Episode 80 - Megan Snedden On The Greatest Differences Come From The Sum Of The Smallest Things

I do really believe 100% from every part of me that everyone has the capacity to be able to do the things that they want and not to be held back by the mental baggage that's in our head that we want to push through.

Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. In each episode, we get down and personal with people who go after the things they want to make all their wildest dreams come true. Join us as we unveil and dissect a formula for what it takes to do the thing. Here is your host, Stacy Lauren.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacy Lauren. It's always such a treat to meet someone who incites joy wherever they go. Today's guest is that type of person, a storyteller at heart. She loves creating kindness and sharing positive stories with anyone who will listen to. I love how she dives in headfirst to go after her dreams. She doesn't let anything stand in her way, even the fear of regret. It motivates her and pushes her out of her comfort zone. This guest loves traveling the world, learning about cultures, and most importantly, putting a smile on other people's faces. She describes her life as a winding path full of insatiable curiosity, and she explores every curve along the way. I love how we were able to get into so many things in this interview, from how she hustled her way into being a travel journalist to how she gets through anxiety, to how she created a viral kindness movement with the kind effect, to even amazing travel tips on how to get to know a new culture. And she even coins my new favorite term, I awkward my way through it. I can't wait for you guys to hear her personal, highly inspiring story. Please welcome Megan Sneddon to the show. Hi, Megan.

Hey, hey.

Hey. How are you?

I'm doing pretty good. How are you?

I'm doing great. I'm really looking forward to talking to you because we've had a chance to see each other several times, but I feel like we haven't been able to really dive deep into all the cool stuff that you're doing, and I've gotten little snippets of it. It's funny, you sent me an email like an hour ago looking forward to the meeting, and that's the first time I've seen your website. And I'm literally crying. I'm crying over the stuff that's on your website.

Oh, my God. Really? That is literally.

I saw the video back and I don't want to get too much into it because I want you to do your background, but I was like watching the video where you gave flowers to the girl that had just lost her. Her dad and just, I'm sitting, literally sitting here crying right before this interview.

So looking at all your stuff, really moving. I'm honestly, sometimes I don't even know what impression the content I make makes on other people. So it's really helpful for me to hear that back.

It's been. And that's why I was excited to interview you, because you've mentioned a few things in some of the different gatherings that we've gone to and I'm oh, wow. That she's extraordinary. Being able to really do that today and kind of dive in more to that. So why don't we start off and have you tell us about you and your background and your story.

I don't even know where to start. I think I remember a long time ago when I was living in New York City, I met a shaman who said my spirit animal was a snake. Because I had a really winding path just like a snake, which kind of resonates. I don't know why, but I've just never had A to B to C to D to E kind of history. It's kind of, I don't know, the creator's way, you know, where you're like, oh, this is what draws my curiosity. So I'm just going to follow this or follow that. But once upon a time, many moons ago, I started out as a travel journalist and was working for a lot of mainstream media outlets doing both writing, photography and traveling all around the world, and then entered into my 30s and just kind of decided that I had explored that to the fullest extent that I had wanted to, and then migrated everything over to the marketing industry and was still just kind of having this higher calling for discovering more passion and more purpose in my life, which was how I had come up with the kind effect, which is a random acts of kindness movement. So I started to use my skills that I had learned in storytelling from journalism in order to start telling these positive stories and sharing them online. Which is what you saw.

Yeah. And it was really, it was so moving. And just the see, getting to see that connection between the two of you too is just really heartwarming as well. So you guys at home need to. Need to watch it. And so definitely we'll share her website at the end and you'll be able to see all the, all the good stuff that I'm mentioning right now. And it's great to me that you mentioned that snake thing and the windy path, because a lot of my listeners are kind of in that where they. A lot of not saying all of them, but a lot of them have been following kind of the prescribed path of life. And then they've entered into this podcast and they're wanting something new and different and they don't want to follow that norm. And so I kind of love that we're getting a chance to have this conversation today because it feels like that's everything you're all about is where you're just following your curiosity, like you said, which what an amazing way to live and to. To be able to do that.

It hasn't felt that way sometimes because I've honestly, I came from a really traditional family, that some of them were like farmers from the Midwest in small town Illinois. And so I kind of interpreted the path that was laid out for me was I should have gotten married when I should have graduated college and gone on to be maybe like a nurse or a teacher or a dental hygienist or something more, more traditional. I should have gotten married in my early 20s and had kids in a house and all these things. And that just isn't the way that things unfolded. So that's always been a point of struggle for me, is just learning to accept myself for who I truly am and navigate through just the major ups and downs of being somebody that didn't go that whatever the traditional route is just whatever socially made up norms that have been invented by other humans that we should or shouldn't follow. I'm a big proponent now of people just following whatever it is that is calling them and whatever life looks like to other people, I think is totally extraordinary too.

Totally.

Yeah. I'd love to start off and just.

Kind of go back a little bit to the travel journalist and coming from that traditional family and kind of seeing that and then to all of a sudden decide to go into that. I'm really curious how that even happened.

It's so funny because when I was in college, I just had this itch. Like I just wanted to see the world, I wanted to go places, I really wanted to study abroad. My family was really against it, but I did it anyway.

