Growing Tall Poppies

Episode 45:- Reinventing Your Life: Breaking Free from ‘Shoulds’ & Embracing Radical Living

• Dr Natalie Green • Season 2 • Episode 45

Share episode

Send us a Message to connect

Are you living the life you think you should—or the one that truly lights you up?

In this eye-opening episode of Growing Tall Poppies, host Dr Nat Green, sits down with the incredible Marni Battista—entrepreneur, author, transformational life design specialist, and podcast host—who helps women in midlife break free from burnout, self-doubt, and the relentless cycle of "shoulds."

Marni discusses how midlife reinvention isn’t just possible—it’s essential. She shares her deeply personal journey of success, struggle, and reinvention, from building a thriving coaching business to a life-altering ski accident and shares the raw truth of her own wake-up call, the moment she realized she was trapped by the “shoulds” of success, and how she rebuilt her life from the inside out.

💡 Episode Highlights

✨ The life-altering wake-up call that forced Marni to redefine success
✨ How a ski accident and a broken sacrum became a powerful metaphor for her life’s foundation—and why it needed rebuilding
✨ The core questions from her new bookYour Radical Living Challenge that will help YOU design and create a meaningful, joy-filled life
✨ Why midlife women resist change—and the real reason it’s time to let go and how to overcome that fear
✨ The role of spiritual and emotional alignment in building lasting transformation

🎙 Key Takeaways:

✅ Your body keeps score: If you don’t listen to the whispers, it’ll start screaming.
✅ Success isn’t just about external achievements—real fulfillment comes from alignment.
✅ Fear of change is normal—but staying stuck is a choice.
✅ Radical living isn’t reckless—it’s intentional, soulful, and freeing.

Marni's Bio

🔗 Connect with Marni:

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK PROFILE 

INSTAGRAM  

LinkedIn

Youtube

Substack

Her book, Your Radical Living Challenge: 7 Questions for Leading a Meaningful Life, is a powerful guide to stepping into the life you actually want.

Links to Resources :
Take The Quiz: https://decodeyourdestinyquiz.com/

Marni's Book : Buy her book Radical Living Challenge: 7 Questions for living a Meaningful Life: http://radicallivingchallenge.com/

🚀 It’s time to stop waiting for “someday” and start living radically NOW!

If this episode resonates with you then I'd love for you to hit SUBSCRIBE so you can keep updated with each new episode as soon as it's released and we'd be most grateful if you would give us a RATING as well. You can also find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drnatgreen/ or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DrNatalieGreen

Intro and Outro music: Inspired Ambient by Playsound.

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be deemed or treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.

Dr Nat Green:

Welcome to the Growing Tall Poppies podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Nat Green, and I'm so excited to have you join me as we discuss what it means to navigate your way through post traumatic growth and not just survive, but to thrive after trauma. Through our podcast, we will explore ways for you to create a life filled with greater purpose, self awareness, and a deep inner peace. Through integrating the many years of knowledge and professional experience, as well as the wisdom of those who have experienced trauma firsthand, we will combine psychology, accelerated approaches, coaching, and personal experience to assist you to learn, to grow, and to thrive. I hope to empower you to create deeper awareness and understanding, and stronger connections with yourself and with others, whilst also paving the way for those who have experienced trauma and adversity to reduce their suffering and become the very best versions of themselves. in order to thrive. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode. I'm super excited today to bring you our next guest on the Growing Tall Poppies podcast. It's my absolute pleasure and privilege to welcome an amazing lady who I've only just met. However, I'm so excited to share her with you all today. She has definitely faced considerable adversity and is a wonderful example of a tall poppy. Constantly shining her light brightly, despite everything she's been through and making a difference in the lives of so many. So let me introduce Marnie Battista to you all. She is an entrepreneur, author, transformational life design specialist, podcast host, just to name a few. She helps women in midlife figure out how to reinvent the next chapter of their lives without sacrificing what they've already built. As an entrepreneur, author, transformational coach, podcast host, wife and mother, she shows firsthand the pressure of trying to have it all. And No doubt we're going to find with her trademark straight talk and humor, how amazing she is as she helps women say, screw the should life to overcome burnout, overwhelm and start living a life beyond their wildest dreams. And Marnie's new book. Your Radical Living Challenge, Seven Questions For A Meaningful Life is now out and available as of the 5th of February, where she shares her own story and struggle to live a life of purpose and fulfilment and what she's learned along the way, providing a roadmap for others. So we have the pleasure and privilege of her sharing that with us today. So I'm so excited. Welcome Marni. It's great to have you.

