Join me as I speak with April Woodson about the things she learned about herself when she transitioned from being an officer in the Army to being a civilian.
About April Woodson
April C. Woodson, founder of Mindful NRG Coaching and Meditation. She currently resides in Indianapolis, IN. She has a B.A. in International Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from Indiana University, Bloomington. In addition to being a Certified Coach she is also a meditation and Mindfulness teacher.
April has served in various roles including 8 years as an officer in the U.S. Army. She also has a background in HR and has worked with offenders and children with behavioral and developmental disorders. She is a mother, adventurist, veteran, coach, writer and storyteller. April guides individuals on the journey of self-inquiry. She empowers individuals to turn inward and explore the barriers of the conscious mind that are holding them back from reaching their true potential.
Check out April’s website here:
She also has a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/mindfulnrg
You can connect with April on her LinkedIn page:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/april-c-woodson-62316921/
You can read her writing on Medium:
http://www.Medium.com/@acwoodson
Transcription
Stacie Crawford
Hi, welcome to today’s episode. I am super excited to have you guys here. I have got an amazing guest with me today. Her name is April Woodson and April and I met, believe it or not, I think it’s been two years since we met April.
A little bit of time has passed. So thank you for joining me, why don’t you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?
April Woodson
No problem. Well, first off, thanks for inviting me on the show, Stacie. Okay, so my name is April Woodson. I am the owner and founder of mindful energy life coaching and meditation. And what I do is I work with people who are trying to answer the question of who am I I help them expand their consciousness and guide them on the journey of self mastery to answer that question of who am I? I love it. I you know, one of the things that whenever you first started your business that I thought was really interesting was the real focus on meditation and mindfulness that you have going on it, it really lends
that piece of exploring the inner self. And I think that is a little something magical that you bring to it. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And that’s what meditation does, it allows you that space to really go within and listen to what’s going on, on the inside. Absolutely close out the outside and just listen to what’s going on inside. So yeah, thank you for pointing that out.
Stacie Crawford
I love it. I love it, my friend. So you have been through a very interesting transition, at least to me, because it is something that I have never experienced. And I know that I will never experience which is something that I never said to anybody else. Like, I know that I’m not going to experience the transitions that you have had.
And the big one is you used to be in the military. And now you’re just a regular Joe civilian, like the rest of us. And this has been quite a journey for you. Because this is a recent transition, correct?
April Woodson
Yeah, so I got out June of 2021.
Stacie Crawford
Yeah, that’s, that’s really recent, that’s really recent. So this is kind of exciting for me. Because, in a sense, you’re probably still in that transitional piece, in a way trying to figure out what the new normal is for you. So I’m curious for those who aren’t in the military or don’t have family members or friends that were in the military, what was it like to be in the military, what was daily life like for you.
April Woodson
Um, it was very routine oriented. I’ll say that, like, obviously, you know, you get up every day, you have your physical training, and then you leave from there and get ready for your workday and whatever else details or responsibilities you get. And so in that respect, you know, your life kind of falls into a pattern of routines and schedules over time, which isn’t bad. You know, it helped. So with the workload, being so heavy, trying to balance the military and family and everything else that goes on outside of that. But what I really liked was the overall adventures and opportunities that I got to experience in the military. You know, I deployed to Kuwait and with the the type of unit I was in, I got to, you know, sit around conference tables with, you know, a lot of two star generals and three star generals, you know, officers that officers of my rank typically wouldn’t have the honor, you know, sitting with a lot of time. Yeah. So, a lot of mentorship and just insight on how the military works and advice and it was an awesome experience overall, I would say, but, like, they say, there are no two experiences that are like, like, my experience could be completely different from someone else’s like, but it’s like, no two people are gonna have the same experience. So
Stacie Crawford
absolutely, that and I think that goes for everything really, you know, not just the military when you went to Kuwait. That was a recent deployment. For you, correct?