And I think they resolved that. You know, she's going to go abroad and she's going to scratch that itch. She'll be satisfied, she'll come home and settle down and join the real world. And that unfortunately, is not what happened. Because for some people, some people being me when they travel, instead of satisfying that Curiosity and like, scratching that itch, as you might say, they actually end up being more curious. And that's exactly what happened to me, was the more of the world that I've seen, the more of the world I've wanted to see. So there hasn't been this moment of arrival where I've gone, wow, I feel like I've done this. I just somehow I see one thing and I'm like, oh my gosh, I saw one country in Asia and now I want to go everywhere in Asia. So. And that's really where the travel journalism came from. Think when I was in college, I was working as a reporter and an editor for my school paper. I was minoring in professional writing and editing and really loved, I fell in love with storytelling. And at some point I think I picked up LA Times and saw that people were writing articles about travel in the newspaper. So I'm like, somebody is doing this job, and if somebody is doing this job, then I could technically be that somebody at some point. So. And it's so crazy to look back on that because there really was no path for that at the time because it was just, it was so old school, like actual paper newspapers and magazines. There were, there were no blogs, there was no social media. And somehow I just managed to make it work by approaching different random publications and being like, hey, would you accept a story about travel? And I kind of started with my small town newspaper. It was called the Santa Ynez Valley Journal. And I landed my first travel column based on my time studying abroad there.

When you first got that, when you got the travel column, that was from you cold calling, you actually called the places to try to get it published or how did that work?

Well, I knew a girl. It's all about who you know, it's all about making connections with other people, I think. And there was a girl that I went to college with, that I worked at the newspaper with, who ended up getting a job at that local newspaper. And she had studied abroad, traveled and wrote something for them. And so I said, oh, she wrote something for them about travel. Maybe they would be open to having it from other people. So that's how that happened. And then I figured, well, what other publications are there out there, news outlets or otherwise, that are taking stories about travel that maybe aren't like your top tier? National Geographic mapped the whole thing out and got this bright idea to move to New York City and somehow network my way into shaking hands with and meeting editors. And I was very nose to the grindstone at that Time and just was very determined and knew exactly what I wanted. And that's, that's kind of what happened. And before I knew it, it was my first big publication was at the time it was Huffington Post was like a big deal. And then the Huffington Post became International Business Times and Men's Journal and Newsweek and USA Today and Yahoo. And I was just kind of racking up one publication after another after another until that, I guess lost its gratification for me because I just at the point at which I reached the BBC and was regularly contributing to BBC and was working part time as a reporter quarter for USA Today, I was just kind of content but also asking myself, like, what else could I be doing with my life that maybe has a little bit more purpose to it? Because in a way, travel and travel writing started to feel kind of self centered, you know, because it was, it really was about me and I needed that when I was in my 20s to really discover who I was. And I was discovering who I was through storytelling and through travel. But then it kind of. I turned 30 and started asking myself, okay, well, how can I make everything that I've learned and everything I've been through about other people now? And it wasn't going to satisfy me to just chuck another publication onto my roster. I could have stepped it up even more and gone for the New York Times or equivalent, but I stopped caring about racking up titles the way that I used to care about it and was just ready to care about something else, which was how the kinefect came to be. Yeah.

So you pretty much just evolved and then once you recognized it, that's when you decided to do something about it versus just staying and continuing up that cycle or the ladder or whatever you want to call it.

Yeah.

Before we move on, because I definitely want to talk about the kind effect because I'm really excited about that. When you mentioned you networked your way into like meeting with the editors and stuff, what does that mean to you? What, what did that look like?

Oh my gosh, they're. I'm trying to even remember what I did. I started going on publications and cruising bylines of different writers or finding out who the editors were of different publications. And then I would stalk them on the Internet to see if I could get their contact information. And I would specifically look for the ones who seemed the most relatable to me or that I potentially had the most in common with or some point of commonality. And then I was just, just bold enough to ask them out for coffee. And be like, I will buy you coffee, I will buy you lunch or a drink or whatever. I will buy you a pony, whatever you want to just get a meeting with you and ask you about your career. And I am still, to this day, I look back on that, I'm surprised by the number of yeses that I got from people that were willing to just go have coffee with me and talk to me about their career paths and how, how they became successful in their fields. And I think probably the most impactful thing that I learned from that time, that I think it would be of value to other people, is that I never made an ask. I went like, even when I went to go have coffee with an editor at the Huffington Post, when that was like a big deal, I didn't have a portfolio prepared. I didn't have anything to present or to pitch to her or anything. Mostly what I said that I wanted to talk to her about was she had written openly in some blog posts that she had lost family members, as have I. And I wanted to talk to her about how she got through grief and still managed to be successful because I was kind of struggling with the same thing. So we started out our conversation talking about her family, the things that she'd been through. And then that led into writing, which led into our mutual passion for travel. And I just happened to bring up my phone and show her some pictures that I had taken into Argentina and was like, oh, look at these Argentine cowboys I'd taken pictures of. And she's like, wow, I really like these photos. We should publish these photos. I'm like.

How old was I? Like 23 years old, just being like, yeah, you, you should totally publish these photos. Yes, definitely. But in my head going, oh, yeah, yeah, no big deal. And then that's. That's kind of how that came to be. But I kind of went through the same approach for other people of just leaning in more to the curiosity of trying to understand them and how they came to be in their position of their career and really learning something from them versus making an ask. Because I think when you make a direct ask of somebody, you don't get the result that you're asking for because they kind of. You get more of a closed down response.

