Make Bold Moves with Sara Schulting Kranz

Judd Shaw: Hello, you beautiful people, and thanks for tuning in. Today we’re speaking with Sarah Sholten Kranz. Sarah is a keynote speaker, extreme adventurer, best selling author, artist, sought after retreat organizer, and mom of three wonderful men.

Judd Shaw: Sarah began her thought leadership in making bold moves when she hit rock bottom. Facing complex PTSD and trauma, Sarah quickly found that change is constant. But few really know how to bravely navigate and lean into the gifts that come with that change. Sarah’s trauma became her purpose, to help others embrace their bold life.

Judd Shaw: Let’s uncover what’s behind the armor. With Sarah, [00:01:00] challenges in life are constant and my guest today knows how to bravely navigate challenges in such a way that you can lean into the gifts of adversity, Sarah, welcome to the show.

Sara Kranz: Well, thank you for having me on. I’m excited about this.

Judd Shaw: So am I. So you have this amazing framework.

Judd Shaw: Uh, you lead these incredible retreats and we’re going to dive all into it. And And, and you’re a bestselling author of walk through this. But before we walk through that, and before we talk about making some bold moves, I think for our listeners, it’s important to understand what was the 1. 0 Sarah, what was going on behind the armor in your [00:02:00] life that ultimately led.

Judd Shaw: To this framework.

Sara Kranz: Wow. Well, that’s like a big question in and of itself, Judd. So thank you for that. Oh, you know, so this is 5. 0, Sarah, today.

Judd Shaw: That’s what I like to think. I love that. Isn’t it great? I love that. I love that. I’m counting, I’m counting my babies too. I’m counting my babies.

Sara Kranz: What if I want to take

Judd Shaw: them back to 10?

Judd Shaw: So let me help, let me, let me help narrow that down. Let’s, let’s talk first about home life and where your situation was in your teenage years. Can we start there? Of course. So let’s start. We’re, we’re, we’re, we’re 14, ish. We are probably in survival mode. Not feeling maybe heard, seen, or valued. Tell me, tell me, tell me in your [00:03:00] words, what was that like, that, that, that period of your time?

Sara Kranz: So I grew up, and where we grow up obviously determines a lot in life, right? Like where our foundation actually lies. I always talk about the foundation, foundation of who you are. I love the foundation of who I am. I grew up in a very small farming community of, back then, 1, 100 people. I graduated from a high school of 50 something people.

Sara Kranz: This is still a continual argument on how many people were really in our class, believe it or not. Very small, small high school in the middle of a cornfield. So that tells you right away, like, let’s set, set the, set the, the, um, set the tone of where it came from, right? Yeah. Where I came from. Yeah. Um, I loved, I loved where I grew up.

Sara Kranz: Very small town values. Uh, I was 16 years old. I, I, well kind of like diving into my family life really quick. Grew up in a wonderful family, [00:04:00] very, um, connected, really, really tight. Close knit we still are today. Uh. Two brothers older than me and then my parents, my dad and mom worked ferociously for us to really have a good family life.

Sara Kranz: When I was 16 years old, uh, I went through a very devastating experience. I was actually raped by somebody that I knew in my small town. It devastated everyone from the family to the town, the town itself. You could say there was a big, there was big divisiveness. This was back in the time when nobody really talked about stuff like that.

Sara Kranz: Um, I ended up getting pregnant, and that threw everything into a complete tailspin. Because You know, then there was the whole, did it really happen? Did it not? Who do you believe? Uh, I went to the police and had to, I tried to press [00:05:00] charges. It didn’t, I couldn’t press charges because there was no proof or evidence as they say, uh, and I ended up having to get a restraining order on the guy.

Sara Kranz: And it, I will tell you Judd, like, I know that this story sounds really, I don’t even know what the term is anymore, like harrowing, you know, a huge, a huge, like, like the event that would just like be catastrophic. For me though, what it did is that it taught me who I was going to become down the road. And how it did that was I was, uh, I was an avid artist back then.

Sara Kranz: I remember my art teacher giving me the keys to the classroom and saying, you know what, you go do what you got to do. Use your creativeness, use, you know, dive into your art, do what you got to do to heal yourself, to do whatever, whatever it is to work through what’s happening. What that time in my life taught me was that.[00:06:00]

Sara Kranz: The most important person for you to believe in, for you to step into, for you to be is that person of who you are. At 16 years old, understand. Now, I decided to keep my child. I decided to go to college. I, again, I have an incredible family that supported me. I went to the W Madison. I became an art teacher.

