66% of women would be comfortable with a female CEO or president at this moment in time, or like in 2019. So overcome that, so that we can believe in other women. And then the last half of the book is like Okay, cool. What are the steps that I actually take? Like, how can I lift women up in ways that will be meaningful, but I also didn’t want women to get to the end of the book and book Well, that’s nice for you, Molly, I don’t have a platform, I don’t have a company, I don’t have this, you don’t have resources. So the beginning of the lifting women up chapters are all about small but mighty ways that you can lift women out that you don’t need time, resources, extra money influence platform network, you don’t need any of those things, all the way up to the really, you know, things that do require more time, money, resources, influence platform network, so that every woman can can pick up the book and find something that she can do today to lift another woman up and create change.
Steph Gaudreau
I love that and I love how you’re saying that it’s both a sort of a me and a we write and and that’s comes that’s what a lot of people come back to as you’re doing this work. They’re like, I don’t know, if I should, you know, you know, focus on helping the world first or myself is it selfish to want to, you know, get right with myself with some of these things have been really nying at me for a really long time. And I sort of love how you approach that in the book of it’s a it’s an internal and an external and We exist in both places. One question that I wanted to ask you, because you do write a lot about things like comparison and scarcity is that a lot of women Tell me, you know, I’m I’m working on, or I’m feeling better with the comparison that I will make to other people online. You know, I’m aware now that there’s airbrushing and like, if things aren’t always, as they seem, I’ve seen people’s highlight reel. On Instagram, I’m not always seeing the full reality and the full humaneness of that person. So it’s, it’s getting easier for me not to compare to someone else. But where I struggle is in the comparison to myself. And what I used to be able to do where I, the person I used to look like, or how do you help women traverse that rocky terrain? And when they’re like, I’m not always comparison to other can making comparisons to others, I can’t stop comparing to myself.
Molly Galbraith
Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. Because when I talk about this comparison trap, people do often assume that it has to do with other people. So I’ll let me quickly talk, I’ll talk about the scarcity mindset a little bit and then dive into the comparison prep and answer that question. So the two topics that I tackle kind of near the beginning of the book are this idea of scarcity mindset. And this is this is a this is a feeling of not enough ness, right? So either, I’m not good enough, lean enough, worthy enough, pretty enough, successful enough, I’m not a good enough parent, I’m not doing enough good in the world. That’s one that’s really been, I think a lot of women have been feeling lately. And then it’s just this, like, I’m not measuring up somehow. And then there’s the comparison trap, which is it can be comparing your self to other women, your life, your body, your kids, your success, your finances, your job, whatever. But it’s often comparing yourself to a past version of yourself. So I used to be able to do this. Or I used to look like this or I was happier than or compare yourself to a future version of yourself. So when this happens, then I’ll be happy. So when I lose 15 pounds, when I get that job promotion, when I finally get pregnant, when I get in a relationship, then you know, then I will be happy. And I think the most one of the most powerful things that we can do when we are having those feelings of comparison. So this first step is always going to be noticed naming and normalizing. And so this is kind of borrowed from the field of behavior, change psychology, that when we we can’t change anything until we become aware of it, right? So noticing it is really important to raise our awareness, naming how we’re feeling is incredibly important.
Molly Galbraith
So there’s evidence to suggest that that can actually reduce the intensity of the emotion. So whether we say like, I’m feeling really sad that my body can’t do what it used to be able to do, I’m feeling really sad, I’m not as strong as I was, I’m, you know, I’m feeling angry that I got in that accident and impacted my ability to do X, Y, and Z, right to just name how they’re feeling. And then normalize it, because that normalizing thing, like, hey, this isn’t really normal thing. A lot of people you know, have feelings like this, it helps us kind of create some space, and some, so that kind of noticing a name and creates a little space from the emotion and then normalizing helps us kind of soften a little bit, so we’re not as judgmental. And then I think getting curious about why we’re feeling that way. So what’s going on in our lives, because for a lot of people, when they kind of go down that spiral of, you know, feeling badly about themselves, there’s been like an event that triggers it. So it might be, you know, their mom made a comment to them, or, you know, they didn’t, something didn’t go well, the same way it went at work. And so they spiral back into those old kind of patterns of beating themselves up a little bit, I think getting curious about why they’re feeling that way. And then I think, and I walk women through this book, this exercise in the book, like getting radically clear on their values, I think is so, so important. Because oftentimes, like they might want the body they had 10 years ago, but it doesn’t, or whatever the thing is, but it doesn’t align with the values that they have today. So there’s an incongruent, see, they’re like, maybe they were single and didn’t have kids. And you know, like, there, they weren’t as serious about their work or whatever like that, that doesn’t like doing what they had to do to look that way or whatever doesn’t align with what they actually value in their life now, which might be you know, family career, and you know, something else, or they’re like, Oh, I was engaged in really unhealthy behaviors back then, in order to get that thing like isn’t aligned with my values to do that to myself mentally and emotionally to get to look the way that I did and they can see there’s like, there’s a little bit of a values misalignment. So then they, again, they can kind of step back and say, Okay, so I’m thinking that I’m wanting this thing, but it’s not aligned with my values. So what am I actually wanting and they can just kind of continue to get a little bit more introspective of out what it is that they truly want, because it’s often not the thing that they think they want when they’re having those initial feelings.
