For much of his life, Ross Murker had an explanation for why certain things seemed harder for him than they did for other people.
He was lazy.
He was weird.
He didn't have enough persistence or whatever mysterious “oomph” everyone else seemed to possess.
Except none of those explanations was particularly good.
On Truth Tastes Funny, Hersh Rephun talks with Ross about what happens when somebody else's assessment of you becomes the story you eventually tell yourself.
Ross struggled to fit the expectations of school, work and even his own family. Then, at 58, he was diagnosed with autism, ADHD and CPTSD. Suddenly, experiences stretching all the way back to childhood began falling into place.
The diagnosis didn't give Ross a new identity.
It gave him a different lens through which to understand the one he'd been living all along.
And with that understanding came something harder: grief over the person he might have become if he'd had that information and support 40 years earlier.
Today, Ross is a certified hypnotherapist who works primarily with neurodivergent clients. But his argument about hypnosis goes considerably wider.
We're all absorbing ideas about who we're supposed to be, what success looks like, what's normal and what isn't. Eventually, some of those ideas stop sounding like things we've been told.
They start sounding like us.
Ross and Hersh talk about conformity, childhood, identity, neurodivergence, the energy we expend trying to appear acceptable, and what can happen when that energy finally becomes available for something else.
They also discover a shared appreciation for comedy, including Ross's childhood realization that if he could make the other kids laugh, he wasn't being bullied.
Maybe the work isn't becoming somebody new.
Maybe it's figuring out which parts of the person you've been told you are were ever yours in the first place.
https://linktr.ee/RossMurker
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Hersh's new book, SELLING THE TRUTH: A ‘Semoir’ with Insights for Life & Business is a semi memoir drawing on his adventures as an Authority Advisor and Standup Comedian. It is part business book, part happiness formula for life, and an amuseful read, whether you’re building a business or burnishing your self-image.
You can kickstart your own messaging evolution with a one-on-one 5-Minute Fix.
Take the 60-second Get Off Your Assets Quiz, and find other resources here: https://www.hershrephun.com/selling-the