Sara Kranz: I did the whole five year plans on four years, and I remember driving down the road. I was also working like I was supporting my son at the time, too. So we’re talking like. Late night reading, and then also going from there to study to then go to school in my life was almost like robotic at that point, just to survive and thrive because I wanted something better and what I remember driving down the road and I was coming home from the university and it was one of the back roads.

Sara Kranz: I could tell exactly where it was. And I had this hit, call it like a God wink or a message from above [00:07:00] universe, whatever you want to call it. And I heard in my head, I was really struggling at that time, like, how am I going to get through this? I’m exhausted. Nobody’s, you know, like people don’t believe me, blah, blah, blah.

Sara Kranz: And I remember hearing in my head, this isn’t all for nothing. You’re going to write a book someday. People are going to hear you. Those that don’t believe you right now, it doesn’t matter because they will at some point. And I think that it was for me, the biggest lesson in. Not judging others, understanding that we all have a story that we are walking with every day and really seeing people for the human that they are and holding space for that.

Sara Kranz: Right. Like that was the most important thing for me. And then fast forward, you know,

Judd Shaw: before you fast forward, I have a question for you if you don’t

Sara Kranz: ask anything.

Judd Shaw: I knew that there was this dark night for you as a teenager, who was unaware to the element of what you’re talking. And so [00:08:00] quite the opposite, where many of my guests have this moment of loneliness, disconnection, trauma that leads up to this event.

Judd Shaw: And what I find, um, interesting. about your story in terms of your ability to navigate that was that you actually had a really solid upbringing. You were seen, you were heard, you felt incredibly valued in your community, school and home life.

Sara Kranz: Absolutely.

Judd Shaw: And then to be rocked by this rape, where do you start

Judd Shaw: in moving from the darkest moments of your life into [00:09:00] the light? And I asked you because I remember a moment when I left, I was jailed.

Judd Shaw: I should not have been. And after 24 hours or whatever it was, when it came out, I was more lonely and disconnected, shunned and shamed. And it crawled into the corner of my garage. Just surrounded by, you know, whatever luxury cars and this big house. And all I could do was turn into a fetal position. And cry that uncontrollable shaking kind of cry.

Judd Shaw: And I called for help. I don’t know how I got out of that moment. I don’t know wh But it was the difference between us having this conversation and not, but how, how do you, Sarah, how do you [00:10:00] move from the fetal position off the ground, off the floor of your garage when you are rocked in that unfair and inhumane, unjust way?

Judd Shaw: Where do you find that, that inner strength?

Sara Kranz: So I’ve sat with that question many, many times because I have had to do exactly that. And what I have found. Might sound a little unorthodox, I should say, I truly believe through my own experiences that I have lived through, which has been, that’s just like the tip of the iceberg that we as humans carry the strength of the generations before us.

Judd Shaw: Yes,

Sara Kranz: we also carry their patterns. You see, so for example, let’s get kind of [00:11:00] like dive into this for a moment because this is in my book too. When we are, when, when my mom was pregnant with me, okay, when she, before she was even pregnant with me, when, when my grandmother was pregnant with my mother, I also was going to, was having those genetic predispositions while she was, In my grandmother’s womb, right?

Sara Kranz: So, in other words, even back then, I was genetically being created for who I was going to become. My mom and I had, my mom has since passed, my mom and I had, and still have, From above a very deep connection. So when I was going through all of that, and I remember lying on the bathroom, it’s always, for me, it’s always the bathroom and the closet or the garage.

Sara Kranz: We all, we all have our place, right?

Speaker 3: For

Sara Kranz: me, it’s always the bathroom corner or the [00:12:00] closet, just how it

Speaker 3: is. And

Sara Kranz: I have had that whaling uncontrollable, like, how am I ever going to survive through this?

Speaker 3: Yeah. Over and over

Sara Kranz: and over again. What I’ve always drawn on when I don’t have my strength to draw on is the strength of those people who have gone before me.

Sara Kranz: And that’s where I’ve sat with that many times of what got me back up again. What was it? And I think that through the power of drawing on the strength of those who have been before us. We are also allowing us to step into our own empowerment today to break the patterns that they couldn’t break. Make sense?

Sara Kranz: So

Judd Shaw: does it make sense? I went to an ancestral plant medicine retreat and I too, for the first time, learned that Your [00:13:00] grandparents carried you. They carried you because your grandmother, who was carrying your mother, already fully developed all her eggs, which was you before she was born. And I thought for a moment, The opposite and I want you to help me understand it because I want to I want to continue healing.