Steph Gaudreau
To hear a lot of good things are there I hear, you know, stopping to terminate to notice, name and normalize, getting clear on things like your values, asking questions, getting curious. And it sounds like, you know, from what you’re saying, Here, it’s gonna be really personal for each person, which is why, you know, I love things that are out there in the world, there’s like, a little like inspirational quotes and things like that, and like ways of thinking about even our bodies or movement, or, you know, our success and things like that. But it’s like, it’s so personal. And so I love that you bring in that idea of values and asking yourself and getting really open to what comes out, because that’s going to be the most meaningful stuff.
Molly Galbraith
It really isn’t. I mean, the taking the time to identify my values, has just been life changing me, there’s allowed me to feel so steadfast in the decisions that I make, I mean, being in a, in a position as the leader of an organization like girls kunstraum, you know, we’ve always wanted girls gun strong to be a to feel like we and not me, like I don’t want people to think I’m Girls Gone strong, I when they want them to feel like they are girls come strong. And at the same time, that comes with a lot of opinions. And a lot of people like saying, hey, you should be doing it this way. Or, you know, like, I don’t like the way that you did this thing. And so it’s been finding my values has been such a game changer for me. And just like having that just like, I’d The best way to describe it is just like clarity and steadfastness like, this is who I am, this is what I’m here to do. This is what our organization is here to do, we believe in the work that we’re doing. And if other people don’t like it, like, that’s okay, they don’t have to like it, they’re lifting women up might look entirely different. I mean, that’s, that’s one of the big premises of the book is that lifting women up is going to look different for each of us based on our unique lived experience, our skills, our talents, what we’re passionate about the resources we have access to, like we all have, it’s gonna take all of us to create the kind of change that we want to make in the world. So the way that you spend your time lifting women up stuff, while it’s, there’s probably a lot of crossover, you know, or overlap, wherever and the way that I do it, we’re going to be doing it slightly differently. And that’s awesome. Because you’re better prepared to do what you do. And I’m better prepared to do what I do. And we need both of ours to to create the kind of change that we want to create in the world.
Steph Gaudreau
I love that. And there is a values activity inside your book. Yes.
Molly Galbraith
An extensive one, like, it is no joke. It’s like you don’t just find your values. It’s like you rank them against each other. And you reality test them. So you’re asking yourself questions like, Okay, if I had to make a decision, based on my values that put me in the minority, or like, make people upset with me, like, would I still do it? Would I still feel good about it? Like, it’s you’re putting you’re putting it, put it through the wringer there to like say, Okay, yeah, these are my values, because it’s hard it is. And I remember cutting, cutting family out of my top, like five or 10, or whatever I remember, just like, oh, but then I remembered, like, actual life situations, there are times I sacrifice times with my family in order to do this other stuff and felt good about it. And so yeah, it really makes you It makes you think and get super clear.
Steph Gaudreau
Totally. And it’s page 95. Inside the book has a book right here. So if this all sounds really appealing to you, you know, definitely pick up the books. It’s really cool. It’s very interactive. And it’s not just like, okay, here’s a bunch of stuff that you know, you should do that works. But it’s like, Hey, here’s the concept, and now apply it to your life and really get in there and, and make it personal to, you know, so you’re talking about ways that you can lift other women up in the world, everything from like, super low, you know, time resources, investment network, and platform and so on. What are a couple of your favorite, really simple, simple, simple, simple ways that you’ve seen people apply this out in the world in terms of lifting women up? And you kind of round it out with this question?