April Woodson
Yeah. So that was literally right around the time COVID Hit that was 2000 22,020. Okay, yeah. And I left, I want to say November 2020.
Stacie Crawford
So I have to imagine that that also was different from any experiences that you had had before with, you know, being out of the country while COVID was going on. But you also when, when you left, you left your little one at home, like this, this was not just hey, I’m a single woman headed off to this deployment. You have your family that you had to leave, that had to be a really big experience for you. How did you how did you manage that?
April Woodson
Um, well, you know, it goes, it all goes back to the amount of support you have. When I initially found out I’m not gonna lie, it’s my daughter had just turned three, her birthday was in July, she had just turned three. Yeah, so it kind of hit kind of hard. But at the end of the day, it’s reality. So you know, you have to take that time to get everything set up. It was a process of getting her moved to, you know, go stay with her dad, and great grandmother while I was gone, and making sure that care was in place, then, of course, she was too young to understand. I’ll never forget, like, because every weekend before I left, I would take her over. She, she spends a week, the weekends or whatever days with her dad and his family. And so every Sunday, she would call me like, are you coming to pick me up? Are you coming to pick me up? And when I got to Kuwait? Oh, my gosh, I would call her and she would still say, are you coming to pick me up? I’m like, Oh, not this weekend. So, but we spent a lot of time. You know, video chat. And in Facebook. That was even though there was an eight hour time difference. We still talked a lot. I really spoiled or sit there a lot of gifts while I was gone. And then, like I said, just just having that support her dad, her dad’s family, and then having that emotional support while I was deployed as well. Yeah,
Stacie Crawford
yeah. Well, I know when we had originally spoken about coming on the podcast, you had mentioned that even within the military, you had a lot of support and mentorship, not just around your military career, but also in this aspect. How did how to deal with having a family but having these responsibilities as part of the military? How do you how do you think that? What they told you, affected you? Or how did they affect you, these mentors that you had?
April Woodson
They were very influential, a lot of the advice and guidance and gave, you know, just leading up to the deployment, if it helped, you know, like we had in one of our previous conversations, when I first found out I was deployed, I actually went to one of my mentors, I was like how you get through a deployment and she just she was just like what I was, she said, it’s about that support system, having that emotional support system. So that was something that I was quick to establish it wasn’t it, it was it was just like, you know, a friendship that I stumbled upon. Fortunately, fortunately, not unfortunately, fortunately, before I deployed and then of course, throughout the time, that’s something I really enjoyed. I’m with the unit I deploy with there are about over 200 of us and we’re all coming from different states all over the country. So that emotional support was it was being formed, you know, obviously from soldiers and people who were coming from different backgrounds and different states and you know, we’re all meeting this one place to deploy to one place so it was it was I love the camaraderie and the emotional support was great.
Stacie Crawford
So when you finally were at a point where it was time to leave the military
Unknown Speaker
How
Stacie Crawford
How did you? Well, first of all, was that a okay, my time is up so I can move on and it was just a decision that was pre made from the past. Was it an easy decision? Was it hard? Tell me about your decision to of the military.
April Woodson
Um, so my decision to leave the military was based mainly in the fact that I really value family. And so it’s a challenge to be able to balance both of those military and family. But, you know, another thing that contributed to that decision was just I was like, kind of listening to my self. Listening to myself, before I say that, because before I deployed, I kind of asked myself this question or made this, this, this bet to myself, and I was already going to use that deployment, and decide whether I was going to stay in, you know, I’d already been in eight years where I was going to stay in the remaining years and go for the 20 year just get out. But a lot of the experiences and situations that I found myself in while deployed, were just obvious signs from the universe, and obviously, from the military, or just from life, that it was time to move on. Al. And I’m glad I listened. Because that’s a mistake that a lot of us make. We ask for those signs, you know, to show us whether or not it’s time to move on and let go. And they’re obvious, but we still forced and try to hold on.
