Welcome to Thursdays Exchange with April Johnson

Ken: We have April Johnson with us today. She is a cachet white woman using she/her pronouns. April has a gift to provide hope and help with life problems and events. She draws upon the wisdom or a deep knowing as well as her own life experiences. Those experiences have included poverty; deaths; divorce; unemployment; housing instability; college attempts; and most recently cancer with a broken back, related paralysis and disability. So many hospital trips due to serious treatment side effects, lingering symptoms, and chronic pain. April lived in a nursing home for a year and a half including during the first nine months of the covid-19. Welcome to the Show April. So, tell me of all those experiences, what experience did you have the toughest time with? April: The nursing home; housing is frustrating and that certainly plays into my nursing home experience. I don’t think there is anything in life that prepares us for living in a nursing home. Whether it is the traditional unit as someone in their 40 years or it is someone at the end of life, it is a whole different experience. Ken: Yeah, what was that like for you? April: Sad, painful, it felt like I was on the island alone, and forgotten. My choices were very few. It is a system and the people who are taking care of me are making lousy wages and worried about how they're going to pay their bills, take care of their family, and put food on the table. So, they're not always in the best headspace to meet me or anyone else in that environment where we are. There are really high expectations as residents and patients to know things that we don’t and to behave and conduct ourselves in a way that is foreign to us. So, it is very isolating. Ken: Gotcha yeah it would be, okay now you have been through some really tough things what have those experiences taught you? April: A lot of things, healing is a process, It is ongoing. It feels daunting at first because it is heavy, but it gets better over time; and there is a place where it becomes a joy. To heal and to recognize that we are healing, learning that healing can go deeper is actually very cool. It expanded empathy for me, you know we're all human we are all going through things. Not talking about things makes us feel more isolated. Finding a community and connection is really difficult. Ken: I get that, how important is that connection to us as humans? April: I think it is paramount. The lack of connection as individuals is at the root of a lot of our problems and struggles. It is a problem as individuals and as collectives in the world. We are missing the mark of humanity in the other person that we are dealing or communicating with at any given moment in time. We also talk about How will your story help listeners change their lives for the better? Tell me what accomplishments you’re most proud of: If there were only three ideas that you leave for this world and your posterity, what 3 ideas would you leave for them that could lead them to have an amazing life? What is the best way for folks to connect with you? I can be found by the username @ AskAprilJ on Twitter and Instagram. April’s email address is [email protected]. Please subscribe to this podcast and leave a rating and review, to help others find this podcast. Also, join the Facebook group. Here is the spot to click and set up a time so we can discuss how you can use these tools and others to get your amazing life!