Transforming Burnout with Dr. Gitima Sharma: Finding Joy and Purpose through Self-Reflection and Connection

Feeling overwhelmed by the fast-paced world around you? Discover how to transform burnout into joy and purpose with Dr. Gitima Sharma, as she shares her personal journey and expert insights. Learn practical strategies to cultivate a dynamic sense of purpose and foster connections in a digital era.

Dr Diane leads us through a transformative conversation with Dr. Gitima Sharma, an authority on overcoming burnout. Dive into the pervasive issue of stress driven by societal pressures and learn how self-reflection and community can pave the way to a fulfilling life. Dr. Sharma draws on personal experiences and the wisdom of influential texts to offer actionable steps for integrating purpose into daily life. The episode delves into the unique challenges faced by students and teachers alike, emphasizing the role of technology in both isolation and connection. With a focus on cultivating inner strengths like courage and compassion, listeners are encouraged to recognize their unique talents and potential.

Timestamps:

01:03: Transforming Stress Into Joy and Purpose 

 Introduction to Dr. Gitima Sharma and her approach to combating burnout through personal purpose and self-worth.

09:40: Journey to Self-Reflection and Purpose 

The role of meditation, journaling, and community in discovering one's mission and overcoming societal pressures.

14:28:  Cultivating Joy, Purpose, and Connection In an Isolating Climate

Exploring the "Loneliness Epidemic" and fostering nurturing environments for children and young adults.

20:38:  Empowering Inner Strength Through Stories 

Understanding absolute vs. relative happiness and nurturing children's inner strengths (and our own as adults) through education and play.

31:39: Getting Unstuck  

Take away strategies for purpose and connection we can begin to apply today.

Links:

• Connect with Dr. Gitima Sharma on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
• Resources from Dr. Sharma: Free eBook on Purpose Clarification, Course on Purpose Fulfillment
• Dr. Sharma's Website

Connect with Us:

Follow the Adventures in Learning Podcast for more inspiring conversations.

Share your thoughts and feedback @drdianeadventures and let us know how this episode inspired you!

Transcript

00:02 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
So welcome to this week's episode of the Adventures in Learning podcast. I am so excited to welcome somebody who has become a dear friend recently. Dr Gitima Sharma is an expert in everything that has to do with how we convert our stress and our burnout into joy and purpose. There are so many papers and I'm going to drop links to her website and all of her credentials, but I'm just so excited to have her with us today because I think we really need to focus on how do we get out of this state of burnout that we're in into a better state of joy. So, dr Gitima, welcome. 

00:44 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
Thank you so much, diane, so glad to be here. 

00:47 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I am so happy to have you here. I know you and I've been talking for weeks about this, but it feels like there's a heaviness on people right now and focus. People are really feeling burnout and a lot of your work with college students and adults focuses on how do we move past that stress and that burnout into joy. Can you help us out? 

01:13 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
You know I'll do my best to share some humanistic principles on well-being, as well, as, you know, some research that can help us transform feelings of stress and burnout into joy, purpose and fulfillment. But one thing that I want to do first is to really normalize the fact that many of us have been feeling stressed and burned out, not just because of some individual level hardships that we might be experiencing, but with everything that's happening in our society, in our world, and often feels beyond our control. Right? And when things feel beyond our control, then it's natural to start feeling helpless and start doubting the worth behind our day-to-day efforts. However, a key to transform stress and burnout that we feel due to these feelings of helplessness is to really reflect upon what's my own purpose, what role can I play on this grand stage of world peace and happiness of everyone? Or what is it that I can do today in order to actualize my life's most meaningful goals and long-term purpose? And then to muster this capacity to really be proud of ourselves, to really appreciate our own selves for who we are and the work we are doing, and genuinely embrace ourselves with same compassion and kindness the way we will do for others, right? 

02:49
So here are the two things that I genuinely feel we can focus on. One is to cultivate a strong sense of purpose, genuinely reflecting upon who we are and what we aspire to use our life for, and then setting clear goals that align with that purpose, and taking it one day, one step at a time, without feeling so discouraged by everything that feels beyond our control or the gap between where we are and where we want to be. And then, second is to really cultivate a strong self-worth, because the relationship that determines all other relationships and how we approach tasks or how we approach our to-do list and then how we take care of our own mental health and well-being, has a lot to do with our relationship with our own self right. So, how we view our own self? Can we really view our own selves from this lens of unconditional self-worth, rather than attaching our self-worth to external titles, validation, approval? That really helps to overcome feelings of stress and burnout too. 

