From Stuck to Thriving: The Power of the Pivot (w/ Andrea Miller)

Discover the transformative power of the pivot with Andrea Miller.

 After her son was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Andrea faced a life-altering challenge that reshaped her mindset and approach to change. Guided by her faith in God and her inspiring mantra, “Today, Not Tomorrow” (TNT), Andrea found the strength to navigate life’s uncertainties with purpose and courage. 

In this episode, Andrea shares her remarkable journey, revealing the strategies, lessons, and moments of trial and error that helped her thrive. From asking the right questions to embracing imperfection, her insights are a masterclass in resilience and growth.

Whether you’re navigating a career shift, starting a new venture, or seeking the confidence to take bold steps forward, Andrea’s practical advice and motivational stories will inspire you to move from feeling stuck to truly thriving.

Hit play and let Andrea’s story empower you to embrace change fearlessly and make the most of today.

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Imagine Yourself is hosted by Lanée Blaise and Sandy Kovach. Lanée is a TV writer and producer, motivational speaker and podcaster. Sandy is a radio personality, voiceover artist and podcaster. They come to you from the Detroit Metro area and invite guests from all over the world to help encourage you in your health, career, faith journey and more!

Transcript

Lanée Blaise [00:00:02]:
At Imagine Yourself, we're always trying to think of how do we get to the next level? And so in this episode, we're wondering what do you do when you are actively trying to get to the next step, the next chapter, the next season of your life? How long are you really gonna wait to go ahead and pursue your dreams and give it a full go? Who do you turn to? You turn to somebody who knows a little something about making changes.

Sandy Kovach [00:00:33]:
Who are you gonna call?

Lanée Blaise [00:00:34]:
Who are you gonna call? No, no, no, no. The dust was supposed to be. No. No. No. We're gonna call somebody better than them. We're going to call somebody who has some experience in this area of change, who embraces it, who likes to help us find ways to pivot, who really believes in bringing us up and over to the other side. So today, we have Andrea Miller.

Lanée Blaise [00:01:00]:
Andrea Miller is a wonderful wife, mom of 2 fantastic sons, an established realtor, personal sales rep, and recently a podcast co host of Show Me The Way podcast, where she encourages women to embrace change, pivot when necessary, and go out there and live the life you dream of today, not tomorrow. TNT. So we wanna welcome Andrea Miller to this episode of Imagine Yourself. How are you doing, Andrea? I'm good. Thank you so much for having me.

Andrea Miller [00:01:36]:
I'm so excited to be here.

Sandy Kovach [00:01:38]:
TNT. I love that. What? I keep thinking of that song by ACDC.

Andrea Miller [00:01:44]:
Now it's in my

Sandy Kovach [00:01:45]:
Everything is a song to me.

Lanée Blaise [00:01:47]:
And that's that radio inside of Sandy.

Sandy Kovach [00:01:51]:
Yeah. Yeah. Everything is a song. But, TNT Today, Not Tomorrow. And it's a great way to remember that. And you're going to talk a lot about pivoting, you know, when you want to start something new and how to jump into it. And I know there are strategies and there's tricks and tips and all that. We're gonna get into it, and I can't wait.

Sandy Kovach [00:02:08]:
But the first thing I wanna ask you is, how did you come up with the whole thing about TNT and then, you know, make it into a podcast and all that?

Andrea Miller [00:02:19]:
I won't take credit, but it really does stem from Linae talked about I have 2 sons. So, actually, Sandy, I love when you talk about your son because I can relate to so much of what you say. But your son's older, but still it's like things to come. But, anyway, my younger son, when he was 5 years old, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. And if that doesn't make you pivot, I don't know what does. So I was working in the corporate world. I had 2 boys. I thought they were both gonna play soccer.

Andrea Miller [00:02:47]:
I had all these plans for my boys. And to put in perspective, he is 15 now. So that was 10 years ago. And everything, my whole mindset just changed. Like, just flipped on a dime, complete 180. It was no longer, I can't wait to climb the corporate ladder and make money and contribute to this family, and we're just gonna keep growing and get a bigger house and all these dreams and goals. It was stop. You can't do that anymore because he's your number one focus.

Andrea Miller [00:03:15]:
He needs help with with everything. And as he gets older, it's just gonna become worse. So it's a progressive muscle wasting disease. There's no cure. He could walk back then, but now he's full time in a wheelchair, and he does great. He's got his mental whereabouts. He is in 10th grade, and he's kicking butt. I went to his conferences yesterday, and all the teachers are like, he's great.