Do you remember where you even got that idea to go after them directly and to stalk them on the Internet and find their contact info? Like, where did that even idea come from? Had you learned that from someone or seen it anywhere?

No, I'm just kind of like that. I guess maybe I learned it. Because I told you I was a reporter at the school newspaper in college. And so when you're. Even though you're working just at a school newspaper, like you really, I guess you cut your. Your stalking skills like you cut your teeth. Isn't it like sharpening your teeth in your shop? Stalking skills at a school newspaper where for each story I wrote, I had to interview multiple people. And that's maybe where I developed my curiosity from. And if you were assigned a story about it by an editor, it was just your job to here find three or three to six sources for this story, go. And no one told you how to find the people or where to look. And so you'd ask around and I don't know. So maybe it came from that.

Yeah. And that's. It's a big thing that I'm sort of exploring now is that idea of lateral skills, how you have experience with something else, but it's not direct with the other thing, but it's related. And so you could pull from that and then be able to use it in the new thing you're doing. And I think that's a really good way to do the thing when you're doing something new is to compare it to something like that. I think that's amazing. And then the other thing that's so cool for anyone listening, even if you're looking for a job, do you know how many times I've heard people say, oh, I can't find a job, or I've tried that company, or they're not hiring, they don't have an ad posted.

But like, if they take the approach.

You did with this and actually network their way in through just a little bit of hustle, you could really open up more doors. And maybe that job or that company that you really want to work for isn't hiring, but maybe they know someone that's related to the industry or who knows what's going to happen. So I think it's just that concept of what you did there in that moment is so pivotal for even what you're doing now, which I think is amazing.

I appreciate that. Yeah. I would just say never underestimate the power of curiosity. Definitely. Because when you engage with people from that perspective, like you genuinely, genuinely want to know about them and their life, I think it really comes across in a valuable way. More valuable than you trying to push your own agenda on someone else.

So where was the. Did you travel a lot then when you were a travel journalist, did you. You. They constantly sent you places and then you were able to write about it.

Oh my God. I look back like if there's anything that I do miss from that era of my life, it was I just did. Well, I'm still traveling, I'm traveling now.

But I just did so much really unique and interesting travel at that time. So the publications won't actually send you anywhere, but you do work sometimes, sometimes the travel brands or sometimes the tourism boards of different countries to be able to go places. So yeah, I did all kinds of really interesting and just exciting things that I wouldn't have thought of doing myself. Like going to the, like straight into the jungle of Costa Rica really in like the middle of nowhere and going to like yoga lodges and stuff and like zip lining and like off the beaten path stuff in Puerto Rico. And yeah, I was all over the place.

Were you nervous when you first got started or was it just something you were just yearning and so when you did it you just went for it?

I don't know about nervousness. I mean I am always just kind of nervous.

Because I live with quite a bit of anxiety. But Elizabeth Gilbert's book Big Magic is then a read of mine lately and I really love it because she talks in there about fear and she. I mean, I don't remember exactly what the quote was, but it was about living life to your fullest isn't about living without fear, it's about acknowledging that the fear is there and going forward anyway. So it was crazy because I would go on these trips and sometimes the press trips would be multiple journalists who are a lot older than I was and I would have no idea who they were. So I'm showing up in Israel with like six people that I'm about to spend 10 days with and be like, okay, here we go. And I've never been to this country before and have someone else is in charge of like what we're doing, where we're going. So of course there was quite a bit of fear. And there still is for me, even still when I go places and I'm terrified of flying, but I travel a lot. But I lean into it more than lean away because I know that anytime that I've tried to shy away from the fear, I've just missed out on an opportunity and majorly regretted it. Yeah.

So when you lean into it, is that what you're thinking is I'm going to regret this if I don't do it or is there something else that you say to yourself that helps you kind of get through it?

Yeah, it's regret is an incredible motivator. Even last night there was a meetup group for street photographers, and I was feeling really anxious about it because it can feel jumping into a cold pool, that there's going to be 40 humans there that you've never met in your lifetime. And you just kind of show up nervously like, hi. And it's sometimes that interaction of jumping into a networking event just feels a cold plunge. And I was just feeling, oh, I don't want to let go. I'm kind of dragging my feet because you have to, like, get dressed and get yourself there and know that you're going to just be awkward interacting with people that you don't know. But I knew that, man. You know, I love photography and I love meeting new people, and if I don't go, I'm massively going to be kicking myself the next day just wishing that I would have gone and done that thing. So I'm always reminding myself of that.

That's great.

I actually.

I go through that too, especially when it's a group. A group thing. And so I think that's interesting. I never would have imagined that being you, though, like, seeing you socially, that would even be something that would come up for you.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's always awkward going to a big party. Like when. When our mutual friend Deb is throwing a big party, and I'm like, cool, I'm gonna three people there. And here it goes again. Like, there's just never not fear of meeting and interacting with people. But I find that if you just awkward your way through everything and tell enough jokes, then eventually it kind of goes away.

Awkward your way and awkward your way out of everything. That's so good. And so now that I'm remembering, you're actually the one that told me about that rejection therapy website. I sort of got obsessed with that after we. We took that walk. You did?

