Join me as I speak with Dr. Terrence Johnson, Co-Founder of iProgress, LLC. Terrence shares his story of change – while he’s in the middle of it! He shares some of the lessons and ideas that have been coming up for him while he pursues his dream of doing fulfilling work.
About Dr. Terrence Johnson
Dr. Terrence Johnson is Co-Founder of iProgress, LLC in Jackson, MS. He currently lives in Gallatin, TN. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in Counselor Education from Mississippi State University. He also has a Doctor of Professional Counseling from Mississippi College.
He has served in several roles as mentor, licensed professional counselor, clinical professor, youth leader, and scholarship fund director. He is a writer, public speaker, nature lover, philanthropist, entrepreneur, proud introvert, and life-long learner.
Dr. Terrence Johnson is a life excavator who empowers people to dig up their buried treasures within by discovering the lessons from life experiences. Life is the greatest teacher and those who feel lost do not need to find themselves again but begin a journey of rediscovery.
To learn more about Terrence, please go to:
https://linktr.ee/lifeexcavator
Transcription
Stacie Crawford
Hi, and welcome back to the next episode of the changes in our lives podcast. I am here today with Dr. Terrence Johnson. And I can’t wait for you guys to be part of this conversation. So Terrence and I met through a friend and we have spent quite a few Friday mornings and clubhouse having incredible conversations. I think that clubhouse feeds my soul and makes me like ready to get into the weekend and do the things that I need to do to take care of myself. So it’s been a joy to get to hear. Terrence, take on the different things we talked about. And I’m excited to have him here today. So welcome, Terrence. Well,
Terrence Johnson
thank you for having me in the in the invite. And like, I always look forward to conversation with you and then the clubhouse the whole crew. So yeah, I’m just looking forward to the conversation today.
Stacie Crawford
This is great. So as you know, Terrence, my podcast is about talking about changes and transitions and the things that we learned about. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about some of the transitions that you’ve been going through recently?
Terrence Johnson
Yeah, I’m always is saying I always say that life is undefeated. And it is, I guess, you just kind of learn how to like, roll with the punches. So you never know what life will throw at you. And I think for me, one of the major transition that I’ve had, it’s kind of it’s a few, but it’s more or less how I view life. And my perspective, I think this change, um, and I know people always, you’ve heard the phrase, like, being a human being, instead of a human doing. And I’ve been learning to lean more into the being instead of the doing, I was a doer of many things for a long time. I always say I’m a recovering a lot of thing, recovering workaholic, recovering people pleaser. So those things kind of kept me bound to like, a real hectic schedule, just going going, going, going going, I think for me now is will, I will kind of experience do I want, and how do I kind of frame my life to have those experiences, and also do fulfilling work, because you can do work. But it doesn’t mean that all the work that you do is fulfilling. You might be leading to something might be for a paycheck, it might be to advance your career, or whatever. And then you get to a certain point, I guess, for me, I went to the mountaintop of my career, I went from, you know, starting out as a case manager doing like, just kind of pretty much writing people, right. And, and doing stuff in school with kids and stuff. And then more than that there’d be and then morphed into, like, teaching and all that. And then I got to a point where I was teaching our faculty and I was like, This is it. This, this doesn’t feel like what I thought it was gonna feel like a kid, you know, is this thing that you put down on your list or your bucket list or whatever, it’s like, Oh, when I get this, I feel fulfilled, or when I get this, oh, this is when everything’s gonna come together. But and it didn’t really do that for me. I was like, I have a she’ll be happy. If people on the outside like, Oh, you’re doing these amazing things is like, I’m exhausted. I don’t really know if I really enjoy this. And it’s not saying it’s not from a work standpoint, you know, it’s always gonna be hard work. So I’m not talking about like, oh, you know, if it’s hard, it is not for you is not dead. It’s just you get to the point where you feel like it’s something more, it’s something outside of it. I might not know what that is. But I know if I don’t do it, I won’t I have a regret. And I think that’s why would I like I could continue teaching. I continue to be in this system. But what will be on the other side of that, like, what’s the unknown of that? And let me see what that could possibly be. And so that led me to like, move in and quit my job packing up my car and remove into a place in Tennessee. I’d never heard of it and like I love it. But I wouldn’t have picked it like it wouldn’t be my plan. My plan would, you know to find another job and do something else and then move back to New Orleans. That’s kind of where I wanted to go. I grew up in Louisiana. So I was like, I want to go back to New Orleans. And that didn’t have. So you just kind of, I think that’s one thing I’ve learned too, you might have a plan, or you might have a dream. But you have to have time or space for the to kind of be organic. And let the path lead to pay a find you, instead of you trying to always force the path. And that can be the most uncomfortable part, especially if you like to have control, which a lot of us like pest control. And I like to do it, it’s like you give that up to be like, Okay, let me be open to the possibility of meeting somebody new like like clubhouse, or being in a new area, or change them or routine going, put myself in a new environment and see what happens. And that’s not easy for a lot of people to do. It wasn’t easy for me starting out, but now get more accustomed to that uncertainty.