Andrea Miller [00:03:34]:
So he's doing very well in school, but he needs constant help when he's here. So I can do the podcast during the day because he's not here. But when he's at my house, it's I'm it's my responsibility. And I told my husband, you know, you're the breadwinner now. I gotta figure something else out because I wanna be available for him. So right then and there, it was like, life's short. You gotta move forward. You gotta do what you gotta do today.

Andrea Miller [00:03:56]:
Take advantage of every single day. So that mindset's been in mind in my mind for a long time. Fast forward to about 4 years ago, I started, as Lanae mentioned, I was an affiliate marketer working for a a brand. I was a brand partner sharing clothing, and I loved it. But the main part of it was a community of very strong, empowering women who wanted to support one another. I had never seen anything like that except in our bible study pretty much. You know, I'm a realtor because that was something that I could do flexibly, if that's a word, in a flexible way. You know, there's a lot of competition, and it's not always people wanting to support one another the way you would want it to go.

Andrea Miller [00:04:36]:
And with this community, that's how it was. So I have to give credit to that community because my group, all of a sudden, they started writing TNT and marker on their wrists, like, every day, and they're showing their wrist in in our threads on Facebook. I'm like, what is this? And my one leader said, this means today, not tomorrow. It means do what you need to do today. And most of it related to doing their reach outs and, you know, sharing the clothing and putting that pod or that, video up and things like that. But I immediately took it, like, no. Life in general. You have to do something today.

Andrea Miller [00:05:07]:
Don't put it off to tomorrow. You don't know what tomorrow brings. So I told that leader, we should go get tattoos. So we did. On your wrist sucks. 30 seconds later, you know, when we're at the tattoo parlor because it's a very small tattoo, but it's just a constant reminder. It's on the inside of my wrist. I look at it.

Andrea Miller [00:05:24]:
Sometimes you can say, oh, it's powerful, like dynamite, TNT. But

Sandy Kovach [00:05:29]:
You're gonna sing ACDC now.

Andrea Miller [00:05:30]:
Yes. See. But, really, it's to me, it's just remember that life is short. I mean, I can't believe my older son is 18 and away at college. I like, life goes so fast. It's we have to take advantage of every single day we have. So that's a long winded answer. Can't take credit, but I love it.

Sandy Kovach [00:05:48]:
That is, an amazing story. And if that doesn't make you pivot, I don't know what would. So let's say somebody is whether it's something that major or something they just have on their mind. I need to pivot. I gotta do something else. This ain't working. It's gotta be overwhelming. So what is the first thing you do?

Andrea Miller [00:06:10]:
Well, I I think no matter what you do and, right, we can think of it in the career world. You have to come up with your why, and that can change. I'm a very different person now than I was even when my son was diagnosed. So you you've gotta start with what is my why? What is my goal here? What's the end goal? You know, my husband has thank goodness. He's very stable in his career. I've moved around a lot and tried different things. And his goal, I I believe, it's to take care of his family, and he's the breadwinner. He knows that we count on him the majority of the time because the money that I bring in is kind of extra.

Andrea Miller [00:06:42]:
So we count on him, especially when I said, I'm leaving corporate. I am going to take care of my son. He knows that he needs to do that. So his why is is very I shouldn't say simple, but it's there. So he knows

Lanée Blaise [00:06:55]:
straightforward. Yeah.

Andrea Miller [00:06:56]:
Yeah. He's not just gonna guess what? I'm quitting my job tomorrow. Like, we would have to talk through that. So I think it's very important for you to understand your why. And then to your point, Sandy, life is short. Like, if it's not working, I'm all about trying something new. So don't be afraid to try something new. I do everything messy.

Andrea Miller [00:07:14]:
I used to be a lot more like, everything had to be in a certain order, But I don't know. Becoming a mom changes you, and then becoming a mom of someone with a special needs like that really changes you. And so I'm all about jump in, but make sure that you've got a why involved. And it might not be the right choice, but as long as you're always trying to move forward toward that why, I think you'll be in pretty good shape.

Lanée Blaise [00:07:37]:
Yeah. Because we so we had a guest on here who, she's a speaker, and she wrote a book called Messy Joy. And then we also had another guest. Her name was Robin Scherer. And then we had another guest on here, Jackie Pruitt, who believed in doing things, just start with it, messy. And you know her, Andrea. In fact, you might know even a little bit more of that whole foundational concept of just do it anyway, do it messy. We've Many of us have heard do it afraid.

Lanée Blaise [00:08:07]:
And I guess, like you said, after you establish your why and after you make sure that you do have some of your ducks in a row to make sure your family will be taken care of, then I guess you your advice would be to go ahead and just do it messy. It doesn't have to be perfect. I know that you recently started just a few months ago, Show Me The Way podcast. And you were telling me, you're like, Lynne, I am not going to wait until I do all these extraneous things. I am going to jump into this podcast and start it. And you even had me on as a guest. It's wonderful. You already have, like, 10 episodes.

