Meeting Joelle Cantor

Speaker 1 0:00

Hi , I'm Shelly Maurer and I'm Cher Emrick .

Speaker 2 0:03

Welcome to Life Lessons from Pickleball , where we engage with pickleball players from around the world about life on and off the court .

Speaker 1 0:12

Thanks for joining us . Welcome everyone to Life . Lessons from Pickleball . We're so glad you joined us today and we are super honored to have with us Joelle Cantor as our guest . Joelle , you've dedicated your life to nurturing children , to being a preschool teacher , nanny and franchise owner of the Play Ball , sports and Movement Program , and now as an almost empty nester . You've channeled your experiences into writing inspirational books for both children and adults .

Speaker 3 0:49

Your latest book , my Wake Up Fall , chronicles your journey after sustaining your fourth traumatic brain injury at 45 , leading you through a challenging path of healing and self-discovery , and the emotions that everyone's hearing as I listened to your book , the Audible book , and it was wow a very emotional journey Very emotional journey , and one that we will delve into very shortly , but we want to know how did you first get involved with working with kids and your passion around children , and then how was pickleball a part of the story in your healing later ?

Speaker 4 1:29

Yes , absolutely so . A funny story is that , even as a child , my mom would say that she would lose me , like in the malls , if I saw a little baby walk by . I would immediately turn around and start following that baby and my mom's like where is she ? Okay , she's following that baby .

Speaker 4 1:49

I just always had this , this love for children and , um , you know , I think one of the highlights will be highlight in my life , and one of my biggest passions is being a mom , and so I think that I was just drawn to do that , and at a young age , you know was a preschool teacher , like you said , I got involved in nannying a few different families who just really touched my heart .

Speaker 4 2:17

In fact , one of them was right as I was healing in 2017 . I wanted to do something , you know . I wanted to get back out into the world , do something , but I didn't want it to be too overwhelming or stimulating , so I started walking dogs and this family that I was walking a dog for . They were from Australia and they she was . She didn't tell me right away , but eventually , as we got to know each other and she could tell I was a baby person , she told me she was pregnant and asked me if I wanted to be their nanny , and so that was such a wonderful experience , which then led to them taking me to Australia with them when they moved back to help them get settled in , and that was one of the things I had written on this list of things I wanted to do when I was healed , and Australia was on that list .

Speaker 4 3:12

Oh my gosh , so that was really special . And then my sister-in-law and I she was kind of the silent partner , but we found this program called Playball , and Playball teaches kids sports and movement . We would go to preschools and elementary schools and it was such a blast . I had so much fun doing that Again , just being around children's energy . I just feel like there's so much more well . They're less damaged than the rest of us .

Speaker 4 3:41

They just bring they , they my soul just kind of lights up around kids and and yeah , it's just some , it's just they're , they're little angels and I love being around them .

Speaker 1 3:55

Oh , what was the ages for the play ball program ?

Speaker 4 3:57

Play ball was two to about nine or 10 . And was pickleball one of the sports . It wasn't on there at the time . I don't know if it's if they've updated that now , but no , they didn't have it there .

Speaker 1 4:12

Yeah .

Speaker 4 4:12

However , I will tell you that and I'm sure you'll probably ask me more pickleball questions down the road here but but coincidentally , my father , back like 30 years ago , put a pickleball court in our backyard and I was not interested . I was interested and if I would have kept doing that , if I started , then , guys , I could have been a pro by now .

Speaker 1 4:37

I have no doubt about that .

Speaker 4 4:39

Now it's like my favorite thing and yeah , it's just funny how it found its way back to me .

Speaker 1 4:46

Oh , man , I love that full circle idea , but there's so much in the middle of that circle and this is where we want to enter this incredible story of your journey of healing . But first give us some background on how this final brain injury came to be . What had happened before that ? You'd had three previous injuries . Tell us about that .

Speaker 4 5:11

Yeah . So all three of them were or all four of them were sports related . Basically , I was doing some sort of activity . One of them , I was on a co-ed soccer or sorry , co-ed softball team and I always wanted to play first base because I was a lefty . But I wasn't really prepared for first base and so when my sister-in-law at the time was out of town and we were out of practice , they let me be on first . Well , I wasn't paying attention

Four Traumatic Brain Injuries

Speaker 4 5:51

and the guy on second threw the ball to me like really hard , and I wasn't paying attention and someone was yelling at me to like look , I turned my head and the ball just hit me right here I went down right in the eye .