Speaker 3: Yeah,

Judd Shaw: I had thought that Generationally this trauma that was being handed down from my great grandfather to my grandfather my father Who’s handing the baton? To hear you go, I’m carrying yours off, I’m handing off the trauma to you. And I was living literally my father’s life again. I thought it was that they weren’t strong enough to do the work necessary to break the trauma as opposed to your view, which is so compassionate and even more forgiving [00:14:00] that think about how strong they were to even get through.

Judd Shaw: To get to the point in our history of lineage to even be born today.

Sara Kranz: Can I take it a step further?

Judd Shaw: Yes, please. May I take it a step further? So healing please. It’s so healing. I think it’s so forgiving.

Sara Kranz: The thing, the thing that I think that fail that people fail to see is that I’m just gonna use addiction as, as the, as the piece here. Okay. Trauma bond is. An incredibly powerful thing and addiction, there’s strength in that people look at it like for me, I look at it like anybody that has had to walk through extremely hard times like addicts.

Sara Kranz: For example, you are some strong mofos. Okay, you guys there, there is [00:15:00] so much strength in that and where we fail to see it is that by releasing that what they’re, what? What the flip of it is by releasing the addiction or being able to heal from all of that, you’re only getting stronger. Right? And so we look at humans that have.

Sara Kranz: Addictions or that they, you know, they’ve gone through things as being, Oh my God, they’re like, why can’t they get through this? What’s where is their strength to, to, to power through? And I look at people that are able to actually survive during those times that alone is strength. Makes sense. Like, and so I look at, for example, my own mom, there was so much.

Sara Kranz: Strength in what she was walking through in her life, me now understanding what she was actually going through. There was a piece to it though, where she couldn’t unravel from it. And so now I’m [00:16:00] able to do that in the work that I do today on behalf of not only myself, but on behalf of my mom, on behalf of my grandmother, my great grandmother, and all of those people that have gone before me.

Judd Shaw: Thank you for that further explanation. It’s, it’s so much more forgiving and compassionate than even the way I was looking at it. And now you have this wonderful man in your life.

Sara Kranz: Yeah.

Judd Shaw: And you now meet who would be the next big instrumental male figure in your life. Your, your husband at the time, right?

Judd Shaw: Tell me, tell me about that.

Sara Kranz: Yeah. So my, when I was in college, I met this man who became my best friend. [00:17:00] We were literally like inseparable, and we ended up getting married, uh, met him in college, got married and ended up having this wonderful life together. He was, uh. Again, like my best friend, I mean, I don’t even know how else to say it.

Sara Kranz: Like I have people, people ask me this, what’s your, what was your relationship like? And I said, I was married literally to my best friend. We laughed a lot. We had fun together. I graduated from college. We ended up moving from Wisconsin down to Missouri, back to Wisconsin, out to California. I was supporting him, uh, in his dreams and his, you know, In his work, uh, while I also, cause I, I was a teacher, but then I had to give up my life, my teaching career to support him, which I was totally fine with doing.

Sara Kranz: I ended up being a stay at home mom. We had a total of three boys and. We lived the life that many people aspire to live, right? Like [00:18:00] just all of it back in 2013, I found out over the course of a night that he had been leading a double life. It was Thanksgiving Eve, 2013, when he came home. from what he was doing and he was high on drugs.

Sara Kranz: I had no idea what was going down, uh, what had happened or what was happening in his life. And then all of a sudden, over the course of the night, I found out, you know, over the course of the next few days, I found out that here he had been literally leading a double life with men. Uh, for 14 of 17 years of our marriage, he had had affairs, there were drugs involved, there was alcoholism, there was sex addiction, there was all sorts of stuff.

Sara Kranz: And people often ask me, well, how did you not know that this was going on? What I always say is people will do anything to [00:19:00] hide their secrets. And that’s what was happening with me. What I didn’t realize. During the course of all of this was how that hit that, that, that voice that I heard in my head back when I was 17 years old.

Sara Kranz: At that point, when I was in college, I oftentimes throughout from 17 to the age of 40 wondered. Why can I not live my life on more purpose? Like there’s something more here for me and I can’t figure out what it is. What I didn’t realize is that what happened to me at 17, that was only the first big trauma that I was going to live through.

