Jarrod Oram: Experience, Understanding, Empathy & Humility

Jarrod Oram is a creative with many talents and doesn't like to be restricted by any specific label. In this episode, we're talking about the importance of surrender, self-care, authenticity, enjoying the journey, and saying yes to opportunities along the way.

Connect with Jarrod @jarrodoram

Connect with me on your favorite platform: https://pods.link/aardvarkgirl

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00:42 I think, just in society as a whole, labels are safe because they give us identification and they can provide us with a sense of who we are. But all a label is is just a title that you've given yourself, and it's easy to hide the shield behind it. 

02:10 We place these artificial terms around what we're “supposed to” be doing, and that kind of limits us. And it keeps us kind of in this tunnel vision mode of staying this path. And I think one of the biggest things that's happened for me over the last few years has been a lot of self-growth, and a lot of taking those blinders off and really kind of surrendering to this world. 

04:55 Words like “supposed to,” “I should,” “I can't,” those are absolutes and we just don't realize how damaging they are to put those on ourselves. Because what happens if you don't do that? Then it almost becomes like this shame cycle. And in a professional world, in a personal world, you start layering those on top of yourself and it gets to a place where you're just kicking your own butt time and time and time again. 

06:44 It was this odd, beautiful eye opener in the fact that I tended to attract very, very toxic bosses. Not only attracting those, but then staying in those relationships. And they did me the best favor on the planet in letting me go the day before Thanksgiving. I was driving home with all my stuff in my car and I was like, blank canvas. This is happening for my greatest good. 

10:51 This is a total Jarrod thing - let's get in the car for three hours go see a Sturgill Simpson show. And I remember during that show, just feeling that warmth inside of doing the things for me that offer that inner joy that nothing on the outside can create. And I just think of that time and time again, because that was the thing. I was like, oh, got it. This makes sense.

17:04 Authenticity is, am I bringing my true inner self? My true inner self curses a lot. It just does. My true inner self buys too many shoes. It just does. You know, I mean, and those aren’t things that define me at all, and it becomes parts of my traits. And I don't bring the work side to Amanda or my boss, I don't bring the professional side to that. I bring Jarrod. Because if I can be my true place anywhere I go, I’m staying true to myself, I'm staying true to people, and that ends up showing. It ends up showing in my photography. It ends up showing in my content strategy. 

23:01 Trying to walk people through their struggles when you're in the middle of them, it can feel so defeating and so relentless, and so never ending. But don't you look back on those now and you're like, I am so grateful for those? Because change doesn't happen when you're skipping on a sunshine with Jesus. It just doesn't happen then. And change sucks. And it is really gnarly when you're in the middle of it, because you don't see the outcome of it. And it shapes you to a place to feel, from a level of awareness, to spot those things and to understand your self-worth. And then to be able to take chances like this to really step in unknowns.

26:44 People are dying for vulnerability and authenticity. And yet, it requires a lot of courage, and a lot of bravery, and a lot of getting dropped on your butt and getting back up and dusting it off lovingly and kindly to ourselves and saying, “You know what? I choose to do it again. Even though I just got my butt kicked with it, I'm going to do it again.” Why? Because I'm going to keep showing up. I want to choose courage over comfort today, because that's where the change is gonna happen.

29:17 Things start with dreams. And then it starts with goals. And then what can I learn to create a plan with it? And then I have to act. I have to take a series of steps of actions, and sometimes they're just small actions. The next step, just doing the next one and then seeing what shows up.

33:09 What I do is I connect people. What I do is I inspire people. I have a good sense of design and direction, and the messaging that comes behind it. People hire me because they want a story told. Yes, everyone talks about stories, but I come in to really have people understand that it's not about just checking the boxes of what you do. There are 200 other companies that do what you do. Let's really look at your why. 

39:08 If I can bring experience, understanding, and empathy to people, and humility. I bring those things to the table time and time again. 

42:39 Relationships are meant to be vulnerable, because in that vulnerability, there's trust. And where there's trust, there's intimacy. And when Intimacy happens, then that's the thing that people can really grow with. And that happens in the professional side as well. That’s what really can happen in the coach/mentor side, especially when people start seeing results from it.

50:14 Trusting your gut and trusting yourself, and that who you are today, what you do today, does not define you. You are your own entity. There is not another entity, there is not another brand, like you today. There's not another one on this planet. You are your own unique selling proposition. And you can pivot, you can shift, you can do any other stupid 2020 words that we've overused, but there's that capacity inside you. And you're worth it, and you have it and you can do it. It gets back to that belief of what are you doing to take care of yourself in order to then take that to the world? Because I cannot give away what I don't possess inside.