Lanée Blaise [00:08:44]:
Tell us about, like, how you just had the either the courage or maybe not the courage or whatever it was that allows you that freedom to just do it messy imperfectly.

Andrea Miller [00:08:55]:
Well, I'm glad you brought up Jackie because she is my friend who also has the tattoo. So I didn't know if you knew that.

Sandy Kovach [00:09:01]:
But I did not know Jackie was the one. Jackie Pruitt was our other guest. Yes.

Andrea Miller [00:09:06]:
She was the one. She has it with me. I told her yesterday there's another tattoo I wanna get on the other wrist. Let them, which we've talked about before. So that's my next idea. But but, yeah, she and I have that today, not tomorrow, and you're right. That is something I really learned from her. Like, it's okay.

Andrea Miller [00:09:19]:
Don't be afraid. Do it messy. That really changed my life. Now sometimes and you know I said this to you before. Sometimes you do have to have a plan. So you you don't wanna just, like, throw spaghetti at the wall all the time. Sometimes you have to, like, take a minute and plan things out. So I do strongly agree with being organized and and having some things figured out, but I don't want the perfectionism to stop you from trying something.

Andrea Miller [00:09:42]:
And I think we talked a little bit too fear of failure. You're always gonna have that. Like, there's always gonna be this little person on your shoulder that's like, you might mess up. You might do it wrong. It might not work. But I just I can't let things like that stop me. I have to know that I've got a story to tell. I have a gift to share.

Andrea Miller [00:09:59]:
I have to keep reminding myself of that. And, also, I mean, with Lanae's help, I've really learned in the last few years that I'm not in control. God is in control. So at the end of the day, we've got him. So even if you do it messy, you've got someone in your corner, and that helps me. But you can tell I love to talk. I thought I'm gonna do a podcast because I've got this story to share, and I think everybody has a story to share. I mean, I've listened to your podcast.

Andrea Miller [00:10:26]:
You've been so inspiring to me, both of you ladies, how you present yourselves, how you put everything out there, how you market. And, also, the guests that you've had have listened, and and they all have a story to share. And it might be a big financial issue. It might be a a diagnosis like what I went through. Or it could be, you know what? I moved to California. I mean, it there's all kinds of things, and people have stories, and they have things to share, and we can all learn from one another. So I thought let's just do it. Someday, I'll have a studio like like Sandy does.

Andrea Miller [00:10:55]:
But right now, it's here at my table. I bought a microphone, and we're gonna see what happens. I know.

Sandy Kovach [00:11:01]:
Yeah. You don't need all the fancy schmancy stuff. I only have the studio because I do radio and voiceovers as well. But, you know, you're welcome to have a big studio or maybe you'll have, like, a whole building someday.

Andrea Miller [00:11:13]:
Maybe.

Sandy Kovach [00:11:13]:
I mean, if you never know. God sometimes surprises you with, with things. So you were talking about our episode with Jackie Pruitt and that was called Stop Talking Yourself Out of Following Your Dreams. And that probably kind of touches on a little bit about what Lanae was saying, you know, about you're afraid, and so, you know, you talk yourself out of it. But what other obstacles are out there that you kinda need to look at upfront besides the fact that you're gonna do it afraid?

Andrea Miller [00:11:45]:
I think many of us get into our own heads, and we start telling a story that isn't true. I do that all the time. Like, you aren't good enough. People aren't gonna watch it. You aren't like these other people. I do that with real estate a lot. Like, look at these amazing realtors, and how can I stand next to them? And I I think we create stories, and you you you just really have to stop doing that as best you can. Or when you find yourself going down that path, find your people, the people that lift you up.

Andrea Miller [00:12:15]:
I mean, go to your bible study and say, prayer warriors, I need you. Yes. You know, talk to your partner. Like, don't try to do it alone if you're in a bad state like that. You need people around you that see how great you are, that see the gifts, and that help you get through those negative times because you are good enough. When I started talking about a podcast, I went to Lanae, and I said, you know, can you talk me through it? And she could have said, I don't need any more competition. I don't want another podcast out there. It sounds similar to ours.

Andrea Miller [00:12:45]:
No. I'm not gonna help you. But she was like, sure. I'm gonna share what worked for us. And she gave me all kinds of resources, and she lifted me up and helped me think through it. And she wasn't afraid to do that. And, first of all, that talks to her confidence. And then, you know, secondly, it's like, there's good people out there.

Andrea Miller [00:12:59]:
So talk to people. Ask them, you know, what did you do? How did you get through it? And you'll find that you can do it too. If they did it, you can do it. And you're gonna make mistakes. Because you're doing it messy, you're gonna make a lot of mistakes. But you have to just really find it within yourself. Like, I'm not gonna build this story that isn't true. I'm going to use my gifts.