Molly Galbraith
Yeah, so one of my favorites, I would say would have to be sharing other women’s work. So especially on social media, and not just to sharing it, but making sure that they get credit for their work. So, so many of us spend enormous amounts of time creating stuff, whether it’s a you know, a quote, or like a tweet or an article or whatever thing that we’re doing, and to have that shared and to have it you’re not credited or to have it you know, Miss attributed to someone else is really, it hurts. You know that in the moment, but it can also have like massive implications, like if something really resonates with people, and it ends up getting shared by a lot of folks, and it gets attributed to someone else. And we saw this happening with the Me Too Movement with Toronto Burke and Alyssa Milano, which is one of the examples that I give in the book, women are chronically under credited for our work. And it’s even worse for black women and women of color. So often, you know, their work goes unnoticed, there goes, someone else gets credit for speeding, sharing someone else’s work, because it’s so simple. And it doesn’t even have to be on social media, you can share someone’s work, you know, with a friend or a family member or co you can, you know, give them a copy of a book that you like, or you can tell them about a product from a woman owned business. So I would say I really like sharing, making sure women get credit and endorsing. And so our endorsement is so powerful, that when we say and it kind of goes along the same lines of sharing the same like, Hey, I really think that you should get this or you would like this, you can give a really simple endorsement by, you know, writing someone a review on, you know, Amazon, or like on Yelp or on Facebook, or whatever the thing is, or even, you know, LinkedIn, you could, you know, write them a, like if they work for you, or whatever, like a letter of endorsement or nominate them for something. So I think the more that we can really champion is kind of all fall under the fall under the category of like, championing other women share their stuff, give them credit for it, like, lift them up, endorse them, like tell other people, you know what you think about them. And that has been such a powerful way that I’ve been lifted up as it relates to this book, as it relates to the work that we do at girls come strong, and it really gives women the opportunity to have their message reach more people.
Steph Gaudreau
Love that. And yes, like, it’s so simple to just, you know, either look back, and if someone reshare something like see where, where it originally came from, you know, it takes maybe a few seconds. And then yes, if you’re sharing people’s, you know, stories, tied to tie them, it’s so easy, but I can definitely relate, like I’ve had times where, you know, my entire, like, posts on my blog have been shared and like no credit, and it just, it doesn’t feel great. And, you know, something simple that you can do to just say, Hey, I see you, I appreciate you thanks for, you know, the work that you’re doing. And yeah, it goes a long way, especially in a world where women’s voices are often drowned out by other people, you know, who are doing maybe similar work, or they’re just, it’s harder to be heard. And so you know, like you said, amplifying, sharing, tagging, endorsing can go a long way.
Molly Galbraith
Yeah. And within the book, I share, like, Okay, this is what it can actually do, it can help increase sales of their products and services, it can increase, improve their reputation, it can give them new opportunities, like speaking gigs, or you know, what I mean collaborations or whatever. Like, they’re actual tangible things. And again, I share in the book, this idea of the ripple effect, like this, one small thing that we can do, can actually down the line have a massive ripple effect. So it might not feel like a big deal. Like, Oh, I just shared so and so’s work and tagging them in it. That’s like, you can’t always see what happens down the line as the result of that happening. And I’ve heard over the years, so many incredible stories of people coming back to me, and they’re like, okay, so I first found you through this person. And then this happened in the middle, you know, and you like, realize, like, Oh, my gosh, like so many incredible, beautiful things have come from this one person finding this bit of work that I did, and then all of this amazing stuff happens down the line. So I want people to know, like, that’s a really cool thing. That’s a powerful thing. Like we have the opportunity to massively lift people up and create huge ripple effects with very small actions. And that’s, you know, I want people to to know, and feel empowered by those possibilities.
Steph Gaudreau
Absolutely. Thanks for sharing that I know that’s gonna be really actionable for people. And we’ll give them something that they can take away from this podcast. Tell us where, okay, where can we find the book? And where can we find out more about GTS and all of your amazing programs and resources that you have for people?
Molly Galbraith
Yes, thank you, Steph. So MollyGalbraith.com/book is where you can find the book. It’s Strong Women Lift Each Other Up, you can also do a quick Google search. It’s in the US and also in like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Germany. And then I think it’s a couple other Amazon websites and other countries. But MollyGalbraith.com/book or a quick Google search of Strong Women Lift Each Other Up to find me and connect with me on social media. I’m most active on Instagram @TheMollyGalbraith. And then for Girls Gone Strong and all of our articles and free courses and certifications and things like that, you can find us at GirlsGoneStrong.com.
Steph Gaudreau
Awesome. This has been so great to connect with you, again. I always look forward to chatting with you and just always look forward to seeing what you’re up to in the world. I know that you know, the work that you do is not always easy but you make those choices to do the work that you know that is important and that’s really it. You’re very inspirational as a peer and a colleague, and I just appreciate you on that personal and professional level. So very much. So thanks for being with us on the show.
Molly Galbraith
Thank you for having me. I know how much time and energy and resources and love you put into this podcast and how long you’ve been putting it into this podcast and just how much care goes into Yeah, to like, you know, caring for your community. And so I do not take it lightly when you share this space with me, and I appreciate it very, very much. So thank you.
Steph Gaudreau
Thanks. We’ll talk soon. All right. That does it for this episode of the podcast on Strong Women Lift Each Other Up with Molly Galbraith. If you want the links to everything that Molly mentioned in the show, as well as the show notes, where you can find a full transcript, make sure you head over to StephGaudreau.com and you can help amplify this show by sharing out on social media Instagram Stories is amazing for this and tagging Molly Galbraith and myself. We’ll put those links in the show notes as well. Thanks so much for joining me on this episode of the podcast. Go out there and lift a woman that you know up and share the love.
