Dawn Taylor|6/5/2023

Transcript

Dawn Taylor

I am your host, Dawn Taylor, and today I am talking to the, let's see how to word you. I am talking to the firecracker, the warrior, the gentle, vulnerable spirit. Probably one of the most misunderstood humans that I've ever had the opportunity to know, tell me I'm wrong - Glori Meldrum. Before we get started, I wanna just tell you a little bit about herself so you guys can be as excited as I am. Glori is a business leader, a mom, an author, a motivational speaker, she funded Little Warriors which is, if you know anything about me, you know that even just last weekend I did a massive drive and delivered a ton of stuff out to them. I am so passionate about them and what they do. As a survivor of sexual childhood abuse, she founded Little Warriors and the Be Brave Ranch, a first of its kind, world-class evidence-based treatment center to help kids around the world who have been sexually abused, but she's also fought through a lot to get there and that is really what we're gonna be diving into today, so Ms. Glori Meldrum, welcome to the show. 

Glori Meldrum 

Thank you, love. So nice to just be in your space and your presence, it's been way too long since we had a big hug and a little snuggle so I'm just happy to be with you today. 

Dawn Taylor 

Oh, I'm so honored that you're here. So, let's dive into this. What do you wish people talked about? 

Glori Meldrum 

Gotta love you, Dawn. Started off with a loaded question. Wow, oh my. You know, most people are gonna think that I'm gonna pick sexual abuse and I'm actually not. I'm actually gonna pick something that probably no one ever thinks that I'm going to pick, and I think people need to talk about how sick we all are right now. How mentally unwell most people are surviving the last kind of three years, through COVID and all of these things is that we're not talking about actually how sick we are, right? We're not talking about not being well. You know, it's interesting, one-on-one conversations with just other readers and sitting, and you know me, I cut to the chase, and "How are you doing?" and if someone says "Good." I'm like "That's bullshit. Really, what's going on?" And I think that's there's a lot of "I'm okay." "I'm good" and I don't think that any of us can be. You know, if you look at COVID and inflation and people are six times the mortgage rate. There's so much financial, emotional pressure, and for me, I went from being diagnosed with cancer, being three years into my journey and then COVID happens and so the last five years for me have been an absolute grind, you know? In every way, and you know, it doesn't mean there's not lots of things to be grateful for. Hundred percent. But, I think that we all have to look at our behaviors and I know that's something, you and I were chatting a little bit before we got on, is that "Man, I have just been not in a good place." And you know, I got cancer from being raped by my grandfather. I got HPV. So, I had that to deal with and I had a 52% chance that I was gonna die, you know? So for me, it's, I'm starting now to process my own journey. You know, I said to you before we got on, I've been coming off a drug that's a sedative called Clonazepam and it is a fucking asshole of a drug. It's taken me nine months of syringe-cutting, got it? Like, taking my liquid to get off and my head has been just, like I've emotionally been in a storm, which people would be like "But you're speaking and you're doing all of this and you're running these businesses." Yeah, but, am I really doing any of it well? Like, is all of this shit I've eaten on my fucking plate. Am I happy? 

Dawn Taylor 

So, let's pause for a second. So, at the beginning of this, like, no one can really be doing good. So, here's something I wanna challenge you on with that. I think it comes down to, like, the definition of what good is in a lot of ways but also the level of good, but also who's in the ring doing the work, right?

Glori Meldrum 

I think, it's that, you've got people and I call them the Walking Dead and I love all of the Walking Dead and what I mean by that is dissociated, going through the motions, they're like robots. I'm not there. I'm in the fucking arena doing the work, and it is, so when I say okay, I'm in the arena. The people in the arena, they're fighting to figure out how to go through the swamp, the arena, to get to the other side. The Walking Dead don't even know there's an arena. 

Dawn Taylor

And I do like that. I do like that because a lot of people listening are gonna be like "No, but I'm doing really good, I'm fine." And it's the same as like, I run into this all the time with my work, is people like "Yeah, but I don't have trauma." I'm like "There's not a person on the planet that doesn't have some sort of trauma in their life." Trauma is any time your nervous system is jarred. Have your parents gotten divorced? Have you ever, like, have you ever been bullied? Like, come on. And, yeah, it is almost like they're the Walking Dead and I don't, this is gonna sound weird or maybe not appropriate, I don't begrudge them that. 

Glori Meldrum 

I don't either. I was there before. 

