Personal Development For The Police Department? Laura G. Hanson's Meaningful Revolution

I've noticed that a lot of people have this particular moment where something very intense happens. Like, I think you're the first person that's had an active shooter situation. Not that that's super funny, but it kind of is intense.

It's probably a good thing.

Yeah, yeah, it's a good thing to kind of get you thinking about life. So I'm curious, like, if you could start your meaningful revolution and have that impact in the world, what would you call, what would it maybe look like?

My meaningful revolution starts with my own personal growth, my own personal development. Because so much of leadership, in my opinion, is being a role model. And back to Kara Tay Ipsum. I cannot lead others. If I am unable to lead myself, then also growing into what I feel is my purpose and the way I define that is I'm here to encourage other people to face their inner pain, to not be afraid of pain happening in their life, to actually not just acknowledge that pain will keep coming back, but to accept that pain will keep coming back so that it's no longer a hurdle for you, so that you can unlock this vision for yourself, be completely uninhibited and find this self love for yourself that you can tie into your own purpose. For me, it's aligning myself with my purpose and then skyrocketing in that direction. And then my purpose again is helping other people get to that point where they're living in alignment with their purpose and then allowing them to skyrocket into the vision that they've created for their future. Hey everyone.

Welcome to the Meaningful Revolution, the podcast where we interview people about what they nerd out to inspire you to live your meaningful life. Today's guest is the author of a soon to be released memoir, why I Went in, and is a high performance coach. She's a former full time SWAT officer and in her memoir discusses how responding to an active shooter situation in Virginia beach shifted her perspective, led to her leaving the police profession and ultimately becoming a certified high performance coach. I would love to, and I'm excited to introduce my friend, Laura G. Hanson. So Laura, welcome to the podcast.

Hi Sean. So great to have this opportunity with you here today.

Thanks. Yeah, I'm so glad that you're here. I think you're working on a very important topic which is helping shift the mindset in law enforcement. When we were talking before, it was shifting it from like a survival mindset to more of a growth mindset. So could you maybe share a little bit more about what that means to you?

Well, in the law enforcement community. When you're acting as an officer on the job, you need to be in a survival mindset because it's part of what the job demands of you in order for you to stay safe and go home at the end of the night. So it's not necessarily about getting rid of the survival mindset so much as it is teaching about the growth mindset and revealing all of the opportunities that the person behind the badge has in their overall life so that they don't get sucked into staying in survival mode for their job as well as their time when they're not on the clock.

Okay, right on. So that leads me to my first question for you then. Was there a time in your career in law enforcement that you got stuck in that survival mode and how did it impact you and how did you move your way out of it?

I would say I was stuck in that survival mode my entire eight years that I spent on the police department. As sad as that sounds, the job has a really good, easy way of consuming you. And it starts as, you know, excitement for the job, but then it turns into, okay, well, I'm off duty, but I'm still living in the same city or the same area that I patrol in. And you start seeing people that you've encountered, whether you pull them over on a traffic stop or you arrested them, anything. You start going by the same neighborhoods and realizing, I hope people don't recognize me here because it's going to be super awkward if I'm off duty and this is, you know, somebody that doesn't like me. So you start feeling this sense of insecurity. Not mental insecurity, but physical insecurity for am I safe here? And over time, that translates to you constantly looking for threats. And maybe to someone outside of the law enforcement realm, it might seem, seem like paranoia, but it's more of like an on edge. It's always being in a conditioned state of mind where you're aware of your environment and you're aware of your surroundings and you think that there's always that potential for threat. And it's not that I'm trying to tell people to completely get away from that, but there's a lot of hindering of opportunities if you're only focused on the things that might go wrong, or you're focusing on your fears versus looking for these opportunities that you're going to have to overcome fear, fears and take chances on in order to have more in life. So it's less about like locking down the hatches and more about releasing yourself to see what the world has to offer you and realizing that there is a lot in the world for you if you look for it and are open for it.

Right on. So now I'm like, super curious. Was there ever a time where your fears were founded when you're. You were in this like ultra threat response mode out in your civilian life?

No, there really wasn't. I lived in Virginia beach, so it has about half a million residents as well as probably 3 million tourists around summertime. There have been times when I encountered some people, but most of the time they didn't recognize me. One of them was a guy who worked at a pizza place. And I was like, oh my God, I arrested him. But it never led to me being any type of physical danger never led to a bad experience for me. Not to say it doesn't ever happen for anyone, but for me, I mean, I was a very proactive officer. I wrote a lot of tickets, I took a lot of people to jail and never felt threatened for my life or my safety outside of the job because of anything I did on the job.

Okay, right on.

So.

So you're talking about having this fear then of something that might happen. And I'm guessing from your training you're always looking to see like, you know, who's going to run, who might react badly and then result in violence. And, you know, I get, I can, I get it at an intellectual level. I don't think I feel it at an emotional level for not just being in that world. But you mentioned that it sometimes closes opportunities for you. Do you have any examples of, like, when, as you think back now, you're like, oh, that was an opportunity, maybe in your personal life or maybe career wise or otherwise, where that sense of always being on edge or however you want to define it might have prevented you from something good in your life.