Speaker 4 6:01

Yeah , I went down and I knew it was . I knew it was an issue when , um , the way everyone was looking at me , like , apparently , like I had stitches right here I still have a little bit of scar tissue but the way people were looking at me I was like , oh no , like what is it ? And then of course they had to like put on their their you know , know , everything's going to be OK face , but it was like it wasn't it wasn't pretty , and thank goodness that one was right after we already got married , because otherwise I would have showed up to my wedding with a blackout .

Speaker 4 6:37

So that one happened . Also , there was a co-ed soccer team where this really big guy just came running at me . He just panicked me down , smacked my head , and so those first two I didn't really get a huge , a huge impact really . The next one we were out on a friend's boat and I was out on an . I was on the inner tube and boat and I was out on it , I was on the inner tube and how you know whatever happened .

Speaker 4 7:13

I went flying off the inner tube and slam my head back down on it Um , and when I got into the boat like my nose was bleeding my right ear , I didn't have any hearing in that year . I was really kind of freaked out . But I also just didn't want them to feel bad , I didn't want to say anything , you know . And then , um , a couple of days later , I had horrible vertigo , the kind like where the room is spinning . It's not your spinning , it's the room is spinning .

Speaker 1 7:34

And .

Speaker 4 7:35

I had to stay in bed for six weeks with my eyes closed . I couldn't move and I thought that was bad . Little did I know it was coming .

Speaker 4 7:44

So that was six weeks , you know , if I got up to go to the bathroom or go to a doctor's appointment , I just always had to have my eyes closed and I would be feeling where the wall was , because it was just horrible . Then I finally healed from that . And then the last one was me just out jogging and there I went down a road I've never been on and the sidewalk was raised a little bit and I was kind of in a slump anyways . I remember just kind of like going through the motions of life , you know , I knew that well , whatever the case , okay , we'll get to that .

Speaker 4 8:22

But basically my toe hit the sidewalk and I just went straight down and then that turned into basically a nightmare where I got vertigo in the beginning and I thought at first like okay , I've been here before , it'll go away , I'll get better , I can do this . But it just continued to get worse and worse and worse and then intense um sensations through my body , vertigo , not just vertigo , but um , insomnia , um , just so much , so much . It was basically mentally , emotionally and physically draining . Um , I remember I used the word torture a lot , like I just felt like a prisoner in my own body and I didn't know what . We just didn't know what to do , and so I spent a lot of time in my room with the lights off .

Speaker 4 9:16

My senses got very heightened , so sound taste my eyes smell everything was just yeah , and you know , when you have three little kids and a cat and a dog and your husband and all of a sudden you're like taken out I just of life . You know , I um , it was a lot , it was a lot .

Speaker 1 9:38

In fact , your son was having his bar mitzvah Correct and you were able to be there and you even kind of forced yourself to give the speech , even though you were feeling horrendous , and then you needed to go to the emergency room right after right .

Speaker 4 9:55

That's right . I felt like , okay , this is a once in a lifetime occasion .

Speaker 4 9:59

You know , I wanted to be there , as you know his mom and full , fully present , and so that was a very big frustration . And you know you have to go up in front of you don't have to , but you part of the , you know it's an honor to go up in front of the congregation and and send , you know , give your , your child , a special blessing and whatnot . And so I , um , I was kind of contemplating , should I just not do it ? And something just said you know what ? You're never going to get to do it again . Just do the best you can . And I'm really glad I did , because after the fact people were like oh no , we had no idea , you looked fine . I was very good at , I guess , faking it , so to speak , which is kind of a symbolism , I think , of the lessons that I needed to learn .

Speaker 1 10:46

Yes .

