About the AuthorPatricia Talbot( CEO and Co-Founder )Patti cultivates homegrown changemakers prepared to step into their power and work with others to create the world they want to live in.  Get in touch to find out how you can grow the social changemaker in yourself and those you serve with Blue Roads Changemaker YOU. 

















Changemaker Annie Dickinson is proof that our roots do not dictate where we plant ourselves. Annie's life transitions have led her to far-flung places, including moving abroad. Annie found a way to embrace BIG change and welcome transformation, even when it's terrifying and encircled with deep grief. Through living her one wild and precious life, Annie's experiences have taught the criticality of prioritizing our own self-care so we can show up in our aspirations every day. Her journey has revealed the immense power in the connections among women; to enrich our own life while impacting positive change worldwide.Annie's teacher and mentor, Bréne Brown, gave her one of her guiding mantras: “we can do hard things.” Annie supports and encourages women to do just that. 





In this episode of “On Your Own Terms,” Annie shares her “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World”. Watch the video of our conversation, listen to the podcast, and read the summary here: 



































Homegrown AnnieBorn in a small midwest town in the early sixties, Annie observed little tolerance being “different.” Her hometown was a headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan. She recalled watching clan members marching in the town's annual Halloween parade and seeing the white robes and hoods hanging with regular articles of clothing at the local dry cleaners.  At the time, she was too young to understand the deeper meaning behind those robes.  As she grew older, Annie recognized the immeasurable damage intolerance and xenophobia caused individuals and communities. Such experiences formed the values that have guided Annie's life and work. 












I witnessed horrific things they did to people in the town so that was a big part of launching me into this desire for equality, understanding, acceptance, tolerance, and wanting real peace.And promoting love in the world.



















































Growing up, Annie's father was her hero. He taught her how important it was to be in service of others. Each morning and breakfast, he would charge her to, “Go out and make someone’s day happy today.” 











While that's a positive message on the surface,  Annie internalized those words to mean she should put everyone's happiness and care before her own.  I know he didn't mean it to be that way at all. It's a beautiful message, and I still live by it today, but I've learned to modify that so that it doesn't take away my personal strength and ability.These days, Annie recognizes the importance of discernment – taking onboard the positive aspects of lessons, expanding with this new knowledge, and releasing what doesn’t serve, to proactively live our best lives. Life offers us joy. 

















Solution-Focused AnnieAnnie credits four women who have had a lasting influence on her life: her grandmother, her mother, her daughter, and her best friend:Her grandmother was the source of unconditional love who modeled acceptance and love for everyone. Everyone.Annie's relationship with her mother was more challenging. The personal fears and self-doubt her mother carried were often projected onto Annie.  As a former beauty queen, the focus was often on keeping up appearances.  Fortunately, she and her mother were able to resolve their challenges and establish a more positive relationship before she passed.Her daughter, Kate, is the one Annie credits most with helping her become the best version of herself. My daughter has probably been the one that's taught me my hardest life lessons, and I am eternally grateful for that. She's the one that really helped me see that while we think we know how we are showing up in the world, it may not necessarily be how others experience us and it may not be congruent with who we wish to be.That kind of self-awareness is not easy to rumble with and often requires a coach or therapist who can lovingly hold up the mirror for us.It's her lifelong best friend, Shari, who inspired Annie to leave her 29-year career in inpatient psychiatry and create her own business.











It's her lifelong best friend who inspired Annie to start her business called “Wayfinding Women.” Wayfinding Women provides opportunities for women to step out of their everyday lives and reconnect with themselves and other heart-centered women.























Women are powerhouses! Annie is passionate about women’s rights and women's capacity for change-making, but her career as a therapist taught her that women often put themselves last.  Doing so diminishes their energy and their ability to step fully into their life's purpose.  Self-care is one important facet of the solution, but it is when women come together in community that their energy is renewed and their power is multiplied for the good of the world. 



































Annie's PatchworkThrough the years as Annie's worldview has expanded, diversity of ideas and experiences have become more and more important to her.   As a young mother and Girl Scout leader, her horizons were expanded when her troop took the initiative to support a literacy project in Jamaica. The girls worked tirelessly on multiple fundraisers until they were able to travel to a small village and work with the project in person.   These beautiful children walked miles and miles to get to school every day. There were 250 of them. Beautiful, beautiful souls, and we learned so much from them, and it was just this incredible experience.Since that time, Annie has become quite the traveler.  She and her best friend stayed connected by holding “women's weekends” in a new location every year.  



































Early on, those trips were only in the United States, but once they could afford to do so, they expanded to more and more distant parts of the world. 

















As Wayfinding Women has grown, Annie not only gets to experience the world firsthand, she gets to create unique experiences for the women who join her. One story she shares is about a woman who traveled with her to Tuscany after losing her husband.  Annie asked her:What would you like to do on this excursion that would push you outside of your comfort zone a little bit?The woman thought about it and decided she wanted to try to speak to an Italian who did not speak English. At one stop, Annie saw her sitting at a beautiful overlook chatting with a woman outside their group.  They had this conversation with each other, just with a few words and a lot of body language and nonverbals.She found out that the Italian woman had lost her husband, too.  Across cultures and language barriers, a bond was created because they were both willing to make the effort to connect. 
























Human connection can change the world.





























Changemaker AnnieAnnie has many powerful examples of how she's seen women come together to create powerful change.  In 2014, she was connecting with women through Facebook.  This led her to a woman in Kenya who had started an NGO (non-governmental organization) to help promote literacy and education opportunities for girls and women in her village. Annie wanted to help her achieve her goals of elevating more women into STEM (science, technology, engineering and math careers) and providing access to hygiene products.  Unfortunately, she came down with COVID, which exacerbated her heart condition. Annie sprang into action and leveraged her connections with other women in the community to raise money for a life-saving procedure. With the help of the community of women, they were able to raise enough money to get the surgery and allow her to recover in the hospital for an entire month. 
























Women literally saved a woman's life in Kenya because of gathering together.












Where will Annie go from here? She dreams of creating a platform where women can connect around their passions and the issues they care about.  Wouldn't that be amazing?!In the meantime, she's weaving her magic by offering empowerment coaching for women as well as women's retreats and unique travel experiences to unexpected places in the world.  Through it all, she is steadfast in her mission to help women find JOY in what they are doing by caring for themselves and gathering with other women to bring out the very best in one another.  












When women go with me on these retreats, we have deep laughter, which is so therapeutic. We do these amazing activities that are just bringing out the joy in us, and that's restorative.
































Women need to have that, whether it's going on an international trip or it's connecting with people that just make you feel good.

Today, Annie continues to connect powerful women with one another so that their energy can ripple out and change the world. If you would like to learn more about the retreats and trips that Annie plans, visit her website at www.wayfindingwomen.com/. 



































Annie's efforts help advance many of the Sustainable Development Goals. Here are a few that really stand out. Her efforts in personal self care reflect Goal #3 – Good Health and Wellbeing and Goal #11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities.Banding together is important to Goal #10 – Reduce Inequalities and Goal #16 – Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. Do you see any I've missed? Please get in touch to let us know what YOU and people you know are doing to realize these Global Goals by the year 2030.  We can do it when we care for ourselves and join with others on the Changemaker's Journey!  CHECK OUT our CHANGEMAKER YOU course to help you get started today! 

























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