03:53 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I love that, and I think let's unpack each of those pieces as we go. So, when we're thinking about our sense of purpose, often we go into the new year with these grand, great intentions. We create our vision board, we create our new year's resolutions and by February we've forgotten what those were. We don't do the check-ins. We take our cars in for an oil check every five or 10,000 miles, depending on the car. We don't do the same for ourselves. How can we make this stepping into our sense of purpose become something we do every day and not something that we save for once a year? Yeah, I think one. 

04:36 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
It really begins with this conviction that each one of us has a profound, unique purpose that only we can fulfill. And, if it's okay, I just want to, you know, briefly share my story and answer this question. So I was in this age group of late adolescence, in my high school around 17, 16, 17 years of age and at that time I was grappling a lot with low self-esteem and anxiety, and I didn't even dream big right. I didn't even think about having a purpose in life, and one reason was because my parents were dealing with depression and suicidal ideation and therefore I didn't even believe in the possibility of being able to live a life that is true to myself, a life in which I am not just trying to be perfect and giving joy to others, or a life in which I'm not feeling powerless, right because of everything that's happening around me, lived in my potential, even when I couldn't see my own potential. And she gave me this book called Discussions on Youth by Dr Daisaku Ikeda, and when I was reading that book, it's a dialogue between this well-renowned philosopher and peace activist, dr Ikeda, and high school students, and in that dialogue he's expressing that each one of you has a unique purpose that only you can fulfill. And once you awaken to this purpose, then you will always be able to muster the kind of courage and wisdom you need to continue to move forward. So, as a 17 year old, when I was reading this book, I genuinely started engaging in some self reflective activities that Dr Rakeda was referring to to just genuinely awaken to my purpose. What is my purpose? What role can I play? And it's not like this fixed end goal. Right Purpose is not this fixed end destination that one day we will reach and fulfill, but it's almost like these underlying core values and our own sense of self, our own sense of identity and this capacity to respond to the sufferings of others or the causes we care about or what's happening in world from time to time. And then how can I use my strengths and my potential to respond to that? That becomes our purpose. So it's fluid, it can keep transforming. Respond to that that becomes our purpose. So it's fluid, it can keep transforming. And at that time I realized that my purpose is to reduce depression and anxiety in society, because I could really see its impact on my own family, and that's when I decided to move to the US, do my master's in counseling, my PhD in counselor education. Now I'm a professor teaching next generation of counselors and therapists on how to reduce depression. My whole research is on that. 

07:30
But every day to feel a strong sense of purpose is a challenge for me too, even if I'm a purpose and well-being coach. Because you know like, there are so many things external to us that demand our constant attention, and we have been socialized to attach our self-worth to some external measures of success and others approval or validation, or how long our to-do list is or are we achieving certain milestones by certain age. So it takes a lot of courage to live true to our purpose and not be defeated by everything around. So, therefore, almost every day I engage in a self reflective practice that helps me to go back to my original purpose and then set clear goals for the day, for the week, for five years, 10 years, that accord with that purpose, and then, simply when I'm feeling discouraged or, you know, not in line with my purpose, I reach out for encouragement. I talk with, you know people I consider as really genuine friends, you know who can remind me of my potential and purpose when I'm struggling. 

08:40 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
So it sounds to me, as I'm listening and I resonate so much with this because I think you and I have undergone some similar journeys in some ways but it feels like there are a couple of ingredients that are really important that ability to self-reflect and that comes from taking a step back, and it might be some sort of daily meditation practice or a walk or journaling, but something that lets you disconnect from what's going on around you so that you can plug into what is my purpose and where can I be of service. And then the second piece I heard is that ability to surround yourself with people who are able to work with you, to lift you up and you lift them up, that you're working in community and even if that's one trusted person, to have somebody that is your partner in the journey. Does that sound accurate? Yes, absolutely. 