Sara Kranz: I, that was actually the foundation coming out of that was the foundation and how then at the age of 40 I was going to end up coming out of this big trauma this like huge, tragic, traumatic experience that I had lived through. What’s weird though, Judd, is that like now I’m 50, right? Like 10 years have passed.[00:20:00]

Sara Kranz: I talk about that. And that’s Sarah 4. 0. She was The most brave, amazing, incredible human being, and I honor her so much because now at the age of 50, even when I’m talking about it, I’m like, yeah, I went through that. And I know that to a lot of people, when I talk about it, like, you know, that was one period of my life.

Sara Kranz: Right. And where I’m at today, it’s just such, it’s just night and day. It’s night and day. And so when people ask about like, what was it like to be Sarah 5, you know, what, what was it like? I honor every single difficult experience that I have lived through because it has been the greatest classroom for me in order to become who I am today.

Sara Kranz: The best, the best analogy I can give you is if you didn’t hear the garbage truck just go by the [00:21:00] garbage truck just went by and I always talk about, look, you gotta have the, you gotta take the garbage to the curb. But you’re not going to chase after the garbage, right? Let the garbage truck do its thing.

Sara Kranz: Take it out where it needs to be. Walk through the darkness and find your light in all of it because there is so much goodness on the other side.

Judd Shaw: Uh,

Sara Kranz: I know it’s a lot.

Judd Shaw: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your vulnerability, your honesty, your, your perspective and experience in the sense that you can pay it forward and, you know, help so many others through the strength of your story, which is where I draw a lot of, a lot of strength for myself to do the same.

Judd Shaw: Um, Transcribed And, you know, I was talking to, uh, uh, co friend Brit Frank. Oh, yeah. I

Sara Kranz: love her. She’s

Judd Shaw: so great. And she talks [00:22:00] about her parts, right, in this really beautiful way. And I wanted to point that out to you because just earlier I had mentioned that I think I have like a 40 something year old inner child, right?

Judd Shaw: I have so many inner child. I have my 11 year old inner child, my 21 year old inner child, like, and it’s so beautiful to hear you talk about your. Versions as if they’re still parts that have built this version of your new current operating system. And I hadn’t heard of it that way and I, I just love it.

Judd Shaw: So beautiful to say, you know, my, my 4. 0 I honor my 4. 0 for her strength and I, I, you know, my, my 2. 0 I, it wasn’t there for her the way I could be there for her now. And I, it’s just so beautiful for you to do that. Thank you so much.

Sara Kranz: Oh, you’re welcome. Thank you. Thank you. You know, [00:23:00]

Judd Shaw: this, this, I need to know.

Judd Shaw: There are two men in your life, the first who have fathered children with you.

Speaker 3: Mm hmm.

Judd Shaw: And both of those men have played roles of masculinity, toxic masculinity, non toxic men. You are the mom of three wonderful men as you always proudly tell everybody.

Sara Kranz: Yes, they’re amazing.

Judd Shaw: I’ve seen, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve been around 400 introductions of Sarah to people and community members that I know and everything is like, I’m the wonderful, you know, I’m the mom of three wonderful men.

Judd Shaw: Yeah. And so how do you help mirror, how do you help show these three wonderful men [00:24:00] what it’s like to be a man in today’s world, a man that we want, that you would want your sons to be?

Sara Kranz: Are you, now you’re going to make me cry, Judd.

Sara Kranz: Uh, so people ask me all the time, why do you do what you do? And there was a time back in 2013 where I thought about. Taking my car and just smashing it on the 4 0 5, like I can just end this. I’m done. And it was those three that kept me going and that was it. It was those three. And I’m gonna offer a little bit of advice to any parent , which is pretty much all parents, where you are going through a struggle at some point in your life, because I [00:25:00] think that we have.

Sara Kranz: Put parents on pedestals. Like I know in my younger years, right? Like I looked at my parents, like they could never do anything wrong, but I didn’t realize was that they had their own struggles that were, they were going through. Now I realized that as a parent myself, when we went through everything as a family back in 2013, there were a few people that I went directly to the coaches.

Sara Kranz: The teachers and I found somebody for them to talk to because I knew that I couldn’t be that person, every person for them while I was also trying to take care of myself. I didn’t have my family here. I live out in California. My family is back in Wisconsin. I didn’t have people to turn to or to lean on because nobody even knew what was going on.

Sara Kranz: When we talk about I was literally alone on an island, I was alone on an [00:26:00] island that no one even knew about and no one had explored. And I found myself there feeling as lost as any person could feel, as devastated as any person could feel. Because the levels of betrayal were so complex that People knew it.

