How to Receive the Support You've Been Building for Everyone Else

How to Receive the Support You've Been Building for Everyone Else

Author: Mission Ambition, LLC April 7, 2026 Duration: 45:17

Episode 42: "How to Receive the Support You've Been Building for Everyone Else"

You can see exactly what everyone around you needs. Recognizing it in yourself is a different skill entirely — and many high-performing leaders never develop it.

Sarah Merwin is Executive Director of Holbrook Farms, a nonprofit retreat community serving military widows, women who have lost a sibling in service, and mothers who have lost a child in uniform. She walked into the first retreat she planned with the itinerary ready and her perspective clear: this is for them. By the time dinner ended on night one, she knew she was one of them. The need she had named and structured for every woman in that room had been living quietly in her the whole time.

This episode is part of the Wilderness Series. The caretaking wilderness accumulates before we can name it — the things we stopped asking for without noticing, the slow drift from measuring what we receive to measuring only what we produce. What Sarah built at Holbrook Farms over twelve years proves that peer support fills a need that nothing else reaches. Getting it without having to explain is its own category of care.

IN THIS EPISODE:

✓ Why the leader who reads the room for everyone rarely gets read in return

✓ What peer support does that clinical care was never designed to do

✓ How Holbrook Farms structures space so healing happens without being forced

✓ The plate tug-of-war — and what it reveals about receiving care

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Caretaking Wilderness Intro

04:46 Holbrook Farms Mission and Place

07:22 Water Based Healing and Retreat Origins

13:57 Retreat Structure Volunteers and Ongoing Support

23:33 Alumni Retreat Connections

25:07 Letting Go to Heal

29:18 Who the Retreat Serves

41:33 Caretaking Wilderness Reflection

FEATURED GUEST: Sarah Merwin — Air Force veteran, Executive Director of Holbrook Farms, a nonprofit retreat community for military widows, siblings, and mothers. Know someone who qualifies? Pass this directly to her. holbrookfarms.org | @HolbrookFarmsRetreat

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Hardcore and At Ease-powered by Others Over Self® explores the quiet tension between relentless drive and sustainable peace. This isn't another leadership podcast about hustle culture or empty platitudes for work-life balance. Instead, it digs into a very specific, often unspoken dilemma: what happens when your innate intensity-your hardcore commitment to exceptional results-feels at odds with your well-being and the health of your team? You might recognize the feeling of operating from a constant state of urgency, wondering why success feels so arduous while others seem to navigate their careers and lives with more grace and less friction. The conversations here are built on the premise that you are not broken or lacking; the problem is that most conventional advice fails to address the core conflict of being both highly driven and genuinely at ease. Through candid interviews and reflective commentary, the podcast examines this intersection of business, culture, and personal philosophy. Listeners will hear practical frameworks and stories that challenge the either/or mindset, suggesting that profound achievement and profound calm aren't mutually exclusive. It’s for managers, founders, and anyone in a position of influence who is tired of the burnout narrative and seeks a more integrated, sustainable approach to ambition. Each episode aims to provide not just insight, but a tangible shift in perspective, helping you channel your deep care for results without sacrificing your sense of self or compassion for others. The dialogue is rooted in the principle that putting others over self isn't about martyrdom, but about building a foundation of trust and collective efficacy that, ironically, allows for greater individual focus and resilience. Tune in for a nuanced take on what it means to lead and live with both ferocious intent and genuine composure.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

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