This is an excellent question, and it's hard for me to answer because when you're so closed off to opportunities, you don't even see them. Like, you don't even entertain them to say, like, I could do this, but I won't because instead I'm choosing security. I think it's a complete blindfold to, like, if I were to go back in time and live with my mindset now next to my police officer self, I would see the world. I would be living in a completely different world than my sidekick or my counterpart because the way we see things is completely different. So now I have such an open mind to look for opportunities. And I question and I wonder you know, the things people say to me, the conversations I have where things can lead me instead of looking at this is just going to hurt me. This is going to lead to my own ruin, whether it's financial ruin, whether it's career ruin, physical ruin. But I mean, I had such a blindfold on that I didn't even know what opportunities were out there for me. Right on.

When did you realize that, that you needed to shift? Because I'm sure that at some point, you know, being blindfolded and not maybe seeing those opportunities, was there an opportunity that you, like, were able to crack that mindset and you're like, oh, I can chase that.

It started with a belief that I could be more and contribute more. And I had that while I was on the police department still. And that's what led me to leaving the police department because I didn't feel like my full potential was being met. I felt like I had so much more to give and I couldn't translate what I had to offer into the job of policing. So it wasn't like being denied this particular thing on the department so much as just, I feel like I can do more. I feel like there's just something that I'm holding back on. And so when I left the job, I started to explore that and fast forward, that led me to writing my book, which took an even deeper dive into my life and what I'm capable of. And I committed to this journey of, okay, I'm, I'm not going to settle for an environment where I don't feel like I'm releasing my full potential. And it wasn't until I came across high performance that I really locked on to, okay, wow, this is a job. I can coach people and this is exactly what I love to do. It has the mentoring aspects, it has the personal development for me, personal development for other people. I get super excited about it. And that was a pivotal. No turning back. This is it for me. Let's go. This is what makes my soul come alive.

Right? Yeah, I, I had that moment myself with certified High performance Coach when so I came up in tech, so as a software engineer, worked at like Apple and Walmart at one point in my career. And yeah, like, it was like the dream job. But I got into this coaching thing and it really, I'm like, oh, this is what I want to be when I grow up. And I'm like, you know, 27 or 30 at the time or whatever. So I actually, that's bad math anyways. Since 2014. Yeah, that, that does not add up. But trying to do math on the fly.

There is a point.

Yeah, there was a point. Yeah. So as, so as you've kind of learned that you had this blindfold on, you get in this high performance coaching, there's so many different ways we could take this. Let's see, what do you think is. I like this question. What's a belief you have about mindsets in law enforcement that maybe isn't popular or isn't adopted by other people?

I believe they are extremely resilient people who don't give up easily and who want to reach their full potential and want to live a life of service and have the grit and the willpower to do it. They can truly overcome the most challenging circumstances at work is trying to empower them to do the same outside of work that I'm working on.

Gotcha. So next next best question. Where do you think people get tripped up? Like, are there particular. Is it just the mindset? Is it like not being aware? Is it like, are there a couple of different things that as you work with law enforcement folks, you're like, oh, these are kind of common things that prevent them from living fully outside of the job.

Part of it I think is the lack of recovery, which we know in high performance is essential. So it's extreme burnout because you don't get to have the typical life that other people do. There's not like a standard shift work rotation across the country. So your days off are constantly changing. The shifts you work constantly change. So you're looking at either like a midnight shift, something in the evening, or a daytime shift. There's a lot of unpredictable elements to your day, so it's hard to find consistency. It's hard to get on a schedule because things change or things come up randomly. Like when I was on swat, I was on a pager, so to speak. It was really a text thread because it's 2000, you know, after 2010. But anyway, you don't necessarily have the ability to say like, this is how my life is and I will plan my schedule accordingly because it's so unpredictable. But on top of that, if you're not getting enough sleep, you're not getting the proper nutrition, proper hydration, then your brain's not functioning the way that it could and the way it should and throw exercise into that mix as well. Because we really don't credit all of that self care maintenance with as much weight as we should because we don't necessarily see the downsides of not getting that full rest or not getting the proper nutrition and hydration and exercise. So if it's just a vanity thing, then people are quick to throw it to the side. Or if it's just a functional thing, people again will throw it to the side, not realizing that it's actually inhibiting their brain capability. But on top of that, there's this job stress, which any job you're in, you're going to have job stress, but it's so much amplified in the police career because it's not just your stress, it's the stress of citizens, people you've never met before. You also have that co worker job stress, while you also have the stress of your chain of command that depending on who your supervisor is, that can make or break your life for a good shift change period, which in Virginia beach was six months. So if you don't like your supervisor, you're stuck with them for six months. And that can drastically affect your performance and your job as well as what you take home to your family. And then you, you tie in the lack of stress with how people's families are affected and that they don't necessarily have good support at home because their relationships aren't as strong as they could be, because they either feel the need to hold back and not share some things with their family to try and protect them, or they don't know how to communicate with their family. Which communication is a very, very important skill, but not easy for anyone unless you work at it. So there's so many different elements that bring together this need for these high performance concepts into the law enforcement realm. Because without it, it's, it's truly hanging by a thread over, over the course.