09:38 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
Diane, it's like it's both. Right, it's an inward journey to explore our own values, our own strengths, you know, to genuinely transform any self-defeating thoughts into a self-empowering mindset and, but most importantly, just awaken, you know, like really just open our eyes to the profundity and the limitless potential of our own life. And then I feel like, once we start believing in ourselves so deeply, then naturally we start reflecting on because my life is so precious, because I have so much potential, for what use can I put this precious life to Like, what is it that I can achieve? Right, so it's a very self-reflective practice, because no one can tell us this should be your purpose. Right, it is. 

10:26
It is this inward journey and awakening that many people come to, just the way you said, with different self reflective practices, like mine is also active meditation and chanting, and you know, journaling, right. And then, for you know, I was reading this phrase and I'm just paraphrasing it, but it said something like there's this term bodhisattva in this literature of Buddhism, and it means as a very compassionate being who can relieve others suffering and bring joy to their hearts. And I was reading this, you know, book in which it said bodhisattvas awaken to their mission as bodhisattvas by coming in touch with other bodhisattvas, right so that concept of community building. When we surround ourselves with people who are passionate about relieving other suffering and bringing them joy or making difference not only in their own life and their own families, but also in society at large, then being around them, engaging in dialogues with them, awakens us to our own beautiful purpose and not give up on our purpose. 

11:37 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I love that and I have absolutely fallen in love with the phrase bodhisattva, and I definitely responded to that as well, and I believe it was Thich Nhat Hanh who talked about. Even the earth is phrase bodhisattva, and I definitely responded to that as well, and I believe it was Thich Nhat Hanh who talked about even the earth is a bodhisattva, that we can learn from mother earth and vice versa, that we find bodhisattvas everywhere and it's really just tuning your antenna and being open to receiving that yes, yeah, which I think is just powerful. You work with students at Fresno State and are you seeing within your students? Are they having trouble defining sort of what sense of purpose is these days? What's the state of college students right now from your point of view? 

12:26 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
Yeah, I feel there is this growing anxiety, not just among college students, but also among so many adults you know, whom I have opportunity to interact with. I mean, you know, right, like I mean, there's so many layoffs that are happening, right, college students are studying, but there's so much question on what they are studying. Is it going to be worth, worthy, you know, like, in next two years, three years, given growing trends in AI, what our world is? Our world is moving at such a speed when it comes to, I feel, technology and you know so much that's happening around us that there is this growing void or fear around. Where do I belong or how would I respond to the needs of this world or what I'm doing? You know, in present, is it even going to be valid two years, three years down the line, right? And then there is so much disconnect that's happening. 

13:28
I was reading this book known as Loneliness Epidemic, right? 

13:32
So we are living in times of great loneliness and isolation, as our world has never been so connected, you know, because of social media. 

13:42
However, our conversations are now so limited to one-way conversations and just, you know, on our shared humanity, then I feel that people tend to get not self-absorbed in a negative way, because self-reflection is powerful. 

14:19
It's really important to self-reflect. However, once we only start focusing on my own needs, my own desires, what am I going through? And we lose sight of what others are experiencing or the capacity to engage in dialogues with others, then there is a part of our humanity that doesn't grow, like we don't grow as a human being. And then, when we don't grow as a human being, we experience this kind of void, emptiness known as existential anxiety, that no matter how much we achieve, it's never going to fill that from outside, you know. I hope that makes sense. So I am sensing a growing level of existential anxiety among not just college students but adults from different backgrounds, and I feel it's the speed with which we are growing in terms of technology is the speed with which we also need to grow in terms of nourishing people's human potential you know their hearts so that we all can connect, based on our shared humanity, and support one another and no one continues to suffer in isolation and feel unseen or unheard in their struggles. 

15:30 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I really resonate with that. I know, having been out in classrooms and seeing little ones even you can see a level of anxiety post-pandemic, in kindergarten, first grade, second grade that I don't remember having seen at that level before when I was in the classroom. And so part of me is wondering how do we as teachers, as parents, as family members, as members of the village, how do we come together to sort of start supporting each other, supporting kids, so that as they move into adulthood, they're having that nourishment and that resilience to be able to face a future that may be uncertain, that we certainly don't know what it's going to look like in four years, let alone 30. 

16:21 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
Right? This is a question that I have been pondering a lot myself too. You know, I belong to this peace organization known as Soka Kaka International. In affiliation with United Nations, it strives for peace, culture and education now in 192 countries, and one of my responsibilities currently in SGI is to really nurture our future division. 

