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What happens when the life you planned disappears—and you're forced to discover a different way forward?
Rachel Schneider shares what caregiving, widowhood, parenting through grief and addiction, faith, and rebuilding taught her about leadership, capacity, asking for help, and trusting that your story may unfold differently than you imagined.
What does leadership look like when life doesn't go according to plan?
In this deeply honest conversation, Rachel Kerr Schneider and I talk about the kind of leadership that doesn't happen in a boardroom. It happens when someone you love receives a devastating diagnosis, when you're raising children through grief, when you're trying to help a child struggling with addiction, and when the future you envisioned suddenly disappears.
Rachel is an award-winning author, inspirational speaker, and CIO of Spirited Prosperity. But her most meaningful leadership lessons came through lived experience.
After her husband John was diagnosed with ALS, Rachel found herself navigating caregiving, parenting, grief, and the reality of a terminal illness. She sought out a faith-based therapist—not because she lacked faith, but because she recognized that faith didn't make her indestructible.
One of the most powerful moments in our conversation comes from something her therapist told her:
"You're not Jesus. Maybe, just maybe, you need some help."
From there, we explore why asking for help is not weakness, why capacity matters as much as time management, and why sometimes the strongest thing we can do is let go of our expectations of how help should look.
Rachel also shares what happened after her husband's death—including raising two boys through grief and addiction, discovering that her own rebuilding process would take much longer than expected, and realizing that the calling she had envisioned didn't disappear. It simply unfolded differently.
We talk about:
• Why crisis can sharpen clarity while reducing capacity • The importance of recognizing when you've reached your limits • Asking for help before you're completely depleted • Setting boundaries and letting go of expectations • Parenting through grief, trauma, and addiction • How faith can provide direction without removing the hard parts • Why your vision may unfold differently than you imagined • The leadership lessons our life experiences leave behind • Finding purpose in the story you're actually living—not just the one you planned
Rachel's story is a reminder that resilience isn't about being indestructible. Sometimes resilience looks like asking for help, taking the next step, and trusting that there may be more of the story still to be written.
And perhaps most importantly, she reminds us that the life we imagined isn't necessarily the only life available to us.
Sometimes the path changes.
And we learn to navigate.
Connect with Rachel Kerr Schneider
🌐 Spirited Prosperity: https://www.SpiritedProsperity.com
LinkedIn Profile * https://www.linkedin/in/rachelkerrschneider Additional Social Media Links https://www.facebook.com/rachel.k.schneider.1 https://www.instagram.com/rachelkerrschneider https://www.youtube.com/rachelkerrschneider📚 The Widow Chose Red: My Journey with Jesus, John, and ALS
📚 The Boys, the Bible, and the Battles
Get in touch with Kristin and the Savvy Living Network:
🌐 Savvy Living Network: https://savvylivingnetwork.com🎯 Work With Kristin: https://savvylivingnetwork.com/work-with-me 💌 Savvy Leaders Lounge: https://savvyleaderslounge.substack.com 🎙️ Savvy Leader Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@SavvyLeaderPodcast https://linkedin.com/in/kristingallatin1 https://instagram.com/kristingallatin https://www.facebook.com/groups/743925124329795