Andrea Miller [00:13:21]:
Go out there. Do what I wanna do. Do what brings me joy. Do it today, not tomorrow because we don't know what tomorrow brings, and, you know, hope for the best. And I've made a lot of mistakes. I've like I said, I when I found out my son had Duchenne, I thought I can't have a corporate job. I can't work 9 to 5 anymore. So I tried a lot of different things, and they didn't all work.

Andrea Miller [00:13:42]:
They didn't all work. I tried to work for a nonprofit that it was great, and I loved the nonprofit. I still love the nonprofit, but that position didn't work. So I had to pivot again. I decided to become a realtor, and I've added things on since then because, yes, it's great, but there's parts that maybe don't fulfill what I want them to fulfill. So I've tried a lot of other things, and you just have to keep going forward. I actually posted a reel about that today. Just keep trying.

Andrea Miller [00:14:05]:
Keep moving forward. Ask those people along the way to support you and get out of your own head as much as you possibly can.

Lanée Blaise [00:14:12]:
Because I have a concrete example of you in particular. You have organized speaking events virtually and in person. You have become a speaker in your own right as well. And all of these things you did, you just jumped right into it, especially I know that an in person speaking event and, you know, women's event can be a little bit daunting, but a virtual one really can. And I know that you leaned on your podcast partner to make sure that that you you were able to catch all the things because there's lots of moving parts happening at once. You were vulnerable enough with me to tell me some of your concerns. And like you said, I tried to add help whenever I could. People, like you said, are so much more helpful than we give them credit for.

Lanée Blaise [00:14:59]:
And the ones who aren't, like you said with the other tattoo, you think let them. Let them be mean. Let them be, competitive. Tell us a little bit about the the let them comment also, because I think that plays in a lot to how you go ahead and pivot, how you go ahead and get your next step because you don't listen to the incorrect voice that might be going on in your own head, negative thoughts. And you don't listen to the naysayers out there either, and you don't focus on them. So tell us about that, please.

Andrea Miller [00:15:32]:
I think you make a good point that and like I said too, there are good people out there. So I don't wanna generalize. I think you'd be surprised, especially, like, when you've got a son in a wheelchair, you find out people will open doors. People will I mean, there are the people that park in the parking spot that we don't want them to park

Andrea Miller [00:15:49]:
But there are people that are there to help. How can we support you? What can we do for you? So I've I have gotten a little bit better at being open to asking for help, and I I don't I think a lot of us need to work on that. I think we're all afraid to ask for help and to bother people, but there's people that wanna help. But the ones that don't, yeah, you need to understand that it doesn't mean you have to count them out of your life. And maybe if I asked a fellow realtor for some advice on something and maybe it didn't go the way I wanted it to go, I might not say, I'm done with you. So I'm not saying, like, write off people that don't help you, but let them have their opinions. Let them have their ideas. Remain focused on your why and what you're going after.

Andrea Miller [00:16:27]:
Not in a selfish way, but if people are not helping you or or they're standing in your way, let them. Again, god has a plan. He'll figure out what he needs to do with them, and don't let them prevent you from moving forward. I think that's such a great reminder. So if it happens, it'll be on my other wrist.

Lanée Blaise [00:16:46]:
I love it. I it makes me think of something else too. Not just asking for help when you, are starting a new venture, which I know is what we're really actually talking about. But there's another component to when you are like, let's say it's career wise or beautiful hobby, something that you're getting into. I feel like I don't know if you agree. The older I get, the more I don't care if I ask a question that might sound, quote, unquote, stupid. A lot of you know that I'm in this film and television journey, and I studied film and TV back in college many years ago. And I was screen doing screenwriting, but now I'm doing producing, which is, as you can imagine, different even though it's in the same field.

Lanée Blaise [00:17:34]:
And there are sometimes there's a meeting and I'm sitting in there talking about we need a DIT guy. We're gonna need a DIT guy. I'm looking at your face on the screen, Sandy and Andrea. I did not know what a DIT guy was. A DIT guy is a digital imaging technician. And it's for film and television. They're the person who takes all of the film data of the day and puts it in a storage place. And you're able to digitally look at the day and the scenes, so that you don't have to wait until the whole film is in the edit room.

Lanée Blaise [00:18:06]:
Very important. Didn't know what it was. Was Linnea afraid to ask, Excuse me? What's a DIT guy? Because, like, how am I gonna I'm the producer. How am I gonna find a DIT guy when I don't even know what it is? You know, so all the Or, you know, even if you Google it, it doesn't mean that you know the pure nuts and bolts of what they're really getting at and what they need for this project. So I don't care if I look incompetent, stupid, dumb. I'm still gonna ask the question. I'll ask it in a very professional tone. But I just wanted to encourage folks out there.