Stacie Crawford
So many good points in here. I’m like, Oh, my gosh, I have so many questions. So first of all, we do have this idea that when we achieve our dreams, we’re going to feel a different way. So now it seems like you’re chasing the feeling rather than chasing a particular outcome. How do you chase feeling fulfilled?
Terrence Johnson
I guess from okay, this is the best way to frame it is repurposing pain, a theme, pain has a lot to do with how we frame things. If things hurt us, we try to avoid it. What I’ve learned is that pain in growth kind of come together. So if I tried to avoid the pain, then I’m not really growing either. So it’s like they come together. But I have to understand what the pain is for. Sometimes the pain is because I’m inflicting pain on myself. So I’ve got a lot to do. Sometimes the pain is the pain of losing something like Like, like, like it’s coming up to a year that my dad passed. So that’s a loss that I’ve had, that’s been part of my journey, too. And then the other is the pain of like unfulfillment is like, I’m not living up to my full potential, and it’s hurting me. And it might not hurt other people because they just see what I’m doing on the external. And but me in terms of like, I need to do something else. And it is the internal struggle, because a lot of people might not understand if you try and verbalize like, I feel like I need to do some it’s like, what you mean, you doing all this other stuff is great. Yeah,
Stacie Crawford
yeah, absolutely. We get so much. Well, I shouldn’t say wait, I can relate to that. That this whole, you know, you have it all. You’re doing it all, like look at you, you’re you’re so successful with this, you have this, you have that? And you’re like, Yeah, and I’m not knocking those things. But I don’t feel like I’m being fully may or or like you said living up to my potential and maybe even not even knowing what that is like, what is my full potential? Who am I being and I know that when we spoke before recording, you had talked about these changes actually put you in a place where you really started to try to discover who am I? Yeah.
Terrence Johnson
And I’m still trying to figure that out. But I think there’s a good name though, because and what it made me think about and it’s there’s probably another argument about the right but you know how you a certain point you kind of had you put on clothes or you know, when you were a teenager, you went through different phases, and you tried different things or whatever, and you tried to find what fit you and I think some of us when we get into that, like unsettling point in our life. That’s what we’re doing again, it’s like we’re starting to try on an old version of ourselves and like, Oh, but I can do this. Like, I don’t feel oh, I don’t feel so like what fits now and is like, is trying on a lot of those things, to understand, like what you liked what you don’t like what you want to get rid of, and thing, that’s what I’ve been doing the last few years is like, Okay, this is, this is not. Okay, this is okay, this feels a little bit closer to Okay. And I think there’s nothing wrong with it. I think that’s healthy. But it’s not the easiest process, because it can get frustrating at times because like, it worked before, why is it not working? I have been doing this when I used to love it in, and you just go through seasons in your life, and different seasons, you connect to different things, you got different passions, and your passions evolve and change all the time.
Stacie Crawford
You know, that very much reminds me of how I have been focusing on my own life and the changes that I am creating and experiencing, looking at things as an experiment, rather than a, this has to be right, the first time that I do it, it has to be perfect. And getting away from those kinds of ideas and more and like what you’re saying, I’m just gonna try this on. See if it fits, does it fit? No, okay, well, like, Let’s adjust it and go someplace else, you know, wherever you happen to end up, let’s just see what happens. You know, that, for me was a really big shift and my own thinking to move from let’s just see what happens because it could fail. Yeah. You know, you know, as opposed to before, it was like, Well, this is the path that I’m supposed to be taking, this is the path that I’ve been working on. So I’m just going to do everything that I need to do to try to make it come out perfectly. That’s a lot of pressure. Right? It’s hard to feel fulfilled there. Do you find that, that that’s a shift for you? Like, did you have to make a shift from from being like, afraid of not things being perfect to it being an experiment? Or the it being an experiment? Is your typical way of showing up in the world?