Dawn Taylor

You're living, you're a happy lad, do your thing. But I also know that having been there in the arena and having fought so fucking hard to mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually be where I am, like it has been so much work and if I have ever made it look easy from the outside, I apologize, because it hasn't. But yeah, when you are like diving into that arena and you're really doing the work, it is hard and I do think that people aren't talking about how they all need to get in the arena right now. 

Glori Meldrum 

Well, and I think that, the arena isn't, it's bloody, it's messy, I get why people don't wanna go in there and there's parts of my life that I've been Walking Dead and just been existing. At fifty, I'm on the later side of life and, you know, God gives us all this opportunity to build a life that makes us happy, and you know, I'm just in the pursuit of finding that and I find pieces and build and all of those things, and you know that, is the ultimate piece is really just finding that happiness, that self-love, connected to spirit, all of those pieces, right? But I can tell you, I don't know if it's coming off the meds or turning fifty but you know, I just realized, I'm the problem.

Dawn Taylor

Yup. 

Glori Meldrum 

I am, I don't know how to get off a treadmill. I mean, you know, raised four kids, four businesses, all the Little Warrior stuff. I've been working a hundred hours a week for fifteen years. No wonder I'm fucking spent, right? But, I get that I built it so why did I build a life full of all of this chaos? But the beautiful thing about awareness is, I know now, I took a one-month sabbatical off in January. It's the only big break that I've ever done. 

Dawn Taylor

Good job. 

Glori Meldrum 

My girl friend Ange, I went to Palm Springs and we did a bunch of traveling. There's a video of me and she's driving the golf cart, and we're driving by all these flowers and hitting these bumps and honestly, I see a ten-year-old little kid in there. I'm laughing, I'm giggling, it was the best thirty days of my life. I had no anxiety. I had nothing. Even she, honestly, Dawn, she's like "Glori, I have never seen you this happy." And what I realized is that, I've been giving everybody else in my own patterns, right? And I've not looked after my own self, right? I've not said "No." "Stop." Like, I've not chosen to get off the treadmill. I just keep letting it feed my ego, right? And it wasn't until my husband said, he's like "When's enough? Like, you've done more than most people in the world. Like, when it's fucking enough for you?" And that, my husband doesn't say much, but when he does, you listen. 

Dawn Taylor

Oh, I have one of those husbands, too. 

Glori Meldrum 

Right, but it is enough. And I don't need to do anything else to be enough for God, I already am, you know? And, so for me, I'm really working on, and I'll even tell you what, I made a list today before I came in. 

Dawn Taylor 

That's awesome. 

Glori Meldrum 

The other day, you know, we had staff and I sent them just a really quick, blunt e-mail about you know, what they had prepared was and where it should be and I was reflecting on that being like, you know, "I should have took the time to focus on the conversation, be in that moment, and not respond as an asshole because I'm busy." Being busy doesn't give me the excuse to be an asshole. 

Dawn Taylor

Say that again. Being busy doesn't give me the excuse to be an asshole. 

Glori Meldrum 

Being busy does not, and trying to save the world, does not give me the right to be an asshole.

Dawn Taylor

Okay, can everyone listening not just like, hear that? Take that to heart, and spread that to all the assholes in your life. There's like this wild justification right now, it's like "Oh, I'm busy." and I'm like "No, no, no, you can still pause." Okay, so this is one of my weird ones with that is like, I've been paying attention lately to how people treat wait staff. Going to a networking event, going for a coffee with someone, doing a lunch with someone, whatever it is. And I'm like, do you have enough, are you solid enough with yourself that you can even pause our conversation, pause what you're in the middle of, pause from checking your phone, look the person in the eye and go "Thank you." when they set the food down. Do you have the capacity to even do that? And it's mind-blowing how little of it that I've seen.

Glori Meldrum 

Well, but I think it's important to dig deeper why that is. It's that people are not well, and if you are not well, Dawn, then you are explosive and rude and you're not in the moment. I don't judge people being in that space, I have to be accountable for mine but I don't judge. 

Dawn Taylor 

Oh, it's not even a judgment. It's a curiosity.