Of a career that makes so much sense. So I've had a couple of doctors on the podcast in previous episodes and the theme being that especially in like these, like, jobs where it's like public service meets the public, it can be really, really tough to take care of yourself, right? Like put your oxygen mask on so you can take care of others properly because you have that need to serve, you know, So I just want to like recognize and kind of note that like thread line through a bunch of different professions. I have a friend that's a paramedic and like the, after a couple of beers, getting him talking about some of the cases he's been on, it's just so insane that, you know, you have all these really intense stories and human experiences that a lot of people don't even know are going around in your town today, you know.

Yeah, it's A very interesting look at society. And there is that common theme of I will lay down my life for another person, I will go out of my way, I will give my time to serve another person, to be there for them, go above and beyond the extra mile, what have you. But I'm finding a theme when I talk to officers is, well, where do you do any of this for yourself? And it must be something within the type of person that's attracted to the profession or somehow built into the academy or the mindset or the culture that suggests it's selfish to take care of yourself. And I have a. You can't see I'm wearing long sleeves, but I have a tattoo on my forearm because I needed the reminder. It's Latin and says curate ipsum, which means take care of yourself before you take care of other people. Because I can't take care of other people if I don't take care of myself. And I had to learn the lesson that it's not selfish to take care of me. And in fact, I think it's more selfish to not take care of me because then I. I'm not whole, I'm not genuine, I'm not authentic, and other people want me to take care of me. So if you really need someone else to inspire you to take care of yourself, think about other people and how they need you to take care of yourself.

Right on. Yeah, good old benefit extension.

Right, right. It goes a long way.

It really does. Could you. So I heard you say that you found out this lesson for yourself. Is there a particular moment where that became very evident where you're like, something needs to change?

That would have been after the active shooter experience that I had, where I had that mortality motivation and realized that I wasn't happy with the state of my life. And it was a significant enough incident that made me step back and start evaluating my life and the people who were in my life and how I was spending my day to day activities. And I realized that I was taking the backseat or a passive role in my marriage. And that was really like the ground that I started on because I realized I can't just continue to live a passive Life. I was 29 at the time and I just, I don't know, I. Again, I felt like I had so much to offer that I wasn't releasing my potential because I was just following somebody else and doing life the way they wanted to do life. So for me, I realized, what are you doing? You're just living someone else's life and you are not Contributing to the world or you're not giving your best self to the world because you are? Because I am. I sometimes talk about myself, like, thinking about that younger version of me, you know, but. Yeah, but. But I wasn't. I wasn't whole. I wasn't fulfilled.

Right. Yeah. And, you know, part of the mission of this podcast is to help people create and live into the life that they've designed for themselves. Because so often we from society, from parents, from teachers, we have all these expectations. And if you're not intentfully driving that, that's where the meaningful revolution is. Your personal meaningful revolution. It's creating that life and, you know, living into it. And so I've noticed that a lot of people have this particular moment where something very intense happens. Like, I think you're the first person that's had an active shooter situation. Not that that's super funny, but it kind of is intense.

Probably a good thing.

Yeah, yeah, it's a good thing to kind of get you thinking about life. So I'm curious, like, if you could start your meaningful revolution and have that impact in the world, what would you call it and what would it maybe look like? I like asking this question, new one I'm trying out.

So I. Such a broad question, man.

Oh, yeah.

Let me get started with it. Okay. So my meaningful revolution starts with my own personal growth, my own personal development. Because so much of leadership, in my opinion, is being a role model. And back to karate. Ipsum. I cannot lead others if I am unable to lead myself. So everything starts with myself, and it starts with me getting my own coaching, for one, and then also growing into what I feel is my purpose. And the way I define that is I'm here to encourage other people to face their inner pain, to not be afraid of pain happening in their life, to actually not just acknowledge that pain will keep coming back, but to accept that pain will keep coming back so that it's no longer a hurdle for you, so that you can unlock this vision for yourself, be completely uninhibited, and find this self love for yourself that you can tie into your own purpose, which isn't going to be coaching for you, but that's what it's done for me. It's turned into coaching for me. So for me, it's aligning myself with my purpose and then skyrocketing in that direction. And then my purpose again is helping other people get to that point where they're living in alignment with their purpose and then allowing them to skyrocket into the vision that they've created for their future.

Right on. Okay, that. That's awesome. I love how it is this, like, reverse onion. You know, you have to build the core of the onion, and then you can kind of shell out into helping other people with that act of service, which is what a lot of people. A lot of people find meaning and good work working towards a purpose, and then the people and relationships they build around it. And my casual armchair observation.

So.

Thank you for that. That's awesome.

Of course.

Let's see. If you were to think about other people in your space that are really focused on helping law enforcement. Do you have, like, two or three people that have influenced your thinking or how you approach helping shift or helping law enforcement grow into that more like optimistic, future, focused mission?