Sara Kranz: People knew what was going on. I didn’t know what was going on. All those years, I found out people knew. Our friends knew. Different people knew. I knew nothing. And so, When I stand on stage and I deliver my message of resilience and leadership and, you know, fostering those positive cultures and problem solving, I promise you, I came from the depth of hell to get to where I am.

Sara Kranz: The thing is though, is that you can’t do that alone. You have to be able to have the community. And so I needed to create that community for my [00:27:00] kids. So that I could also form that community for myself and I’ll tell you, uh, yeah, I am that proud mom where I, I am, I mean, my kids are the most important thing to me.

Sara Kranz: They’re 32, 22 and 17. My oldest is doing amazing. I’m so proud of him. My middle one is, uh, talk about a brag moment, a few brag moments of my kids, but my middle one is a captain of the USC men’s water polo team. Second year in a row. He’s graduating this week. And my youngest is an incredible basketball player who just wants to play in college.

Sara Kranz: And where I often tell them is if I’m not modeling for you. What it is to aspire and to reach for your goals and your dreams, then who the hell am I? And when it comes to the masculinity and femininity part, I will tell you that that’s been my biggest struggle [00:28:00] because I have had to lift. Uh, areas of my masculinity for them that I wouldn’t have otherwise have had to.

Sara Kranz: And I grieved that because I couldn’t be the mom that I wanted to be at all times because I also had to play two parts and that sucked. And it still is a part of my life where I talk to my boys about that, where I’m like, I didn’t get to be the mom that I was pre 40 years old and I feel for them. And at the same time, They got to see parts of me that they wouldn’t have otherwise and where I will also take this a step further is people oftentimes thank their hard times for who they have become.

Sara Kranz: Stop doing that. You got to thank yourself for getting through those hard times. That’s [00:29:00] empowering yourself through that experience, right? I wouldn’t wish what I walked through on any person in this world. I wouldn’t. I would, however, wish for every person in this world to find the strength to get through those hard times that they will eventually, if not today, that they will be having to go through, because we all do.

Sara Kranz: We all go through hard times. I hope people’s hard times are not as bad as my hard times. Cause my part hard times have been really, really bad. And so, I mean, yeah, I mean, I think it’s all modeling, right? Like finding those people that can strengthen and be there for your kids. And I also, Judd, I also told my boys, the reason that they are so good at what they do is because we look at therapy as a very, Linear way, right?

Sara Kranz: In a very linear way. And for me, I looked at my kids and I said, okay, I know what your gifts are. [00:30:00] And that’s going to be your therapy. My middle son, his gift was, was water polo. So that’s why I went to the school and went to his coach and said, please let the pool be his therapy. My basketball kid, let the court be his therapy, teach him through that so that he can also evolve better into the gift and use it as a therapy that it can become.

Judd Shaw: I wanted to thank you for, you know, your vulnerability and honesty and your story. for being able to share it with me, um, and, and have that space with me. I really, I just wanted to honor that.

Sara Kranz: Thank you.

Judd Shaw: And, um, I also want to share that I had heard a story from a woman. Who had shared with me that, uh, in her, her dark moment, she had her kids in the car and she was going to [00:31:00] drive, you know, off a bridge because if, if she wasn’t around, then, you know, who could take care of these kids and nobody would take care of all the kids.

Judd Shaw: And, and on that moment, One of the kids like made a noise or something and like just snapped she described it like snapped her out of it and it scared her so long that she wouldn’t drive for a while because she was scared of that happening again and and to and and and to share that and I I think that the gift that does come from that to your point Is it conditions you to know that you can get through those really, really difficult moments.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Judd Shaw: Um, and [00:32:00] I don’t know if you, I think you know our friend Rebecca Heiss. Yes. Um, her and I are working on something actually, I’ll share, uh, with you and, and our listeners. Uh, working on what. What is the modern night in terms of the men and women to show up today in which we’re tackling this masculinity toxic masculinity subject and helping young men particularly understand how to show up and and and really empowered in your Identity and owning that authentically and thriving as a result of it and so What you have reminded me is that at its core, authentic human connection, your boys connected to parts of the community that can lift up and help [00:33:00] are what gets us through or navigates those most difficult times.

Sara Kranz: Yeah.

Judd Shaw: Your family did it for you. Now the community can help you with your, your sons into that point for all of us. And I have to also say. That listening to you reminds me that I have to forgive myself

Judd Shaw: for the type of parent I was in survival mode.

Judd Shaw: So thank you.