Terrence Johnson
No, I will. Real perfection. I’ve gotten a lot better with it. I think the my previous roles made me feel that way. Because I was trying to move up the ladder. So I felt like I had something to prove. And so my work was what prove my worth. I think now, the reason why I’m able to kind of relax somewhat is because I have more life experiences now that I tap into versus like my knowledge or my degrees or training. And I think that’s the thing, because you can get lost in it. Because you can be so caught up in what do I What don’t I know, versus what experiences do I have that can teach me or that can guide me in this situation. And that was that. So I don’t read as much as I used to I used to read all the time. And now I think I seek out either experiences or just like what we’re doing now like conversation with other people, any sharing those stories and information that teaches me a lot more than just sitting with a book, I think me and I think is the byproduct of the pandemic because I was so locked down for a while. It’s like I didn’t want to go, I didn’t want to be around people. I don’t want to be this like in one place, I’m ready to move around again. And I think that had a lot to do with it too. And I think that was a big part of my shield
Stacie Crawford
when you began looking for who you are. Something that you had mentioned was that you were really coming back to a place where you were finding your passions and digging into just the things that made you feel good and made you feel that fulfillment. But what I noticed when you were talking about that your passion still are about helping other people like you’ve left very specific helper roles that you’ve had in the past, but you’ve moved on to a new way of helping people by following your own passion. So why don’t you tell us about some of what your what your passions are that you’re reconnecting with?
Terrence Johnson
What one and it’s a lot of my original patients predate like anything, you know, my nine to five job. A lot of these things I’ve been doing all my life but I’m like, the way that I’m doing them now. I can frame them differently. So writing is One, I’ve been a writer all my life. I love writing. But the way I do it now is totally different. Like, if you read some of my stuff I wrote, like years ago, it was real heavy. Like, I use all the big words, and they kind of end it. And it was good. But it was, hey, let me show you how I can flip these words like the technique of it. Now I write, because I’m trying to get a feeling across, or get people to relate to a store or get people to feel something. And that’s, that’s the next level. So I think for me with anything, that’s what I’m most concerned about. I could really care less how people think like, if I’m smart, or not, whatever, I don’t really care about that. But I am concerned about what people’s reaction or not saying if they like it or not, I want them to feel something I want to make too. And I don’t think that in in like a helping space or mental health space or whatever. That’s the intent. The intent is always trying to figure out what’s your problem? How can we fix it, and that I think people need to be empowered more, and understand more about what makes them unique, and their own strengths, and then learn to be more confident in it. And that’s a different language that you have to put things in.
Stacie Crawford
Yeah, and absolutely. And it kind of relates to what you were saying before in that, you know, your writing has changed from a place of almost again, trying to prove your worth, right, to actually creating a connection now, like, I know that you are super big on connecting with people, and trying to find common ground and collaboration is a key element for you. When you are writing now, for the people that don’t know you, what do you focus your writing on?
Terrence Johnson
So because I, I love nature, a lot of mine are almost like snapshots. So I try and have a visual picture. That’s usually what I start with. That’s usually what I start anything with like presentation, workshop, writing, and I will come from an image, sometimes the image comes from some I see, sometimes the image will come to me as a walk and I do my nature walks. That’s what a lot of my ideas come from, or situation that I go through. And so it’s like, well, how can I? How can I convey this store in a way that when people think about it, they think about a pitcher first. So as I’m talking, as I’m like speaking, I always leave pitchers. Because people relate to images, you know, and it now I’m talking about every Miami article I did a while ago, called the old median cost me the new me. And the visual I had was, you remember the viewfinder that you that you had like as a kid. That’s kind of what we do with our past. It’s like, we keep reliving the images, we keep going through all these images back back to back. And we can’t let them go to move forward. And it’s like if we just learn to like, put that down and focus on like, what’s in front of us. Then it’s like, oh, oh, this is where I’m at now. was different, but because we always try and like say is not saying that. I don’t have a moment because I do but that’s a way for me to process like, Oh, I’m looking at too many Oh, images, I need to focus on what’s now.