Yes. It's so good, bro.

I love it. It's. And I used it for research for that dating challenge that I. That I just completed. And so it was really helpful. But I was wondering, so when you're kind of going through all that with the. When you hustled your way in and you did the journalism and all of that, was that something that you. How did you handle rejection back then and then now? Are you poorly?

Gosh, it depends on what type of rejection we're talking about. For some reason, sometimes with my creative ideas and shopping them around to different editors, I didn't take it as hard. It only really became frustrating when you were really really attached to a story idea and you shop it around maybe six places and nobody likes it. But otherwise, editors, once you get an idea in or a story in, editors are brutal. Like, they just rip your story to shreds and you really work through it together with them and do multiple rounds of edits. So again, I would just go back to like exposure therapy. I would be afraid every time I would push send, turning an assignment in, like, oh God, like, I already know how this is going to go over. It's just going to completely change. You just adapt to that being part of your creative process. And exposure therapy again, when you just get used to, like, so many of your ideas creatively get rejected and you just know that that's part of the game. You just get used to it. It's like you get inoculated versus. Well, I really just became somebody who was kind of unattached to the outcome of most of my creative work just because I had to have a constant free flow of ideas going all the time. Like USA Today, for example, I had to write three stories a day. And so I'd be on slack with my editor and being like, what do you think of this? What do you think of that? I hate that, but I love that work on this. No, don't do that. And I think flexibility comes into play a lot because I still contribute to a few places even now, just for funsies instead of my income being dependent on it, which was really hard for a long time. But there are even circumstances when you send ideas through to editors and instead of it being like a hard no or a hard yes, they'll say, hey, let's change it in this way. Or what do you think about maybe taking it in this direction or that direction? And I've really appreciated that from editors because they've been able to think of things differently than I've ever even come up with. Like taking an idea that I had, them being like, but what if we had this twist? And I'm like, I like it, let's do it.

Yeah, they're just adding a whole nother level to something that you've gotten started pretty much. Or at least another perspective.

But I'm not this confident in all areas of my life. You know, it just is because again, like, you just. I don't know. There was part of me that was just able to separate that out. But rejection and dating, because it's just so close to my heart, that's like a whole other. That's a totally different sore spot. That's not the same.

Right? Because it's more on business versus personally business.

I'm like, okay, cool, business.

How did you unattach yourself from the creative aspect of the stuff you were writing? Was there anything that you were able to say to yourself that got you to not be attached to that outcome?

Honestly, I would just have so many projects going on at once that, okay, maybe in the beginning it was harder because I wasn't in all the way yet. I wasn't like a full time working journalist. I would just have like the one idea and the one idea would be so precious that if I would put it in front of an editor and they said no, then I would just be crushed. And so it was just such a precarious and fragile time in the beginning when you're building. But then once you get into the game, it's honestly, it's, I have one story I'm working, one that I'm pitching and two that are on the way out the door. So it's like you feel like a story factory almost. And that's the honest truth with the digital age too, is that you're just cranking out so much content. So even if with USA Today, when I was putting like three to six ideas out there and just getting no's back or whatever, it's just like, great, I have to move on to the next thing. I don't have time to really mope about and be sad because I have all these other stories and things I'm working on that depend on me. So maybe I would feel the pain of the creative rejection for a minute, but then I'd be like, okay, you just got to keep going. Just got to keep yourself moving.

Okay, so now let's talk about the kind effect. So now you decided to move on from the travel journalism. You realized you wanted to make more an impact. And then where did that, how did that bridge happen?

Well, the bridge is really that I kind of teased certain things out. So I found that with journalism, it's an incredibly difficult industry to work in and keep yourself afloat. The constant churn of ideas and such and like volume of stories and things that you have to create in order to economically survive is pretty intense. And I was feeling kind of burnt out from that, I think. And as you said, with the lateral skills, I knew that I could take the things that I had learned in journalism and just kind of move that over to another industry, which is how I ended up in marketing. So. And I'm still working in that today. I do a lot of like, Social media management and copywriting and editing, and have felt really satisfied with that because I get to do the same storytelling and satisfy my extroversion by working directly with people and, like, a number of different teams and things. So I've been really happy with that. And then at the same kind of. At the same time, I went through this crazy upheaval. This was all my early 30s that I just decided to make this big change. And it was very strange because journalism had been my dream forever. So I don't know how I even. I guess it was always the thought, like, I just have to keep things moving. So at the same time that I'm kind of structuring a marketing business, I guess the idea for the kind of act came about because I had this greater yearning for purpose. But I felt really overwhelmed because I think in the United States, we take purpose and we put it up on such a big pedestal, and we apply the same model of success and the hero's journey to that same concept. Like, if you're going to make a difference, you need to start a nonprofit or you need to make this big thing. And that almost for me, caused a little bit of paralysis and overwhelm because I was like, oh, my God, if I don't make America's next big thing, then I'm worthless. But really, all I wanted to do was just tell stories that I thought mattered and maybe even do something to make people smile. And so you'd have to imagine, and this is the honest truth at that time, in my early 30s, I'm leaving journalism. I'm going out on my own with marketing, trying to figure out what my purpose is. I was pretty depressed, and I. I didn't really know how everything was going to come together because it was kind of a mess, to be honest. And when it comes to making a difference, I kind of just got this idea because it dawned on me that the greatest difference that anyone ever made in my life was, like, the sum of the small things. When I reflected back on when I was younger and I had unfortunately had, like, lost my dad when I was in my mid-20s, there were people that came into my life and did just really simple things that even now I still remember and I can still, like, elicit those positive feelings from, and I was, what if it really is that simple? Especially for someone like me that's had mental health issues, you don't have to create America's big, big great thing or, like, start a nonprofit or really anything. You can start as small as just doing random acts of kindness in your neighborhood. And so I started doing that. And there was one friend that saw me doing some acts of good, and she was like, oh, my gosh, you should get that on film and, like, start making little videos about it. And. And at this time, I had absolutely no video skills. And I just told her, like, all I have is an iPhone. She's. I don't think people will care about that at all. So then that video that you saw that you said made you cry was the first one that I made, and I just filmed it on my iPhone without any special skills or, you know, audio equipment or cool cameras or anything. I just had put up a call out on my Facebook, deciding I wanted to give flowers to someone that deserved it. And it just so happened that a girl wrote in was, hey, I know another girl that just lost her dad. You should bring her flowers. And so it all happened weirdly in the context of, like, a first date with somebody that I met on Hinge. And I had God bless this guy because he showed up, and I just came in hot with the camera. I was like, hey, it's so great to meet you. Like, this is our first date.

