We recently connected with Meridith Alexander and have shared our conversation below.

Meridith, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

On Feb 19th, 2016, my youngest daughter was literally crushed by a falling boulder in Colombia, South America. That meant that I got “the call” to hop onto a plane right in the middle of a Friday afternoon during my busy season. However, I was not willing to allow this boulder to make me its second victim. I had spent decades studying the “inner game” so with every fiber of my being I said, “Game On!” What transpired defied medical precedent and ultimately my daughter survived the “unsurvivable”, however, it left her with a serious TBI, totally dependent on 24/7 care and I became her 24/7 caregiver. Over the past 7 years, she has made progress little by little — and in spite of all the naysayers who said that we wouldn’t be able to do it — in just the past 4 years, I have grown my new coaching & speaking business into a multiple 6-figure business and coached hundreds of professionals and entrepreneurs in how to learn how to play their own inner game to win and achieve things that previously seemed impossible.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The boulder that fell on my daughter Schuyler (Sky-ler) helped me realize that I choose to step into my future as a woman who is tired of letting the challenges in my life define me. A woman who believes that age should be measured in energy — not in wrinkles or calendar years. And I quickly discovered that my global tribe family — my tr’amily– feels the same way too.

That boulder made me realize that I have had plenty of “been there, done that” moments. I was ready to get out of the “Clock is Ticking” mode and jumpstart the next exciting chapter in my life and I am humbled to now have helped hundreds of clients do the same by unleashing that new career, new promotion, new self-image, new lifestyle or maybe even treating themself to an entire EPIC life makeover.

I am all about expanding what you believe you are capable of living…about teaching my high achievers (or potential high achievers) how to tap into your own unique, hidden powers by learning to embrace the Epic You Formula and its 12 Brilliances. I love turning your attention from fixing the flaws of the past to creating your lusciously rewarding future. There is nothing that I love more than when a client shifts from waking up day after day feeling stuck to joyously texting me to say that they are finding themselves waking exhilarated by the day ahead, proud of who they are in all aspects of their life and committed to unleashing something epic — even if this previously seemed impossible!

We have a tendency to believe that we succeed in spite of our boulders. I believe that it’s thanks to our boulders that we discover our capacity to soar.

My mission is to help you identify the boulders that have been standing in between you and your success, to recalibrate the habits and negative self talk so that you transform your dreams into your destiny with unshakable confidence, purpose and passion. To help clarify the burning “how” questions and to arm you with tangible, clear action plans that allow you to consistently show up as the most EPIC version of yourself — in all circumstances.

For more than 5 decades, I have poured heart and soul (and often a whole lot of tears and shame) and invested literally hundreds of thousands of dollars to find answers to the questions that often haunt us for our entire lives.

I have weathered the world of financial terror, body shaming, panic attacks, life as a single mom, low self-esteem and even abusive relationships. But ironically, the real opportunity to master these skills came thanks to a single boulder that fell in Colombia, South America.

That boulder crushed my daughter and, although I knew that the medical team was exceptional, I knew that the only way to tip the scales to insure my daughter’s survival was to play my own inner game to win. I literally had to find a way to put all of these techniques into a formula so that I could show up as the most epic version of myself— even when I wasn’t sure if that version existed.

Schuyler did survive the unsurvivable and it’s this experience that gave me access to the culmination of all those years of struggle, growth and learning — that allowed me to emerge with a methodology for joy and success that I don’t think that you should have to be crushed by a boulder in order to experience.

Not your Mama’s coaching/motivational speaking  experience, we revel in taking you on a journey that is both inspiring and safe as well as empowering and sometimes even deliciously new and uncomfortable. We believe that laughter will always be an important part of the “medicine”/ growing process (even when we’re wiping away the tears) and we gently remind each other that true self-compassion/confidence is the ability to laugh at our stumbles and love ourselves without reservation.

We challenge the old approach that kept professionals playing small — feeling unseen, unappreciated and alone. We dare these individuals who have focused almost entirely on others for so long to be willing to finally see their own brilliance by going beyond the place where their beliefs stop them.