Marni Battista:

Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. So fun.

Dr Nat Green:

It's going to be excellent. So whereabouts in the world are

Marni Battista:

you based Marnie? So I am now living in a ski town in Colorado called Steamboat Springs. I've lived here for a couple of years. Before that I lived in Los Angeles for about 25 years and my journey, to reinvent my life landed me here, but it was never a place where I'd Could have imagined choosing if I wouldn't have gone through the process that I teach.

Dr Nat Green:

Amazing. So really you are a living, breathing example of going through something and experiencing the transformation and then making the choices and the changes as a result of what you've been through.

Marni Battista:

Yes, for sure. I think that, you know, when I, I had a very successful coaching business I had built it to, what I was trying to sort of like, become all the other really successful, well known. I was just kind of chasing that dream. And it came with a lot of struggle and strife and I felt like I was, everyone else was making money. It was getting, the bigger it grew, there's that tipping point where it was like, Oh, I was paying everyone. I had this giant monthly net. And and then I got into a pretty bad ski accident. Um, that landed me in bed for about nine weeks without being able to move. My kids left the nest COVID happened. And I really was confronted with this experience of not being able to strive because I couldn't move, and that was the beginning of me. Starting to ask a new set of questions about what really is success and what more could there possibly be for me if I were to do some re engineering of my life. I just didn't know how to do that.

Dr Nat Green:

So there's a lot in that you've just said there with so many layers. So I'm wondering if you'd be okay if we just unpack a little bit there. Yeah, of course. Yeah. So you already had built this life that you had these great goals. You were striving for the best, being the best coach that you could be, and you were happy with your business, but there was still something not quite where you wanted to be. And I can so relate to that, having a thriving business with lots of staff and lots of people and making a difference. but it just Didn't quite feel like it was enough and you knew that there was something missing.

Marni Battista:

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think the other thing is like, the further the bigger everything became, I think that there's this misconception that bigger and more is like a happy life. Right. And I hadn't even really stopped to think that the bigger it got, the less. I was doing that I actually enjoyed because I was like putting out fires and babysitting adults who couldn't get along and, looking after people's egos and, And complaining about, like complaining about it, meaning I was just like, why is this person mad? And why won't this person do this? And and I was blaming myself, like, oh, if I were better, if I was a better boss, or if I was smarter, if I went to school and got an MBA, or if, then I wouldn't have any of these problems. And so I think that and the bigger it gets, it's more of like escalation of commitment, right? So I couldn't, I never even thought for one minute I'm not going to do this or can't do this, or I don't want, do I want to do this? But there was this point where, you know, and I think it was like the perfect storm where things stopped like flowing and working. I felt like I was really. having a lot of just bad, not bad stuff, but like obstacles where you're like, the fires are getting bigger and you're, you know, running out of water kind of a thing. And that's when I was started to just be like, what, how, what do I need to do to fix this? Like what's wrong? What can I do? And I wasn't getting any, like nothing that the answers were working that were like strategy based. And so that was, that was very frustrating for someone who's used to like, just getting it, it's being a problem solver.

Dr Nat Green:

Yes. Just getting in and getting it done. Cause that's what we do. And we're so used to doing it at that high level that we don't question it. And then you alluded to the fact that you had a ski accident. So I'm just wondering if you could share an overview. As much or as little detail as you feel comfortable with about what happened to you, because I'm assuming that was your turning point.

Marni Battista:

Yeah. And you know, I talk about that. It's like the prologue of the book is that ski accident. But the bottom line is that that accident, you know, sort of like going zooming down the mountain, kind of ignoring. Any sort of like, should I, shouldn't I, you know, to take this path following somebody. That was all a metaphor for how I was doing my life. I was racing through life. I was following people without asking myself, is this what I want? And as a result of that, I fractured my sacrum in seven places and it was, yeah, it was bad. And And that and then, going through this recovery process and. And still not being out of pain, even though nine or 10 weeks later, like the bones supposedly had healed. And I, and then I was in another, like, okay, so now why is, why am I still in pain? Why is this not working? And I was trying everything and going down the strategy route. And it wasn't until someone sort of pointed out to me that I had. Broken these seven bones in the sacrum, which is like the foundation for who you are, because I built my life on this foundation of living neck up and being a doer and not really operating from like At a soul emotional level and that I'd run out of gas, sort of, you know, and that and that I had to break that foundation so that I could really rebuild my life from the most whole part of myself in my mid fifties, which interestingly. To me, and I talked to so many women around this age, a little younger, a little older, it's almost like the older we are, the harder it is to change or let go or create anything new. And if you ask someone, Oh, do you just plan on being autopilot? Most people will be like, of course not. But they're afraid to do anything different. They're just kind of like waiting till whatever ends so they can then they'll start living their life. Uh, my mom died at 64, I was 55. So, when I looked around my house, my life, and I thought, and this was kind of, you know, like the point that got me into action was like, if I had nine years left to live. Do I want to spend it in this house waiting for my kids to come back and visit me? Cause I loved being a mom. Now they're like, adult. Is that how I want to live my life? And the answer was no, but like every action I had was like, yes. And so I was like, That's interesting. So that sort of set me on this little path of okay, well, if I, I just don't know how to do it, I don't know what to do. I don't want to screw anything up. I don't want to blow up stuff. What's going to make me happy. And it was so easy to go back into that old, like neck up. I don't know where, very binding, where should I live? What should, and I was like, wait, no, I need a different pathway. And that's when I sort of came across the design thinking model. Which is the model out of Stanford University in America of how products are designed and developed. And I had seen that and I had been looking at that, but there was no spiritual component. And that is when I realized that without those, these questions to ask yourself to really navigate through change. You're just doing change the old way. And so this whole structure and process that I put together, that's in my book is really, how do you design your next chapter in a way that is meaningful and successful on your own terms, by your own design, that's in your control. So that you enjoy the journey as well as the destination. And that is, that's what I did. And now it's in the book and that's what I've been teaching to my clients. And it's been so incredible to watch people really reinvent everything.

Dr Nat Green:

Oh, I love that so much. So much because really, the irony's not lost on me about the fact that, as you said, you fractured your sacrum, the foundation of everything, and yet you've been able to rebuild it because you were willing to look at challenging the old life, the should life, the way you thought you should continue. So what do you think the cost is of keeping your should life beyond its expiration date?

Marni Battista:

For most people, it's they think that through willpower and force, they can stay the course. I talked to a lot of women who either have businesses or in corporate who have put in a lot of hours, they've climbed the ladder. They look ahead and they're like, I have just to do this for 10 more years or five more years, and what happens often is that and this is happening more and more every passing day is that things get reorganized, restructured and someone's news coming in, someone younger, someone, whatever. And they're basically coming to me and they're like, Okay, I have to reprove myself. I don't have it in me. I can't work, 70 hours a week anymore. I can't give up time with my family to prove to this person. I thought I could just grind through. And so the cost is That the louder the voice gets in your head of like, I can't take this anymore and not knowing what else to do. It impacts your mental health, your physical health, your relationships your relationships with your children. If you have children at home your partners you're not. You're not taking care of yourself, you're getting burned out. All of these things can happen and your overall joy and satisfaction goes down and other things that we think are going to make us happy spike up like drinking wine, scrolling on social media like numbing out, just being so exhausted from work that you're just spending your whole weekend like watching TV and trying to barely do an errand and get ready for Monday. So you're, you run out of gas. And that, that is a lonely place to be when you just don't know what else can I do? Because. The story is, I'm too old. It's too late. I have to do this. I should do that. My family's counting on me. I'd be crazy to and so it costs a lot. It costs everything.

Dr Nat Green:

Absolutely. And it really isn't until we get to that, often rock bottom, like you were, like I've been, and like a lot of our listeners are that we hit that rock bottom, and then we can see. Oh my goodness, we've got two choices here. We keep doing what we've always done or we do something about it. What would you say, how do you think the experiences that you've had transformed your perspective on life, on relationships, and on your personal values?