Glori Meldrum

But for me, they're being that way because they're not well. So what I'm saying at the beginning of the podcast is that if people are unwell, Dawn, like, they're not functioning. And so, instead of being, I have been that person. I've been focused on something else, somebody, there's been a disclosure and I'm not even looking at the barista, right? So, I think that for me, it's some of the things that I learned on my cancer journey was, like, just that non-judgment and that acceptance and that radical love for people is that we're all fucked up. We're all trying to figure out shit in life. We all wanna do better, and I just love people for even trying because life is beautiful but life isn't easy, you know? And I'll tell you going through the cancer journey, like, I didn't realize how judgmental I was, how unaccepting, and that I didn't understand grace. Those are the three gifts that cancer did give me, was that peace, right? I gotta not be going a thousand miles a minute, focus on the conversation. You know, another piece, is like listening to understand, not listening to respond to get it off my plate. Rapid-fire, and it's like yes, no, yes, no, blah, blah, blah. No, it's like "Glori, stop. Understand what that person's trying to do, right? What they're trying to say." And instead of going, like, the to-do list is so bad, you're just like tick, tick, tick. But no, you have to listen to understand. and because there's so much on my plate, I don't. But that's not everybody else's fault, I chose this journey, right, and I can choose to make changes to that journey, right? And you know, the other thing too and this one is a humbling one is that when I'm in that place of go, go, go, I'm, like, really direct and I'm really blunt. And that's why a big piece about being misunderstood is that I'm non-filtered, I'm direct, I'm blunt and most of the time it's a really good way, and people connect with it but when I get busy–

Dawn Taylor 

The intention is pure, the intention is amazing behind it but yeah, I get I'm too blunt sometimes. I always feel misunderstood. 

Glori Meldrum 

You know, honestly, there's another thing, I don't even care anymore. If I get that people, I've heard it all. "She does Little Warriors because she wants the bread." Well, nobody wants to face child sexual abuse, so you do you with that one. On the sector side, I'm the rich bitch. On the entrepreneur side, I'm the socialist. Know what I mean? I just don't give a shit anymore. This is me, this is who I am. This is the stuff I'm working on, and I'm working on being less abrupt when I'm not rooted in love, and more of a mentor and using the things that I've learned and that wisdom to be able to show up for people. So how do you switch when you're go, go, go, go, go, you gotta stop and be rooted back in love. So that's something that I'm working on right now, is like, "Stop, Glori. You're not rooted in love. You're rooted in anxiety. Got it?" You gotta step back and seeing it and pulling yourself back, that's the beautiful thing about awareness is once you have it, you can't go back. You might be trying to figure it out for a very long time but you can't go back, right? You know another thing I realized is how negative my thoughts are. Once again, it might be my meds, it might be that I'm really exhausted but, man, is there some negative shit going on in my head? And it's just last night, Dawn, that I'm like "Glori. Stop it." Be grateful to God for all of the things that you've prayed for that He's given you. Being cured from cancer is one, and that should be enough, but everyday, you want more. But, everyday, you want more. Stop it. Be fucking grateful for all you have. But that's the trauma wired in me, right? You know, and you too, is like changing that conversation in my own brain and just being grateful for every little gift, right?

Dawn Taylor

You know what, one of the things that I started years ago was telling, like, I remember the moment it happened. It was a situation with my dad and his life, and I was like "I love you, but I love me more." And that was, the big piece of it was, like, having been raised and gone through so much trauma that had taught me to the core of my being that I wasn't lovable. That I was unlovable, right? It was, like, I'm doing these things, I'm acting in this way, I'm pushing in this way, my drive is coming from this place, almost like a desperation. But also from a place of "I don't love me and I don't believe in lovable so how I do earn that?" Mine was very tied to, like, this rejection from conception, right? Of my own mom that I was like, I always felt like I had to pay penance for what I had been through and pay penance for the harm I've caused or the stress I've caused people, so I carry this weight in the back of my mind at all times of the debt that I owed everybody around me even just for being alive. Never mind if I was short with them, or sharp with them, or if I said something inappropriate or if I did something wrong, right? Or screwed up or fucked up in some way, and what it came down to was, like, I didn't love you. 

Glori Meldrum 

I think I that's a root of everything, Dawn. To be honest. 

Dawn Taylor 

Right? And so I started to grab that and it was quite a few years ago that I was like "No, no, I love you but I love me more." And that's okay, and that's where my healthy boundary is coming from, and that's where I can take steps back. Even last night, I'm the queen of working too much. I now have this, like, thyroid issue where I can't because if I work too much or have too much stress, it'll actually kill me and I'm like, I had a meeting last night and I called the woman and I was like "Hey, can we reschedule for next week?" And she's like "Yeah, are you okay, what's going on?" And I was like "I don't have the capacity." And I know to hit my goals this month, or this year, or this quarter, whatever, I need to have this meeting today and not next week. But, I love me more than I love my bank account. I love more than the checkmark on the list that I got something done. I love me more than this concept of busy that's going on out there, because my intentions behind this action are no longer healthy. 