Stacie Crawford
I love that. You know, one of the things that you had mentioned when we were speaking was talking about we were talking about being a superhero. Yeah. Trying to do it all be it all save them all, you know, just everything that goes along with a superhero. And you had said something that you felt like you were at a time where it was time for you to take the cape off. So what does that look like?
Terrence Johnson
So, I’ll tell you kind of what it looked like for me. My case was my dress by my suit. So when I was teaching, I would have like my my blazer, some slacks and a white shirt or whatever. Like I was real dressed up. Or when I did my workshops, like any conference presentation, I will be real dressed up and it was almost like me i by going to the, to the phone booth and like putting in like a read and I like read it. And that was like my way to put I guess, like my way of putting on confidence. So it’s like once I got this suit on, I’m locked in. And now I don’t really need it. Because I don’t look at it that way. Now. I think when I’m speaking now I’m, I’m the least structured and organized when I speak now than I’ve ever been. I think what I do now, you know, I play some music, I might be some meditation, music or whatever. And I pray before, and that’s kind of it, and I just let it go where it goes, like, I didn’t know I was gonna talk about all this. You gotta let it go where it goes. But I know, I try and be intentional. Because whatever I say, I want somebody I want to be able to reach somebody. So certain things that I say or certain stories I share will be for somebody, I don’t know who but I do not. So I don’t try and waste words and waste time when I do have opportunities like this, because I know it’s something I’m here to say something I might not know what but that’s the that’s the aim.
Stacie Crawford
Does it feel easy to let it go? Now? I mean, you’ve had a little bit of time of like practicing not not a whole bunch of time, this is a reset shift for you. But does it feel easy to let it go? Does that feel better? What Tell me about that?
Terrence Johnson
Yeah, because I’m not in my head. Anytime that I can just flow. That doesn’t mean being authentic. The moment that I go into my head, then I’m being like perfectionistic, or I’m really concerned about like how it’s coming across or whatever. So when I’m just having a conversation, I’m just going off with like, certain things you say like you might say something like, oh, it gets, you know, just like the ViewMaster thing. I wasn’t planning on talking about that. But it just came to me when I just laid it, let the images calm. And that’s really what happens is as, as I’m talking or as people talking back to me, these images pop in my head. And then I just talk from the images.
Stacie Crawford
You know, you you very much enjoy sharing your own experiences, and you enjoy connecting with people. And I know that one big topic that you have talked about often both online, in say clubhouse or in your writing is your dad and your experience of your relationship with your dad. And I know that that has changed. So tell me about that. And just what where it was what it looked like before and where it went to and how did it shift? How did that change?
Terrence Johnson
Yeah, it went in phases. So like when I was growing up, me and my dad were really close. And like we spent all kinds of time. And then as I got into my teenage years, he wasn’t around as much. And you know, he was kind of in and out of the house and all that. So it was a lot of strain in our family. And I became really angry and bitter because I saw how that was affecting my mom. And so my thing weirdly, college was my escape away from my home environment. So I was like I got to get out of because I mean I could have eaten with a jacket stay. I mean, my bottom opinion went to Jackson State I could have went to Jay state for free like the Honors College was already trying to get me out of I know I need to go go away. I need to go into the you know days they didn’t have my majors I was an architecture major back. So that’s how I ended up at Mississippi State. But when I got there, I realized that I was still angry. And I figured out that it was really like because I’m angry with my dad but I’ll just just angry upset all the time. And and so when I got to about grad school, that’s when I went I did it so I’m gonna tell it analysis this Yeah, this part of the story. So really what shifted my, the relationship with me and my dad was church. I went to Bob a class one night, and I’ll pass we’ll talk about the different types of loops. And he was talking about you know, agape love and love inspired Uh, and like, I would tell me like you need to call your data fight. Oh, oh, and then to say, I really was like, so real crazy, too. But, you know, so I had this ride, they took me about 20 minutes to get back to my apartment. And they’re going back and forth. We got like, God, I just don’t really want to call