Stacie Crawford
Absolutely. And I think that’s because, excuse me, I think that’s because staying and what we now feels easier than facing the unknown. What do you think about that?
April Woodson
Yes, yes, staying in wellbeing knows easier than facing the unknown. Yeah.
Stacie Crawford
So when you were in the military, you’re in this place of I know exactly who I am. I am, you know, I have the rules to follow by they’re very clear. I know where I’m supposed to be when I’m supposed to be. And it sounds like the hardest part really was managing that balance between your commitment to your family and your commitment to the military. So when you left? What was life like, for you, then?
April Woodson
Oh, wow. So I kind of just left and I jumped into the coaching realm. I was really fortunate in that aspect. Like, I don’t know if you know, if they see, like I’ve said in the past, I literally started the training program, the day that I left for Kuwait. I was starting mod one. So in the goal, I was just so set on having a full time coaching business setup by the time I got out. And, you know, it was not full time yet. But that’s, that was what that was, like, I went from the military straight into the coaching realm. And it’s been amazing. I’ll say that. Yeah, yeah. It’s kind of like going into to one system of support into another system of support, as I try to figure out my place. And I would say the civilian life.
Stacie Crawford
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, that’s what I really want to talk about this finding your place and civilian life? Because, you know, it seems like, again, not I have no experience. So this is just what is my perception of things, you know, when when you were in the military there, there’s no choice going on? It is this is what you’re doing this is when you’re doing it, and that’s the way it is. And as a soldier, you agree to do that? And then that’s gone. So you all of a sudden are faced with questions of, you know, what, what is my structure? What is my routine? What, what’s important, what do I, what do I focus on? And of course, you have your you have your daughter, so I know that that’s a big focus for you. And that’s lovely, but it’s not just about her. So, you know, what kinds of things were you telling yourself or questioning when you started to go into that realm of civilian life?
Unknown Speaker
Um,
April Woodson
I think that transition was more of a process of unlearning things. uncovering myself. Because obviously I’d spent the last eight years as an officer, you know, with how I wore my uniform and how I wore my hair and everything being regulated. So getting out of the military, it was, it was a long process of learning how to undo that and just be myself.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. Just makes you so much self. Yeah. And,
Stacie Crawford
and it makes me sit there and say like, it’s one thing to be yourself. But did you know who yourself was? I know, that’s a weird sentence. But I think you understand what I’m saying? Like, did you even know who you are at that point? Because you went into the military very young, you know, you, you were right out of high school, correct.
April Woodson
out of college,
Stacie Crawford
out of college is still like, a low, like, you go into the military at a place where really, you’re just starting to figure out where you fit in everywhere. So did you know who you were when you came out of the military? Or did was that part of the unlearning process.
Unknown Speaker
Um,
April Woodson
I would say a little bit of both. Because I feel like I’ve always known quite who I am. When I was in the military, and I was wearing that uniform every day, I couldn’t really show up as April because as an officer, there was certain things you couldn’t say certain behaviors, you know, just do’s and don’ts? Yeah. Yeah.
Stacie Crawford
Are there particular things that you are able to show as part of yourself and who you are, that you get really excited to show or share about yourself that you couldn’t do when you were in the military?
April Woodson
Yeah, for sure. I mean, you just just walked out, it feels good. Um, one great thing I love Stacie is I can like finally just walk into a room and just put my hands in my pockets, you couldn’t put your hands in the pocket in your pockets in the military. I see.
Stacie Crawford
My listeners, you can’t see those. But like I just dropped, I’m like, Wait, you can’t put your hands and your pockets like what? So that’s so simple, and so small. And it’s interesting too, because it makes me kind of come to the realization of how much hyper awareness of everything about yourself that you have to be, you have to have that going on, when you’re in the military.
April Woodson
And that’s what that was a lot of the undoing.