Marni Battista:

Well, I think, I mean, the first thing I'll say is like the relationship piece is I think that I was very good at blaming lots of other circumstances, including my husband for everything that I didn't like about my life. And he was very dissatisfied. I married him when my. My youngest was six my oldest was 12. So we had raised our kids together. He was an active and great step to parent. And he had said in his own mind and to me, but I ignored it, like I'm in it. I'll be in LA, like we have this job to do, and then what, and I was like, what do you mean? And that, what this is where we live. This is what it is. You're never happy. You know, like. I was, coaching, a coach is, I must be horrible to be married to another coach. But but the bottom line is that, that was not going great. Like at work, I realized that I was also, why is this person not doing this and why get over that? And why can't this person just, you know, dah, dah, dah. And so I think that it's very easy to play what I call the the rage blame, then too tired to too lazy to do anything about it game, the high of the like, and you're like, okay, what are you gonna do about it? Ugh, whatever, nevermind until the next thing goes. So I think that pattern was definitely playing out in my life. And that It was it was when I, and this is really what I talk about in the beginning of the book is the quality of the questions that you're asking. And one of the first of the seven questions for leading a meaningful life is, did you seek wisdom? And so I was very good at seeking knowledge and information and strategies and how's to, but I wasn't really asking like a better question. I call it a wisdom seeking question. And so I always say, and I talk in the book about how the problem you think you have usually isn't the problem, and we spend most of our time trying to solve these problems that are never going to make us happy or give us an answer. So once I shifted and I started asking like, what's the problem that I'm pretending not to have so that I could have the problems that I have. It's in the book, right? I have 120 really good wisdom seeking questions. I was like, Oh, I'm just afraid of change. I believe, and this was a really interesting and what I want to share, because I think a lot of people will relate to it, especially because I had been divorced and built my whole life back. And then I met my husband and I felt very, this is my life, like my control, like my house, my friends, my memories mine, mine. Yes, I have this husband and all of those things who I loved. I believed that the external environment that I created was what made me enough, what made me safe, what made me whole, all those things. And so of course I was afraid to, it was like Jenga. Like I, if I pull out one piece, like everything goes my business was like, Oh, I'm successful. I have to keep, the bells and whistles and the charade going, like the wizard of Oz. And once I asked the real question, I was like, I'm afraid of change and I believe. That everything outside of me is what's my identity and keeping me safe. And I am as a 13 year old boy told me going up the chairlift the other day, I'm a smart cookie. I was like, yeah, I was like that's crap. I can't live my life like that. I need to, I need to figure out a way. And that is why I loved the design thinking model. because it's actually a process and a structure to really help you figure out what is actually going to make you feel fulfilled based on what I call your soul map. And once you have your soul map and then you start prototyping and experimenting, you take these small baby steps and then before you're having so much fun doing it. And then before you know it, you're like, Oh wow. I never could have imagined here. And that's, what's cool because. When you think about like products and the way things are developed, they don't start with the final idea. There is a scene, right? And then there's testing and feedback and collaboration and experiences. It's iterative, right? And then that's how great things are formed. And so my challenge to people who are listening is if you are asking some of these questions and you're just Googling, where should I live or what other businesses could I have, or what's a great career for blah, blah, blah, blah. You're not tapping into the biggest resource you have, which is your soul and your wisdom, and it's got the answer. And so, by developing the product, which is your ideal life, going through this evolutionary iterative experience, you come up with something that is way better than the first germ of an idea that you had of there needs to be a way to do this so that this happens, you know? And that the process is really what saved me because it ended up being like so fun and also ended up being the realization of dreams that I had been trying to achieve for so long the old way that when I did it from a different energy and from this place in my soul map, then it was like, check, check, you

Dr Nat Green:

know, what a huge transition. It really sounds. So powerful. So for people listening, how, and I know you've already alluded to it, how does someone stop living that should life and build the dream without blowing up the life they have now? Because I know that would be something that they'd be thinking about.

Marni Battista:

Yeah. So I think one of the most important things is to really look at your fear because We are programmed to really run away from things that we're scared of. And so when we look at those things that we are afraid of and we kind of flip them over it points us to what is actually possible or the truth. So all the things that you are afraid will happen or are afraid of changing, these are the things that really are pointing to what you've been avoiding. And so when you start looking at like, okay, well, if I'm afraid of change, then let me look at what is it that I want to change. If I'm afraid of making a mistake.then what Is it that you need to give yourself permission to mess up? And that was huge for me too. Right? Like I realized I had to give myself permission to fail in my business. And also just right. And that was like, what does that even mean? And then I realized that it wasn't really failure. It was like. Redirect and a pivot. And I'm not just rationalizing because this is what's interesting for any of the people that are listening that are coaches or small business owners. But during this process, someone asked me and I was, so before I really pivoted and wrote this book, I was mostly doing forward facing like dating and dating, coaching, relationship coaching. So all these women that were coming to me for like 16 years with dating problems. And so when I went through this process. One of the questions I was asked was like what's the soul of your business? And I was like, well, people stay with me from like anywhere from three to seven or eight years, you know, like you would with Melanie, right? Because it wasn't because like, I helped them meet a man. That was to me, honestly. If you're single, come on over, I can help you do that. That's actually way easier than you think it is. But the thing is that in the process of that, they discovered who they really were and they let go of a lot of patterns and a lot of beliefs. And once they were dating and they were meeting the man, they were looking at their work life and they were like, Oh I actually don't even, I don't like this. And then they were looking at where they live and they're like, actually, I don't, and I was helping them redesign their lives all in any way. And I was like, I need to be loud and proud about that. You know, because. The thing that was interesting was, and this is why it's one of my professional colleagues like totally called me out. I was like, if I need to talk about what to send to some guy, like I'm going to stick a fork in my eye. You know, he was like, do you like it? And I was like, I don't like it anymore. So you think, then why did you just say, come on for me with dating? And here's the answer. Because I love working with women who want to find a partner as part of being like fully expressed as who they are. Don't come to me if you want some quick hack, to like whatever, some game to play. That's not for me. Right. But so when women come to me now and they're still like, I want to sort this out because I want to have this fully expressed life. And this is part of my life vision. I'm like, awesome. Let's let's go. So I had to completely, and also I wasn't, as I described, I wasn't even coaching people anymore. I just built all these layers and I was like, okay, so I fired everyone pretty much. I, started working one on one with coaches again, a big should, you're supposed to scale. I was like, no, I've been, I, you told me to do that. I'm not doing that. And I built, I took everything apart at the studs. I simplified everything. I, and I did that with my home. I did that when I moved, I ended up leaving my home living in my RV for a year. It's all the stories in the book, but I literally became very specific about what is essential to my soul map that will bring me joy. And I got rid of everything else.

Dr Nat Green:

Wow. What a huge change. And I can see, obviously, everything in your life changed by making that decision and then doing the work. When people go through trauma, we know that, they can stay stuck in it for, a little time or a long time. Yeah. And we can't change that. It's more around a choice that they will get to that, wow, I can now look at the lessons and the learnings from my trauma. And there's always lessons and learnings when we're ready to look. And then we can start moving into post traumatic growth, which is exactly what you did and started to look at how can I thrive? How can I live the life? And. Take control and design the life that I want to live for me. So when you look back, do you think, are there any specific qualities or personal attributes that you see as being key for our listeners for moving through trauma into post traumatic growth?

Marni Battista:

Courage. It's, I love that you asked this question because when I, so part of what I came up with when I was doing this process was I just, I wanted a challenge. Like I watch like reality competition shows like Survivor or I love them. Right. But if you ask me, Marnie, do you want to be on Survivor? Or the Amazing Race, I would be like, no, but what I was attracted to was when people do those experiences or go be in the Peace Corps or do something challenging, they would say this experience transformed me. It made me more of who I was. And so that's what I wanted, right? So I decided I created before I even knew what it was, this radical living challenge for myself, which turned into the book. And so I remember, and I talk about this in the book of, doing the thing and then being like, Oh God, what have I done, which, right. So there's the trauma. And then there's that moment of clarity where you go, yes. And then five minutes or five hours or five days or five months later, you're like, Oh God I didn't mean that. I want to go back in my safe little box. And so without courage, without the courage to be resourceful, resilient, to be brave and look at those things and think like a courageous person and develop the identity of a courageous person. That has been the key. And it's morphed over time, to I am brave to now it's, I can do hard shit, like I am capable because I've proved that to myself over time. And so for people who are listening, it's like, you know, do one small, brave step. And I talk about in life design experimenting. Go out, you know, talk to 10 people, tell five people your dream. You know, go meet someone new, go try a new hobby. It, this is, you don't have to sell your house and live in RV to live a radical life. I'm, I have clients who are like taking up pickleball and not just to play pickleball, but because they want to be part of a community and actually making new friends in their late fifties. Or relooking at faith and finding a spiritual community and actually. Getting involved or creating community. Even if you've lived in a place for 30 years, right. That's a new vibrational match for you. I'm starting a side hustle. If a client is an HR exec, who's moving forward to open a bar studio, like it can be small. It's not about being reckless. It's about being courageous. And so that. Find that one thing that you can do that will build your confidence and your identity as a courageous person.