Speaker 4 10:47

You know , growing up being a people pleaser , always wanting to make it about everyone else and not myself , I had a lot to learn . And so , there I was , doing that same thing again . But when I walked into the party and the lights are flashing from the band and there's so much stimulation from all the people , I made my way over to the buffet line to try to get some food to see if that would help , because in a normal situation that might help . But I just couldn't do it anymore . I hadn't slept for

Life as a Prisoner in Her Own Body

Speaker 4 11:19

four days straight and that insomnia got worse .

Speaker 4 11:23

So , yeah , I went downstairs to take a breath of air and then my mom and my stepdad were like you know , enough is enough , we're taking you to the emergency room . And it's those moments where you have to just surrender and say you know what ? I'm gonna miss the party , I'm gonna miss the speeches and the slideshows , but it's gonna be okay . It's just sometimes life throws us these things and they don't work out the way we want them to , and still we're all going to be okay . And I had to get into that space real quick .

Speaker 1 11:51

It's interesting because even you mentioned now , one of the lessons that you were learning was to not hide what you were thinking and feeling , and you were even in the boat with your friends here . You had this really bad experience , but you didn't want anybody to feel bad about it .

Speaker 1 12:05

So you didn't say what you were really experiencing . And and then now here , this was like you can't not tell people this was . Can you describe , um , is it your brain that's hurting , or is it the rest of your body that's hurting , or is it everything ? What ? What's the experience ?

Speaker 4 12:23

It's this very um , it's like this very fragile um . You know what I've never been able to share . I have never been able to describe it to doctors or anyone , but it's just , it's . It's unbearable , is what it is . It's like I used to say . Analogy would be like if you had a shock collar around your neck and someone cranked it to a hundred and you were just like you have to turn it off now , but it doesn't turn off . It's , it's that intense . And it was uh .

Speaker 4 12:56

It's just hard for me to put it into words , you know , but I even remember sometimes thinking like , okay , I just want you know my family or my friends , I just want to give it to them for 10 seconds so they understand where I'm coming from , because on the outside , the problem with brain injuries is on the outside , you look fine and I've had so many people not to get off topic , but so many people come to me since this has happened that I've been able to help and mentor and talk with and everyone says the same thing . It's like on the outside every look when you know you look fine .

Speaker 4 13:28

And so when people say it's all in your head , it's like yeah , it is , it is in our head . The brain is really fragile and it's incredible what can happen and what the body does from that incredible what , what can happen and what the body does from that .

Speaker 3 13:45

Listening to your story it was just unfathomable to imagine going through that level of pain and insomnia for three years right Years , years . I just , I just couldn't . Oh , it was so hard to listen to . Yeah Um , can you share with the listeners listeners just some of the things that were really challenging and some of the modalities you tried , because that was another thing . You tried so many different things , so many things .

Speaker 4 14:10

Yeah , and that was the frustration was that you know , I would get really hopeful because I did have a good team of family and friends researching and helping me find different you know healers and met both medical and and holistic shamans and all these different things .

Speaker 4 14:27

And I'd go to these different people and , um , I would be like , okay , I know you're going to be the one and we're going to have this great relationship afterwards because you saved my life and I'm so excited and um , so excited , and I mean it was everything from neurologist chiropractors , you know medical doctors , you know energy healers . I did stem cell replacements shots . I homeopathic doctor was one of my favorite . He tried so hard , bless his heart . A homeopathic doctor was one of my favorite . He tried so hard , bless his heart .

Speaker 4 15:02

I know there's a million more I can't really think of right now , but it was not only just in Washington , but my husband would fly me here and fly me there and it was interesting because my husband understood that it was a brain injury and it made sense . But yet we still felt like well , even so , like there's gotta be some sort of relief that can be given to me while while I'm healing and and you know doing the research that they used to think the brain didn't heal itself or re reform , you know , re wire itself and all that it does . But clearly , as an adult and a female , it took me a lot longer than maybe a child or whatnot . So yeah , that was very frustrating and yet there was this part of me that was like you got to hang on and you got to keep learning , and even early on speaking of the book and you guys listen to it on Audible but , in the first month of this whole situation , I remember laying on my floor in my room , my body was shaking like I would have twitches and shaking and all these things that I was not controlling , and the anxiety was through the roof .