Glori Meldrum

Yeah, hundred percent. 

Dawn Taylor

Right? And I think that that is something more people need to figure out. 

Glori Meldrum

Well, I think if we all love each other and love ourselves, and also the world is like, it's like a high-speed train. We've never seen this much change, it's too fast, the world goes way too fast. This is not sustainable. This is crazy. The pace that we're all on, like, look at the opioid crisis, suicide, mental health crisis. It's too much, Dawn, it's too much. You know? We gotta get back to the simpler things, right? I'm making a choice not to run as hard anymore. 

Dawn Taylor

Good job, and we need to. We totally need to. This week is a big one for me, today is 27 years my husband and I have been together, the day of recording. Friday is 25 years since the aneurysm, and Monday is my birthday. So, every year, I have this five-year window of very intense emotions. And you mentioned earlier about, like a 52% chance that you were not gonna survive cancer, and I had a similar situation where it was like, they told me 50% chance I wouldn't make ten years without dying of a second aneurysm and nobody made 20. I'm sitting at 25 in 2 days, and I lived in fear of death for so long, and in fear of this D-Day as I called it for so long. Now, I'm like, I'm refusing to live in fear of that anymore and I have to, it's not even an option, I need to wake up every single day and go "Hey, what am I gonna do today to make an impact? What am I gonna do today to keep me healthy? What am I gonna do today to love myself and the people around me that deserve it?" And I refuse to kill myself, right? When it comes to like the work, and the stress, and all the other things. I'm like no, no, my boundaries have never been healthier, have never been stronger because of that. And one of the things we were talking about earlier was, you and I have been in the ring. We've been in the ring for a really long time, right? But you and I have also chosen to do things, to help people outside of us and not die, right? Not allow it to happen to us, take us out and kill us and destroy us and cause any of that. Yeah, it's created some unhealthy habits or tendencies in both of us. Hundred percent. It's I think what we love about each other. We both have that drive and intensity. But we've also done something with it, So for somebody who's listening to this today and they're like "But the ring is bloody, gory and gross, and whatever." What are some easy steps we can give people or easy tips we can give people of like "No, start here or start there. Make it bigger than yourself." 'Cause I know from myself, one of my big pivot moments was somebody had told me "You need to figure out how to take the abuse and take all this trauma and take it into something good." "You should meet my friend Glori Meldrum." And I remember coming to your office downtown and sitting on your couch in your office.

Glori Meldrum

I remember. dear. Yeah. 

Dawn Taylor

And I started showing up at The Brave Ranch every Saturday and volunteering my time and energy and physically washing walls and packing garbage and doing all of these things. And, um, there was this documentary that happened that called "Build and Be Brave" and we'll link it in the Show Notes for anyone who wants to check it out because it's on YouTube about the building process of the ranch. But that's one of the things I did, because I was like I had to take what happened to me and I have to find a way to give back. You took what happened to you when you started this world-renowned charitable organization, right? So, I'm sure people that are listening are like, "I don't have that capacity. I don't know how to do that. I don't have the money, have the time, have the energy." What is like, what are some basic steps we can give people to be like, "No, no, no. These are some easy ways to start getting in the ring." 

Glori Meldrum

You know, I think that and it was interesting, I just had a coffee I remember recently is, you know, about this conversation and I really started with "Who are you and what makes you happy?" Because I think we don't ask that, and then when we shut down, we're not present in our relationships with our spouses and our friends and so one of the things that I say to people when they're like "I really want to but I just can't." And I'm like "You know what? You already started. You're just completely vulnerable with me in where you're at. Is there a few other people in your life that are your safe that you could share your feelings where you're at?" The first step in the arena is making the choice to get in the arena. That no matter, that you wanna find the pot of gold at the end of your journey, that is joy, happiness, self-love and all of those things. It really is a choice and sometimes I run out of the arena, like, I'm not always in there. Sometimes, I'm like "I've had enough of this shit today." I run and then I gotta get back in, like, it's not, you come and go from the arena but the arena is where the work happens and we don't learn in life from the light. We actually learn in the darkness. The deepest of things. That's where I found my faith. It's all of the struggles in my life, where I found all of my experience, my gifts, my lessons, and wisdom and those pieces. It's a choice to discover yourself getting into the arena, and it's ugly. I'm a lot, I literally am at a point, I'm like, "Damn, I'm in my own way. I'm a lot." And so, how do you balance "I'm a lot." with learning and you know, finding those boundaries and those pieces. I've just been in the arena on an hourly basis and I know it well, but it's never easy. It never gets easy going back in there to figure shit out. I probably never realized that I was getting in my own way of things, like I have today, right? And that's probably just in the last week. We make the choice to get in the arena, we make the choice to be vulnerable, we make the choice to be "I'm okay, I'm good, everything's great, everything's great." "You know what? No it's not." Yes, in moments, it is, but you can't tell me that everything's great and there's not something you're working on. If you're in the arena, there's always something you're working through. You know, "I'm okay." and "I'm good." If you're saying that all the time and everything's great, you're kinda full of shit. It's muddy. If you're great, maybe you're not looking in the mirror and what the work is, and what you need to unravel. The mirror is an asshole, you know what I mean?