Unknown Speaker
Wow,
April Woodson
having that always it was it was a constant hype or awareness of yourself. So to just, you know, now that I’m out to be able to go into any setting, and just be able to be myself, and you still hype or not, I wouldn’t say hi, but you still have a certain level of awareness, obviously. But it’s not that same heightened level of awareness. But I’m literally able to be myself. Because one thing in the military, I always felt like it was hard to have a simple conversation because when you walk up to someone, like their uniform says it all you can tell they’re rain, if they’ve been been deploy what unit they’re in, and nine times out of 10 That conversation is going to be about their experience and where they’ve been. So that’s and that’s just not me. And so that’s one thing that I’m really enjoying to be able to just go into those these spaces and be myself and have conversations with people about life. You know, I don’t want to be the architect, you know, just asking you how was your family? You know, did you take that vacation? You know, yes, yes, you have a conversation.
Stacie Crawford
That that’s that simple, joyful interaction with people in connection with people that’s a very different kind of level of communication with people
April Woodson
who are human, very human interaction. I would say at that. Yeah. Yes, for the longest all you heard the only thing you know that they call you by us your rank or your Last name. So these days to actually hear someone call me April instead of Woodson or Lieutenant Woodson or ma’am.
Stacie Crawford
I got a simple pleasure,
April Woodson
right? All these days, all I hear is Mommy and April.
Stacie Crawford
That’s not so bad. That’s not so bad.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, it’s not bad at all.
Stacie Crawford
So when, when we were speaking about this podcast, there was a topic that came up that I would really love to hear more from you about and hear your thoughts on. And it was this idea of surrendering, or letting go, versus being in control. And I think that when I look at your experience from the outside, I feel like, in a sense, there was so much control in the military, that you had to learn how to let go as a civilian. And yet, I could also say the opposite, that while you were in the military, there was a certain surrendering to the process of the military. And now you have more control as a civilian. So to complete opposite, you know, but they both apply. So what do you think about surrendering or letting go versus being in control? What What have you learned because of your own experience? That’s
April Woodson
that’s a good question. Um, well, I can for sure say, Nothing good comes when we’re always trying to maintain control. I always like to compare it to my
Stacie Crawford
wait one minute. You popped out, and you froze, so I got nothing good comes from being in control, trying to stay in control. And then after that, I miss.
April Woodson
Oh, yeah, I was just saying, I always compare it to my skydiving experience when I went skydiving.
Stacie Crawford
Yes, my eyes got really big, because I’m just like,
Unknown Speaker
yes. So the
April Woodson
be exciting. Near Death. Adrenaline, X, bearings about fat is, you know, obviously, when we’re in the sky, and we’re inside a plane, you know, our bodies are relaxed, and we feel safe. But when I went skydiving, and this is, this is what I feel like. It’s, it’s similar to what I feel like, you know, it feels like to let go or to surrender. When they’re about 40 seconds of freefall. From the moment you drop out of the plane to the moment the the parachute deploys. And so those first few seconds, and the I did a tandem jump, but those first few seconds, right before you fall off the plane, your buddy legit freaks out, and you just feel like you’re gonna die. And you know what to do, because, you know, you know, you’re, however many feet high, I forget, and you’re about to fall out the sky at 120 miles an hour, and you’re just completely exposed and it’s not familiar to your body. So your stomach is just all over the place and your heart is just, it feels like it’s about to explode. But at some point, you can’t tell when, like, your body kind of just starts to adapt and go with like, okay, we’re not dying, we’re just, we’re just falling. We’re just falling. So you know, those last few seconds of the freefall, you stopped fighting, and you kind of enjoy the fall. And then eventually, the parachute deploys. And you know your stomach it rolls a little bit because the parachute pulls you back into the air a little bit but and you’re still scared. But you’re literally just floating down into the clouds looking at your so your silhouettes hitting the clouds. And the rest of the fall from there until you get to the ground is just complete ease. I remember the entire time I was just having a conversation with my jumper as we were falling. Just a complete personal person conversation like so this is what you do every day. You just jump from the sky. He’s like yeah, sometimes you know, I come I’m up six, eight times a day. He’s telling me about his wife and his life experience. So, in retrospect, to me, that’s what that process of letting go is like, it’s like you’ve you, you let go, and your body freaks out. You think you’re dying. But you eventually settled until the fall. Land. But while you’re falling, you gotta learn how to enjoy it, you know, you got to get to have those conversations, you know, enjoy the scenery. Really taking the view and the beauty of everything.