Speaker 4 16:15

And eventually I learned that , like anxiety won't kill you , so just be with it . You know everyone always says like I learned that like anxiety won't kill you , so just be with it . You know everyone always says like , just

The Journey of Healing and Treatment

Speaker 4 16:24

welcome it , don't what you resist . Persist , so don't resist , and welcome and lean in and all those things . So I was laying there and I was just like , okay , I'm feeling all of this and it got me to be more curious about like this higher power , whatever you want to call it , source energy spirit , god , whatever you want to call it , source energy spirit , god , whatever you want to call it , our creator . I was raised Jewish . I'm not super religious , although I do love our traditions and things , but I wanted to find a connection more spiritually . And during that time when I was sitting there , I got this download which I always heard people say like oh , I got a download , you know , like I want one , like I've never gotten a download that said you know you're good Cause .

Speaker 4 17:12

I was asking what is this for ? What is this about ? What do I need to know ? What do I need to learn ? And I got the download that you're going to write a book called my wake up fall , because you fell and we've been shaking you and we've been trying to get your attention . And this isn't a punishment , you know . But you have an experience and you're going to share with other people . Well , that's fine . But like six months is in nine months , in a year , in I'm like , okay , listen , I'll write the book . But like can we , let's get me better so I can write the book ? Like why , little did I know . I had three years to go through this . That was confusing for me . Like I was like surrender , like I'll write the book . I don't know how to write a book . I'm not an English major . I will write the book . I want to reach out to other people .

Speaker 4 18:07

Let's heal , help me heal . You know , in fact , I , we do have the book as well , for those who make sure that you can see that . Can you see that ? I've got my own ? Yeah , we can .

Speaker 4 18:14

Yeah , I have that on Amazon , but I also have it myself . I can distribute to anyone who's interested in in that , or you can hear it on audible as well . So , and I liked what you had told me when you talked to me . Uh , share , um , I had the different people that I had write their version and their experience , I had their voices on audible just to make it more authentic and real . And and so that was that was , that was nice .

Speaker 3 18:39

So , people , that was really special . You had to hear your children and your husband and your caretakers talk about their experience . Yes , it was beautiful .

Speaker 1 18:50

And you know .

Speaker 4 18:52

No , I was just going to say like , for me it's like it's a bittersweet conversation , and the reason is because , you know , while I'm set eight years now , healed from it and I've learned so much , I look at that time in my life it's like that's the time that I was in the school of life , because I felt like I was . You know , I couldn't read or look at screens , but I was listening to podcasts and I was being taken to shamans and healers and all these people amazing people that came into my life that I learned so much from and helped me reestablish a relationship with myself , which was what was really needed . And then also , it was also so traumatizing , right , so it was so painful , but I don't want to forget that version of myself because what I love about that version ? I remember at the time my kids were watching that show the American Ninja Warrior or whatever .

Speaker 4 19:45

And I was like , guys , I'm a warrior , I'm the warrior princess , and I had my phone . Now my phone calls me , warrior princess , and I want to like I recognize that part of me because the truth is is like during that time I felt like my ego went away . I was full of only just love and celebration and care for other beings and people and animals , and it's like it was such an uplifting experience to feel all of that and I promised myself like , okay , when I healed , I'm not going to worry about all the have those inhibitions , I worry about what people think . I'm going to get out there and I'm going to do my thing .

Speaker 4 20:28

And it's easier said than done , you know , because I still find myself . I still find like there's a certain version of me that's like still wants to hide a little bit , even though I also recognize the different people who've come into my life , that I've been able to help and the message that I have and how important it is . You know , I'm still , there's still that inner conflict kind of going on . But I like to remember that warrior version because she makes everything so much more , you know , real and it just reminds me what is an what's important in life and that and and to just always have gratitude and and be present like what you're doing , who you're with , all of that kind of yeah , that stuff .

Speaker 1 21:14

Your husband Duran , right ? Is that how you say his name ? Duran ? Cool , cool guy who I'm sure at first it just had to be very confusing for your family . It's like , yeah , just kind of get over it . I imagine it's like , okay , you hit your head . You know , think positive thoughts , which is what we tend to do . And then he got it , and he stood by you through those three years in a way that we could all hope a partner would .