Dawn Taylor

Oh, it can be. 

Glori Meldrum

The best teacher but, no, you've gotta look at that and be willing to look at the pieces of you that are ugly and the pieces of you that are beautiful. I always say to people I'm beautifully broken. I'm beautifully broken and so are you, we all are. And you know, I think that when we do our own work, that's how we heal the world and the reason the world's so fucked up right now. 

Dawn Taylor

No one's doing the work. 

Glori Meldrum 

Well, and the people we consider as leaders, politicians, and businessmen that are chasing the money and chasing their career. That's who we respect? And celebrities, you know? It's a celebrity, power, ego culture. It's hard to be on the other side and be like, oh my, it's a small group of people getting in that arena, right? Like, I think if you look at it, it's ten percent of people and I'm probably being generous, that are actually awake and doing the work and ninety percent that don't wanna touch it. I think about how many deep conversations I have with people that will actually go somewhere, and I'm pretty open and it's slow-moving. Most people are like "Oh my gosh, you just dumped all that on me. You're so honest." I'm like, "Yup." I'm not gonna sugarcoat where things are at, right? I mean, the other thing you add to the journey is, you know, we've never seen child sexual abuse this bad, Dawn. You know, it's been a stressful time and I know it'll pass. I know we'll get the money to expand the ranch. God always provides. That's another thing, is that faith piece of you don't need to know the next step, you just need to know that God's got ya, and that's surrender piece. That's another piece I'm working on is surrendering all the doing and just being. But it's probably my most complex lesson on the journey. And I get, and I don't get it. 

Dawn Taylor

It's control. 

Glori Meldrum 

It is. 

Dawn Taylor

It is, and that's really scary. I often tell clients when they're trying to just get to the point where it's like "Okay, can I face anything negative or hard or like, whatever's gone on in my life?" I'm like, "Start sitting with an uncomfortable feeling." And they're like "What do you mean?" I'm like, "That's it. Step one. If you have an uncomfortable feeling this week that comes up, or like, you're angry or sad or frustrated or hurt. It doesn't matter what it is. Sit in it. Don't pick up your phone. Don't turn on the TV. Don't start a conversation." And I always picture, like, you know when you sit on a beach and you, like, wiggle butt in the sand to make your little butt pocket spots? Everyone knows exactly what I'm talking about, we've all done it, right? So, you do your little wiggle, and I would say "Just sit in it for a sec." Sit in it and be like "Hi, how are ya?" "What is this feel? What am I feeling? Where is this coming from?" And I say it's amazing how, just like, sitting in that emotion. This isn't a bad concept, people. This is literally, sit your butt on a chair, and shut up and sit. Just rest yourself and open up your brain to the feel. Just open yourself up to the feel to be like "What is this? Where is this coming from? Am I okay with it? Is this even the appropriate emotion for what happened? Is this something from somewhere else in my life?" Like, those are some of the few questions that you can even ask yourself in the moment. But even starting there, we are so, so scared of being uncomfortable that the thought of being vulnerable, the thought of being honest, the thought of actually saying "Yeah, I'm really hurting today." is so hard, and it is so scary that sometimes that's the easiest step to start with. Just sit in your discomfort for a minute. 