16:46
Future division refers to those who are in, you know, elementary school, middle school, you know junior high school, and in my dialogues with them I am also realizing this growing sense of anxiety and despair. So I'm constantly reflecting on what kind of spaces can we cultivate where they can feel seen, heard, valued, respected for who they are, and the kind of spaces where there is no hierarchy. So, as a teacher, as an educator, as a parent, when we interact, you know, with the youth, you know who are our leaders for future, can we really interact with them rooted in absolute confidence and respect for their unique potential, their unique purpose, dignity of their life, rather than seeing them as the only recipients of all the knowledge and wisdom that we have to impart, but really this mutual, like dialogue and connection, because then we grow together with them. So, even in my role as a mother, I have two kids, nine and, you know, four years old, I sometimes feel that, you know, I don't own them or their future, and I can't impose my own expectations or knowledge, as you know, as something that they must live up to. 

18:11
Rather, can I really cherish their individuality, can I engage in this kind of time with them where they can learn to honor themselves for who they are and embrace and love themselves unconditionally? Because I feel, once we are able to nurture their hearts with this confidence and unconditional love and respect for their potential and their unique purpose, their future, they too will start believing in themselves. They too will start believing in future and, with this compassion around them, they too will start reflecting on that, even if it seems uncertain the future, and even if there's so much anxiety around. What role can I play? To bring joy to others, you know, and be an advocate for peace, rather than continue to struggle in isolation. 

19:03 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Well, and I like that, I like the use of the word joy. I mean that I think you and I've talked before that joy is a word I'm trying to live into and I feel like it's something that we need to get back to rooting ourselves in. I'm wondering can you define what joy means to you and what would be some ways that you would suggest sort of planting those seeds of joy planting? 

19:27 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
those seeds of joy. Yeah, I love the word joy too, joy of just living, you know. And there is this beautiful book, wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace, and in that Dr Rakeda is explaining that there are two kinds of happiness absolute happiness and relative happiness. Relative happiness is this kind of happiness that we experience based on some external situation or external rewards. So, for example, if we get the car of our choice, if we get a house of our choice, if we get a degree that we are looking for, if we get others approval, it's all relative happiness. It's important. These goals are important. However, they are relative because we're changing situation, changing environment. 

20:14
This sense of happiness is not secure. It will keep changing right. And then there is absolute sense of happiness. Absolute sense of happiness comes from cultivating our inner strengths. You know of happiness comes from cultivating our inner strengths. You know these strengths of courage, wisdom, compassion, purpose, meaning a strong sense of self from within that is not shaken by changing environment and others' opinions. And to be able to cultivate this kind of strong sense of self that's not shaken, we are able to experience joy of living because it's not relative, it's not dependent on anything else, it just wells forth from within and then when we, then we can impart this kind of joy and hope in others hearts too. That's how I perceive it, that makes sense. 

21:03 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
You know, as you, as you were talking, I was thinking about little people again and sort of how do you, how do you model? And then how do you give them opportunities to experience that themselves? And I like the notion of being able to look at the relative versus what's coming from within. When we do hands-on education, when we do things that allow kids to come together to solve problems, and we're respecting them as human beings and giving them chances to make mistakes, to learn how to communicate with one another, to try and to fail, to try to make things better, we're ultimately giving them those skills that are strengthening the inner reserves that they're learning each time they do that. 

21:54
Oh, I can have a conversation with you and it's not scary. Or oh, that didn't go the way I wanted to, but if I try it the next time, maybe it'll go better. Or that didn't work, but we came together and we figured out another way to do it. And just thinking about all the different ways you could shape these opportunities within your day-to-day at school to give kids a chance to break free from the phone, break free from just the technology and spend some time, I guess, getting in touch with their creativity and being able to talk to one another on a common level to try to solve problems that maybe that might be one way to get there. 

22:35 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
Absolutely I, and that's why I really appreciate your work, diane around the concept of play, because of that spontaneity, right, like when we can just tell you know and we can create something, because it's giving us joy, because it's enabling us to grow as a person. 

22:53
And when we create when we can talk about it and connect again with others based on our shared humanity, rather than the traditional model which is a lot about performance right, it's a lot about creating something, but it has to be good enough to receive others' approval. 

