The Fearless Road

12. PART 3 - From Broadway Lights to Botanical Delights: Maria Failla's Journey Through Plant Parenthood and 'Plantpreneurship'

• Michael D Devous Jr • Season 2 • Episode 12

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Finding Your Voice, Reclaiming Your Power, and Embracing Vulnerability

Episode Description:

In the final part of this inspiring interview, Michael Devous continues his conversation with Maria Failla, the plant enthusiast and host of Growing Joy with Plants. Maria shares her personal journey of healing from depression and rediscovering her voice through a daily practice of connecting with nature. They delve into the importance of mindfulness, routine, and embracing vulnerability in both personal and entrepreneurial life. This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking inspiration to overcome challenges, find their true voice, and cultivate a life filled with joy and authenticity.

Key Highlights:

  • Nature as a Healer: Maria's personal experience of overcoming depression through daily walks in nature.
  • The Power of Routine and Mindfulness: How simple practices like walking in nature and caring for plants can create a sense of grounding and well-being.
  • Finding Your Voice: Maria's journey of rediscovering her voice and passion through connection with nature.
  • The Role of Vulnerability: The importance of embracing vulnerability as a path to joy and authenticity.
  • The Ascend Hub: A community for support and growth, where entrepreneurs can connect with like-minded individuals and find resources for their journey.

Quotes:

  • Maria Failla: "I left a lot in that forest. I'd leave my tears, I'd leave my laughter, I'd leave my neutrality, my numbness."
  • Maria Failla: "It was this really beautiful way of literally truly finding my voice again... of just like reconnecting with myself and finding kind of my personality again."
  • Michael Devous: "Sometimes, if you can kind of learn to trust your body and to have your body connect with nature and kind of show you the real truth of the matter, that can be really helpful."
  • Maria Failla: "You can create a mindfulness routine with your houseplants. You don't have to go get immersed in the forest to experience the benefit."
  • Maria Failla: "I think the last couple of years have only shown us how quickly [life] can be taken away. So what do I have to lose? Why would you not live life this way? Why would you not commit to living life in a vulnerable, authentic, fearless way?"

Key Takeaways:

  • Nature can be a powerful tool for healing and overcoming challenges.
  • Establishing a routine of connecting with nature can foster mindfulness and improve well-being.
  • Finding your voice and embracing vulnerability can lead to greater joy and authenticity.
  • The Ascend Hub offers a supportive community and resources for entrepreneurs on their journey.

Important Links:

  • Book: Growing Joy with Plants by Maria Failla https://a.co/d/3uOlfOM
  • Podcast: Growing Joy with Plants https://growingjoywithmaria.com/podcast/
Speaker 1:

Michael Davout. Hey there everybody, and welcome to the fearless road podcast, where we explore entrepreneurial insights, stories and advice on embracing fear, breaking boundaries and achieving goals on the road to success. I'm your host, michael Davout, and after years of overcoming obstacles and tragedy, I I began to wonder how does someone become fearless? Well, that's exactly what we're going to find out. In every episode, we dive into the lives of individuals who've learned to turn fear into fuel, face some incredible challenges and cultivate a fearless mindset while navigating their fearless road. So join me for in-depth interviews with some amazing people where we investigate more deeply the valleys on their road to success, because the valleys are where character is built, foundations are laid and where the fearless are born. Welcome to the Fearless Road podcast. And now we're back with the final segment in the interview with Maria Faella finding her voice segment in the interview with Maria Faella finding her voice.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, I think it goes back to so what you're talking about is, you know, I was struggling with some pretty bad depression when I had moved back with my parents and I was just like completely flailing, like no, you know, what am I going to do? My industry just evaporated in front of my eyes, like how am I supposed to move forward?

Speaker 1:

A lot of self judgment, yeah, and um yeah.

Speaker 2:

And so my mom. There's a gorgeous, very similar. The other thing is, I think there's a gorgeous little nature path near everyone. It's just that no one knows Like there's a. There's probably an opportunity to get into nature that's more readily accessible than you think. It's just that we're not looking. You know so.

Speaker 3:

I would just.

Speaker 2:

I encourage everyone to figure that out. But yeah, there was a gorgeous nature path, um, and I would go for walks every day and, like I said earlier, like sometimes I would cry, like I left a lot in that forest, like I'd leave my tears, I'd leave my laughter, I'd leave my neutral, my neutrality, my numbness. I was numb for probably three weeks or three months, I don't know, and it really allowed me to kind of get back to myself. And so I was a singer and when I lost my job I didn't sing for months because it just hurt. It was this experience of it was just really sad to sing and then realize that like I couldn't use my voice in the capacity that I wanted to on stages for, you know, singing for people and so I kind of went silent, Like I think I said in the book, like my, my heart kind of went dormant and my voice kind of went dormant.