Glori Meldrum

I agree, like you gotta feel those feelings, and you know, not just emotionally but in your body, right? So, I feel, I'm in like nine months of being in that, sitting in that uncomfortable space the entire time, right? But it's a season, you know. There's seasons, and I think for me this month, it'll be a bit of a shift. There's lot of great things, you know. we're doubling the size of the Warriors. We're building our Lighthouse which is the first adult treatment center for people like you and I that were sexually abused as kids, so that is kind of the next iteration of where the Warriors is going and so there's all these really exciting things and I think about the things that I'm learning, that we discussed. Although it's been a journey to figure them out, it's sitting with those today and just being, like, you know these are things that I really need to focus on, right? No one's harder on me than I am on me, ever. And I think that's probably why I don't care about what other people think, is that I don't need their stuff, good or bad. I know deep down that I'm not, that unlovable little girl that I felt like. That I would never be loved and I wasn't worthy of it. I know that I am a good human being. My intentions are always pure. Always. But, they sometimes don't come across that way if I'm really rushed or whatever, and I'm like really quick on text, you know. Sometimes, they don't, right? And that can be hurtful to people, and that's not okay, right. I always say in a difficult situation, "What did you learn?" And I always think it's fascinating, you know, and if people are in a fearful place or like, "I learned that it's basically all the other person's fault." "You're actually not learning." Like, this is what I see, and this is my learning out of it. I always joke about forgiveness. I think it's just a fascinating thing, is that I say when it's not, say, you committed 2% of the situation. 10, or 5, or 50, or all of it. Do you know, Dawn, that I will take it off? You know what, I will take it off. "I am sorry if I made you feel that way. That was not my intention. I am telling you. I am sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry." I don't give a flying fuck who owns it. It doesn't matter. What matters is we can reconnect and move on and learn and grow. Be the brave person that just says, practice it "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." We don't, and I think back to how many people have ever actually apologized when they've been a shithead to me? It's very low. But, it doesn't matter, Dawn, because at the end of the day, I know where that comes from and why they were gonna be an asshole and I can't judge them, I'm an asshole sometimes. 

Dawn Taylor

Then the actions to go with it, like, words are one thing but are you changing your actions?

Glori Meldrum

You gotta look in the mirror and be like "You know what, this is the stuff that isn't very great about me. I gotta work on it. But, these are the things that are amazing about me, got it? I wanna own those things, too, right?" It's a balance. It's the balance of when you love yourself and you know you're good, you can look at the mirror at those things that you gotta work on, right? But, you know, you can always tell where someone's at when you ask that question about what did you learn from, especially courageous conversations, like I really find what people are running from when they're getting triggered but you gotta have them. You gotta have them, Dawn. That's how we learn, it's courageous conversations. You can't run. You can't run, it's gonna find you. It's your lesson, you gotta work, you're with the person and love people enough to be courageous and talk about the conflict. Get comfortable. Get fucking comfortable in your life. 

Dawn Taylor

You know what's funny? I've done a lot of work and I'm at this point in my life now where my husband laughs at me because when I find, you know, those little scabs. That look in the mirror moment where you're like "Oh, oh, that's a thing.I have to figure that out." or "I have to work to that." or "Ooh, there's something there to process." I get excited, and I think it's because I've gone through it so many times, I've fought in the ring so many times where I'm now at a point where I know what it feels like on the other side. Like, when you push through the hard thing, how amazing it is on the other side. I'm not saying the process of working through it is exciting and amazing or easy but when those things come up, instead of being "Oh, fuck. Here we go." I'm like "Oh, cool! New level!" Like, I really shifted, I had to shift my perspective on that because there were so many traumas that I compiled for so many years and there was so much baggage to go through that it felt like my brain was the Toronto Airport in COVID with, like, the luggage stadiums. Did you see any of those pictures online? Like, that's what it felt like with my trauma, and I was like "I don't even know where to start." So, if I look it as just overwhelming and it's just hard and it's just horrible and this is gonna suck horribly to go through, I shut down, where if I was like "No, no, no, I just gotta figure out one suitcase. I just need to find one piece of luggage and hand it to their owner and then I can grab a second one and I can hand it to their owner." Right? Like, when I could shift it to look at it that way, and it's okay, it's okay. 

Glori Meldrum

Little bite-sized pieces, right? 

Dawn Taylor

Little bite-sized pieces, right? I don't have to do the whole stadium of luggage today. I can just take this little bite-sized piece. That makes it so much easier for my brain. So much less scary. 

Glori Meldrum

Yeah, I think it's like anything in life is that it's just one step at a time, right? Like, once you decide to get in the arena and do the stuff and, but, you know, you made a point that people will look at me and assume different things. I'm still on the path, man. I'll always be on the path. I'm always gonna do the work but I really do try to show up every single day, you know? I might not do well. I'm a fly on the windshield, depends on the day but I'm in there, I'm doing the work, right? And, you know, the people I surround with in my life are the people doing the work. People getting in the arena or already in the arena, right? Those are the people that I respect because I know how hard it is, right? I know how hard it is to get in there and do the work.