23:13
And in cognitive behavior therapy, there is this term called global labeling, which we must avoid in educational settings, parenting, you know, in just relationships in general, if we genuinely care to cultivate people's self-worth and joy. And that is not to label someone based on this one behavior or based on their grade, you know. So, their grades, their one aspect of their behavior, you know, the product that they created does not define their value and their worth in any way. Each, each one of them is so worthy of respect and has these limitless possibilities in their life. And it takes, I feel, a person of polished heart, like an educator whose heart is polished and whose humanity is strengthened, to be able to look at that potential and have hope for the students' future, rather than judging them or labeling them based on certain traits or grades that we are looking at. 

24:17 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Now that makes a lot of sense and I think that when we put those labels on kids and we're very quick to slap on labels you know you're the troublemaker, you're the dancer, you're the soccer player, you're the smart kid, you know. 

24:30
Whatever it is, those labels stick and they stay with a kid for a really long time and they may have nothing to do with who this child really is. It has everything to do with one adult's perception at one snapshot moment in time at one snapshot moment in time. And I think, when we can share stories, and one of the things I love is I love finding sort of the hidden figure stories. I love finding diverse role models who are from various aspects of the sciences and history, who failed again and again and again and maybe tried all kinds of different things before they found their paths, because I think that those kinds of stories are important for us to keep in mind as educators and for our kids to keep in mind that you may be really, really good at flowers, but you might also be really good at baking the best chocolate chip cookies anybody ever had, and both are incredibly valuable gifts. 

25:35 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 

25:37
You know, when you said the word story, I was thinking about this one client of mine and you know she has. She has shared her story actively with. So I can you know, so I can share her story. You know she has shared her story many times with my. I can you know so I can share her story? Uh, you know, she has shared her story many times, uh, with my other clients and in her testimonial. 

25:53
But this client of mine, you know, she's originally from belgium and when you know, let me let me backtrack when she came to me. She came to me because she wanted to start her own business and she said you know, that's what she wanted coaching for. She wanted to explore what's her purpose, what are her ultimate goals and what is it that she can start. Because she is a creative person and she was feeling that, you know, even if now you know, she's in her late 50s, has worked in different organizations, taken upon leadership, very well-known consultant in our field, but she felt she's not living up to her true potential, her true creativity, and wants to start something of her own to live up to her true potential. So you know. So we started engaging in dialogues and she she grasped like she was. She became very clear about her purpose and goals very quickly. It just took us three sessions when she had this kind of clarity and then she started taking action in terms of writing her mission statement, her vision statement, you know, for her website and things like that. But during our fourth session, she shared with me that she doesn't want to do it any longer. She doesn't want to, you know, pursue this business, and at that time she also said that she has been trying to launch her business for last five years and has had several career and business coaches but always, always gave up. However, during that time, because our connection had already become genuine and I could genuinely feel this level of compassion for her and could believe in her potential, even if she was not believing in her potential, I didn't hesitate to dig deeper right. So I asked her about some moments that must have brought so much self-doubt that I could sense she was experiencing. And that's when she opened up and she told me that I was the second person she was sharing this with. 

27:54
But while she was growing up, every time she wrote something, her teacher would just tear it apart and throw it in front of all other kids and would keep telling her it's not good enough, it's not good enough. And this is her very, very early memories, right, when she was maybe in third grade, fourth grade, but she kept, you know, working hard and hard and continue to just really do her best. And then, you know, finished her school and when she came for college here in the US, that's when she got diagnosed of dyslexia. Because of the resources that exist, right, but during her entire school years there were lack of resources, lack of understanding, and she constantly kept getting judged rather than being supported for her own unique learning style and learning abilities, right. However, once she learned that she has dyslexia, then she was able to tap into the accommodations that she needed and completed her bachelor's and master's and really is an expert in her field. 

28:59
Once we talked through that and then we started working on healing this trauma that stayed in her heart and this heavy cloud of self-doubt that continued to envelop her even into her late 50s, despite every bit of achievement she had. 

29:19
Our words matter, and how we interact, you know, with kids at such a younger age really matters, because if we diminish their belief in themselves at this early age, chances are. 