Stacie Crawford
That is amazing. I don’t know that I could ever skydive that like I’m sitting there listening, and my stomach is like, Oh, I don’t know if I can do that.
April Woodson
That’s what I that’s what it’s literally like, because I will say that’s, that is. For that’s the scariest part about letting go. It’s letting go. Once you let go, you’re just like, what, what was I afraid of? It’s literally the act of letting go releasing the hold or graphs that you have on it
Stacie Crawford
that fall? Because that’s so true. It is it’s the act of letting go that is the hardest part.
April Woodson
Yeah, once you let go, you know, once you’re out of the plane, and you’re falling, you’re like, Okay, anything could happen. But I’m already I’m already exposed, I’m already out here, let’s do it, you know, there’s not much I can do, I can go back, I can only go go further towards where I was going.
Stacie Crawford
You know, it sounds to me, like your experiences, both in the military and moving into civilian life, are really valuable pieces of your coaching that you do with other people. And I know that you really focus on being intentional about what you do. And so I’m wondering first, because I know how you coach, so I don’t necessarily want your coach opinion. But I also know that you coach from a very April spot, when when you are coaching, you’re showing up as April, it’s a natural place. So when you think about other people out there who may be going through change and looking for that courage to let go to, you know, really surrender to, I guess, I don’t know, would you say trust the process? I’m not really sure how, how you would say this, but kind of advice or wisdom do you have to share with people who are at that contemplation point of letting go?
April Woodson
biggest takeaway point that I’ve gotten from myself, that I would give to other people is
I feel like at the end of the day, we have to make a conscious decision on what side of fear we’re going to exist on. Because there’s always going to be there you know, fear of letting go. Fear of being yourself. Fear of living your dream life. So,
Stacie Crawford
yeah, and I, I’m kind of sitting here, I’m quiet, because I’m sitting there like choosing which side you sit on. And that’s, that’s a really interesting way of looking at it. I like that. I’m gonna have to noodle on that for a little bit. Is there anything that I should have asked you that I didn’t or that you would like to share with people?
April Woodson
No. Oh, I mean, the only thing I can think of you know, is at the end of the day, we owe it to ourselves, to lean into life with curiosity, and really explore instead of lean back and turn away, out of fear of what’s coming.
Stacie Crawford
That is awesome. That is really awesome. I like that a lot. So if we have people that have been listening and they would like to reach out to you learn more about you learn more about your coaching, you know, how do you how do people get in touch with you so that they can learn more about what it might be like to be coached by April Woodson.
April Woodson
Yo, so I am on Facebook, my personal and my professional Facebook pages both April Woodson. And then of course, my email, April Woodson at mindful energy.com.
Stacie Crawford
Awesome, awesome. And I will put those in the show notes so that if anybody wants to check those out, they can click on links to get right over to you. Thank you so much for taking the time to be here and taking the time to share your story because I feel like what you have learned about, you know, trying to be you without trying to be you, and letting go and allowing yourself to be you as opposed to being in control of being you if that makes any sense. I think that’s something that like people can really relate to. So I think that your experience is going to be really valuable to people. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you. I appreciate it. Stacie. It was fun. Absolutely.
Stacie Crawford
And who knows? Maybe we will have you on another episode because I know that we had a bunch of different things that we talked about that I was like, oh, maybe we could talk about that time and talk about that sometime. I would love to have you on again.
April Woodson
For sure. Just let me know when and where. Party Thank you