What's Your Story

About What's Your Story

A podcast where we cultivate self-love through storytelling. Listen to real stories of people seeing themselves as the hero of their own journey. barnhard.substack.com (https://barnhard.substack.com/s/whats-your-story?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Megan Barnhard

Category

education · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

26 May 2025

Latest episode

20 Oct 2025

Latest episodes

4 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Oct 2025

   Episode 004: Inner Discernment with Hope Pedraza

   Our guest today is Hope Pedraza, a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, Human Design Guide, Clinical Hypnotherapist, and host of the Hopeful and Wholesome podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hopeful-and-wholesome-wellness-nutrition-inner/id1514451766). Hope helps high-performing, spiritually curious women optimize their energy, rebalance their nervous system, and reconnect with their body’s wisdom so they can scale their business and life without burnout. In this episode, Hope shares a story that will be familiar to women business owners everywhere. It’s a story about losing touch with your inner voice amidst the noise of outside advice and influence. And it’s a story of what it takes to rekindle our inner confidence and radiance. I love the humility Hope shares, showing how powerful it is to choose to listen to our own wisdom, discern what’s for us, and follow our unique design with loving curiosity. Let’s dive into Hope’s story. Episode Highlights: * How “sustainable radiance” can form a counterpoint to burn-out * The tension between external advice and inner wisdom, especially for women business owners * How courage and humility can guide us back to our own right path Take Hope’s free Energy Leak Locator quiz Find out where your energy is leaking and how to fix it https://www.tryinteract.com/share/quiz/67f804c78eec070015ad4d2e (https://www.tryinteract.com/share/quiz/67f804c78eec070015ad4d2e) Connect with Hope: Website: Hopefulandwholesome.com (http://hopefulandwholesome.com) Instagram: Instagram.com/thehopepedraza (http://instagram.com/thehopepedraza) Podcast: Feel inspired to tell your story? Learn more about working with me at meganbarnhard.com (https://www.meganbarnhard.com/) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barnhard.substack.com (https://barnhard.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   25 Aug 2025

   Episode 003: Elizabeth Shepley on Creative Recovery

   Our guest on this episode is Elizabeth Shepley, a multipassionate maker, storyteller, and steward for those in creative recovery. Elizabeth is the founder of Owl Create (https://owl-create.com/), offering trauma-informed intuitive coaching & play spaces for helpers, healers and artists of life seeking to restore a deeper relationship with their creative essence. In this episode, Elizabeth shares a story I'm sure you'll relate to—about trying to fly under the radar in order to avoid shame and judgment. In the poignant climax of her story, you'll hear how it was precisely the thing she'd feared that ended up offering her a beautiful moment of catalyzing catharsis, along with a new path forward. If you've ever been a teacher or had a teacher who believed in you, you'll find this episode especially inspiring. Episode Highlights: * What "creative recovery" means and why it's crucial, even for those who might think they're not creative * How to go about loosening our grip on rigid identities so we can step into creative fulfillment * What it looks like to re-frame and re-categorize our stories so we can claim the wisdom they hold * The importance of being seen in both our moments of challenge and our moments of triumph Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to Creative Recovery 11:02 Elizabeth's Story: From Hiding to Seen 24:31 The Role of Support in Creative Growth 37:50 Reframing Our Stories for Empowerment 42:05 Invitation to the Creative Owl Jamboree Join Elizabeth for an Owl-Create Jamboree Come practice creative playtime in the company of others in this free monthly meetup. You can bring your own project or play along with the creative prompts provided. Register here: https://owlcreatelife.myflodesk.com/jamboree (https://owlcreatelife.myflodesk.com/jamboree) Connect with Elizabeth: Website: https://owl-create.com (https://owl-create.com) Book a Curiosity Call: https://calendly.com/owlcreate (https://calendly.com/owlcreate) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/owl.create.coaching/ (https://www.instagram.com/owl.create.coaching/) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/owl.create.coaching (https://www.facebook.com/owl.create.coaching) Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/owlcr8 (https://vimeo.com/owlcr8) Email: elizabeth@owl-create.com (mailto:elizabeth@owl-create.com) Feel inspired to tell your own story? Learn more about working with me at meganbarnhard.com (https://www.meganbarnhard.com/) And… Miss Purvis, if you’re out there, give us a shout! ;) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barnhard.substack.com (https://barnhard.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   14 Jul 2025