Speaker 3 21:43

Right .

Speaker 1 21:43

And all the ups and downs , and your children , who were pretty young . What ages were they when you first met them ?

Speaker 4 21:51

They were nine , I think , like 11 and well , no , I think it was like nine , 13 and 15 , something like that , yeah .

Speaker 1 21:59

Yeah , and when they share their experiences so touching , I love that . You included everybody . You were really holistic in this book . You also share just a lot of the life lessons . You give us ideas on how to journal , which became an important part for you and you did eventually . And we're not going to give too much away because really everyone listen everyone you need to get this book and listening to you read it , I love that .

Speaker 1 22:31

You said look , this is going to be organic reading and you know some people they're so professional , every little dot until but , you . It was like you were just talking to us

Writing "My Wake Up Fall"

Speaker 1 22:43

and it was . It's just such a moving book . But I also liked having the hard copy too , so maybe get both and then share both . Uh , anyway , you demonstrate in your journey the it takes a village to heal .

Speaker 1 23:02

And your village was filled with loving , wonderful people who each were going through their own experiences and challenges and everything else that you acknowledge and honor . And I'm wondering , in the process of writing the book , what was your experience ? Was it cathartic , was it difficult ? How would you describe it ?

Speaker 4 23:24

It was actually really difficult in the beginning , Because I had this idea and I shared it right away , people would say , well then , just , you know , even during those three years , just start writing journal . You're going to want to remember , like , how you truly felt in each moment . So I had a lot of . I had lots of journals like thick , thick journals , but I actually didn't really go back when I started to go back and read them . That was a little bit hard and I also just wanted to come from , I just wanted to come flow out of me , you know . And so I think that journaling was just a way for me to , um , you know , process everything in the , in , the , in the midst of it all .

Speaker 4 24:05

But it did take me a little while . I would start to try to write and then I'd get like that PTSD feeling and and I'd have to walk away . It took a little while for me to actually feel comfortable and stable enough to like , okay , I can do this now , and stable enough to like , okay , I can do this now . Um , but once I got going , it it , just it . It just came to me and , um , I have a friend who is an editor that you know about , since you've listened , and we had such a great time together . That was so much fun for me to , to , uh , to go through and edit with her and , um , yeah , it was .

Speaker 4 24:41

It was a very neat experience and I think part of it , yes , is for my healing . A big part of it was for my healing and for some closure , but then also there were so many times during that time where I would think about other people I wasn't the only one , I imagine , that was laying on my bed or on my floor , suffering and not being able to participate with their families and what , and I wanted to find a way to reach out to them and support them , even while I was under stress , you know . And so writing that book , you know , I felt like listen , not only the people who are suffering from whatever they're suffering from , but their families . I saw what my family went through and families need support too , it's it's a really hard thing to feel helpless when your loved one's suffering .

Speaker 4 25:28

It's just .

Speaker 3 25:29

it's not a fun place either , and you know what's so amazing is what you gave all those people is hope . That's what I walked away with that book Just so much hope , yeah .

Speaker 4 25:41

Right yeah .

Speaker 3 25:43

Yeah .

Speaker 4 25:43

And do you know ? That's all you can do . Yeah .

Speaker 1 25:47

So you finally , it finally turned the corner where you , the level 10 excruciating pain , dropped to eight and you were so excited which really was moving to me that , wow , still eight , but so much better than the 10 you'd been experiencing . And then finally , finally , finally and I had no idea that the brain would take this that long to heal Right , and you finally , finally , finally reached normal .

Speaker 4 26:23

Um , you mean like for for today ? Yeah , yeah , yeah , I would say , um , it's . It's interesting . I had a . I worked with a gal who was a medium at the time and before that I was never introduced to that stuff . I definitely had some skepticism , but she was amazing and she worked with me the whole time and I would constantly ask her will I be a hundred percent better ? Will I be , you know , able to function stuff ? And she always said , like it will be , yes , you'll be able to be function . There might be a few little things here and there that are irritating and that still might be , I would say , like smells , so like I can smell chemicals from far away , Like I smell them immediately but , not to the point where , like before , I would just like panic and it would just rush to my head and whatnot .