Dr Nat Green:

Yes, yes, I totally agree. And then be prepared for when you access that courage. That the fear will come back up again. It

Marni Battista:

will come coming up, keep going. And you can, and I love this. Someone read my book and I call that little voice in your head, the alligator. Because I was in North Carolina at a Walmart and I saw an alligator in a parking lot and that inspired a chapter about the alligator and, and she was like, wow, you know, I used to just say, I'm anxious. I have anxiety. I'm an anxious person. And she was really proud about being compassionate about her mental health and giving herself some grace and owning her anxiety. She read the book and she was like, wow, now I've got a new name for my anxiety. And it's just, it's the alligator. It's the voice in my head that says, are you sure you want to do that? What is everyone going to think? Are you doing it well? Is this perfect? Is it good? She's it's just the alligator. And it's, Allowed her to overcome so many of her fears rather than staying in that label of I'm anxious, even though she feels anxious, she as a being is not anxious, right? So now she's able to separate like her thoughts from who she is and give it a name and that allows someone to start to manage the alligator, right? So that when you are in that liminal space, the gap between what you were and what you're becoming, I call it the newfound gap in the book. Then you have some tools to manage through that because I'm not going to lie and say Hey, come on over. No problem. Like there is pain and discomfort. That is a result

Dr Nat Green:

of living a bigger life. Absolutely. And no significant change is going to come without some sort of pain. But my question is my comment to people is always what's it costing you to hold onto that pain? And eventually it'll get to the point where hopefully you make that decision that it's important to let go of the pain because I deserve. a better life, which is exactly what I love that you're helping people to do. Yeah, I love that.

Marni Battista:

I always say like I see, and I'm sure you feel the same with your clients. Like I know what the after looks like, I would say that with my dating clients, I'm like, honey, I know what you look like. I see how you operate in the world. Just let me get my hands on you got this. Right. And so when I look at someone's life and I'm like, Oh, wow, like this is going to be so cool. Like it's going to be amazing. And that's what my clients always said. This was beyond my wildest dreams. And that's really what I'm here to say is you can only dream into the box that you built for yourself. What would it look like to really live an extraordinary life beyond the box? Because. If you can unpack it, the map is there showing you the way to something completely radical in that it's radical because you stop living someone else's expectations for what you're supposed to do.

Dr Nat Green:

Yes. Yes. Huge yes. I love that. Yeah. So if you were to look back as far as who you were. Pre making all these changes and finding your secret to designing your own life. How would you say your identity has changed?

Marni Battista:

Oh my gosh. So one of the really interesting things about soul mapping is there's all these little offshoots of it and there's like your soul story and life mapping and all these fun things. But one thing that I think I really understood and I want people to know is that as humans, we acquire beliefs about ourself because of circumstances that happened in our life, pivotal moments where pieces and fragments, some were left behind, some were taken on. Some were adaptive, some were authentic. When I did that, I was like, whoa, like there are a lot of acquired beliefs about myself when I mapped it all out, that just. are Possibly not true. Like I want to explore that. And I'm athletic, I'm capable. Something as simple as I can have girlfriends. I just grew up thinking girls are annoying. I didn't really have any close girlfriends. I never felt that I belonged in any groups. I was never a sorority girl. I never had, I had like one best friend. And I looked at like where I picked that up and I was like. Is that true? Like, I don't even actually know if it's true. And what I found was like, oh my gosh I love having communities of women and I've made so many women friends and I do belong, and I didn't know that about myself. I just thought I was like a dude's girl, that I'm brave. I mean, so many things that I just didn't even know. It's I got to be a fuller version of myself. Which is crazy because it's imagining like you're living in this like the David, like you're in the marble and like the chiseler has done what they've done, and they're, and then you're like 55 and then they just walked away and it's cool. It's the David, like you get that it's a man, you get that it's whatever, but it wasn't finished. And so what happened is in this process, and this is what happens when you do this work is like, ding ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. You're like, wow. You know, like, damn girl, there's a lot more to you, you know? And that's and that's, yeah, I'll be out there in the ski slopes and I'll just be like, I could do hard shit. I could do this, and I'm starting to believe it.

Dr Nat Green:

Yeah. So you've managed to get yourself back on the ski slopes after all of this, despite everything you've been through. Wow. Yeah.