Sara Kranz: You’re welcome. It’s a hard one. It’s a hard one. That’s a part of their journey too, you know, and that’s, that’s one of the things that I’ve talked to my kids about is you guys didn’t ask for this either. And this is a part of the journey. That [00:34:00] is yours to work through and to make peace with and to figure out who do I want to be in this world?

Judd Shaw: Wow. I’m, I’m, I’m getting emotional feeling the healing, just speaking to you of that similar to the way I felt on my retreat. And so I guess a great question would be, tell me about your retreats. You’re, you’re, you’re really like well known, like incredible. I heard in the grand Canyon of hurdle. All about, I mean, the story, the testimonies, they have gone from the, you know, the, the, the canyons of Arizona all the way to Jersey.

Judd Shaw: I’ve heard great stories about them. Tell me, you know, how did that come about? Like, tell me about the retreats. I want to go tell me.

Sara Kranz: Oh, it’s amazing. Well, so I, I started doing this work, Jed, when I was sitting with my, my therapist at the time, [00:35:00] she, the first thing she said to me when she first met me was, Oh God, she’s a strong one.

Sara Kranz: Like there’s something’s going to come from this. This isn’t going to take her down. She didn’t tell me that until much later. Uh, but then she talked to me about, Why are you healing so much and so quickly? What’s how? How are you becoming this person that you’re becoming? How are you working through and navigating through all of these big problems that you have in challenges in your life?

Sara Kranz: And what got me through it all was literally climbing mountains and, I started navigating the ocean on my paddleboard with dolphins and whales. Like I was figuring out life through nature. And what I didn’t realize was how that was going to become the foundation literally of everything that I do today, personally and professionally.

Sara Kranz: So I started a business back in 2015. I went back and got my Commercial Use Authorization and my Wilderness [00:36:00] First Responder Certification at 42. Who would have thought? A lot of people questioned me on that one, and I started leading retreats in the Grand Canyon. Because my own uncle, who was also an adventurer, took me down there years prior.

Sara Kranz: And I had worked through a lot of my own figuring out my comfort zone, you know, working through my own resistance with life. This is before everything happened, right? And I was finding these new versions of myself down there and I’m like, damn, this place is pretty cool and powerful. Well, so when everything hit in 2013, I started using that space.

Sara Kranz: for my own healing as well, and I decided that that was going to be my place where I was going to take other people to do the same thing. So I have literally led CEOs of multi million dollar companies, executives of fortune 500 companies to teenagers trying to figure out what college am I going to [00:37:00] go to, uh, to couples working on their marriage.

Sara Kranz: Across the board, hundreds and hundreds of people, and that space has been the space of, of really learning how to navigate through life’s challenges, businesses, uh, problems, like everything. I mean, it’s been absolutely, I got to tell you, like the stories that I could tell of things that have happened down there is, um, mind blowing, literally mind blowing.

Sara Kranz: What has happened down there? And that actually became the premise that became the, uh, what I talk about today from stage. So I literally, when I’m on stage, I bring the grand Canyon to the audience.

Speaker 3: And it

Sara Kranz: has been because it’s not, I think, here’s the deal. I think that we look at life really [00:38:00] kind of ass backwards.

Sara Kranz: If you may, that’s my Midwest term. We look at life like we just got to be on the climb. We got to be on the climb, right? Like when we’re young, we’re, we’re even thinking about when I’m 40, I’m going to be doing this when I’m 50, I’m going to be doing this when I’m 70, I’m going to be doing this, right? Like we are conditioned to live life on the climb.

Sara Kranz: And the way that I approach life and always have is it’s not about the climbing, it’s about that going and descending first into who you are, descending and being prepared, learning how to problem solve, learning how to tackle life’s obstacles and those challenges before us. And then when we do climb. We know that we’re climbing against the right wall.

Sara Kranz: We know that we’re climbing in the direction that we are intended, regardless of who you are, regardless of what you’re doing, leaders, CEOs, executives, teams, all of it. And it’s the [00:39:00] coolest. thing ever to see people get it, right. Like they get it, they understand it. And when they’re down there and they understand it, and they come out and they are climbing, they’re like.

Sara Kranz: Oh my gosh, I have been doing this wrong my entire life. Right.

Judd Shaw: Right.

Sara Kranz: So

Judd Shaw: there’s this, this is a big, it sounds like a strong mindfulness. Element to it. Yeah, Yeah. It’s

Sara Kranz: everything. It’s just everything. It’s it’s mind, it’s body. It’s spirit, it’s emotional. It’s literally clicking in as I call it. It’s all of it.