I'm certainly on the lookout for people directly tied to law enforcement that I can collaborate with in order to make this happen. It's interesting because the people who have influenced me the most don't even know who I am, which is people like Oprah and people like Brene Brown. But it's their vision and the things that they talk about that have helped me land in law enforcement, because I see the need for it and I see the potential for the change to happen there. And again, it's. It's involving faith, but it's involving a lot of emotional intelligence and awareness, which is where Brene comes into play. But I'm still looking for someone else to have a shared vision of. This is a group of people who deserve the best in life because they are the good guys and they're doing a noble profession. This country needs law enforcement officers, so we have to figure out how we can give back to law enforcement so that they can live the lives that they deserve to be living, which is amongst the other successful, good, happy people in society. Because to me, it's not right that you dedicate your life to an essential service and then you just get sucked down by it, and your life pretty much gets a cloud of gray over it because all of the trauma from it. So I'm unwilling to accept that that is just how it has to be. And I'm on a mission to get rid of the disgruntled officer and helping people live a long career in law enforcement and still have that positive, healthy, overall wellness with themselves and their families.

Right on. So I love that vision. I love how it's Oprah and Brene Brown that have been your biggest influences. You know, it's a lot more of that. Yeah, that, like, mindset and emotional Intelligence type thing, which I think everyone should get really good at. Like, these are skills that, you know, really impact your quality of life in any profession, but maybe more so here because of circumstances.

So I'm gonna both.

Oh, go ahead.

They've both certainly built me up because of the time that they both came into my life was about this time last year, so the fall of 2021. And sure, they've been out and around doing their thing well before then, but that's when they came into my life, which ties to my faith. There's a reason why I came across them at the same time, but I needed to grow through them first and to put in that self work to know that it was possible for other officers. So because again, I was that. I was that officer who was recently off the job, who was affected by tons of trauma that I didn't deal with, who I didn't know myself and didn't think that much was possible for me. So it was for me, all about how can I get to a point where, number one, I want to live and I just am grateful for what I do have, and then learning through them that there's more for me that I don't have to settle for just being alive.

Right on. What do you think they either Oprah and or Brene Brown individually taught you to help you on that journey?

Oprah led me to faith, which has been the most impactful part of my life. Every single day, really trusting God, that there is timing, and keep praying, keep talking to God, have patience. She's also taught me forgiveness, which was huge, really helping. Like the patience and the forgiveness really helped uninhibit me from that survival mindset and opened myself up to be such a more loving person. Renee. Wow. Where to start? There. I am such a fan of hers and it's ongoing too, because it's her podcast. So for her, it starts with vulnerability. And the vulnerability has completely rocked my world because the second I started being more vulnerable with people is the second I really started to live because I was missing out on meaningful connection with people for essentially my entire life. Because I was guarded. I felt like I had to protect myself. I didn't trust people with my emotions. I didn't trust people to know things about me. And I started taking that risk of I'm gonna open myself up to people and see where this goes. And I've gotta say that I can already see the tremendous impact I'm having just by willing to share my experiences and share my thoughts and my feelings. And I'm getting a lot more brave with being able to do it and I'm somewhat addicted to it now. So I get super excited when someone else will be vulnerable with me in return. I'm like, oh, really cool. We're gonna talk about more things than the weather right now. Awesome.

Right on. As a self proclaimed introvert, like, I totally get, like getting around that, you know, small talk and also being really reserved around people I don't particularly know. So I definitely, I relate to that experience quite a bit. And yeah, it is awesome when you can share and get that energy back, you know, so.

Right. Liberating.

It's super liberating. And I commend you for doing that work to. To figuring that out because so many people don't realize how freeing that can be.

So certainly it's freeing for me, it's freeing for other people. So I realize that not everybody's had the same life experiences I have. And I hope that over time they build their courage to be able to be more and more vulnerable with the right people. But yeah, if I can again, being a role model, if I can show people that it's okay, that vulnerability can bring you strength, then that to me is that's what I geek out about.

Right on. Okay, that's awesome. So now I'm curious, like, were you always kind of reserved or did the job kind of make you into someone that was a little bit more withholding?

I've always been reserved. It's interesting. I try and tell people that I identify more with being a introvert than extrovert. And people don't believe me now because I've come a long way. So maybe that whole Android Burt thing is more for me, but for me, it started. The first thing that really comes to mind is when I was 15 and came out of the closet and seeing how people reacted to me being gay with a lot of judgment made me not want to share that with other people and led me to protect myself and withhold myself so that I wasn't being unforgivably Laura. It was more of, let me try and make sure that they like me because I don't want to lose complete human connection. So there were relationships that I was in. This is so sad to me that I would go around their families and it was pretty much a standard that we were just friends. You know, I'm in a committed relationship with another woman, we live together, and yet the family doesn't accept it. So they treat me like I'm just her friend or her roommate. And it's insane. Like, just how. How much you have to hold back yourself to other people or just to survive or just to get through because you don't know what else to do. And that's like, well, at least I'm here. At least they invited me over, so I should be grateful for that. But now my current self is like, no, forget that. He'll do that. But same with being a. Same with being a cop is you. Even to this day, when I tell people I was a law enforcement officer, I wait for it. I'm like, you gonna say something bad about cops or you gonna do something good? Like, I never know because you're gonna either look at me like, I hate all people and want everyone dead, and I'm corrupt and I'm angry and whatever, or you're gonna say something like, thank you for your service. It's such a broad range.