Speaker 2:

Like there was the silence that kind of came over me. And as I was walking and this took a while, right, um, it took it, it took a bunch of walks, but I noticed that all of a sudden, like I would just start like mimicking bird song with my voice, or I would just start humming a song that was stuck in my head. Well, and then, you know, humming turned you, like a little bird mimic or a little hum turned into, okay, actually singing lyrics to words I knew. And then, all of a sudden, I was, you know, full, full throated, just like singing in the middle of the woods, recording it on my camera, like having so much fun with it. Singing to the inchworms, exactly Like singing to the inchworms that were, you know, falling from the sky or the little birds.

Speaker 2:

Um, and it was just this really beautiful way of like literally truly finding my voice again, but also kind of in a figurative, figurative way, to have just like reconnecting with myself and finding kind of my personality again after kind of going through such a tough time. And I think another thing you touched on, phaedra, is the importance of of a routine like one walk in nature. Nature isn't going to cure your depression, you know, I wouldn't be great if it would, but it's the, it's the consistency. It's also what you mentioned, like walking the same path and seeing the seasons change helps you internalize, like, even if you're feeling so stuck. I felt so stuck and paralyzed in that moment.

Speaker 2:

It felt like my whole life got put on hold, but I was watching summer turn into fall, turn into winter, like I was watching the leaves change, and on an internal level, on a cellular level, I was able to process like, okay, time is moving, we are moving, we are growing, we are evolving, like it's.

Speaker 2:

It's very poetic, but nature can really be your teacher if you let it, and um, so I I think that is. It's a beautiful opportunity that you do have to commit, you know, you have to commit a little bit of time too in order to really reap the benefits of it. But you also notice that your body starts to crave it, so, like on days, that if I had appointments or I just like couldn't get to my walk that day, I would notice that I'd like be a little antsy, or I'd be, like, you know, five minutes early to my walk the next day. Um, which I also think was really interesting, because that's your body, you know, confirming this, this thing, cause this is a lot of this nervous system regulation work is coming at it from a body level and not a mind.

Speaker 2:

You know your mind can get very busy. Coming at it from a body level and not a mind. You know your mind can get very busy. Talk about entrepreneurship too. Your mind can just like lead you to the darkest dark depths, you know. And sometimes if you can kind of learn to trust your body and to have your body connect with nature and kind of show you the real truth of the matter, that can be really helpful.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, well, and I also think there's this tendency to go okay, like I have a bit, especially as an entrepreneur, but just as a person in America, society, um, in general, just to sit there and go like I'm too busy, I don't have time for that, like that's the first thing, right, that gets pushed aside. Um, the things that truly nourish our body and our spirit and our soul, right, like eating healthy meals on time right, often gets pushed out of the way, and, um, and spending time outside, those are the first things to go and they're they're probably the things that are the most beneficial.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Um, and I've gotten out of my practice, especially since moving Um. You know I've gotten out of my practice, especially since moving Um. You know, I, we, we, got home from our two week trip. Two weeks later I moved and then, after spending a month with Michael, I was by myself and not what's a new place. But you know, again, um, and you know, post trip and post hectic moving, depression set in and I just kind of hold up and I truly haven't gotten. You know, I've come out of the depression, um, but I haven't gotten back out into a regular habit of walking um outside in nature and it's definitely this is such a great um reminder of all of the many benefits that can come from that. So, yeah, and this interview could not have come at a better time, that makes me so happy.

Speaker 2:

And also, you know, if you, if you are in a city and you don't have access to a good nature walk, you can create a and I there. You know there's multiple chapters in my book on this, but you can create a mindfulness routine with your houseplants. So it's, you don't have to go get immersed in the forest to experience the benefit of of what we're talking about. You can experience the benefit of building a, you know, sustainable routine with a couple of houseplants that you will still like reap so many rewards from Um. But it's, it's about the. You know the key part is the routine, for sure.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and one more thing I wanted to touch on, and it's it's kind of random, but it came to mind when I was reading the section, when you were talking, when you went forest bathing in the Redwoods, ah yeah, like not having noise pollution, which is marked, which I'd love for you to talk about that a little bit. And then it made me think of something really cool that you may or may not know about, but if you could just let the audience know a little bit about the one square inch, yeah, so when I moved to the woods, one of the shocking things that I did not understand was noise pollution and my first three weeks-.

Speaker 1:

And how long you've been immersed in it, especially in New York City.

Speaker 2:

And how lucky that I was doing all of this research as I did this move, because I noticed that I had a spike in anxiety when I moved to the woods because the silence was almost deafening. Like that phrase the silence is deafening really hit home where I mean. I just remember those first couple of weeks looking at my husband just being like it's so quiet, this is spooky, like this is wild, and it almost being like like my nervous system was just like what is this? And it's because I had lived in the city for over a decade with trucks and also light.