Speaker 4 27:15

Now it's like , okay , there's some chemicals around , I need to move myself out of here or walk into a store , that kind of thing . Even lighting isn't , isn't that bad anymore . Um , there could be a certain store or a certain thing , but I've been to concerts , I've been to certain things . I'm like amazed that I can sit in that environment now . So , um , I would say like 95 to 98% . Yeah , like every day . I like I really do wake up every day and feel gratitude , even eight years later because it's so cool .

Speaker 1 27:47

You just never , yeah , never know . So how did pickleball , enter your world .

Speaker 4 27:51

Yeah , so okay . So I started playing

Finding Pickleball and New Community

Speaker 4 27:54

tennis at ETC and um . Etc is the East side tennis center in Kirkland , and that's how we happened to know Joelle , cause we're members there too , that's right , and so I was playing tennis there and you know , I started hearing about people playing pickleball here and there and I remember that we had the pickleball court , but I just didn't think too much of it . But as I was doing more and more tennis , I would see people playing pickleball and so finally I was like OK .

Speaker 4 28:20

I want to give this a try and I quickly became a trader . I mean , I quickly switched . Some people play both . I was like I'm done tennis , sorry , I love this sport so much and , yeah , I just started getting involved and I just got hooked really fast .

Speaker 1 28:39

And have you shared your story much with the people that you play pickleball with ?

Speaker 4 28:45

I haven't really shared a lot of my story . However , you gals were with me at a certain event and we were all , we all brought a gift to give to one another , and so one of the things besides my book . So so I wanted to share my , my , my life lessons that I do have in the book , but I wanted to express that in different ways , and one of the things that really helped me along my journey was affirmation cards .

Speaker 4 29:14

I have a ton of them and I had a lot of fun with them , and so I thought , hey , I want to put together my own affirmation card deck , which I did , and so this is my affirmation card deck and I brought it to that .

Speaker 4 29:26

So people know from pickleball a little bit about you know the fact that I went through something and I got some life lessons from it and I made this . And because I also love children and it had crossed my mind before to write children's books , I also have a little children's book series called Children's Skills , with Max and Mowgli . Max and Mowgli are my actual dogs .

Speaker 4 29:52

And so each book has a different theme teaching children life skills , like finding your creativity , feelings and emotions . You know things that we don't always share with children . You are what you eat , just some fun little things . So I was able to , you know , share in more ways than one , in more ways than just a book , and I would like to you know , be able to have more one-on-one time when we're not playing pickleball and have , in fact , I've been really wanting to start a women's support group .

Speaker 4 30:27

And so that might be a fun way to you know , get people together and share our stories and support one another .

Speaker 1 30:35

That's a great idea , and this episode will introduce many who didn't know before what you've gone through . So with the lessons that you I mean likely the lessons have come from this incredible three-year journey , as opposed to lessons that you learned on the court that you're incorporating in your life . But maybe you have some lessons that you learned on the court that you're incorporating in your life and life lessons that you learned in life that you're incorporating on the court . What would you , what would you share at this point about ?

Speaker 4 31:06

that Okay . So here I have a couple analogies of pickleball and life . So like the game of pickleball versus the game of life . So what I recognize for me with pickleball is that and I do have a little competitive edge , Okay .

Speaker 1 31:20

Yes , you do .

Speaker 4 31:23

What I recognize in pickleball is that it doesn't matter if I play really well one day , I play horribly one day , I win games , I lose games , I , you know , feel high , low , whatever . It doesn't matter , because I always leave that court with gratitude . I always feel so excited to go for one and grateful for the experience of it . And so I started thinking , you know , you could , I could look at life that way , where we're going to have good days , we're going to have bad days , we're going to have ups and downs , highs and lows , all of it . But if we can remember to be grateful that we're here , regardless and that , and to really embrace the hard stuff , because it's not that we're being punished , it's not that life is wrong or bad because we're experiencing something hard or unpleasant , it's actually meant to be that way and and and that's really when I think we , if we're open to it , we get the most insight and we grow the most is during those times .