Totally, totally. Yeah. I mean, that has got to be like. So this is. I'm just gonna ask this question. We'll see if it lands or not. So it seems like growing up, especially, like before, I feel like, you know, the gay community has been. Become a lot more accepted in society to where you have to kind of watch your words. And then you go into a profession where it almost seems similar in that way of you being you and assuming the identity of your profession is now something you also might need to hide with other people. How did you navigate that? I'm just. I mean, maybe that, like, this could be a very terrible question. I'm just kind of going off the top of my head. So if. If you're like, it's dumb, dude. Like, shut up.

No, I think. I think it's a good question because many people are going through their own. Their own gayness and their own police officerness, but in different terms, they're not.

Equal in any ways. Like, I mean, maybe they are. I don't know, but.

Well, either way, I think it ties back to the shame that you're feeling about that part of you and feeling like it's unacceptable to be that way. So you withhold it from people because you. I'll start using I. And taking some ownership here. I withheld it from people because I didn't want to lose connection and I wanted to be accepted. And for me, I navigated it over time and feeling out the waters and realizing, like, who I am. Ultimately, I'm in a different place now. And I think that comes from true acceptance for who I am, which is generated in self, love and knowing what my values are understanding that I'm worthy, and most importantly, that I don't get my value from any other person. So that has empowered me to show up and be authentically me and genuinely me, without forgiveness, saying, this is who I am. You can take it or leave it. I'm not trying to please you anymore. You don't tell me my worth. You don't tell me my value. That I don't get that from you. I get that from my own sense of self, love, and I get that from God.

Right on. That is such a huge, huge shift. Like, I think a lot of people have that kind of journey of the.

That things.

Things that we hold back are shameful about ourselves in a weird way. It's like, yeah, human experience. But, you know, a lot of the work that we do as a coach is helping people be aware of it. Like, hey, like, you're holding back here. And what is that authentic you, and how do we get that to shine out in the world? So, right.

There's a. There's. There's a space for you in this lifetime. And not only do you deserve to be in that space, but I know I need you in that space. Because if you're not. If you're not able to get beyond that shame or beyond those limitations, then I'm missing out on your gifts and your talents and your contribution. So I'll be selfish and say, I want you. I want the best of you. So bring it.

Yeah. Yeah, Bring it. Guys, she's talking to you right now.

So I am.

All right, let's go. So, okay, so before we get into maybe how to shift people in the culture, I want to ask this question because it was a big thing the last couple of years. This might be a little bit edgy, so I. I apologize. But talking about, like, reforming the police as an organization, because you mentioned, like, there's a lot of a spectrum of, like, thank you for your service. There's the people that absolutely hate any type of authority and everything in between. And that's maybe more diplomatic than what it is. There are, you know, so I think there's a good nuanced conversation for reforming law enforcement that kind of gets lost in the middle, because I think what you're talking about at the very heart of it is a cultural shift in, you know, people taking care of themselves in this very important job that's really necessary for society to function. But also having the conversation of, like, are we doing it right? Do we have places where we can improve? Do we have things that would be Helpful for not only the officers, but society to change. These are like super big, like topics to kind of COVID And we're not gonna be able to do it in a half hour on a podcast here. But I was just curious, like from someone that has that lived experience, how do you think making improvements or what improvements would you make if you were like the, you know, head of all law enforcement for the U.S. since we're.

In the U.S. it's a great question. So I'm glad we're talking about it because I've spent a lot of time here thinking that if people only could understand the perspective of police, they wouldn't hate them so much. They would understand the reasons why we have to be in survival mode on the job. The reasons why officers don't always give you the nice, kindest, friendliest welcome. You know, there's, there's a reason for all of that. And on the opposite side, I think law enforcement can be quick to want that understanding and then be pissed when they don't get that understanding. So it's like your classic two sides opposing not coming together because they're both hard headed and not having this genuine discussion or conversation. So I thought about how can I be effective in this realm without just standing on a soapbox and without demanding people listen to me? Because that doesn't seem to work or do the job. And this is truly where Brene got to me the most. Because I started thinking if there could be an increase in emotional awareness and an increase in empathy in the law enforcement realm, which truly is working on the person behind the badge, then you're going to see a natural increase or shift in what the police department looks like. You know, a lot of people have asked me, are you going back to law enforcement because of the different changes that's happened over the course of my past year. And I've said no because I believe that I can affect more change outside of the career than I can under the confines of the career. So I guess I'm addressing a different element here. And that's the way that the command structure works from the chief down. The chief has his own, his or her own objectives that they need to work on. And there's a lot of them trying to worry about the public perception while also leaving the officers to feel like they're not being looked after and cared for by their own command and their own department, which creates this own rift within the department itself. So again, my theory that I am working that's gonna take time and energy and effort is to Bring this opportunistic mindset, this growth mindset to the person and to work on the person. Because the, the world outside of policing views the person as the badge. They view them as the uniform. And so I believe if I can enhance the person, then that completely transforms the job. And I'm not suggesting that there's a million things wrong with policing because I don't, I don't want to say that now as an outsider, I'm going back and criticizing everything. But I also see that when you're a person who lives that high performance lifestyle, then everything you do, all the people you interact with, starts to improve and you have more joy and more happiness in your life. And maybe that'll cause officers to be able to reset better. Like we talk about in high performance having triggers and saying, like, okay, well I'm gonna leave all of the stress from that behind and reset before going to the next call. Something as simple as that could completely transform the way that policing is done because you don't have that carryover baggage from I just dealt with someone who hated my guts to now needing to be officer friendly with somebody else, you know. So I see all of these high performance habits and concepts that we have as being the solution to completely changing the lives of the officer, which in turn changes the perception of the officer to the rest of the community.