And he seemed, like, totally in it. He seemed like he was in it.

He was super in it. And things did not work out with the guy. We didn't end up seeing each other again after that. But it was such a really incredible, moving experience, and it felt so good after I made that video and released it and ended up going viral. And what it taught me out of that was, wow, okay, I'm really onto something, because I really think that I've started to feel less alone, I guess, in my depression, because I felt like, okay, this is just a sign that other people are craving meaning and other things of significance as well. I'm definitely not the only one on the Internet that's, like, starving for something significant, you know? So then I made a couple more videos, and it just kept picking up traction, and suddenly this thing that I didn't really even mean to become a thing needed a name. So then I called it the Kind Effect. And. And then it just be kind of became my creative outlet. Both like, oh, what would be cool to do and what would be neat to do? And I just started making videos out of that. And it really. More than anything, the kind effect is kind of like a hobby or a side hustle or something that I just drive a lot of passion and care from more than anything else.

Yeah. There's so much in that that I love, and I Thought there was such a. And I'm sure you felt this, too, but, like, the fact about you having lost your father suddenly, and then that's the person that was recommended to you. It was just that. Such a serendipitous moment, you know, I think, and how that even happened. And I feel like that's where that connection and seeing that you can see what was happening in that moment, that something really huge was being created.

Yeah. I just knew that that was something that I wanted to do because I remembered back when I was grieving the loss of my dad, I just took it so hard. That was just one of the hardest things I'd ever been through. And I remember feeling so isolated and alone and just so, like, untouchable, you know? So the thought of somebody who'd been through what I'd been through, bringing me flowers, it seemed like it would be pretty comforting just for them to acknowledge, hey, I've been where you're at. And, like, things are gonna get better.

Yeah.

And just something simple to, like, brighten someone's day. I still love flowers. I still think it's. Think it's the most powerful way to give back to people because everyone's like, there's. I haven't met a person that doesn't smile when they get a flower.

Yeah. Oh, totally.

Well.

And it's interesting, like, so I saw the dinosaur one, too, where you dressed up as a dinosaur. I want to talk to you about that. But you were handing out sunflowers in that one. And I have a sunflower connection. We had someone at our company that had passed away young, like, 24, and she loved sunflowers. So every year we hike Kells Mountain, and we actually, like, pass out sunflowers to everybody. We're not just as dinosaurs.

But it's such a great way to honor her memory because sunflowers are such a beautiful representation of life, I think. And so, yeah, just seeing you at this very.

They're my fave. Oh, my gosh. I completely lost my mind during the pandemic. Completely lost it. Because I was just so bummed that doing random acts of kindness and having these kind of close interactions with people is the joy of my life. So when the pandemic hit and suddenly it's, you can't touch people. You cannot get close. You have to just keep your distance and stay away. Those words do not register with me because I'm a very. I love humans kind of human. So I. I was just bored one day, and I was watching dinosaur videos. People in the T. Rex costume videos. And I was, oh, my gosh. I don't think anybody has done random acts of kindness in the. In the dinosaur costume. So I started calling it the kind of. And I liked it because I would wear my mask and then I would wear the plastic suit over. So I'm like, okay. I feel like people are more open to being approached by a person in a big plastic bubble in the shape of a dinosaur than they are just a girl in a mask handing out flowers. So it became. I really lost my mind. I think I was just going crazy from being locked up so much. But I would put this. Oh, my God, I still can't believe I did that. So through the pandemic, I would, like, put this dinosaur costume on and go out and like, give people flowers and hold up signs of encouragement and go grocery shopping for Thanksgiving food drives. And it was just this. My answer to the pandemic and all of its ridiculousness was, I'm just going to be ridiculous back. So if I have to dress up like a dinosaur and go grocery shopping just to get other people to smile, then so be it. That's what we're doing.

So good. I love that so much. That's so good.

The dinosaur. So it's so great.