We tread fearlessly beyond common expectations about what’s possible by unapologetically sharing exhilarating examples of resilience and invincibility. And creating a nurturing environment and community for those who know that they are capable of more to boldly explore a version of themselves that they might have previously been afraid to consistently own.

At times whimsical yet wise, our voice encourages people to aspire to discover and unleash the most epic version of themselves regardless of their circumstances, obstacles or existing challenges.

We believe that you can’t compartmentalize your life and sustain happiness. Life is a dance of duality and we encourage our tr’amily (tribe family) to dive mightily into both inner and outer game mastery. And to inspire those around them (family, colleagues and teams) to do the same.

Although focusing on one aspect can give you a temporary boost or distraction, it can’t permanently sustain the joy that we experience when we play full on and dive into life in a state of being fully (and intentionally) alive.

The harmony between dualities becomes the difference between sustained happiness and fleeting moments of pleasure…It can also for an organization mean the difference of energy and engagement that ultimately enhances the bottom line.

And then of course, our voice always strives to remind the world that we should never be so grown up that we can’t make time for an Epic Rubber Chicken and a full on “Booyah!”

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

February 19, 2016.

That day, a single boulder came plummeting off the side of a mountain in Colombia, South America, and literally crushed my daughter Schuyler. (If you’re reading this and wondering, her name is pronounced Sky-ler).

Her injuries were MASSIVE… so extensive that medical precedent going back hundreds of years indicated they would be unsurvivable. Apparently, when the injury exposes the brain of the patient, they don’t make it. Not only could you see Schuy’s exposed brain, but that was just one of the laundry list of injuries that usually proved fatal.

However, the despair I felt – the sense of being powerless to help my daughter – helped me fully embrace the potential of what I now call “the Epic You.”

I realized none of my “outer game” skills could help me. Nor could I control any of the “outer game” circumstances. I certainly could not un-do the boulder, nor could I roll up my sleeves and be of assistance to her medical team.

Of all the heart-wrenching emotions that I was feeling, the worst was feeling powerless to help Schuyler.

So, if I couldn’t control the outer game, was there anything I could control?

The only possible answer to that question was… yes… my inner game.

These ideas, these strategies that I had studied for decades, were either true or not true. I confess that there were many times that I had doubted them. Now was the time I had to find out: were those invisible “powers” within our minds actually “real”? Because what I needed right now was much bigger than my business or my love life. This was about finding any hidden powers within myself that might in some way help my child.

I decided to dig deep, brave the sudden wave of imposter syndrome, and declare, “Game On!”

Within the first 24 hours, I decided to find the “Epic You” within me and commit to doing whatever it might take to live these inner game principles that I had spent so much time studying.

It began by asking a series of new questions…by finding one thought… and then another that felt better than the previous thought yet still believable.

Cautiously, I inched my way from thoughts that triggered grief to thoughts that gave me small glimmers of hope. From hope, I looked for thoughts that would usher me into the realm of belief. But even beliefs have cracks in them, so I had to keep going.

Finally, there it was – the thoughts that created a sense of powerful “knowing” in the form of expectation. The expectation that my daughter would be “fine,” whatever that new definition of “fine” was destined to be.

It was as if everything at that moment suddenly shifted.

What transpired was a string of miracles so remarkable that it began to look as if Life was conforming to my vision. It wasn’t long before even the medical team began referring to us as the miracle family. Every single day, we were seeing results that were typically “impossible.”

So yes, against all odds, Schuy survived the unsurvivable.

I became her primary 24/7 caregiver as she embarked upon the long road to regaining independence and discovering the future that now appeared to be quite different from the one that, just months ago, we had all been imagining.

In the process, I reconnected with my love of writing and began chronicling our inner and outer game journey on Facebook. Our “global family” continued to share our story until our following had grown into the thousands. Ultimately, these posts became the Sky is the Limit book, one of Amazon’s hot new releases in the fall of 2017.