him he like, you need to call. And then like, before I got to my, to my part about like, Okay, God, if you want me to do this, I see you had to fix my mouth. I said, because you don’t want to curse now. I got to say, and I don’t want to come across like that, because I really want him to hear me and understand me. And so I went on and called him. And I say, Hey, I said, Look, I got something to say. I said, I just want you to listen. And when I’m done, then you can talk. And I just kind of walk through like, the last, like, 1520 years of my life, like, Hey, you did this, I didn’t like this, hey, when you did this, I feel this way. And I just kind of walked through, it wasn’t like, accusing them. And then I’ll just give him my side and how it felt. And after that, I was like, Okay, now you can tell. You know what, I can’t say that I agree with everything you see, like, but I do appreciate you came to me as a man, and you didn’t disrespect me. And then like they say, you know, today, I really see you as a man, I think I was like, 2023 24, something like that. And that really just started our relationship. Um, and the reason I tell it is because a lot of guys, and I worked with a lot of guy when I was doing counseling in, in college counseling, a lot of them at the point where they looking for their dad to reach out. And a lot of times, they don’t, did Dad doesn’t have the language to do it. Because it’s like, oh, I might have missed up, or I don’t know, if I, I don’t know what the conversations gonna be like, I don’t want to be a big blow up or whatever. So they kind of avoided and in two days, you would just, they around, like when you need them. So like, well, he didn’t call me he’ll need. And most of the time, it has to be the son to reach back out. Now, I’m not saying it’s gonna mend it, or you still had a relationship. But I think if you have something to tell your father, you know, you’re not in a good place to get it off for you. Because that’s, that’s why I have more peace, about my dad’s passing, because I was able to talk about those things and get that off my chest. And, you know, that conversation led to me, you know, he moved back down, he helped me remodel my house, but in the past when he had his aneurysm the first time. And it’s like, if that conversation wouldn’t have happened, if we want to mention those things, I wouldn’t have even invited him now. I wouldn’t want him to be around. And so you just never know how like unforgiveness or bitterness or whatever the consequences of it, because people are here today, but they might be going tomorrow. And then if they’re not here, you got their regret, like, Oh, I wish I would have said this. I wish I would have did this. I wish I would have spent that time.
Stacie Crawford
You know, I know that for you. This is very much a father son dynamic, because that’s what you have experienced. But I mean, exactly what you’re saying there at the end. It’s not about Father, Son. It’s about any relationship when things are unsaid, and, you know, you don’t know what you’re missing out on. Right. Right. And, of course, that’s not like the caveat to go, curse everybody out. You can do it in a respectful and loving manner. But you know, it really is interesting to me. I think a lot of us are afraid to have hard conversations, because we think it’s going to go bad. But we forget that like the reason we want to have the hard conversation is because it already feels bad. So like what do you have to lose if you’re showing up in a respectful way that is honoring who you are?
Terrence Johnson
Right? Right, right.
Stacie Crawford
You are you how you have different sayings that I’ve noticed that you use over our time together. And I like them. I like them. There are two that you used recently and I’ve heard you use them at least twice. So that’s why I actually had them written down was like I’m coming back to this. So the first one is everything is an assignment. Can you explain that? Yeah. What do you what do you mean by everything is an assignment and is that a good thing? Is that a good phrase? Is that a bad phrase with no
Terrence Johnson
Here’s what I think it came from looking, I kind of looked at things from like a bird’s eye view almost where I can zoom out. And I looked at my career, I didn’t my life in general. And each one of these moments in time, had like a specific assignment. And like, so me with me will make the Jackson was the thing I would never do. Like when I left for college, I’m like, I’ll never come back home. I’m sick of Jake’s I don’t want to come back. But me coming back home. It was multiple assignments today. One was like my mom, one was spending time with my grandfather before he passed. So I had a year with him before he passed. The other was the house that I bought that I thought it was for me, but it wasn’t for me, it was for the family, and everybody else. So that was an assignment. And then it was students that I counseled, like at the counseling center, or