29:36
It would stay with them into late years and they would continue to hold themselves back. Though this client of mine, it took about three to four sessions, you know, to really really overcome, you know, this trauma and transform her self-doubt into this unconditional self-worth. But then she became unstoppable because every time she wrote her mission statement or put content on website, she stopped feeling judged by others constantly or stopped trying too hard to prove her worth to others. So anyway, she successfully launched her business last year and it's wonderful like she's so happy and genuinely fulfilled. So it took. It took about seven to eight sessions, right, but I'm so glad that we were able to talk about those early years and breakthrough, because many times people don't even get opportunities to talk about the reasons behind why they find it so difficult to believe in themselves or or why they hold themselves back in the pursuit of achieving their highest purpose and goals. 

30:39 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
And that's a really good point kind of circling back to where we started in terms of how do you find your purpose, that sometimes we're stuck and we feel very stuck. Maybe we're carrying baggage from our childhood or from something careless that an educator said once, and that's where I think, particularly in the US, there has been a stigma towards asking for help. You know, we kind of have this very individualistic, I can do it myself attitude and I think that if, if people get nothing else out of this conversation today, I hope that they realize that there are coaches, there are therapists, there are people who can help you to break down the barriers you've been carrying, to put down the heavy suitcase and to find some help to find that purpose and to find who you want to be. 

31:32 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
Yes, yes, you know those spaces where we can share our heart, our most cherished goals, our dreams, but also what has been holding us back. Sometimes it's self-defeating thoughts, sometimes it's systemic racism, sometimes it's genuinely lack of resources and lack of support. But whatever it is, once we start processing and overcoming, then those possibilities open up. You know, to close, I would you know share this analogy that I absolutely love and that's also by Dr Rakeda, and he's explaining that on rainy, cloudy days, we don't doubt that sun is there. Right, sun is there. It's just thickly clouded by those dark, thick clouds, and it's a matter of moments that those clouds will move apart and we can see the shining sun. 

32:24
Similarly, never to doubt that this courage, this compassion, wisdom, strong sense of purpose, joy, strength to continue to move forward, everything that we are seeking is deep within our own life. It might just be clouded with our own insecurities, our self-defeating thoughts, others' judgment, our tendency to attach our self-worth to other people's opinions, our confusions, you know, lack of clarity. But getting into a space where we can engage in this dialogue, heart-centered, human-to-human dialogue, and process all these clouds of despair and insecurity can help us to tap into this limitless potential. Because ultimately, everyone deep down knows what their purpose is and what they can do to actualize their goals and how they can believe in themselves. But it does take some consistent dialogues and warm spaces of no judgment where we can process everything that's becoming a barrier in tapping into that potential. 

33:31 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I love all of that. So if folks are looking to gain more, if they want to be able to follow you, to follow your mental health breaks, where do they go? 

33:42 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
Best way is to connect with me on LinkedIn, because that's where you know I post content frequently and also there are so many resources that I have. So, for example, I have this free ebook on purpose clarification. I have this course on purpose fulfillment. You know, there is this book that talks about research-based strategies to overcome self-doubt. So there's so many resources, that is. You know, there's no limit of resources that I have. 

34:13
But what's most important is not to get overwhelmed with so much resources and so much information that's out there, but to genuinely just message me, sharing what's your goal, what's your concern, so that I can provide you the right resource and the right encouragement at right time. And then, of course, I also provide free consultation sessions, which are basically time to just engage in this heart to heart dialogue and me being able to provide this dedicated time and space for you to share your dreams, your, your dreams, your aspirations and process. What has been holding you back? So connect on LinkedIn and then, of course, I will, you know, share my website. In the notes below, I will share some books with you, so just don't hesitate to connect. 

35:00 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Wonderful, and I'm going to close with a question. I love to ask everybody, and I think it's one that we all need anyway what brings you hope these days? 

35:10 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
I love this book. It's called Creating Hope and it really focuses on when we don't feel hope. It's time to create some. These days, I have not been naturally feeling hope. These days, I have not been naturally feeling hope. However, every day, we're genuinely treasuring the person right in front of me and being able to listen to them and then share some words of encouragement and in this effort to impart hope and joy in their heart, I am able to create hope for me to continue to move forward. So, just like everyone, I am doing my best, one day at a time, to continue to create hope. 

35:56 - Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I love that, and conversations like these help to create hope in me and, I hope, for all of our listeners as well. Dr Sharma, thank you so much for joining us, and I hope we can bring you back later this summer. 

36:09 - Dr Gitima Sharma (Guest)
Yes, thank you so much, diane. Thank you.