Lanée Blaise [00:18:36]:
My husband was telling me the other day also, he's been in his industry for over 25 years, and there's still some things that come up, and he is not familiar with it. And he's like he'll stop the meeting and say, hey, guys, I don't know what you're talking about right now. I have no clue what you're you know, what what area this has to do with construction. And just go with it. And maybe those are the smartest people of all.

Andrea Miller [00:19:01]:
Yeah. I think couple of things. 1, I would love to go back to my younger self and be like, ask the question because you're right. The older we get, the less we care, which is it's sad. You wanna go back and tell these young people don't be afraid. But, also, you created a story about yourself, like, oh, I'm gonna sound dumb. Most of the people in the room, they're just gonna answer your question. They're not gonna think you're dumb.

Andrea Miller [00:19:22]:
Again, staying in your head instead of letting it out. And when you ask questions, that's when you start some good discussion. We we find that out. And Bible study, you always tell me, like, it's good when you ask questions because then it starts some good conversation. But, yeah, just don't create that message in your head that you'll sound dumb if you say this. You need to know these things. I actually used to work. This is crazy, but I used to work in process improvement.

Andrea Miller [00:19:43]:
That was, like, a big thing for me, and I would go consult into different teams and different industries. And I didn't really have one industry that was my specialty. I had all different industries that I'd worked in. So I would just go, and I'd be like, I have no idea what you're doing. I mean, I'm the expert in trying to improve your process, but I don't know what you do. I have to let you talk, which is hard because I don't ever shut up. But I have to listen to you because you know your specific job. I wanna help you make it better, but I don't know unless I ask you what you do.

Andrea Miller [00:20:15]:
I I don't know anything about it.

Lanée Blaise [00:20:16]:
To me, that's true wisdom. I love that.

Sandy Kovach [00:20:18]:
It's not worrying about let them. They're not worrying about what other people think and all the things. But I have to ask. So you've mentioned that you've been through different things. You've trial and errored through things. And we talked about not being afraid to ask questions and getting out of our heads. But when you do have a setback, and of course, as you mentioned, sometimes things aren't going to work, or we can talk all day about, hey, don't get in your own head. Don't do this.

Sandy Kovach [00:20:45]:
But we're going to do it anyway. You know, obviously, we go to God and we pray and, you know, he helps us with all this. When you do face a setback, you can maybe think of 1 in particular or just answer this generally, however you want to do it. You know, how do you handle that? Do you need time to process or do you jump right back up today, not tomorrow? Or No,

Andrea Miller [00:21:07]:
I think I freak out like everybody else. But I try to go back to some of these things. I think the most important thing for me is my people, just having my people because sometimes you're like, oh, today was horrible. I didn't wanna leave my bed. I what's my purpose? What am I doing? And I'm very fortunate to have a couple of people that I can say, hey. Here's my raw self. I'm letting it all out. Make me feel better.

Andrea Miller [00:21:34]:
Not that you constantly need reassurance, but it's good to know you have people you can lean on when you're not feeling your best. So, yeah, not every day I wake up and I say, it doesn't matter. Today's the new day. I'm gonna be amazing. I have a lot of days where I'm like, jeez. I wish I had 7 real estate clients, and I don't. And what does that mean for me? And what does that mean for our future? But then it's like, okay. Maybe you need to do some more marketing.

Andrea Miller [00:21:55]:
Maybe you need to read another book that's gonna give you some other tips and tricks. Maybe you need to talk to your person. Maybe you need to find your Linae and say, here are my questions about this podcast. How can I make it better? And just keep striving to get back to where you were. That's my biggest prayer to God is get me to my path because I believe he has a path for everybody, And I don't think I have completely found it yet. So there's always something that you can do to improve it, but it's not always gonna be a beautiful picture. You're spot on.

Lanée Blaise [00:22:24]:
I like that part. The part, of course, going to God. But also, how about this? I love being able to go to different friends of mine for different things. For example, as much as I love my husband, if I'm crying, he kind of freaks out. He's like, I'm going to just let you have some time to yourself because it seems like you're really having a hard day. I'm like, no, I want you to help me. He's like, why don't you call your friend? And he'll try to think up some friend. But to your point, I love that there are friends that I'll go to for more professional career advice.

Sandy Kovach [00:23:01]:
There are friends that I'll go to for relationship advice. There are friends that I could go to for just moral support. And then there's like sometimes it's a family member or a sister or a friend that you go to when you're just laid on the floor face down like, I suck. Life sucks. Everything sucks. Sandy not talking about that one. We're like, one day we're gonna make a podcast call. I was like, everything sucks.