whatever. They were part of the assignment. It was one in particular that I remember, it was this young lady. And she came in for like a console. And her and her boyfriend were having issues. And she ended up pregnant. And she was like, I don’t know if I’m going to keep the baby because I don’t know if I want to have relationship with him. And just the whole dynamic of bringing a chat in net. I don’t know. And, you know, my sense of it was she wanted to keep the baby, but I didn’t want to say this, what you should do this what you shouldn’t do, because I can’t understand that. So my, my, my co worker, I like she needs a woman’s perspective. And I kind of let my coworker know, like, Hey, can you talk to her? Cuz this was going on, but I want her to have woman’s perspective. Because I knew what I feel, but I like how I want somebody. And so, you know, they talked or whatever. And then it was like, maybe a year or so after that. Like, she came in with the boyfriend and the baby. As like, you know, no moments light is awesome, you know, say like, on the hill, you know, and it wasn’t like, I was fully you know, I was the initial contact, but it was like, I just sensed that, like, she don’t really want to do this, you know, not saying that she, she had she has every right to you know, whatever the season was, but I just feel they asked like she, she really want to had a baby, she didn’t want to bring the baby into all of this, this coming on right now. And so that was another sign. And then when I was teaching, one of my students was blind. And she was like my best student. And I told her, like the first week of school, I was like, Look, if you listen to what I what I tell you, I say I make sure I walk you out, you know, I’m gonna get you across the stage. And then it got time for her to graduate. And I don’t know how like my balls in the dean, they kind of heard about that. And they brought they brought me into the oven. And he’s like, Hey, we’re gonna make sure like we heard about, you know what you told her and we’re gonna make that happen. So Ashley egg graduated, I got a chance to walk across the stage. And when she got entered, like, in that moment, just, every time I think about it, like, there was my assignment, that was part of my assignment. And so it’s like, every assignment has people attached to it. And that’s why I know my niche shifts or changes or whatever, is other people that attach to these assignments. And I feel like where I’m at now isn’t an assignment to I don’t know, all the people, I know some of the people now this kind of coming into my, my I get the senati There’s like, okay, it’s something that I got to do for them is something so this is an assignment. I don’t know where it’s gonna go, but I just feel like okay, this part of the next thing. And when you look at it that way, that’s, that’s when you can be okay with certainty because you know that once your assignment or the person that you’re supposed to help or multiple people being at assignment close, and then you can go to the next one. And so that’s really, that’s kind of like how life presents itself is just a series of assignments. But you gotta be willing to accept them. Because a lot we miss a lot of assignments because they look like what we want. But sometimes this is like The lesson is in this time, and once you feel it, then you can move to the next one.
Stacie Crawford
It’s so amazing to hear you speak of your different experiences. It was shocking to me a couple of years ago, I was having a conversation with a friend. And we were talking about the idea of everything happens for a reason. And she does not believe that. She said, No, everything does not happen for a reason, we just assign meaning to it. And I said, that is absolutely true. Yes, we do assign meaning to things, because that’s where the fulfillment comes in, when it means something. So I like how this whole you know, everything is an assignment makes a lot of sense, in terms of reaching for that fulfillment that you were talking about at the beginning, you know, when you are on an assignment, there’s recent that you’re there. Right. So I to my friend, if you’re listening, I still think it’s bunk that, you know, no, everything does happen for a reason, you just need to find what it is and you know, find the meaning and find the learning out of it. So that leads me to the other thing that I’ve heard you say a couple of times, and they’re very interrelated. You enjoy building your tribe, or organically. What does that mean?
Terrence Johnson
Yeah. And I say all these things are just, they’ve evolved over time. So I, I’m an introvert and people don’t believe it when I say they’re like, What You talk a lot. We did like, no, like to beat them. But I hated networking. I hated by networking events, and doing conferences and audit. I don’t mind speaking at conferences, but doing the whole going around and talking.
Stacie Crawford
Here’s my business card. For the year you do Who do you are? Yeah.