I wanted to ask you also, because when I first met you, we were at that one dinner party. I don't know if you remember, I don't remember which one it was, but I remember you telling this.

Several of them together.

It was like one of them. And you, you were sharing this. You just traveled from somewhere really far away, some far, far away land, and then you drove from LA or something, and then you served like a bunch of stuff at a hospital. And I was really curious because we didn't really get to talk about that. I was curious what that. What that's about too.

Oh, I mean, that was just another activation for the kind effect. I don't know. I'm always just kind of. I can't sleep at night because I'm always kind of thinking of creative things to do in the context of the kind effect. I'm kind of like, ooh, what would be cool to do for people? Like, what would be neat, would be fun? What would excite me always in the context of giving back and just kind of of creating smiles and little moments of joy. So at that time, I'd partnered with a friend of mine. His name is Ben. He runs an organization called Next Level Nurses, and he's a big purveyor of joy and encouragement. So We. We brought a few brands on board to donate product, and we put some little care packages together, and we went to hospitals and we're distributing care packages to nurses and just trying to, like, raise the vibe, you know, because, man, like, nurses had it really, really rough throughout the whole pandemic, like, I can't imagine. So we just wanted to get in there and give back a little bit to the community. And it's kind of like a win, win, win, you know, because we got to make positive content. The brands got to distribute their product to some really deserving people, and the nurses got to have a little boost.

So, yeah, so we did a few of those, and I haven't. They're a lot of work. It takes a lot of work to organize goodie bags that I found out, but it was just another thing that I did with the kind of fact to get the joy out there.

Yeah, I love it when, like, all these pieces can connect together and then you're able to put it out in that way where you're not only able to help brands promote themselves and also give back, you know, to. To people that obviously needed it during that time especially.

And.

And then you have the content part as well. It's. It's great when you can connect all those pieces together.

Yeah. And I love being able to connect with other people when we're doing good things, you know, so being able to have Ben by my side when we were doing things for the nurses and getting the brands involved and just it being so many moving parts, it's like just the best.

And so the other thing, when I looked at. It's funny when I talk to you, you never talk about this stuff. So it's funny. I told Jeb this the same thing. I'm like, you guys are like the most humble people. I'.

I don't even.

It's so when I saw your website, I'm like, oh, my God. I've seen you so many times.

That's really funny.

Yeah. And I was really drawn by how much you've been on the news a lot. You've done all these different things. Was that easy for you to do all that? Or was that. Does that. Did that feel normal or did that.

Was that hard?

I guess is the question.

There's so much work. There's so much work that goes into it when everything. Whenever I think it's good for people to keep in mind that whenever something looks flawless and easy, it means that it went off without a hitch because there was so much work that went into it. But gosh, somehow I ended up keeping a lot of connections that were in the journalism industry from when I worked there. So I was pretty easily able to make connections with media outlets again. And I have also just really generous friends that were willing to, to help me out making connections as well when it comes to media outlets and stuff. But yeah, you have to, you have to go through all the steps of making the connection. You have to come up with an airtight pitch to send over them and have it be something that's current and newsworthy with a news hook that they would probably want to report on. And then, you know, you have to submit questions and like script it out and rehearse and make sure that you're. If you're going to be on camera, like setting up your whole scenery and everything, there's a lot of work that goes into it. Yeah.

Because you seemed so comfortable. Like in every single clip that I saw, I was like, oh my God, this is amazing. Yeah.

There's a lot of times they either ask you to design the questions and pre write your responses or they might give you the questions in advance. So anytime that I've done any media appearance, I've always rehearsed at least a few times and then get my wiggles out and let the rehearsal go and then just say whatever comes out on camera. But usually because I've rehearsed, I'll have something things to default to in the back of my, my mind. And also actually, Toastmasters has been a huge help because they, they do the awkward thing where they make you stand up and they have that timer going and you get called for, what is it? Table topics. You're called on for table topics and you have to suddenly speak on your feet. So it helps you get past the SOS and really kind of come up with something. So Toastmaster was, was really helpful too in preparing.

Yeah, that's great. And then now you're. You're in Portugal now, right? Is that.

I am, yeah.

So can you talk a little bit about that? Because I think that's another piece that I think is amazing is how you just travel the world still, you know?

Yeah, I just get crazy ideas.

I don't know. I don't even really know what I'm doing half the time. I'm just kind of, oh, this sounds cool, I'm going to do that. And then I just go do it. So I've always loved Europe trip and I had come to Portugal last year for a few months and just really fell in love with It. That's when I also heard from other expats that there's something called, like, the D7 visa or the. Some people call it the digital nomad visa, some people call it the remote work visa, but it's essentially a visa for people who want to reside in Portugal but don't work here. So you have to have some type of business going in the US or work for another company outside of. Of outside of Europe. So I've been here for, like, three months, and I'm about to head back to the U.S. but my goal is to continue working on that visa. And I don't know, it's just kind of, like a pathway to having a little bit of a lifestyle in Europe at the same time being able to come home and, like, see friends and continue life in California as well. So I don't know. That's kind of my dream, is to be able to create some type of life that's, like, partially in California and, like, part in Europe and. And travels in between. Always the travel. I can't get enough. I still obviously haven't gotten it out of my system. Yeah.