I was asked to share my inner game process with one person and then another. Next came the requests to speak on stage. I discovered that both my passion and my purpose were destined to be fulfilled in a career that I once thought I would “never do” – the world of speaking and coaching.

Looking back, never would my daughter Schuyler or I have dreamed that our own experience would have had such a dramatic impact not only in our own lives but in the lives of thousands of others…

As the years continue to go by, it becomes more and more clear that this crazy boulder has been perhaps my life’s greatest teacher amidst a lifetime of great teachers. Life, with its infinite sense of humor as well as wisdom, had found it appropriate to ensure that my ultimate “degree” on the topic of the inner game would come literally from the “school of hard knocks.”

But to tell the truth, despite the tears and frustration (and ok, the occasional very loud swear words), I now see that I wouldn’t have changed anything!

The majesty of this adventure has been like that breathtaking glimpse of a spider web on a dewy spring morning. One moment, it’s invisible, and in the next step, it’s there in the morning sunlight, sparkling in its full glory.

I remember the moment in the Miami hospital chapel when that profound understanding hit me. I “saw” the complex brilliance of that sparkling web that spanned the decades of my life. Remarkably, as tortuous as those times of pain and struggle had been to live through, those exact moments transformed me into that tougher, more resilient version of myself. It had been those moments that had caused me to let go of things that had been keeping me playing small. It had been those experiences that had reconnected me with the power of the mind, and that helped me understand the non-negotiable value of becoming the sovereign of my own inner game.

That if I continued a life lived on autopilot, it would almost certainly cost me.

It was becoming more and more apparent that everything that is enduringly epic begins with an epic inner game.

When we refuse to see that, we spend a huge portion of our life licking our wounds down by the curb, believing that “life’s a b*tch, and then you die.”

So are we willing to continue telling ourselves the story that the easier path is the one where we approach life like a giant casino where the house typically wins but where occasionally there is a payoff that keeps us coming back?

Not for a moment!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My past is littered with the remnants from every battle, camouflaging themselves as scars of shame I had been stubbornly allowing to stand between me and what would ultimately become my true “Destiny.”

So why did it take me so darn long to figure all of this out?

Now THAT’S a great question.

I realize now that even with all of those great books at my fingertips, I just couldn’t get past the predominant belief in the world around me: that if you can get the “great job,” make “lots of money,” accumulate “amazing stuff,” “live the life,” find the “right person,” “look the right way,” etc. that all of the inner game stuff (i.e., happiness, purpose, and passion) would just follow.

That approach to life didn’t work out too well for me, and the truth is that when I look around, it doesn’t appear to be working well for too many others.

So what is the better approach?

As Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

So yes, if you want a different outcome, you must retire the “old approach thinking.”

That means being willing to be open to the possibility that the missing link IS something within your inner game.

Whether it’s neuroscience, energy healing, aikido, tai chi, teachings from diverse religions, spiritual philosophies, the Law of Attraction, the writings of the stoics dating back thousands of years, or live training from the best personal development experts in the world, the core messages are always the same: how well you learn to master the “resources within” determines how you experience all aspects of your life – no exceptions.

An epic inner game always shows up as a critical game-changer in achieving something that everyone else believes to be impossible.

If you are striving for a life that makes you feel fully alive personally, physically, or professionally– even spiritually, you must be able to think beyond your current limits.

The question now becomes this: what is the true cost of settling for a “small mindset” on autopilot versus the benefit of learning how to cultivate an “epic mindset” over which you are sovereign?

In my humble experience, it is the difference between waking up to a life burdened with self-doubt and regrets versus a life that makes you constantly revel in the experience of being fully and deliciously alive…

When my daughter was struck by a boulder, I could not make cold calls from an ICU. I could no longer spend 14 hours in my “busy season” searching for contracts. My business at the time was a seasonal business and I had missed the season. And projecting forward, I couldn’t imagine being able to show up in the next season that would embellish our income without endangering my daughter.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gritmindsetacademy,com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meridithalexander/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meridith.grit.alexander
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meridith-alexander-skylimit/
• Youtube: @UnleashTheEpicYou
• Other: www.meridithalexander,com