Dawn Taylor

Totally. For people listening, get in the damn arena. I promise it's worth it. I promise it's amazing, and there's so many of us here to support. 

Glori Meldrum 

We're living in a trauma world, like really. The trauma in the world is off the charts right now. Like, if we can find our own way back to ourselves then we can find our own way back to each other, and I think that's the main thing that's missing right now, Dawn, is that we're individually lost and we're lost as a collective, right? But it's through self that we're gonna be able to find that, right? The more people get in the arena, then the world changes. But until we all get in, right? So we can just shine our light, have this conversation and hope more people can join us, right?

Dawn Taylor

It's what I do what I do. It's like if I can make that impact, if I can make an impact and get one person in the arena or two people or ten people or a thousand people in the arena, they can go and help other people do the same. So, I know you have a hard out so this episode's gonna be a little bit shorter because I mean, as you've heard, Gloria's very bored of her life and has nothing going on. I mean, she doesn't have the chaotic schedule and all. I am just so honored that I even got this hour of her time. 

Glori Meldrum

You know, I'm so grateful to have been able to connect and share just this honorable and vulnerable space of where we're at and if you ever meet me and I ask you how you are, be honest. 

Dawn Taylor 

Be honest. 

Glori Meldrum

Be honest, because I'll keep prodding to really figure it out. I love being curious about where people are in their lives, in the arena or getting into the arena or seeing the arena, like, I just love that piece, you know? I mentioned before about just tribe and people you're surrounded with, like, when I got sick, Dawn, it wasn't my Tier 1 friends, right? The friends that I had fun and laughed and we giggled, and we drank wine and we shopped. It wasn't those friends that had me and helped me up. It was my Tier 2. My Tier 1s, like, literally some of them walked away after 25 years. It was my Tier 2 that stepped up, Julianna, that you know. My girl friend Sarah. You know, there was a group of them and now they're my tribe. That Tier 1 is gone and the Tier 2 is now my 1 and they are my rocks. They are all in the arena, they will take a bullet for me, I would take a bullet for them. 

Dawn Taylor 

But when we're not in the arena, we attract people that aren't in it. 

Dawn Taylor

Hundred percent. 

Glori Meldrum

Julianna was over washing my hair. I was so depressed when I had cancer, I was so sick, I couldn't wash my hair. She was washing my hair. I am so blessed to know the depth of real friendship, real sisterhood, real brothers. They had me and Julianna one time said to me, "I worry you're gonna get to where you need to go and you'll never remember me." I said, "Sweetheart." 

Dawn Taylor 

You're not going anywhere. 

Glori Meldrum 

What we shared can never be taken. The journey that my friends shared with me on the cancer journey. Like my girl friend Sarah being like, "You're 1% better this week." And I was like, "Really? Oh, my God. I'll take it." 'Cause I was so ill, but everyday, she'd talk me off the roof, you know? They got me better. They got me functioning again. My team at G-Squared, my team at Little Warriors, like, they had me, Dawn. You know? They held me up when I was so weak I couldn't stand. If you don't have that tribe, look in the mirror and say "Why don't I have that tribe? Is it because I'm not in the arena and I'm attracting all of these other people?" Right? Who you attract and where you are in your space.

Dawn Taylor

Yup, hundred percent. Love it!

Glori Meldrum 

I'm privileged to be with you, dear, and I'm going on an adventure of a lifetime to Italy. I'm sure I'm going to learn lots and continue unraveling that onion and that journey that is my own personal one, right? I'm going to connect with you when I'm back.

Dawn Taylor

So let's ask you, I have a few silly questions at the end of every single episode that I'm gonna ask you like I do everyone. 

Glori Meldrum 

Alright, I don't know these, this is gonna be fun. 

Dawn Taylor

I love it. What is your secret guilty pleasure way to decompress? And I've heard it all.

Glori Meldrum

To decompress.

Dawn Taylor

It's your silly thing. Like, is there a TV show? Is it, I mean I know one person who said masturbation. Like, I've heard it all, literally.

Glori Meldrum

Oh, I have, like, a whole bunch of things. Like, hot yoga, I freaking love. I love watching TV, it's a bad thing but it does test my brain.

Dawn Taylor

No, not at all. What kind of TV are you watching?