Terrence Johnson
And so I believe it was just a byproduct of the pandemic, it was, I started to do well, a little bit before the pandemic, I started to do so my online networking, it was a, it’s we’re still one. It’s a website called shaper. That’s where I started. And I started to connect with people in like different areas of the world do different things. And I would just have the zoom call and like, Oh, me, so you learn so much stuff. But it was just so much effort and time to sit on work like you would have to connect with somebody and he had a chat. And he had to, you know, set up a time to do a zoom call. And it might take like a week or two to turn over to get to like actually talking to somebody. So after that, I found actually somebody that I met on shape. I just thought reconnecting with some of my people that I really enjoy talking to. And she’s a happiness coach. Christina, unreal, unreal rain. But I got so I want to connect with I see on LinkedIn, too. But I had a conversation with her. She’s like, hey, Tanisha like, you really like to meet new people and connect with you. She’s like, Hey, I got a website that you should check out. And it was much clue. And so that’s that were the was like the next wave of that. And it uses basically what it does, it acts acts you like? A few questions. And then it gives you like 1020 people to say like, Hey, would you like to connect with this type of person. And then it kind of builds a profile. So what it does, it builds a profile of people that you would probably like to connect with, to need to make yourself available, say like, so my time are usually Wednesdays at one o’clock. So when at one o’clock I’m available to meet somebody, what they do, they find a person and they book it for you, you confirm it. And then you just go on the website and just meet the person. So they had LinkedIn information, whatever. And I met some real amazing people that way. But the people that I met with online club started to connect me with other people too. So I started this chain. And then that’s how I met Kathy. I met Kathy in a networking event from a lady in Canada that I actually met on lunch club. So Kathy was the guest speaker. And so I think I’ll delete it from my breakout room. Awesome. So I came back on and say whatever we talked about on group and then we had like a little tin minute window to just talk. And I guess some I said candidate endured. So I got off the, you know, the call, and then kept the snip Mia. I think she sent me a message on LinkedIn and like, Hey, I enjoy what you talked about. Let’s set up a zoom call. And from there, I did a zoom call with Kathy, we talked like an hour and a half. And that’s when she started telling me about the clubhouse. And it was one of the things to come when she was talking. I was like, have you done a podcast? He thought about doing a podcast before, like, you just got a podcast you like, Hey, you don’t say? Like, they’ll fodder for conversation. And I’m talking about like, yeah, we’ll do one too. And so Kathy introduced me to like multiple people, and old people introduced me to people. So it’s like, I had a conversation with this lady, she’s in Singapore. And I met her through and I traced it all the way back to like cat like cat introduced me, this person, this person is from this person, this person, this person, this person who introduced me to you and me. Like, it didn’t happen organically. And it wasn’t. For business, it was like to meet like minded people, or to share information, share resources, like I’ve learned so many things from people, even if it’s not being related to the person or just like to grow my own knowledge base about different parts of the world and different cultural things. So it’s like, that’s my next level, like, teaching is learning from people that don’t look like me didn’t grow up from where I grew up. They’re not in the same field as me. But they have things to teach me. And I just kind of make myself open to it. And I enjoy it, like I really do. And that’s what had evolved my perspective of wanting to do a podcast. I know exactly how I want to do it now. And now I got all these people so like, I don’t have to look good. I like I got a whole roster.
Stacie Crawford
So what is next for you? What are you working on? Now? I know, I know that you’re really getting back into writing. But what what else? What’s what’s your what’s your focus now? Like? What are you? What’s your dream? What’s your goal? What’s, what are you chasing? What what’s going on with you?
Terrence Johnson
One thing that I know, is for me to be back out in the community, in real time with real people. Now how it all looks, I don’t know, I know, volunteering is something that I really enjoy. So I’m getting back into debt, I know I have a part of it. The other piece of me kind of going back in time is one of my other passions is really by nonprofits. I volunteer from nonprofit before I was you know, over a nonprofit for a while was not like a, it was a scholarship for so but I did have a heart for it. And people that want to help other people. So like you said before my Hill, I still have a desire to help. The way I do that is shifting and changing. And I want to help the people that are really investing their time and energy into doing for other people, but they might need some assistance. Or they might need somebody give them some energy back or take some things off their plate. Because if you’re doing for people, it takes a lot of energy. And if you got a hard fork, you really neglect yourself in order to do that. And so it’s like, how can I start to heal those type of people, and then really traveling. I didn’t want to do that. But I want to travel to learn more about different cultures, different things, but also wanted to tell so I ain’t gonna say for all but one thing I really, really really want to do. Because I’ve been doing it over the years. I really want to trace my lineage, my heritage so I’ve been doing it for a while I did genealogy I’ve been doing family genealogy for a while. Now trace the bag to like a team 20 Like I got the files like me and my mom would like to archive I got like their certificates and wins typically for like break great grandparents and all that kind of stuff. And so I want to do the DNA test and actually go to the country that I’m from and meet my ancestors. Like, that’s my
Stacie Crawford
that’s that, that is absolutely amazing. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And yet again, here it is. It’s all about people. It’s all about people and the meaning behind the relationships. This is it. It’s so you, Terrence, this is how you show up without trying, you know, this is just you being you. It’s how you show you’ve showed up this way and every single instance that I have interacted with you. So I think that it’s, it’s pretty cool to hear you talk about it. It’s pretty amazing. So we are getting pretty close to the end here. I have a question that I asked all of my guests, and that is, if people that are listening are going through big changes in their life. What words of advice or words of wisdom would you most want to share with them?
