- life{in}grace
- All the Pretty Things by Edie Wadsworth
- lifeingrace on Instagram
- Dr. Edie Wadsworth on Facebook
- Edie Wadsworth on YouTube
- Ruth Soukup
- Living Well Spending Less®
- ruth@ruthsoukup.com
- The Living Well Planner®
- Elite Blog Academy®
- Brené Brown
- The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis
- Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis
Edie overcame extreme poverty, abuse, and a horrific childhood to graduate from medical school and become a physician. Eventually, she walked away from that career and found her true calling. As you might have gleaned from that, Edie is incredibly brave—and she’s also one of the wisest people I know! She blogs at life{in}grace and is the author of All the Pretty Things.
She grew up poor, surrounded by addiction, alcoholism, and violence. For a long time, she thought she had to hide her background from people and pretend everything was fine. She wanted to write a book that made her look accomplished and smart, but ended up writing about all the hardest things in her life. In hindsight, she found that owning our struggles and allowing people into our stories is transformative and an opportunity for tremendous personal growth.
When she was eight or nine years old, she learned gymnastics from her friends and tried out for cheerleading. She ended up not making the squad because she was “that kid,” the one who didn’t have the right clothes or the right shoes, and didn’t come from the right family. This led to her becoming determined that she would be so good that nobody would ever be able to tell her “no” again. In this conversation, she talks about this transformational moment and what it meant for the rest of her life.
This episode will make you laugh, cry, think, and take action! Tune in to hear about overcoming incredible obstacles, changing career paths despite being highly successful and respected, what Edie’s struggle is (hint: it’s not perfectionism!), what she’s working on these days, and why it’s so important to focus on what you can give instead of how you’re being perceived.
Highlights
[05:16] – For listeners who don’t already know Edie, she gives a quick overview of her life story and who she is.
[07:14] – We hear more about some of the hard things in Edie’s life, starting with her childhood growing up with an alcoholic father.
[09:51] – Edie reminisces on the process of writing her book, which involved many tears and days of feeling like she couldn’t finish and needed to give up.
[12:36] – What was it that kept Edie going during the long and grueling process of writing her book, even when she wanted to quit?
[14:43] – Edie talks about how she emerged from her difficult childhood to go to medical school and become a physician.
[18:53] – Ruth points out something interesting: we hear stories of people who have triumphed over something, then realize that things still go wrong for them.
[20:49] – What is the hardest lesson that Edie has had to learn, or the biggest mistake she has made?
[25:10] – We hear about how Edie dared to walk away from her successful career as a physician.
[28:04] – It’s harder to make a change when you’re comfortable and things feel safe, Ruth points out.
[29:25] – Edie thinks that when you’re willing to do it scared in your life, God (or the universe, if you prefer) honors that. She points out how well this has worked in her own life.
[31:00] – Is Edie a rule-follower or a rule-breaker, and what are her favorite rules to break?
[33:27] – We learn about all the exciting projects that Edie is working on these days.
[36:56] – It helps in her current career with essential oils that Edie has her medical background, but she’s also passionate about empowering and coaching women who don’t have a similar background.
[37:48] – Does Edie ever struggle with perfectionism?
[30:59 – Edie talks about the best piece of advice she has ever gotten.
[42:23] – We hear about how Edie protects her confidence and keeps herself strong on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
[45:53] – Edie discusses where people can find her online, and shares some final words of wisdom for listeners.
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