Andrea Miller [00:23:27]:
Yeah. And you're spot on. My husband is not sometimes I I mean, jeez, we've been married for 20 3 years, and I will still be like, oh my gosh. And I'll go to him on something, and it's like, why did you tell him that? Like, you're not he wasn't the person.

Lanée Blaise [00:23:40]:
He was He was the wrong one. Yep. Not equipped. Nope. Good heart, but

Sandy Kovach  [00:23:45]:
No. They're not wired like that. I same thing. Yeah. It's like, okay. And it's it's not because they don't wanna help or, you know, go to go to somebody else. So, yeah. So family, friends, connections, networking.

Sandy Kovach [00:23:59]:
That's got to be huge, right, for for someone that's trying to pivot and maybe remembering stuff that you learn even if you didn't like a certain job like you mentioned, that charitable organization you worked for or some of the other things. But I bet you took some things away from it that have helped you.

Andrea Miller [00:24:15]:
Oh, for sure. Actually, when I was kind of preparing to get on this call today, I was thinking about that. Every single thing I've done, mistake or not a mistake, I've learned something from. And I have who I am today. I have this mindset because of every single thing that I went through no matter how tough it was at the time. So you're you're correct there. You have to take something from everything that you do.

Sandy Kovach [00:24:37]:
God uses everything when right, Lanee?

Lanée Blaise [00:24:39]:
God uses everything. God uses everything for us. Works it together for good. And it also had me thinking about children. Not all children, but most kids that I know when they're like 5 6 years old, they have a lot of confidence that they can do all these things. They think they're the best artist in the world with their drawing, their singing, their they do a somersault and they think they need to be in the Olympics. You know, they they think they can sing a song and need to be on American Idol. There's so much confidence, so much willingness to try it.

Lanée Blaise [00:25:15]:
Even if they fail, they do tend to say, oh, well, I'm gonna do it different this way or It's just it doesn't end. And I don't know at what point in our lives. Actually, I do know. It was probably like middle school or high school.

Andrea Miller [00:25:29]:
That's what I

Lanée Blaise [00:25:30]:
would say. Yeah. Because we know when somebody's like, you can't sing, you can't dance, that doesn't look good. You don't look your outfit doesn't look good. You got a pimple in the middle of your forehead. You know? And I think it just makes us so self conscious and so inwardly thinking that we forget, kind of to your point, Andrea, that people who didn't know what D. I. T.

Lanée Blaise [00:25:54]:
Meant First of all, the one who answered back, I'm sure they didn't think, Linae's dumb. But also, I now know there were other couple people who were right there who didn't know what it meant either and weren't gonna ask. You know, so we're helping everybody. You know? But I just wonder, in our case, how do we get that girl back?

Andrea Miller [00:26:12]:
Yeah. That's a good question. And, you know, you're making me think of my son in the wheelchair because, yeah, middle school, that's when he stopped walking. So, you know, with everything else, all of a sudden, he's also different because of that. So, yeah, he's trying to get some zits and, you know, people you know, all these other things. You've got different friends. You're going to middle school. Like, all this stuff where it's like you're trying to figure out who you are, and then, hey.

Andrea Miller [00:26:33]:
Guess what? We're gonna put you in a wheelchair too. So he could be down in the dumps. He could be like, forget it. I'm done with life. I don't wanna go to school. And he doesn't. Like, you should see him. He is I mean, there are times when he talks to me and he says, I wish I wasn't in this chair.

Andrea Miller [00:26:50]:
I wish things were different. I wish I could play sports and be like some of the other kids. But then I see him around his friends. He's like the godfather. It's like kiss the ring, you know, come over and talk to me. He has so much confidence, so I'm like, good. Like, people should learn from that too. I should learn from that.

Andrea Miller [00:27:06]:
If he has confidence and he isn't even able to do the things that we're able to do, we can find it somewhere. I saw him on Instagram. Isn't he, like, with the basketball team? He's part of, Team Impact, which is I'll give props to Team Impact. It's an awesome organization that one of our physical therapists told us about. And this organization, they're just do this all through donations. I didn't have to pay anything. They partner you with a local college, and you pretty much are part of the team. So, like, he had signing day for Wayne State Basketball, and we it was 2 years.

Andrea Miller [00:27:38]:
We're getting ready to start the 3rd year. We need to get back into it because the season is starting. But he's gone to practices. He goes out on the court. He goes into the locker room. When they get announced at the beginning of the game, he's right there. So it gives a child that doesn't have the opportunity to be on a team like that to feel like they're part of it. And it's been an awesome experience for him.