   Episode 002: The Power of Being Heard with Monica Miller

   Our guest on this episode is Monica Miller (http://www.monicawrites.com/), an international speaker, messaging coach, and storyteller who helps women entrepreneurs turn their brilliance and lived experiences into captivating talks, content, and offers that open doors. With over a decade of experience on podcasts, stages, retreats, and summits, Monica equips her clients to speak with clarity, courage, and confidence. And yet… Monica started out life struggling just to be heard. In this conversation, Monica shares her inspiring journey from overcoming a speech impediment to empowering women entrepreneurs through storytelling and content creation. She discusses the importance of messaging, the energetics of speaking, and how her own experiences have shaped her coaching approach. Monica emphasizes the significance of surrendering to growth and identity shifts, and she offers valuable resources for women looking to enhance their content and messaging strategies. 00:00 Introduction to Monica's Journey 02:54 Overcoming Speech Impediments and Finding Your Voice 09:56 The Evolution of Monica's Coaching Business 18:11 The Power of Storytelling in Communication 26:28 Identity Shifts and Surrendering to Growth 30:39 Resources for Women Entrepreneurs Grab your copy of Monica’s free resource… Social Media Templates & Prompts for Women Entrepreneurs http://subscribepage.io/GOGCzM Connect with Monica: Website: http://www.monicawrites.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/yourcontentguide Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monika.lynn17 Email: monica@monicawrites.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barnhard.substack.com (https://barnhard.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

4. 

   26 May 2025

   Episode 1: Who's Narrating Your Story?