Speaker 3: Yeah, and

Sara Kranz: It’s, more than anything though, it’s just freaking beautiful because it’s this reconnection with who you are so that they can lead the way that they were intended.

Judd Shaw: I find there no irony in the fact that the pool, basketball [00:40:00] court, and for you, the fucking Grand Canyon.

Sara Kranz: I know, it’s The

Judd Shaw: Grand Canyon.

Judd Shaw: That’s your, that’s your healing spot.

Sara Kranz: Um,

Judd Shaw: the framework itself make bold moves. Can you walk me through that for a moment?

Sara Kranz: Well, so the framework itself has really shifted quite a bit through the years. Right. And so there’s, I mean, I don’t want to, so honestly, I don’t really want to walk it through it because it’s so like, it’s so, uh,

Judd Shaw: let me back that up.

Judd Shaw: Let’s go backwards on this.

Sara Kranz: Let’s go backwards.

Judd Shaw: Let’s go backwards for a minute. You are now

Judd Shaw: an incredible keynote speaker. I’ve had the privilege and honor, by the way, of hearing you.

Sara Kranz: Did you listen to me that night? That’s so sweet.

Judd Shaw: Thank you. Well, I wasn’t going to miss the [00:41:00] opportunity and, uh, and so tell, tell, tell me, tell the listeners what, what is it that, what are the takeaways? What do you want your audience after a keynote, you know, to feel?

Judd Shaw: Because the Grand Canyon to, to me. And gave me this creative feeling, like you bring the experience to me.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Judd Shaw: What’s the takeaway that I’m after a keynote that I’m walking away with.

Sara Kranz: I love this question. So when I’m, when I’m doing keynoting and working with my clients, in fact, Stay tuned because I can’t really say right now, but I am leading a really cool team down into the Grand Canyon in June, which I’m super excited

Judd Shaw: about.

Judd Shaw: Ah,

Sara Kranz: it’s so cool. It it’s, it’s all about problem solving, right? And there isn’t a problem in this world that we can’t solve. And I think that [00:42:00] I know from experience that every challenge, every problem, every obstacle that lies before us. It’s either the space to learn from and grow from and to develop a better understanding of who we are or it is something that literally engulfs us so that we, we can’t, we don’t even know who we are, what we can do, right.

Sara Kranz: And so when I’m, Leading or, or speaking from stage, it’s taking people to that depth and literally like quote depth, right? We descend in order to ascend. We go deep into what it is to problem solve. And we use in terms of the framework, the Canyon as a metaphor. And so when we think about the Canyon, so this, this is, and this is why I’m like, I don’t, I don’t really want to have like the step one, step two, step three conversations.

Sara Kranz: Cause it’s just like, I don’t operate that way. I don’t work that way. It’s more organic. When I’m talking about the metaphor of the canyon, I talk [00:43:00] about the layers of rock, right? And I talk about the, the, the Colorado River that forges below and it’s cut through all of this, the 6 million years it took to, to, you know, to create this, the 1.

Sara Kranz: 8 billion years of rock in this canyon and how we. As humans need to learn how to, how to, how to be patient within the work that we do, how to navigate from a place that allows us to walk through the adversity and allows us to also really dive into what is possible on the other space, right? Like what is possible in that other space, because everything is in creation at all times, including the canyon, including our lives.

Sara Kranz: Thanks. Right. And so, in terms of like, what do I want the audience to Leave besides being motivated and inspired to get their butts outside and to [00:44:00] also create the space Uh that can to to find creativity and clarity in their space It’s really understanding that you know, our lives are very much like that canyon very much like that canyon So when i’m guiding people through it with every step, they’re developing this this this this deeper sense of self Right and also walking through and working through their problems along the way You That canyon literally is the greatest metaphor for business and life, 100%, 1000%.

Sara Kranz: It is like the greatest metaphor because it’s not about climbing. You gotta descend in and be prepared before you come out the other side.

Judd Shaw: I love that. Sarah, you are a podcast host of Live Boldly with Sarah. You’ve right? Yeah. You’ve written a book, uh, walk through this, you, uh, have led. All of these [00:45:00] incredible retreats.

Judd Shaw: I’m going to go in one of these

Speaker 3: beyond

Judd Shaw: you being this incredible mom of three wonderful men. You know, you’re just doing so much for so many others. I love to ask this final question of all my guests, which is how do you authentically connect best?