Lanée Blaise [00:27:57]:
That's what I'm talking and somebody somebody had the idea to create Project Impact. Mhmm. Somebody had a little devil, I guess, on their shoulders saying, it's not gonna work. Nobody's gonna fund this. Nobody's gonna want it. And they had to push past and go ahead and figure it out how to do it. Because you said at first you were even thinking about your podcast. I know there's that book, Everything is Figureoutable.

Sandy Kovach [00:28:22]:
Yes.

Andrea Miller [00:28:23]:
Yes. I got that from someone within my direct sales team too, and she would say it. I'm like, I love that word. It's so true. And I tell that to my son all the time. And if he's having a bad day, I'll say, everything is what? And he'll say if he's in the right mood, he'll say, figureoutable. So there's always an answer. And and I say for him, we'll do it Nathan's way.

Andrea Miller [00:28:42]:
So there's always something that we can try to figure out.

Lanée Blaise [00:28:47]:
I know we're getting towards the wrap up part, but there's a few things. I wanna definitely, before we go, make sure people know how to get to your podcast. But also, your son Nathan, Nathan's Ninjas, are you willing to tell a little bit about that as well for people who are listening who might want to give a donation?

Andrea Miller [00:29:07]:
Yes. Thank you. I I wear a lot of hats.

Andrea Miller [00:29:10]:
You can tell I'm not afraid. I'm like, let's do this. Let's do that. Like I said, I learned a lot, and I will plug the other charity team, Joseph. This is where I learned so much. So Joseph also has Duchenne. He's a few years older than Nathan, and he's awesome. Like, he goes to school at Michigan State.

Andrea Miller [00:29:27]:
He's he's doing great. So we met him and his mom and her foundation team, Joseph, very early on with our Duchenne journey, and she really showed us a lot about trying to help other families, getting involved in advocacy, trying to find a cure, getting involved in different types of trials and things like that. So we learned so much from her, and we appreciated being able to tell our families. If you wanna donate, donate to team Joseph because they're doing all these great things. But many of our family members were like, we love it. We wanna help team Joseph, but we wanna help Nathan directly. How do we help Nathan directly? And, again, that goes back into asking for help. It was really hard to say, sure.

Andrea Miller [00:30:02]:
We'll take money to help Nathan. And it's hard to start a nonprofit and make sure that you're doing things ethically. And, you know, are you gonna take the money? And is it gonna help Nathan? And we learned through some other nonprofits, and we worked with an attorney to kinda help us figure it out. And we started our own nonprofit. So we appreciated team Joseph, but then we wanted to branch off. We started our own nonprofit called Nathan's Ninjas. We have a Facebook page, so you can check that out at just Nathan's Ninjas. But it's a small organization.

Andrea Miller [00:30:30]:
It's very community based. We start off with a family fun run. So we've been doing that for many years where families come out in our community, and they all put on their Nathan Ninja shirt, and they some run, some walk, some hang out with their dogs. And we do that every summer, and we raise quite a bit of money then. And then, 3 years ago, we started doing a golf outing as well. So those are our 2 big events that we do every year. My husband and I work on it together. We've got a couple other friends on the board, and our community is just awesome.

Andrea Miller [00:30:57]:
They love it. They come out, and they raise money. And, yes, we can help other families and other organizations, but we're also able to take some for Nathan to you know, we built a ramp. We fixed a bathroom all because of our friends and family support and generosity, and they love it. They just wanna help Nathan.

Sandy Kovach [00:31:13]:
Wow. An event planner too. I mean, that's no small thing. You're talking about, fun running a golf outing. Oh my goodness. Yes. Yeah. And

Lanée Blaise [00:31:20]:
forming the nonprofit. That is a testament to that's why we wanted to have you on here. You are not afraid of change. You are not afraid to pivot. You are not afraid like you said, you're the type of person who said, let's do this. Let's do that. And you're willing to try any decently good plan. I really want other people, including myself, to try to be like Andrea Miller on

Andrea Miller [00:31:44]:
that show.

Andrea Miller [00:31:45]:
Well, I

Andrea Miller [00:31:45]:
need to slow down sometimes and be a little more organized, like I said. But, yeah, I we I'm so blessed in this life to be surrounded by who I'm surrounded by because I couldn't do I couldn't be involved in any of these things if I didn't have support for my family and if if I didn't have such an awesome village to rely on and to ask questions of and to learn from.

Sandy Kovach [00:32:03]:
We said the name of your podcast before, but say it again and just and if you have any other websites or your social media or any other ways that we can get in touch with you.

Andrea Miller [00:32:12]:
So I started the podcast called Show Me the Way. You can find it on Apple and Spotify at this moment. I'm really into Facebook and Instagram. So I started a Show Me the Way page on Instagram so you can find that, and it just lists all of the podcasts. So far, we've done 9. We're getting ready to do our 10th. We're trying to drop 1 every week. So, yeah, if you start following it, you should be able to see and hear from people every week.