Speaker 2:

Light pollution is another thing that a lot of my research came up. But like our bodies are not designed to listen to traffic at three o'clock in the morning and to have lights come in your window, you know, from the streetlights and because of modern advancements in society, which are fabulous, you can take a plane and be anywhere. You know there are very few places in the world, specifically in the States, that actually have no noise, manufactured noise pollution, for I think that I think it's over 15 minutes um, with flight, flights, flight, um, what's it called? Flight paths, yeah, flight patterns and trains and traffic, and so in the whole national rainforest on the West coast of the States. There's this one square inch that has no. You know that that falls under these guidelines and you can go to onesquareinchorg to listen to a recording of what it sounds like, but there I think I have one square inch here yeah, totally.

Speaker 3:

Amazing? I think so.

Speaker 1:

You might.

Speaker 3:

You might on private land. Well, because our property backs up.

Speaker 1:

Our property, which is about 50 acres, backs up to the Lincoln National Forest, which is a little over 300,000 acres. And we're surrounded by it on the backsides and nothing as far as I can tell, except for the planes from Alamogordo Air Force Base occasionally come this way, but in general they don't. So we're not part of that flight pattern, we're actually off the flight pattern. So I think we might actually have one square inch. You're on square inch, you lucky duck Right.

Speaker 2:

So then it was very interesting. You know, being in the woods, getting used to the silence. I can barely go back to New York City and sleep there these days because my nerve Do you find your response to it so much more?

Speaker 1:

Oh, it's so jarring.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I feel like my nervous system I was in fight or flight for 10 years, you know, living in New York City. Literally your nervous system doesn't know any different, right.

Speaker 1:

So your parasympathetic doesn't ever relax it never.

Speaker 2:

It never shuts down it never truly shuts down, and so once I experienced what that actually feels like when I go to the city, now it's like so jarring for me. My husband and I joke that like the minute we get there, we're counting the minutes till we get to go home.

Speaker 3:

You know, I live two hours outside of the city.

Speaker 2:

I'll go meet a friend for dinner in the city and at 9 o'clock I'll drive home because I'm like I want to wake up in my own bed and, like you know, I don't want to deal with sleeping on a couch with the light coming in and the sounds Um and so I think. But I had no idea that my nervous system was even this raised. I was even in this state until I moved and I realized that this isn't available to a lot of people. Not everyone can just run for the hills the way my husband and I did, and I don't necessarily recommend it for a lot of people because it's a huge 180. But what I found was, you know, you can replace nature sounds throughout your day.

Speaker 2:

So I found I wrote my whole book to a eight hour nature sounds playlist on YouTube and I would just play it on YouTube and I would write my book and um, you can, you know, on the headspace app you can go to sleep to nature sounds, like you can find nature sounds on Spotify, like it's very easy to find. So it's a hack. You know, ideally you want to just go be in nature, but if you can and you want that nervous system healing and you want that opportunity, you know, while you be in nature, but if you can and you want that nervous system healing and you want that opportunity, you know, while you're in your house, while you're in your apartment in your congested city, can you tell you know Alexa or Google Home to play some you know jungle sounds or forest sounds, so that at least your nervous system can kind of feel what, what it's supposed to?

Speaker 1:

Yes, well, and speaking of that and I love that idea and I really believe in that too, and we are slowly going to be running out of time here and I've got a couple more questions to get to but are you or will you be planning a retreat? I think this is the perfect opportunity to take these ideas that you've created and create a sort of retreat for people from the city to have these touch points, to reconnect, to hear some of this and get their parasympathetic system calmed down a little bit. I mean I would love to do a lawyer joy retreat, that's so interesting. I mean I would love to do that.

Speaker 2:

Maybe that's 2025. We have some big plans for 2024.

Speaker 1:

So I'm like I don't think I can. I know you're busy but, I do think.

Speaker 2:

Ultimately, I want to bring this research and this accessible wellness practices using plants that are affordable to live a happier life to as many people as possible at scale in the most affordable way. So I feel like I my 2024 initiatives are more about how can I reach more people for free to empower them with this information, but then I think I would love the idea of doing a retreat, um to be able to like really dive deep and have some sort of quarterly reset or something.

Speaker 1:

Yes, you are so good. That was my next. Are there any specific goals or milestones you'd like to achieve? You're literally already there. You're doing it. This is great. I think a retreat would be perfect.

Speaker 2:

I think your next iteration of let's put it into the universe baby, the Growing Joy.