   Show Notes In our first episode, we unpack what it means to cultivate self-love through storytelling. You’ll hear about… * Why so many of us have a Negative Narrator living in our heads, shaping our stories * How our Negative Narrator holds us back from growth and evolution * An Influential Storyteller (https://www.meganbarnhard.com/influential-storyteller/) who was able to shift a life-long pattern in real time * What it really means to be the hero of your journey (Spoiler: It’s not having to perform acts of bravery 24/7) Transcript Welcome to What's Your Story? I'm Megan Barnhard, your host. On this podcast, we cultivate self-love through storytelling by looking at events in our lives and recognizing firstly, how we have put them together to create a story. Is it the story of, “Man, I'm always failing at that?” Is it the story of “I just can't trust myself when it comes to this.” Is it the story of “I can't seem to get ahead when it comes to that.” There are numerous ways that we can catalog and categorize what happens to us. And so often we go into default self-blame and self-recrimination mode when it comes to the events that unfold in our lives. We are so judgmental when it comes to ourselves. We may not notice it. We may notice more that we are judgmental of other people or maybe we feel we're being judged, but when we really get honest, when we really hold up that microscope to our internal narrator, we can see that this narrator is picking out all of the negative stuff. This narrator is looking for ways that we've messed up, like a manager who is just waiting for an excuse to write us up. And no wonder, because we live in a world where, for a lot of reasons, it feels really terrifying not to be doing something right or to feel like we are not getting the approval of other people and there are layers to this right? There is a basic human need to be loved and accepted, and there's our reptilian brain telling us hey if we mess up we might get kicked out of our group and we might not survive right? There are some really deep pieces of this. And yet there are also the layers of social expectations that might not even be what other people actually want or need from us; they’re assumptions we're making. So, as we start peeling back the layers of that negative narrator in our own heads, we realize, “Huh, I might not be best served by constantly finding fault with myself.” In fact, it's pretty hard to grow and to evolve into that best, highest version of ourselves when we are continually being nitpicked. You may have had this experience at a job with a manager who really was looking over your shoulder and waiting for you to mess up, or a parent or a mentor or a sibling or a partner. There may be somebody external in your life who's been an example of this kind of nitpicker. And you probably didn't enjoy spending time around that person. So let's look at the narrator in our own heads and ask, “Is that the person we wanna be spending time with?” “Do I have a nitpicking negative narrator who is continually looking for things that I've done wrong?” And if so, no shame, no judgment. We don't want to add to the nitpicking narrator by saying things like, "Oh, I'm always nitpicking myself." Let's just take a breath and realize this is so common. This is what most human beings alive are struggling with. And It's also something that you can shift. On this podcast, we're going to be hearing people's stories and giving them the opportunity to decide how they're cataloging and categorizing events in their life, whether big or small, whether moments of great shift or mundane moments that help to reinforce life-long patterns. We'll look at these stories and we'll ask, “What does the self-love version of this story look like?” We're not about revisionist history. We're not about trying to run away from our own sense of responsibility. On the contrary, this is all about building greater self-responsibility. Because here's the secret: That negative narrator is actually giving us an out. When that negative narrator pipes up with, "Oh, I'm always doing this," or "I'm never doing that," or "This is always happening to me," what that negative narrator is saying is, "This is an unbreakable pattern. This is just how it is." And how disempowering is that to hear? This is just how it is. There isn't anything I can do about it. And on the other hand, when we pause and take that moment to go, “Huh, is there a different story I can tell here?” we begin to look for a powerful moment of choice and change, a tipping point wherein we, as the main character of our story, say, "I choose something different.” And the more we tell those stories, the moments of catalyst of perhaps crisis, but also catharsis, the more we see ourselves as agents. The hero in the story is not the hero because he or she is always doing something wonderful and saving other people. The hero in the story is the hero because of taking action. That's what makes us heroes. That's what makes us the people we want to become — we see ourselves taking action and making choices. And of course it's imperfect action. And of course we look back and go, “Oh, if only I had been able in that moment to do even more, to make an even bolder, braver, more courageous decision.” Absolutely. And guess what? That feeling of "I wish I could have done more" is you giving yourself possibility to grow. And so instead of having to live with that negative nitpicking narrator who says, "This is just the way things are. We'll never be able to get any better. We'll never be able to change. This is always going to be happening to us” — who keeps us as a victim, who keeps us as somebody not worthy of heroic status, of not worthy of growth — we shift into the hero of our own journey. We cultivate self -love, we cultivate self -responsibility. We begin noticing more and more in real time when we're in moments of choice and change. I love hearing stories from people who work on storytelling with me about real-time shifts that happen because of the stories they tell. One of my favorites recently was from somebody going through Influential Storyteller (https://www.meganbarnhard.com/influential-storyteller/) who had been working on a story that was unpacking old habits, beliefs, and patterns, and they showed up to class one day and excitedly said to the group, "You guys, the best thing happened! I had a crisis!" And then proceeded to share the story of what had happened, and in that moment of crisis, this storyteller recognized, "Hey, there's that pattern again. Here's that pattern and that belief that I've been writing a story about, and wow, it's happening in real time, and how do I want to respond?” When we become the empowered narrator of our own lives, we cannot help but shift how we act, how we show up, how we influence ourselves and the people around us. Because suddenly we have the insights of a compassionate narrator. We are seeing ourselves go through our lives — again in those big moments when big shifts are happening, and in those small mundane everyday moments. We are aware that we are on an arc, a story arc, that we are moving through inciting incidents and rising action and climactic conflicts and choices and resolutions. And we give ourselves that compassion, that belief in ourselves, in our ability to make choices in greater alignment with who we truly want to be in the world. So that's what we're up to. We are cultivating self-love through storytelling, helping people step out of being a nitpicking negative narrator in their own lives and step into being the compassionate narrator who says, "Oh, I wonder what empowered choice this character is going to make next." So stick around, join us for the journey, and cultivate greater self-love through your own storytelling process. Thank you to Oleksandr Stepanov (https://pixabay.com/users/penguinmusic-24940186/) for the music! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barnhard.substack.com (https://barnhard.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)