So when you go, like, to Portugal, for example, what does that look like? Like, you just go there and you stay in a place. Like, what is that? Talk more about that.

Oh, you know, so I'll get these itches or these random inspirations. It's like a message that arrives in my head that's like, oh, you should go to this place. I'm like, oh, yeah. And then I'll start reading about it. Like, I'll literally still go to Barnes and Noble to the travel section and, like, buy Trav books and, like, read the magazines and, like, look through all the things and, like, extensively obsessively research something. And then my absolute favorite thing to do is join expat groups in the country and. Or the city that I'm going, because there's all these groups on Facebook. So even when I went to, like, Guatemala earlier this year, I joined the expats in Guatemala and expats in Antigua groups, because those in those groups are the people that are actually living there. So you get all the inside tips of, like, things that are going on and what it's like to be in that country or in that city. So I do that for pretty much every place that I travel in. Tend to spend, like, longer periods. But I've just never been somebody that goes on vacation, you know, and spends a week somewhere. I tend to be somebody that loves to really get immersed in a culture and like learn about that place and catch on to some of the language and make observations about how people live and meet locals. And.

I don't know why I've never been able to do things short term. It's just kind of, again, the curiosity, I guess, kind of dominates my life.

Yeah, that's a value of a high value for you.

It's just, I guess it is. I'm finding that out on this podcast.

So what is your best way to get into the culture? Is it really joining the expat group and then you're seeing everything in there or is there any other thing that you do that really helps kind of immerse into it? Because I think there's some people, they're going to Guatemala and then they're staying at the four star, five star hotel. Right. And that's obviously a different experience than staying in the community. And so what is. And I think sometimes people will stay at that four or five star hotel because they don't know how to like dive in when they to them that's like a little like training wheels and traveling. And so I was just curious how you kind of dive in in the way that you are. I mean, obviously the expat is.

And listen, I'm not going to turn my nose up at a four or five star hot. So I do some of that actually. I'll occasionally have my splurges and just kind of like even my friends were just here recently. Deb was here recently and we did a longer road trip, but we were just kind of traveling, yada, yada. But if I'm doing something like I'm doing now, one of my favorite ways to get involved in meeting local people is always to volunteer. Because when you sign up for a volunteer organization, there's bound to be people from that place and living in that place that are, that are volunteering as well. Like I hit up a local dog shelter here and was like, hey, I want to come photograph your dogs so that they could use those pictures of the dogs to get them adopted. So it was me and like all these Portuguese people that were there and I'm like, oh, perfect. You know, I always thought so. Volunteering, definitely. And then for some reason, like in Portugal, meetup is really big. I know that around the world, like it hasn't always been the case, but the meetup groups here are particularly good and there's lots of ones where like there's one called like Local Friends and Expats. So it's kind of like an intermixing of the two or. I did that, like, street photography walk yesterday, and there were lots of local people in the street photography walk. Signing up for classes or doing, like, sports activities is also like a way, like actually doing things. Doing things, essentially that you would do at home but in another country. Well, because.

Yeah, I think it's funny because, yeah, sometimes when you go to another place, you might look at, oh, where can I go? Hiking, or where can I do this? But it's always these new. And that's kind of that touristy stuff.

Right.

And so that's. It sounds like that's how you're getting immersed, is you're just doing the things that you do at home at this other place. I really, really like that. I think that's really good advice.

Like, I did a capoeira class in Spain, and everybody in the class was Spanish, so I was like, hola.

Yeah. And they were like, whoa, what are you here? So it was just so easy to start connecting. Because when you're the only foreigner in a class where they're like, what?

Yeah, you're making me want to go somewhere. You're, like, making me somewhere.

Yes, yes, go somewhere. Go somewhere. That is so cool. Okay, so tell me, what do you.

Think has been the hardest thing that gets in your way for doing the thing?

All of it.

Can you give me an example? I'm trying to think of.

Well, so, I mean, I'm actually. If you're open to talking about this, and we don't have to if you don't want to. But you mentioned anxiety and living with anxiety. I think there's so many people that are living with anxiety. And so. And to. To actually move into action, even though you're feeling it versus hiding from it and, like, being able to take these healthy risks and being out there. So that would be something I'd be really curious about is how do you manage that?

That I wouldn't say. So anxiety and depression kind of go hand in hand, right? And for me, the anxiety piece of it has never been severe enough. Like, I'll feel. I'll definitely feel it, like, when I'm traveling, you know, because I'm horrified by flying. But I just do it anyway, where I'm like, okay. I just know that this is a necessary step to get to what I need. This just needs to be done, unfortunately. Or I might tell myself the same thing of going to a big group setting where I'm like, okay, this just is. This is just part of it. Just seeing. Seeing the anxiety as, like, part of the Experience and not something that like dominates it kind of helps me put it on the same plane as other emotions because, okay, so I'm going into this group setting. I know when I get into the group setting that there's going to be anxiety, but there's also going to be a lot of excitement, a lot of joy, a lot of like fun that's going to be had. I'm going to be doing photography, so I get to do some like self expression and creativity and see beautiful city. So it's kind of. It ends up being on the same plane instead of being dominated or if I'm anxious about flying, I'm like, all right, I could just have to get through this part because also on the same trip, like I could be anxious about something else.