Glori Meldrum

Like, all the gangster shit. The action, the plop, plop, plop, plop. The other thing is I blare Eminem so I love Eminem–

Dawn Taylor

Me too!

Glori Meldrum 

People are like Christian music to rapper? I know! I love that. You know what, I love to dance. I love to play Eminem and dance in the bathroom in the morning and just get my groove on. Like, I've got a whole track in my Spotify, grooving. All this, like, I'll literally be like, grooving and just being silly, you know?

Dawn Taylor

In the zone. I love that so much, I love that so much, and I'm sure anyone who's listening that knows you is like "What?" They're totally loving it. They're totally loving it. 

Glori Meldrum

People assume like "Oh my gosh, you like country?" I'm like "Yeah, I grew up in the Maritimes. Yeah, judge me, I don't care." I listen to it everyday, you know? At the end of the day, I'm that little girl, you know? I will always be that Glori. You know, I just grown up and I learned but the end of the root of who I am is still that little girl, right?

Dawn Taylor

We never get too far away. We never get too far away from the roots of where we're at. Describe yourself in one sentence. 

Glori Meldrum

Oh, shit. Um, and for a person who does a lot of media. 

Dawn Taylor 

It can be totally silly. 

Glori Meldrum

I'm gonna pick a word that I am and then I wanna be. 

Dawn Taylor

Perfect. 

Glori Meldrum 

So I'm, I would say most people would be like "She's driven into anything." Driven or gritty, or resilient, those pieces. But what I actually want my word to be, one word, is "love". I want people to be like "Glori is just love." 

Dawn Taylor

So she's a driven, motivated, gritty ball of love. 

Glori Meldrum

But I actually wanna get rid of all those other words and just be like, "I'm love." In every area of my life, I am just love. I come from love, right? I'm love. And that's the journey I'm working on to get to and I'm there but not there all the time, so I'm working to get to that space. 

Dawn Taylor

God, it's so fun. Last one, what do you spend a silly amount of money?

Glori Meldrum

Well, I lost like forty pounds, and I'm like a zero, and so I traded in all my designer stuff, I'm not even kidding. Like, this is how much my life has changed. I'm like "Why do I have all this shit? How can one person own this much stuff?" I had a really bad shopping habit, I'm financially doing well so it didn't matter but it's an addiction. Like why do I need it that big? So now, it's really funny, my addiction and what I spend silly amounts on, you're gonna laugh. I'm, like, a thrifter. I got a jean skirt for ten dollars and one for twenty so I would say now that I'm, like, also morphing into my own physical body that that body that had all that extra weight, there is a reason, right? It's never, there is a reason we have health problems, there's a reason we carry weight and overeat. 

Dawn Taylor

Hundred percent. 

Glori Meldrum 

So, for me, I think that my journey is also aligning. If you look at the things I'm working on and how much weight I've shed, like, that's wild. So, my silly thing is, like, Aritzia. I'm like "I can wear tank tops. I don't have to stop anymore." And I'm sure my kids are absolutely fucking mortified that I'm in like, Levi's, and a little, tiny top. 

Dawn Taylor

Mama's flauntin' her stuff. 

Glori Meldrum 

Totally not, you know? But just spending a lot of money on, like, little crop tops and things I was never able to wear, right? And not that I was ever big, and even coming from this, I was a size 6, so I don't need all this shit anymore. So, my husband's like, "What are you doing with all the money?" I'm like, "Travel fund, baby." I wanna go to Greece and I wanna go to Ireland. I'm trading in my shopping for travel. Now, I literally just buy things that are inexpensive and it makes me happy, so I'm getting rid of all the expensive things and be like "I feel great in this shirt and these jeans." Right? Even if it horrifies my kids, it doesn't matter. 

Dawn Taylor

I love it. So, thank you so so so much for hanging out with me. 

Glori Meldrum

Thank you, Dawn. 

Dawn Taylor

I hope that something that you heard today as a listener could help, shifted something in you and proved you're not alone. Join us again in two weeks for another amazing topic and please tell your friends. The more people that feel understood better. Check out the Show Notes located at thetaylorway.ca for more information and for all the contact information for Ms. Glori Meldrum and how you can support Little Warriors as well. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen your podcasts and if you love the show, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a rating and a review.

Follow the podcast

If you want to receive new podcast episodes automatically, you can follow us on Apple Podcasts or in your favourite podcast app.

Please leave us an Apple Podcasts review



Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review.