013: Having Her Car Repo'd, Finally Feeling Safe Enough to Break Down, and Not Knowing If It's Ok to be Funny Right Now with Laura Egland

“Life is fascinating; people are even more so.” My friend Laura Egland couldn’t have started this podcast with anything more fitting. As I record this interview, Laura and I are sitting in her cozy home in Fargo, North Dakota.Life is happening right here, right now including some rambunctious mews and hijinks from Laura’s new kitty. Since I am allll about life being real, sometimes it’s really messy and filled with a bit of kitten noise!Laura and I are two peas in a pod. We’ve only been together in-person twice in the past five years, but it feels like I’ve been her friend for life. We had a lot of fun talking about just anything: from embarrassing stories, using humor and self-deprecation as a defense mechanism, and the heartbreaking moments that have shaped us. Laura literally holds nothing back. With unflinching humor, real-life details, and unmatched honesty, Laura shares so much with us today.I know you are going to love her wild story of having her car repossessed on her birthday…while she was masturbating! She also shares how growing up was hard, but life is now better than she could have ever imagined. We talk about limiting beliefs about money, and how we can define what it means to be wealthy.Storytelling is a bit of a lost art and Laura is both preserving that through her project, “The Tell” AND keeping the spirit alive on this show.I hope you feel encouraged to share your most embarrassing, messiest, wildest tales with a good friend..or even ME! Listen in to hear Laura and I talk about: Laura’s incredible story of having her car repossessed on her birthday...while masturbating.How Laura created a community of storytellers that she didn’t even know she needed.Struggling to answer “Is it OK to be funny?” especially in these incredibly trying times.How our childhood informs and shapes up way more than we realize...and learning to find the good qualities in our less than stellar parents (i.e. imperfect human beings).Our egos. End of sentence, period.Becoming a mother young, handling relationships, and making choices to improve and grow evenwhen it's hard. Resources + People mentioned Hitachi Magic Wand (per Laura, do NOT get a knock-off)Laura's storytelling venture, The Tell (modeled after The Moth)My story (of the cat in my freezer) at Laura's The Tell (it's hilarious...promise!) More of Laura An incorrigible user of humor in all situations (appropriate or not), Laura Egland has worn many hats in her life, and is now in the midst of the metaphorical shit-pile, gleefully working on examining and casting aside all of the things she assumed (and assumed others assumed) about herself.On the home front, Laura lives in Fargo, ND with her wonderful fiancé, and two cats who are obvious stand-ins for her now-adult son living in Atlanta. A large extended family comprised of folks with whom she shares no DNA, and a few with whom she does wraps up what Laura refers to as “quite the charmed life if I stop whining long enough.”When not working at her accounting job, Laura focuses on fostering community via a storytelling event she founded—the Tell—now in its sixth season; treating herself *when she remembers* with grace; consuming copious amounts of coffee and cheese; willingly discussing her own mental illness struggles; blogging in her head (and eventually to an actual site!); and ignoring the dust bunnies in her house.Laura’s life-goal is to be a stay-at-home Kitty Mom who also gets to spend her time supporting her community while blogging and podcasting for fun. She fully intends to always ignore the dust bunnies.Facebook ∆ // InstagramSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.