Andrea Miller [00:32:37]:
And shout out to Tammy too. Yes. One of my really, really good friends, Tammy. She's a sorority sister. I've known her forever. She pivoted recently. We talked about that when Monet was on our podcast. She worked in an education type role for a very long time.

Andrea Miller [00:32:53]:
She's not even 50 yet. And she worked there when she was young, and she was able to put in so many years that she was able to retire from that job already. Not even 50. So she retires, and now it's like, what's next? What is next? I said, well, number 1, you're gonna do the podcast with me

Lanée Blaise [00:33:10]:
Yes. Yes.

Andrea Miller [00:33:11]:
Which is really good because she helps me take a minute to organize things. So we're a very good team. I'm gonna, you know, let her figure out what's next for her, but she's doing the podcast with me right now.

Lanée Blaise [00:33:23]:
Yep. And you use your strengths and her strengths, and and you can pull each other up kinda like Sandy and I do too. Sandy has so many strengths that I couldn't dream of having my own. And and so we do we do our lanes and we divvy it up to try to make it work.

Sandy Kovach  [00:33:37]:
Yeah. Yeah. Lanee is our organizer.

Andrea Miller [00:33:40]:
She's Good. But you guys are inspirations for sure. I mean, I've been listening. There's a lot more I need to listen to, but, you know, I've been listening, and I love how you how you work with one another.

Lanée Blaise [00:33:49]:
Thank you so much.

Sandy Kovach [00:33:50]:
Thanks. And God put us together in a bible study and, just kinda like you met Lanee and, you know, thank God for all of these great connections. And you never know what door he's gonna open or who he's gonna introduce you to or who's gonna come across your path. So keep an open mind. So as we do kind of wind down, Linae, are you gonna orchestrate takeaway time here? Or do you have something else you wanna add first? I think

Lanée Blaise [00:34:17]:
I'm gonna do for takeaway time. I'm gonna do that thing where I say, hey, Andrea, if there is one thing that you want to make sure that anyone listening walks away to hold in their heart as they make their decision on which way they're gonna turn, what they're gonna do next, what would you say to them?

Andrea Miller [00:34:41]:
Full circle today, not tomorrow. Don't just put the idea out there. You can go after it. Don't be afraid. It might not be perfect, but I'm telling you, life is not promised. I again, I can't believe so much of my life has already passed. I can't believe my children, the age they're at. My younger son is a sophomore in high school.

Andrea Miller [00:35:02]:
Like I said, my older son's in college. My niece just got married last week. And, like, it goes so fast. And I know it's cliche, but it's so true. And, you know, when you're young, people say, what's your 5 year plan, 10 year plan? Like, I can't think that way. And I'm guessing a lot of that came from Nathan, but I just think as I get older, I just realized it's hard to think that long ahead. I mean, it's good to be organized. It's good to plan.

Andrea Miller [00:35:26]:
But today, not tomorrow, it is not promised. If you have something that you really wanna do, you're passionate about it, brings you joy. Don't wait. Try to make it happen or at least take steps toward

Lanée Blaise [00:35:37]:
it. I love that. I would like to end today's episode with a quote. Decades ago, there was a woman named Mary McLeod Bethune, and she is was actually the founder of Bethune Cookman College, university that is well respected. And she was speaking to the graduating class, like I said, many decades ago. She's passed away. And Mary McLeod Bethune said this, and this is how I wanted to just wrap up this episode all about, like, kind of moving out into the world in the direction of your dreams. But what she said was, I leave you love.

Lanée Blaise [00:36:19]:
I leave you hope. I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another. I leave you a thirst for education. I leave you a respect for the use of power. I leave you faith. I leave you racial dignity. I leave you a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow men and women. I leave you finally a responsibility to our young people.

Lanée Blaise [00:36:48]:
And so as we wrap this episode, I just want to say, imagine yourself giving yourself that same type of love and hope and faith and responsibility and sense of power. As you go ahead and pivot, change, and do it today, not tomorrow, just as Andrea suggests. Thanks so much for listening, and thank you for being on here with us, Andrea.

Andrea Miller [00:37:15]:
Thank you so much for having me.

Sandy Kovach [00:37:17]:
And thank you to everyone who joined us for this episode of Imagine Yourself podcast. We hope that you'll give us a rating or review. Let us know what you thought. We'll put Andrea's information on our website and then also in the show notes if you'd like to get in touch with her. There, you will also find our website, imagine yourself podcast.com and links to our social media. Please don't be a stranger. Until next time when we have something new to imagine. May God bless you.