Sara Kranz: Oh, okay. I thought you were going to ask me, Who holds space for you? Because that’s what everybody asks me. If you’re constantly giving, who holds space for you? Well, I always tell them, I’m like, nature does. Like, and this is actually what, this goes into it. So, I will tell you that I have, A, like nothing comes between me and my 10 days a year to go on a trail, literally nothing.

Sara Kranz: Like my kids know this, they understand the importance of this and I calendared, I literally calendar it in every single year. [00:46:00] So I have done. Everything from my self care, my personal development, my being able to dive into deeper of who I am. It’s my time to disconnect to reconnect with myself. I’ve done everything from the High Sierra Trail for 10 days, uh, summiting Mount Whitney on top under the the most incredible moon to watching the sun rise.

Sara Kranz: I’ve done the John Muir Trail for 22 days. And currently what I’m in the process of doing is section hiking the Sierra High Route, which is the most dangerous and difficult route in the United States. There is no trail. So you’re literally in the high Sierra mountains. You’re on top of a peak. It’s the coolest fricking thing in the entire world.

Sara Kranz: And you’re looking out at this other mountain and you’re like, I got to get to that peak and how do I get there? And you know, adventuring has allowed me to, and again, this is where your difficult times and challenges, right? Don’t thank them. Thank you for [00:47:00] navigating through them and finding this version of you.

Sara Kranz: And so adventuring has been it for me. I love, I love climbing mountains if I, and I love paddling out on the ocean. If I don’t have that time for me to reconnect, my kids literally look at me and they’re like, mom, you got to get outside, like they can tell. Right. They’re like, you got to go climb a mountain.

Sara Kranz: You got to go, you got to go camp in the wild. You like, you need more of that right now. And it’s, it’s, it’s given me space. To develop everything from my business to me, to relationships, to, I mean, all of it, like, I don’t, I, I have no words for it. It’s the most, it’s been the most magical gift through all of this.

Judd Shaw: I remember when, uh, I was going to connect with you out in San Diego and I emailed you and I get this email response. It says like, Hey, listen, uh, I’m going off [00:48:00] the grid off. Uh, I’ll be deep in the Canyon. If this is important. Send it by SOS satellite, otherwise see you later. And I was like, I love her. I was like, yes, you’re a rockstar for doing that.

Judd Shaw: You know, I would have been trying to figure out like, where’s the self service, like an ass, you know, not giving me myself that time. And you did that and, and thanks for being courageous and bold. And I’m going to have to use that email myself.

Sara Kranz: I have had more people that have sent me messages back, like, Are you serious?

Sara Kranz: This is your response? Like, yeah, I’m off grid. Peace out. I mean, in 2020, I would send my kids messages, and I’d say, Is COVID still happening? Because I’m somewhere up on Forrester Pass. You know? Through my garment, and they’re like, And they would send me messages back, please tell me you’re joking. I’m like, no, I’m not joking.

Sara Kranz: Like, is it, what’s happening out there? Just, just give me, just give me the two second, like, rundown, [00:49:00] you know? Um, but you know, I think that we need to model more of that. We need to model more in when I, and this is what I always go back to, when I close my eyes and take my last breath, will I be proud of how I lived my life?

Sara Kranz: And if my response isn’t a hell yes, then I’m doing something wrong. And of course I have hiccups. Of course I still go through those dark nights. Of course I still have, you know, those days of like, why, how, all of it. Of course I do. I’m human. And I always come back to when I close my eyes and take my last breath, will I die?

Sara Kranz: Be regretting. Will I be proud of how I’m living this life or will I regret for not doing it a different way? [00:50:00]

Judd Shaw: Sarah, thank you so much for that life litmus test that I’m going to apply moving forward and more so for your, your strength, your shared experiences, your love and forgiveness

Sara Kranz: of men

Judd Shaw: and your compassion and your most valuable resource, your time today.

Judd Shaw: I thank you. I am deeply grateful and I am just proud to be connected to you. Thank you so much for coming on the show, Sarah.

Sara Kranz: Well, thank you for having me, Judd. You’re amazing.

Judd Shaw: I want to extend my deepest gratitude to you. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please follow us on your favorite platform or share this episode with a friend.

Judd Shaw: You can also follow me on Instagram at Judd Shaw Official. A special thank you to personal injury law firm, Judd Shaw Injury Law, for their support in helping [00:51:00] us. Bring this podcast to life. Remember friends, authenticity isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being real. It’s about embracing our vulnerabilities, celebrating our strengths and owning our stories until next time.