Marni Battista:

Yeah. That was a big full circle. First of a moment. Now we've given away the sort of the ending of the book, but yes, I did end up back on the ski slopes.

Dr Nat Green:

Spoiler alert. Sorry. Spoiler alert. Bye. Bye. I'm very excited to go and buy that book. So just one more question. What do you think your younger self? Would think of everything that you've achieved now.

Marni Battista:

Oh my gosh, She would I know exactly what she'd say. She'd be like, thank you for coming back to get me I just I like left parts of her. I was like, bye, and now it's and the things that I discovered in this journey about myself, I'm like, Oh yeah, I totally forgot. I loved that when I was like 11 or 13 or eight, and I literally just abandoned that part of myself. And so she's Oh my God. There's room for me too. And so it's just so fun to be a grownup and also pursue and be able to do and be that person that was the amazing younger version of me before, you know, life said, no, you can't.

Dr Nat Green:

And, there's so much for all of us to learn in that, as I heard you saying, the chiseling away at 55, I'm thinking, I'm 55, I want that finished, the chiseling needs to be finished as I step into that radical life, living that radical life. I'm so excited. And I'm definitely going to get my hand on a copy of your book and yeah, I'm really excited to help shape the last little chapter, rewrite it as I move forward as well. So as we move to wrapping up this conversation, where can our listeners find out more about you online?

Marni Battista:

Yeah, so they can go to, um, radicallivingchallenge. com, and that will take you to my website, information about the book, and then you can also find out more about what I do, coaching, dating, life coaching, life design, all those things but it's so hard to spell my name, so I just tell everyone to go to radicallivingchallenge. com and start there, and work your way out.

Dr Nat Green:

Excellent. The same as we'll do, get in, hone in on the bits in the middle and then work our way out and shape and design the life that we want to live. Exactly. Excellent. I will put all that in the show notes anyway, and link that in so that our listeners can find you. And yes, I'm sure many of them will race out and buy a copy of the book. So thank you so much for coming on today. Is there anything else that you'd like? to share any final words of

Marni Battista:

wisdom. Well, I will tell you this. And I love that the name of this show is growing tall poppies. So one of the things that I love about my new life is that I live in this mountain town and it's gorgeous, obviously in the summer. And so I started last summer, riding my bike into town and going to the gym and just riding my bike. And and so I feel like I'm in. like seven years old. I'm like the wind in my hair, you know, like riding my bike to school. Anyway, when I come around this path there's this one beautiful house and it has poppies and they're beautiful. And every time I go around that corner and I get to ride past this house with these beautiful poppies that look like. Paper, they're just gorgeous. And I just have this childlike wonder and delight of like being a kid, riding my bike seeing the neighbors on the street and the beautiful flowers and feeling so alive. And for everyone who's listening, there's some version of your poppies that you would see in your life, knowing like it's a sign like, wow, I'm really alive and I'm living my life. And so my words are encouraged or find, really find your tall poppies, right? Find those beautiful things. And that light you up and remind you that you are alive and that you matter and that you're doing, you are really, truly living your best life. Beautiful.

Dr Nat Green:

So powerful and so, so true. And that's what we want for, for everyone, for ourselves, for the people we love and for the people in our lives that by sharing these sort of conversations, we can start to give them other choices and other moments of fleeting. Thoughts that something can be different. So thank you so much, Marni, for sharing your wisdom and your story with us today. It's been lovely. Thanks for

Marni Battista:

having me. It's been so fun hanging out with you.

Dr Nat Green:

Thank you so much. Bye for now. Thank you for joining me in this episode of Growing Tall Poppies. It is my deepest hope that today's episode may have inspired and empowered you to step fully into your post traumatic growth so that you can have absolute clarity around who you are, what matters the most to you, and to assist you to release your negative emotions and regulate your nervous system so you can fully thrive. New episodes are published every Tuesday and I hope you'll continue to join us as we explore both the strategies and the personal qualities required to fully live a life of post traumatic growth and to thrive. So if it feels aligned to you and really resonates, then I invite you to hit subscribe and it would mean the world to us if you could share this episode with others who you feel may benefit too. You may also find me on Instagram at growing tall poppies and Facebook, Dr. Natalie Green. Remember, every moment is an opportunity to look for the lessons and to learn and increase your ability to live the life you desire and deserve. So for now, stay connected, stay inspired, stand tall like the tall poppy you are. And keep shining your light brightly in the world. Bye for now.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Dr Natalie Green

Host