379 Leaving The Legacy You Choose
Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will
Release Date: 05/06/2025
406 Screen Time for Young Children: A Parent's Search for Answers and Options
Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will
Screen Time for Young Children: A Parent's Search for Answers and Options In this day and age of smartphones, electronic billboards, TVs, and the seemingly impossible-to-avoid screen, it’s easy to lose connection to what matters most, our community as human beings. We crave connection, and by mindlessly scrolling or putting on a video to appease ourselves or a child, we inherently rob ourselves and our charges of a chance to truly connect, oftentimes causing irrevocable damage to the brain. We know screens are here to stay, so the question becomes how we can shift how we use them to...
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405 A Love Letter To My Future Self
Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will
405 A Love Letter To My Future Self Throughout life there will come times where we must take up our skills and talents as a knight would a sword and shield, wielding our innate and powerful gifts to further our lives for the better. By facing these moments, refusing to make excuses, and instead put in the hard work, we are bound to succeed. In this episode, Sarah Elkins contemplates the events that lead up to her presence on the TEDX stage, how the encouragement of her closest confidants, the peacefulness of nature on her hikes, and her own self reflection has brought her to this pivotal...
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404 The Unpredictable Nature of Our Stories
Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will
404 The Unpredictable Nature of Our Stories Like the humble ant, we go about our lives caring for those in our home, seeking new horizons, and using our natural talents to build monuments to our success. However, just like the ant, we are subject to things out of our control; be it a rainstorm that floods known pathways or a cruel child with a magnifying glass. These things can break us, they often do, but just like the ant we must settle again, rebuild, and make our home safe again. In this episode Sarah Elkins and Anne Plaisance discuss the many trials and tribulations they had faced...
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403 Choosing Love First
Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will
403 Choosing Love First It’s easy to forget that we have free will, that we can choose what we love, what we like, how we choose for others to perceive us. It takes a great deal of self reflection and growth to find the parts of ourselves that are willing to speak up and fight for what we believe in, even if we must speak up and fight against ourselves. In today’s episode Sarah Elkins and Edward Simberg discuss everything from how they met, to their deep love of storytelling, to the core beliefs they both hold dear. Highlights How do you live the stories you...
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402 Freedom in Healing
Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will
402 Freedom in Healing Throughout life we may make decisions, or be subject to decisions made involving us. Whether it’s first or second hand, inevitably we begin to believe in a pattern in the behavior around us, oftentimes leading to self doubt and worse. However, if we keep moving forward, actively choosing to make the best of a situation, to learn and grow in order to better ourselves for ourselves, we will find our freedom in healing. In today’s episode, Sarah Elkins and Holli Tabren McEachern discuss the importance of growth, healing, and the honesty that comes with self...
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401 Exploring Our Identities
Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will
401 Exploring Our Identities It can be daunting to explore outside of your comfort zone, it is vital to your growth. Whether that be leaving your hometown or simply stepping into a new field, we must challenge ourselves to unlock our true potential. In today’s episode Sarah Elkins and Sarah Degn discuss how important it is to spread your own wings and to travel outside of your comfort zone and to find who you are through your own skills and knowledge. Highlights Leaving home behind to pursue your dreams. It’s never too late to try and to explore. Learning...
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400: Of Reciprocity and Return
Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will
In celebrating the 400th Episode of Your Stories Don’t Define You How You Tell Them Will, Sarah Elkins ruminates on the many lessons and gifts she has been given throughout her journey as a podcaster, an entrepreneur, and a person. From returning to what truly matters, to reciprocating the good and beautiful things in life. Highlights What goals have you met that still shock you? What are you reflecting on and have you made amendments to others and yourself? How do you reciprocate in your relationships? Especially in the relationship with yourself. Are you surrounding...
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399 Support In All Its Different Forms
Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will
399 Support In All Its Different Forms When it comes to feeling comfortable, confident, and seen, it is important that we dress ourselves in a way that reflects how we want to feel. When it comes to women, a good bra that is comfortable and supportive is absolutely vital. We feel good when we have clothes that fit our body and flatter us. In today’s episode Sarah Elkins and LaJean Lawson discuss not only Doctor Lawson's extensive research into the comfort and support of sports bras and how it has impacted the people in her life that needed something so vital and yet so easily...
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398 Everything We Do Can Create A Story
Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will
398 Everything We Do Can Create A Story Every living breathing moment, we contribute to our own story. Every job, every interaction with another soul, every moment we reflect, we write a significant line in our story and oftentimes we must take time to truly consider what we truly want to have in our story. Do we want exhaustion or loneliness to rule our narrative? Or do we want to forge our own community based on that which brings us joy and cherish the light within us? These are the questions we must ask ourselves. In today’s episode Sarah Elkins and Tracy MacDonald discuss the...
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397: Our Talents Are For Us Too
Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will
When you first take the Strengths Finder quiz, we often feel like those skills and talents are what you can use to guide and influence others, however if we forget to take time for ourselves, to turn our talents inward and focus on ourselves, we are failing ourselves by not acknowledging what we bring to the table. In today's episode Sarah Elkins and Lindsey Van Gorp discuss the importance of introspection, fostering and growing our strengths, as well as how we need to wield our talents and skills in order to be the best version of ourselves, not just for others but for ourselves...
info_outline379 Leaving The Legacy You Choose
Inevitably, we will be faced with the endless march of time, we will have a moment when we have the thought of how we want people to speak about us when we are gone. Are you making stories that reflect how you want to be remembered? Are you living in a way that solidifies the legacy you want to leave? Do you surround yourself with people who inspire, drive, and temper your ambition?
In todays episode, Sarah Elkins and Bryan Abdul Collins discuss the importance of living a life without regrets, of surrounding ourselves with people that help us be the best versions of ourselves, and living in the moment with those we love.
Highlights
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Facing the inevitable and considering what it all means.
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How much time are you wasting by paying attention to the things that don’t matter?
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What is your legacy? What do you want people to think of when they remember you?
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What is the evidence of who you were and the stories you carried that you will leave behind?
Quotes
“I just want to teach myself something.”
“I faced the edge of this life and really considered what it all means, and I try to move from that place.”
“Raising your children is your job and your relationship with them afterwards is your performance review.”
“We are living in our own stories.”
“I had to fall in love with the story of who I was becoming.”
Mentioned in this episode
Stephen Moegling’s Elephant Journal Article
Dear Listeners it is now your turn,
You’ve heard our conversation switch back and forth between what we’re doing now to live our legacy, what we want people to know about us, and how we want people to talk about us when we’re gone. We’ve talked about what we bring to the table as coaches and what you need to be looking for in your next coach.
And, as always, thank you for listening.
About Bryan
I am a career and life coach specializing in helping ambitious creatives break through career plateaus and reconnect with their creative expression. I primarily work with mid-to-senior-level professionals in creative services—art directors, designers, creative directors—who are at inflection points in their careers, seeking transitions, feeling stuck, or wanting to deepen their impact while maintaining a sustainable work-life balance.
Through one-on-one strategic conversations, I provide career clarity, direction setting, and personal narrative refinement. With deep empathetic listening, industry expertise, and practical tools, I help clients overcome internal barriers, align their work with their aspirations, and navigate their careers with confidence and purpose.
Be sure to check out Bryan’s LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook! As well as his website Poetic State!
About Sarah
"Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."
In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.
My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home.
The audiobook, Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available!
Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana.
Be sure to check out the Storytelling For Professionals Course as well to make sure you nail that next interview!