Speaker 4 32:25

And so I think pickleball has helped me remember you know , to be very grateful and to really lean into

Life Lessons and Final Thoughts

Speaker 4 32:33

whatever's happening each day . Um , the other thing for pickleball is community , and I know a lot of other people have said that on your podcast . For me , it is in a whole nother way where . Well , for one , one of the things I manifested and wanted to , you know , create when I was better was a new community of people , a new group of incredible women and friends , and that's exactly what's happening with Pickleball . I love all of you guys and friends , and that's exactly what's happening with pickleball .

Speaker 4 33:05

I love all of you guys so much . I'm really down to earth awesome like-minded people , and I can show up there as me , like this is the first time in community , I think ever , where I can just be me . I don't need to please anyone , I don't need to prove anything . I don't need to please anyone , I don't need to prove anything , I don't need to anything . I get to be me and I get to be accepted as me and it's just such a such a freeing feeling and so I love that too . In fact , I played on Monday and when I got there I said to the gals I was playing with I go . You know , I've never loved Mondays so much because I looked at my calendar and I got I get to go play pickable and I get to go be with you awesome people , and it's really awesome .

Speaker 1 33:51

It is awesome . So it takes a village to heal and it takes a village to play and be , ourselves .

Speaker 4 33:58

And that's fantastic .

Speaker 4 34:00

Yeah , and I was going to say my favorite quote regarding this whole situation that I've been through is that you never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice . That is Bob Marley , and everyone should remember that . Because we can handle , people will say like you're only given what you can handle , and sometimes I was thinking , yeah , no way , but I , I was able to handle it . And and other people go through extremely difficult things as well and we all we can . We need to remember , like our strength and that we can . You know how strong we are and and how courageous we can be , and it's important to believe in yourself when , when you're , when you're , when you're in the midst of that essential , it's essential another thing about your book that I loved all the quotes and a lot

Speaker 1 34:47

of , yeah , amazing quotes that you peppered throughout the book , which is another reason to have the hard copy , because I was just looking through every , every you call them scenes , right , and every scene begins and ends with a quote or and it could be and some of them are original from you and some of them are famous and I just loved every single one of them . So I'm glad you mentioned the quotes , it's so .

Speaker 3 35:16

And your original poetry that you have , yeah , your poetry . Your poetry was amazing and you actually wrote that during the three years I did .

Speaker 4 35:24

That was that warrior wounded girl . That was her speaking . I got to give her all the credit . But you know I love writing poems , like for cards or for special occasions or whatnot . So you know I was encouraged to do that while I was in the midst of it and really express myself that way .

Speaker 3 35:42

So incredible .

Speaker 1 35:44

Joelle , we just are so honored to know you , to be friends with you and to have been able to know and experience your journey through your book , and looking forward to these opportunities to get together as friends and talk about that journey too . But I am just so grateful that you took the time . Thank you very much for being with us and sharing your story on this show .

Speaker 4 36:10

Yes , absolutely , and thank you guys for doing what you do . I just we love your podcast . You guys are bringing such insightful people on that make a difference . You just never know , like that one person that hears something and it really changes our life . So I think it's amazing that you guys do this . You guys are beautiful souls . I love , I love seeing you on the court playing with you , and I agree we need to get together more often .

Speaker 1 36:37

Yes indeed , and I just want to say to everybody come on , this book is beyond . So it's my wake up fall F-A-L-L . I just love that title and , for those of you who are new to our podcast , thank you so much for tuning in today and we hope you'll consider subscribing . Please share this episode with people who you think could be touched in their hearts and open their minds to a new way of understanding the struggles that we have in life . So thank you all . Thank you , joelle Shelly . You and I are so lucky .

Speaker 1 37:14

We are , we are so lucky and thank you all and we look forward to a new conversation next week . Bye-bye .

Speaker 2 37:22

Bye , bye . If you love our podcast , we'd be so grateful if you'd take a few seconds to follow or subscribe to Life Lessons from Pickleball . This ensures you'll never miss an episode and helps us continue these wonderful conversations On .

Speaker 1 37:38

Apple Podcasts , spotify or wherever you listen , go to the show page and tap the follow button in the top right corner , and on YouTube , click the subscribe button under any of the episodes .

Speaker 2 37:50

Thanks , so much Hope to see you on the court .