And I probably will be because that always happens, right? And I'll get through this. And on the other side of it is all kinds of amazing other things, things that I've experienced before, like the connection with other people, the beautiful things that you see, the awe and wonderment and like physical activity of actually walking and exploring. And I'm like, okay, I can tolerate this knowing that I'm gonna make that trade off.

Yeah, I like that you're kind of balancing that thing of not wanting to regret not doing the thing and then also the beauty of you actually doing it and what those experiences are gonna be like and the benefits.

Benefits. Yeah. And I think what really helped me with that was it's something called ACT or acceptance and commitment therapy. Have you heard of that?

No. And I've heard of a lot of.

Therapy, but I haven't heard Acceptance and commitment therapy.

What is that? I mean, it sounds like I can imagine what it is, but I would.

Love to hear what you say. Yeah, there's a number of ways to look at it, but probably one of the perspectives from it that worked the most for me is, is the acceptance and commitment part. So if we're to look at anxiety in the term in the context of traveling is okay, we have a number of options. We have two options on the table. Either like, I don't travel so that helps me avoid the anxiety, or I do travel and I have anxiety. So really it's. You make, these are your two options and whatever the option is, you choose, you accept and commit to that. That. So if I'm going to travel, I'm going to accept and commit to the idea that I am going to feel anxiety and how am I going to develop coping skills around that since that's the choice or the other hand of like not traveling and not feeling anxiety, then how am I going to develop coping skills around my disappointment or dissatisfaction? And this has come into play a lot for me with dating, for example. Well, I have two choices. Either I don't go on dates and then I don't have to deal with rejection, or I do go on dates and I have to deal with rejection. Because that's just part of. That's just part of it. And it's okay, which decision are you going to make for yourself? And then how are you going to commit to whatever the trade off is and then develop coping skills around that?

I really like that. That, okay, I might have a new thing.

There's much, much, much more to it. That's just the part that I attach to. Yeah. Because I was okay. Because if I'm. If I'm traveling and I'm experiencing anxiety, I'm okay. I chose this for myself.

It reminds me of with Deb's episode, she was talking about resilience. And I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was something about writing down what your triggers are, and then you write down, how are you going to respond to those triggers? And I just think that's really, really smart. And so it's almost. With this, you're pre planning both sides. So if you did a pro and con or whatever, it's like almost exactly pro and con. I really.

That's exactly what's part of it. Good job. That's exactly part of it.

Oh, yeah, I'm still in therapy. I actually had therapy today. I love therapy. Do therapy. Anyone who's listening, go to therapy. It's amazing. Yeah.

Understanding yourself and, and what motivates you, what drives you. It's. It's super. It's super important. Yeah.

And I really like the point that you brought up about the resiliency and the triggers. It's kind of related. If I were to look at, okay, I'm going to choose to date, and I know that rejection is part of it. This is what it brings up for me. And I just know that, okay, now that I know that this causes me X, Y and Z unpleasant emotions, how am I going to cope with those?

Yeah, totally. Oh, wow. I'm going to explore that more for sure. Yeah. I'm traveling, I'm going somewhere and I am doing. Doing act therapy.

Yes. Very cool.

Well, so how about you tell the listeners what would be the number one piece of advice you would have for them on doing the thing?

Well, you know how we were just Talking about therapy, it's always an option. It's always an option. And the reason why I'm such a proponent of therapy is just because it has been something that's been so helpful to me to have this educated third party come into my life and be able to work through all this stuff. And sometimes doing therapy and like, working with somebody is a precursor to doing the thing. You can't do the thing until you get the other things out of the way that are holding you back from doing the thing. And then when you do the thing, there's all these things that you have to deal with. So you need support when you're going through it. And then after you learn and you grow so much, and so you need support and someone to unpack all the things that you've learned. So I think it's just really helpful to bring someone else into your life that can. Can help you go for it.

Yeah, I think it's so valuable. And then also help you stay aligned to what you truly want. So how about you share where people can find out about you?

Sure. Well, people can find out about me@the kindaffect.com or on Instagram. It's also Hekindeffect or I also have my Megan Sneddon website, and it's also Megan Sneddon on Instagram as well.

And then what if they're interested? You mentioned the social media and the marketing that you do. Is that a business that you're doing? And then that's how you doing everything remote through that?

Yeah. So that would just be at my website, the Megan Sneddon one.

Okay. And what is. What is that like? If they're interested in working with you, what would that be like?

Oh, I work with people managing social media accounts and coaching on strategy.

Okay, perfect. So I think she knows a thing or two about strategy and managing social media, so I would definitely reach out to her about that.

Yes.

And perhaps the timing could be good, because I've been thinking about getting do the Thing on social media, so we might talk.

Okay.

Fun. Well, this has been amazing. You were unbelievable. And I just feel really privileged to have the opportunity to talk to you. And it's just. What an incredible life story you have. And it's just really inspiring to see you doing the thing, and then doing what you're doing for other people is just unbelievable.

I really. I really, really appreciate that. Thank you.

Thanks for listening to the do the Thing podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. But even more, we hope you'll be inspired to do the Thing do you have a burning question on Doing the Thing that you'd like answered? How about an inspiring do the Thing story of your own that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear all about it. Just leave us a voice message at do the Thing callcast. Co or email us at hello and do the Thing thingpodcast. Com.