Speaker 1:

Retreat? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You now have it. Universe, make it so. We are, of course, in studio with Maria Faya, phaedra Chinaki and myself, michael DeVue, at the Fearless Road podcast, talking about growing joy and finding your balance and finding your voice and your vulnerability, not only to become fearless, but be mindful of the journey that you're on. Lastly, before we sign off, we ask our guests, as we've asked you, to share a little bit about your life and be vulnerable. Vulnerability, I feel like, is a very, very. I was thinking about this earlier when I was getting ready this morning, because your book's about growing joy, and I was, like is vulnerability like this other? Is the root of joy, is the space where joy germinates and comes out of? Is that vulnerability? How does vulnerability play a role for you on your fearless road? And yeah, I mean it's everything.

Speaker 2:

Um, like I said earlier, I feel like entrepreneurship is like walking around with no skin on. You're so vulnerable. You're literally just saying okay, world, here's my heart, here's my joy, here's what works for me. Can I help?

Speaker 2:

you here are my dreams. Can I help you? And you hope that what you say resonates with people. I don't think there's anything more brave than that, right, especially in today's society where everything is curated, everything is filtered, everything is, you know, ridiculous. It's just ridiculous.

Speaker 2:

Um, I think it's a very brave thing to allow yourselves to, to be vulnerable. And, yes, I do feel like the greatest things out of life come from vulnerability, whether it's a relationship like how are you going to have a true love, like a true relationship, if you don't allow yourself to be vulnerable? Um, and the joy that comes from that. So I do think you, you're speaking a lot of truth in, in vulnerability being a core, a core principle, a core root of what joy can bring. Um, and I think too, even the definition of joy. You know, joy doesn't need to be like hilariously giggling, you know, like head exploding, you're so happy. Joy can be just like a peace with yourself that you can really find in nature.

Speaker 2:

But I think sorry to go back to your question, I'm veering off you know how does vulnerability play into it? I do think it's everything. I don't think I, I think it's hard, I think it requires bravery, bravery. I think that you know, you do have to be a little bit fearless to kind of, you know, unzip your heart and show it to others, whether it's at like a large scale, in the way that I'm doing, or whether it's just with, like the people in your, the people in your immediate circle in life. But I do think that it's so much more rewarding when you live life that way. I mean, we have one life to live right, and I think the last couple of years have only shown us how quickly it can be taken away.

Speaker 2:

I also feel like now I'm even more addicted to vulnerability because I've realized you, I do only have one life to live. I have kind of walked through the fire of a lot of stuff in the last couple of years, so what do I have to lose? Like, why would you not live life this way? Why would you not commit to living life in a vulnerable, authentic, fearless way? Because it's so much more rewarding.

Speaker 1:

And, ladies and gentlemen, I mean this is the fearless road with Maria Faiya, phaedra Shinaki, michael DeVue, um the key takeaways. I just want to remind everybody out there, if you're on this journey and you're on your fearless road, you're a you're not alone. We are all with you on this, and we have discovered, we are discovering that joy can be had, can be found, can be nurtured, can be practiced. And if you want a little to know a bit more about that, about that journey with joy, pardon me pick up this book Growing Joy from Maria Fahia. There it is the Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness and Plants.

Speaker 1:

With this book, I'm telling you there's so much in there that you're going to get from it. But if you put it into practice, if you really find ways to execute this one, you're going to find your voice. That's key. Find your voice. Maria knows about this. She knows exactly how to do this. Get in touch with her, reach out to her. Oh, speaking of which, how can our guests get in touch with you? Where do we find you? Yeah, I was going to say you know, please get my book.

Speaker 2:

It's my love letter to plants.

Speaker 1:

Behind a plant.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly there I am with my crazy plant people eyes.

Speaker 2:

But you know you're listening to this podcast. Add my podcast to your list of subscriptions. Growing Joy with Plants. On the podcast, I interview experts in horticulture on literally every type of plant you could ever want to grow. I probably have an episode on it. We have over 200 episodes all dedicated to houseplants, gardening and wellness through the lens of nature. Such a great resource. Yeah, we've got episodes on how to forest bathe, how to do all of these things. So come hang out with me in this kind of digital corner of the universe on the Growing Joy with Plants podcast and then on socials. I'm Growing Joy with Maria and my DMs are always open and I'd love to see all the pictures of your plants.

Speaker 1:

Yes, well, and your Growing Joy with Maria. She has brought so much joy today to my show, to this show, to our listeners and to us. Thank you so much, my pleasure.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for having me so much of course, remember, ladies and gentlemen, create balance in your life and be and create a mindful practice with a sustainable routine you can do. Do it, find your joy with Maria, find your fearlessness with the Fearless Road podcast. Thank you so much for joining us today, maria. You've been incredible. What a joy, what a lovely, lovely time. And, ladies and gentlemen, what do we say?

Speaker 3:

We say stay fearless.

Speaker 1:

Stay fearless Bye.