Right on. That makes a ton of sense. And like, yeah, like in my experience with law enforcement, it's been almost always pretty good. But like they're everyone's human beings. Like, there's gonna be the guy that didn't eat lunch or the gala didn't eat lunch and pulled you over and little snippy or whatever. And like you have to take people for, for who they are. So that makes sense if you can be more aware. It almost is like there's a sense of presence and I'm not sure, like, but you need to be very present for what just happened to you and how you're showing up right now. Especially in a very public facing office. Right. More so like maybe like I'm trying to think of other, like medical profession is kind of the same way you think. Like, like shop clerks use people that deal with people all the time. But it may be more intense, dramatic situations because of the nature of law enforcement.

Perhaps it comes back down to showing up as your best self, to every interaction and having to be intentional about that, having to have that emotional awareness or that mental awareness of where you are and how to generate that energy that you need to show up as that best self so that you're not carrying around this mental cloud of anger or upset or survival.

Right. On that note, like one of the things that I've observed in my community and there have been, you know, our city's been trying to work on this more is this idea that maybe we assign too many different roles to law enforcement, to your average police officer. So they're going to be the person that is going to deal with someone having a mental health break, which maybe they're not the best equipped. You know, maybe you need someone with a little bit more of a counseling or therapy experience. You know, there's all these different scenarios where maybe like they're just trying to hold too much. You know, there are a lot of.

Hats that you have to wear.

Yeah. Do you think maybe that an approach of like maybe taking some of those hats off to where maybe you can focus more on certain aspects of the job is good or bad or doesn't really matter? I mean, I think it comes down to that person showing up as their best self. But beyond that, like I'll speak to.

Virginia beach because it's the department I'm familiar with. It was a approximately 800 person department. So we did a good job of separating roles as much as possible by having a full time detective bureau. So anybody that had to investigate specific crimes, that was their job. You had your patrol officers, you had your narcotic officers or any type of vice related activity and then you also had your full time SWAT team. So in a sense there was this idea that we should break things down and separate it. The problem that I'm thinking of, not to say that it's impossible, is simply the patrol officer and how you could possibly delegate those types of calls because the, the mental health calls is probably when you need the officer the most at the front end. Because those are the people who truly can be the most violent sometimes. So you can't simply send like EMS or rescue or fire to those calls or a mental health worker to those calls. Because yes, while it's valuable to have that ability to talk to somebody if, if they have a knife or a gun or they want you dead or they're listening to voices that say to kill you, like it's simply not safe for somebody without any type of tactical training to respond to that. So there's been a huge push in law enforcement for a CIT program which is crisis intervention and or team. But the whole concept is that you're learning better skills for how to communicate. So perhaps there needs to be more in depth training on that, because some people are excellent, phenomenal at speaking. And I'm going to shout out to women right now because typically women have a little bit more patience when it comes to having these conversations with people. But if there is more skilled communication, then as far as the crisis intervention, that would be. That would be great. But again, in Virginia beach, where the ball gets dropped is now it's your job to sit with that person for eight hours until they get officially handed over to either a hospital or to a psych facility for them to sit. So now you have officers just sitting around for nine, 10 hours, just doing nothing.

Right on. Yeah, that makes total sense. Total sense. So cool. Thanks for. For sharing that insight and perspective. So always worth kind of thinking about. Like, I could probably ask you a bajillion different questions on this, but we have a podcast to get to, so let's see. I asked you that one already. Is there something you haven't shared on a podcast or in some of the content on your book about your experience in law enforcement or changing the mindset of law enforcement that you could share today?

Interesting.

You say interesting. I know that that's a good question.

So. Well, when I was. When I was on the department, I feel like I could have done more for women in general. And I really don't hit this in my book and haven't really talked about it on podcasts, but I know that I had a very successful time on the department, was very well respected. I had just. I'm not trying to, you know, overly build myself up, not making me feel uncomfortable talking about myself, but I had a good reputation. Yes, exactly. So I wish I would have done a little bit more to show women exactly what they were capable of and to show women that their limitations are truly just things that they have adopted from the outside world. But they're not true, and they're completely surmountable. And it doesn't matter anything about you being a female. You can still become any person that you want to on your department. And for those of you who don't know me, I'm five foot three, typically around 130 pounds. I was the smallest person on the SWAT team at first. My nickname was Pocket SWAT because I was so little that they joked they would just deploy me out of one of their pockets. But my point is that I certainly felt like I had to overcome being a female to get to where I was, but that was just overcoming my own mind. My own mind that suggested that being female disqualified me or Being female made me not good enough or equal enough. And my point is, don't wait for there to be only women in law enforcement. Go after it now and realize that you are really the only thing standing in your way. So.

Right on. And for the listener, when I met Laura in person, yeah, you intimidated the hell out of me. Like, just your, your energy, like, you could tell that you had some like a confident sense of body and like if anyone were going to mess with you, that you knew how to handle yourself. You know, those people that have that kind of energy.