Terrence Johnson
I’m a big the base level of it is to know that is not an accident. Or you’re not wrong for feeling the way you do. Because one thing that I know about chain change is real specific for you. But it will look real crazy to other people. And everybody might not embrace it. But also and I had a conversation with somebody about a year or so ago. And they were talking about, you know, change or doing better than yourself. Know that everybody won’t embrace it. And be prepared for the blowback of that too. Because you put all your energy in like, oh, making changes and everything good. But you also got to be prepared for like, people might not like this, or this might disrupt what I was doing for other people, and now my role with certain people would change. And they might not like it. I had to go through movement. It was a whole I condensed it down to just the the process of it. But the energy required to do that was a whole lot. Because you do get to question like, What are you going to do when you quit your job? What are you going to do now? And all that kind of stuff? And sometimes you don’t have answers for that. So sometimes it’s best not to share a whole lot with people because you don’t have answer for us to figure that out. But just know that the rougher parts is to prepare you for what you’re going toward, or what’s pulling up feels like it’s calling. And that’s not an accident, either. So whatever you feel like you lost I had to sacrifice not at all that was really intentional is by design. Even though you might not like it, it might be painful. But it’s really it’s almost like you shading, the things that no longer serve you in order for you to show up as you when you get there.
Stacie Crawford
That is inspiring, and scary, too. Because we don’t want to disrupt you know, what’s going on around us either. We we don’t want to deal with whatever comes our way. But I’m guessing that’s where that really leaning into who you are and what feels good and doing what’s right for you can really, I guess bolster that energy that’s needed for it. If people want to get in touch with you, terahertz. Where can they find you? Where are you hanging out? What? Where’s Terrence? Where can we find him?
Terrence Johnson
Oh, I’m on LinkedIn all day long. So if you don’t make them you can find me there all the time. Like I say, for the most part, I’m in the clubhouse with Kathy and you and everybody else on Friday at 8am Central. So it’s eight central my time. But also, I’m looking to do some more recorded type stuff. I think the next thing I’ll do on LinkedIn, I did like in my own words kind of series idea for a while. I think the next phase it is going to be me doing it for my writing and actually taking you to the background or like why I wrote some of the things I wrote or how I phrase it or did you Any more store around it? And in Yeah, that’s just kind of the best way to find me right now.
Stacie Crawford
Right now. Yeah, right. Yeah.
Terrence Johnson
Yeah, my blog and my medium blog. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yes,
Stacie Crawford
that too. So we’re gonna have links to all this get stuff in the show notes so people will be able to find you. In the meantime, thank you so so much I so enjoy being part of conversations that you’re a part of. So to have this one on one time with you is just a treat for me. So thank you for your time. Thank you for all of your wisdom. And I can’t wait to see what you do next. Because I think yes, I think that podcast is something that needs to be happening. I think that your writing is going to continue to just blossom and explode into maybe other projects. And I’m excited to be I’m here for it. Terrence. I am here for it. I am cheering you on. I think the more people that hear your stories, your thoughts, your wisdom, the batter. So thank you so much for being part of today.
Terrence Johnson
And thank you always, this was this was a real smooth interview. I liked it. I liked it, everybody. Everybody had a different kind of ways of doing it. But you put me at ease and made it easier for me to talk. So I appreciate that.
Stacie Crawford
Good. Good. Thank you. Well, I’m sure that we will come up with more topics for future episodes. So I will be in touch. Thank you