A Path to Hope with Tasha Schuh

Did you catch the last episode of the Midlife with Courage™ podcast? If not, you need to listen to it. Not because of downloads or visibility or anything related to business activities; you need to listen to it to hear Tasha's story. Better yet, find out where she is speaking next and go. Buy your ticket now and get there. If that isn't possible, read her book. Rumor has it she will be starting a podcast soon too.

Tasha Schuh lives in a nearby town (and I do mean town-less than 3000 people) but I had never met her in person until today. My interviews are recorded over Zoom and while we recorded late last year, her episode just released this week. As it happened, she was speaking at a monthly networking meeting that I attend. I was so excited to meet her in person and I became even more inspired by her as I listened to her share more details and messages while she spoke.

Tasha is funny, honest and shares openly about her struggles, lessons learned and hope. After 28 years, she still tears up when recounting the experience of being told she would never sing again. Tasha was a theatre kid who planned a post-high school career in performance and as she soon learned after a devastating accident in 1997, that would not be happening. (Spoiler alert: the not-able-to-sing message was not quite true.) She heard a lot of "you can't do...." messages after her accident and I am hear to tell you that is not something you should tell Tasha. She will prove you wrong.

Tasha spoke about her story and how she learned to find hope when things looked bad. In fact, she shared a brilliant acronym for HOPE: Hold On, Pain Ends. Read that again.

Tasha talked about her PATH-Purpose, Attitude, Team and Hope which she also shares with audiences around the country, most often with school children. She asked questions that had me thinking (always dangerous) about how I see myself and how I react to challenges in my life. Asking myself "what am I learning?" is going to be my new go-to thought when it feels like the world is falling down around me.

During the "Team" portion of her talk, she said something that resonated with me as I interact with midlife women. She was talking about how all of us need our "pit crew" in life, our team to help us through whatever we need. She said:

Strong women build support.

My understanding of this message is that we build strength with each other, something we cannot do on our own. We need connection to build each other up and receive what we need when we are struggling. In other words, strong doesn't mean we do it all on our own.

One other particularly poignant statement she made has really stuck with me. At age 16, she fell through a stage floor and became paralyzed from the chest down. She would never walk again or do (some of) the things she had planned. But 28 years later she said she wouldn't go back and change anything now if she had the opportunity. Tasha's messages of hope and resilience are too important and she was meant to share them. She may not have been able to do that if her life had not been changed so drastically.

They (whoever 'they' are) say to never meet your heroes but I am so glad that I met one of mine today. Tasha and her husband Doug have an energy that you can feel when you meet them. It's difficult to describe so I will not try. Just know that if you have the chance to meet them, please do.

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