Presence in the law.

Enforcement realm reminded me a lot of like my small, like Polish grandma, like super loving person, but like did not put up with anything, you know, so like that same type of, in a weird way, now that I say that out loud, but yeah, so like, yeah, and I'm like 6 foot, so I was like, you know, pretty tall. But just to point that out that that's a skill that anyone can learn.

So it is. And, and it's like anything that I possibly thought of in my mind, I was able to overcome it or show why it wasn't true. And that was the most liberating thing in the world was, you know, earning my spot on the SWAT team, hanging with the dudes, had every right to be there, and showing women what we can do because it's everything.

Hell yeah. That it is everything. And thank you for sharing that. Exclusively on the Meaningful Revolution podcast.

Hey, you asked the good questions. You get some good responses.

Right on. Okay, so real quickly to wrap up, if someone, particularly in law enforcement, were to get started on this topic of shifting their mindset, what would be like the first two to three things to just get into it that you might suggest.

Part of it is trying to understand where you are now in your mindset to see what you need to work on. What areas might be holding you back or what areas might you be perceiving as holding you back? Because I think having that good gauge of where you are gives you ideas on what you need to work on to start getting to your next level. Because that's what it's all about, is just leveling up. And if you have to, if you're starting at zero, we're just going to level one. We're not trying to jump all the way to level 10. So really taking a good assessment of what your beliefs are about yourself, because that's what's most important. Realizing that, realizing those areas where you're saying, like, I can't do that because of X, and then Trying to shift your mindset away from that. And when I say shift your mindset, I'm starting with your inner thoughts, what you're saying to yourself, bringing that awareness to yourself. To say, am I constantly in my head criticizing myself or am I in my head empowering myself, saying, yeah, this is hard, but we're gonna figure it out, or I don't know how to do this. That's okay. You always find a way, you know, really shifting all of those negative thoughts and starting to live into thoughts that are gonna be conducive to your success, while also starting to see better for yourself and understanding that you deserve better for yourself. You deserve strong relationships and overall well being and success by your own definition.

Awesome. So if someone needed some habits to help them work through that process and they're just starting out, did you do anything, like, with intention or did it just kind of happen for you?

Looking for the answers is very important. So being intentional with being open to solutions. I'll share what I have done. It's not certainly the way, but hey, if I can role model or at least encourage someone to give it a shot. My whole journey started with listening to empowering thoughts. Because I thought if I don't know how to think empowered, I need someone to show me how to think empowered thoughts. So I turned to YouTube for that. That's where I did come across Oprah. But I also came across people like Billy Alsbrooks and Eric Thomas. And simply listening to the things that they said gave me this sense of empowerment that started this idea that I am capable of overcoming anything. And this is me. And I started adopting that way of thinking. So that was one thing. Another thing was writing down on note cards and looking at them every day, things that I wanted to think. So that way, when I found myself in a bind or when I found I was beating myself up, I would be able to have that awareness to stop and to think about the way I wanted to think because it's. It sounds maybe overly difficult or something, but it's so simple if you just change the way you think. Like you're. You just have to give yourself permission to. Okay, we're gonna quote Peter Pan right now. Because it's that simple. Think happy thoughts. You know, just think happy thoughts. That's all you have to do. Stop thinking negative thoughts, start thinking happy thoughts, and your life will change. So that's. That's it, man. That. That completely. That empowered me and put me on the path of opportunity. And then when I saw the opportunities I had that mental strength to say, let's go, I can do this. Let's see where this takes me.

Right on. I love how simple that is, is to just. I want to think positive thoughts. I go on YouTube to find positive thoughts. I write them down on cards to remind myself to think thousand, like, super, super simple.

Yes.

And, like, that's so applicable in other areas. So I did something similar in my first job in tech. Cause I felt like an imposter and, like, was super stressed and would wake up with this mantra, this bad mantra of, I hate my job, I hate my job. And it was stressing me out more. And I couldn't. I was, like, trying to go to sleep. And, like, I need to sleep, but I hate my job. I don't want to go. And, like, it's terrible, right? And so I realized I was doing that and just have another habit that I talk about this kind of a lot. But I had a journal. And so anytime I would think that intrusive, bad thought, I would just write it down until my hand cramped up. And I look at it and be like, this is not a way to live. What's a better way to say this? And it's like, I don't love my job yet. It seems like a really dumb, simple shift, right? So it's like Indiana Jones, like, swapping the statue with the bag of sand and then running, like. Like, running like hell. And I would write out, I don't love my job yet. Like, 10 times to kind of help reverse that, that thought. And I noticed, like, when I would repeat that 10 times, I don't want my job yet. I would feel my shoulders relax. I'd, like, breathe deeper. And it allowed me to shift and think, like, how do I get out of this situation? What's really stressing me out? What do I need to do?

Which you can see in that statement alone, I can tie. I can think exactly about law enforcement for that. Because it's. If you're saying, I hate my job, then you're stuck in this. I'm not even looking for opportunity. But just by adding, I don't like my job yet. Now you're like, okay, well, I should look for something because something's coming because there's a yet. That means there's more. So that's a simple shift. And it completely changes your life and love, right?

Instead of, I hate my job. I don't love it yet.

It's like, throw away the word hate.

Yeah, get rid of that. Like, oh, I should love something about this. What what can I find that's good? Just super, super good.

You know what? And it, it might sound simple like you said, but I challenge anyone listening to to find out what your thoughts are throughout the day. Write them down so that you can look at them and then ask yourself, do I want to continue thinking these thoughts? And if you don't do exactly what Sean did and repeat, replace them with something else and then train yourself to start thinking that way. And you know what? Just sit back and watch and see what happens for your life. Guess what? It's completely free. It doesn't take a lot of effort. All it takes is a lot of desire, just a little bit of desire on your end to change and get happier. Which I, I would like to think that everybody wants to be a little bit happier no matter how happy you are. So try it out.

Yeah, I don't think there's ever too happy. Right. As long as it's not. If it's interfering with your life. That's a like manic thing. Probably talk to a therapist about it. I'm not a therapist.

Yep.

Disclaimer though. But yeah, you know, I do think we're all looking for that sense of joy and that sense of vibrancy in our lives. And so I'd love to end with. Actually it's a pretty good place to end. Yeah. I guess the only thing to do is you do have a book coming out about your experience on the SWAT team. Could you explain a little bit about the book, how people can pre order it when it's now currently scheduled to go live at the end of December. You know, who knows if that changes.

But so my book is called why I Went in. And again, author is Laura G. Hanson. So the book will be released in hopefully the end of January of 2023. However, you can go ahead and pre order it now to make sure that you get your copy as soon as it comes out. So the book does talk about my involvement with the Active Shooter experience that I went through. But it's not simply just a book about the Active Shooter. The book dives more into how experiencing that Active Shooter led me to take a deep dive into my life and ultimately face the most painful times in my life that I was holding onto because I needed to face those things in order to let go of the limitations and let go of the fears that were driving my life into the ground. And the book goes between the Active Shooter as well as the separation from my second wife as parallels throughout the entire book while talking about my mindset as well as the inner thoughts that I was having, because I think it's valuable to share those things with you so that you understand that again, your life maybe in a painful place right now, or maybe you've experienced pain in your past that you. You're still holding on to. But there is a way through it, and I found a way through it. And it has completely released me into being this happy, fulfilled, loving person that I would not have been able to access had I not faced that. That pain. So I highly recommend you check it out, because we've all been through pain before. And if you're looking to overcome that pain, maybe find some forgiveness in your life or simply figure out how you can truly, genuinely, unconditionally love yourself and love other people, then I walk you through exactly what that looked like for me. And I know that it's not about my life, it's about your life and how my story, by me sharing it, by me being vulnerable about it can bring some value to your life.

Right on. Yeah, definitely. Go pre order the book right now. I'll have a link in the show notes below in the podcast. I'm really, really grateful for you being here, Laura. I hope that we can all support you and your meaningful Revolution to help people discover personal growth, to be their best in law enforcement or wherever they show up. I do believe that's a very awesome positive change that we can have in the world. And with that said, I took so many notes. I hope the folks that are listening had some mental notes for that. Thank you for being on the show, Sean.

It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much.

Likewise. Yeah, again, super excited. So we'll see you guys in the next episode of the Meaningful Revolution podcast. This is Sean Butner signing off. Take care everyone. I hope you loved this episode of the Meaningful Revolution podcast. And if you did, please share this with 3 of your friends to get the word out and direct them to Apple Podcasts to subscribe and leave a comment because that's what really helps us with the show. So you could also direct them to Spotify or Google. So most major podcasting platforms you can find the Meaningful Revolution podcast. So but Apple helps us out the most. So please direct your folks to there if you would. If you would like to start your personal meaningful revolution, I have some exciting news. This year we're starting the Meaningful Revolution challenge, first one being the first week in January. So sign up in the link below in the show notes here to spend three days for free live with me where we'll go over defining and getting clarity on your personal meaningful revolution, that fulfilling transformation, that authentic self to show up in this next year. We'll spend on the second day building your plan so that you know what you need to do to make strides towards that personal meaningful revolution. And then thirdly, we'll talk about tips, tricks and strategies to implement and to commit to your plan next year. So those are the three days we'll have prizes. There'll be a chance to ask questions. There'll be a chance to, you know, get some coaching if you need some to in your particular situation to get you in the game, to get you moving forward, to get you into that meaningful revolution, that fulfilling transformation. Also, if you'd like some one on one time, there's two options also below here where you can sign up for a strategy session and the free strategy session I'll post on YouTube and as part of a new series, full disclosure there. But during that call you will get, you know, you'll fill out an application. It'll help you think about your life in a different way, get you kind of primed for our one hour strategy session. It gives me a chance to identify some areas to focus on so that you get the most bang for your buck. During that call we go, we build you a personalized strategy plan going forward with tools and tricks and habits and all that kind of great stuff and it's all focused and customized to your life. So definitely click on that if you're like, hey, I don't want this on YouTube. I'd like it a little bit private. It's $200 for that one hour call. Please make sure you sign up today because I only have so many slots each week where I can do these calls and they fill up quick. So don't miss your chance to get one on one coaching. Get your strategy planned, your strategy session locked in by clicking on those links below.