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Reclaiming the Word "Wannabe", with Podcast Host Jackie MorrealeIn this episode, Jackie Morreale explores the themes of personal growth, identity, and the concept of being a 'wannabe.' She reflects on her journey through podcasting, halfway to her original goal, on a personal day of importance: 20 years of the Ken Pribil Jr. Foundation. She discusses the importance of embracing change, and the value of real conversations in learning and evolving. Jackie redefines the term 'wannabe' as someone who aspires to be more, encouraging listeners to embrace their own journeys of growth and self-discovery. Takeaways: • Have you ever felt like you were growing into a new version of yourself? • What if that gap was actually the most important place to be? • I'm saying I see potential in myself that hasn't been realized yet. • The best answers are the unexpected ones. • I want to be more like you when I grow up. • Wisdom is everywhere. • Maybe being a wannabe isn't something to outgrow, but something to return to. • A wannabe is someone who believes they can be more. • You're exactly where you're supposed to be. Quotes: • "I'm saying I see potential in myself." • "That's not fake or trying too hard." • "Wisdom is everywhere." Chapters: 00:00 Embracing Change and Growth 00:47 Redefining 'Wannabe' and Identity 01:44 The Journey of Learning and Growth 03:06 The Power of Real Conversations  "Redefining Wannabe" by Jackie Morreale Have you ever felt like you were growing into a new version of yourself, but the people around you didn't quite understand it yet? If so, this is for you. My name is Jackie Morreale and I'm the host of Wisdom for Wannabes. I'm tuning in today on one of those rare, rare days: A solar eclipse, lunar new year, Ramadan, Mardi Gras, Carnival, Winter Olympics, a 20th anniversary of something very special in my own life, losing a loved one to cancer 20 years ago. And across cultures, across beliefs, across the world, This moment is all about the same thing. reflection, renewal, and becoming. And it got me thinking about one word that I don't think we fully understand. A word that's very important to us here at Wisdom for Wannabes. That word is "wannabe". Now, if you grew up in the '90s like me, you remember how we used this word. "He's such a wannabe, she's such a wannabe." They just try too hard. Someone stepping into an identity that other people didn't think that they had earned yet. People putting another person into a small box when they were way more than that. That's what we were really doing: Judging the "gap"; the difference between the box that they had been placed in by other people and that they were aspiring to be. And we made that gap something to be embarrassed about. But now that we've evolved, what if that gap was actually the most important place to be? What if that space between who you are right at this moment in time and who you're becoming is where all the growth lives? Because when I say "I wanna be...", I'm saying I'm not done yet. I'm saying I see potential in myself that hasn't been realized yet. I'm saying I'm willing to stretch, evolve and be uncomfortable to become something more. And that's not fake or trying too hard. That's courage. That's exactly where the name, Wisdom for Wannabes, came from. That's what's really meaningful to me right now. I'm about halfway through my original goal for this podcast, almost 26 interviews out of 52. Halfway! And I've learned more than I had ever expected I would by this point. When I first started this podcast, I had an idea of what I thought it would be. Now, being right there in the middle of it, I realized it's not just about the conversations. It's about what those conversations do to they shift you, how they humble you, how they make you realize that there is just so much more to learn. For me, that growth shows up in three core areas: 1. Business, building something meaningful. 2. Art (aka Beauty), expressing and creating. 3. Wellness (aka Betterment), taking care of body, mind and spirit. These are the areas where I feel that gap the most. And instead of hiding from it, I'm choosing to step into it. Through this podcast, I've had the opportunity to talk to people that I truly admire. The best moments, they're never the planned ones. They're the unexpected answers, the honest stories, the moments that completely shift your perspective. That is the power of real conversation. And in those moments, I find myself saying something simple: "I want to be more like you when I grow up." I've realized that that's not insecurity. It means I'm open. It means I'm learning. And that means I'm still growing. Because wisdom is everywhere. You can learn from someone who's built success. You can learn from someone who's overcome struggle. You can learn from someone who simply shows up consistently. You can even learn from kids, probably most from kids. They trust themselves. They follow what they love. And somewhere along the way, some of us lose that. (And if you identify with that, drop a thumbs up in the comments.) So maybe being A "wannabe" isn't something to outgrow. Maybe it's something to return to. A mindset where you stay curious, where you stay open, and where you stay willing to evolve. So today, I'm reclaiming the word "wannabe". A wannabe is not someone who doesn't belong. A wannabe is someone who believes that they can be something more. So yeah, I'm a wannabe. If you're on that journey too, you're exactly where you're supposed to be. This is Wisdom for Wannabes. And we're just getting started. Thank you so much for being here. Have a beautiful day.
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I have a really important life topic to talk about today: The game of Monopoly. I have heard the word “monopoly” over and over and over from my eight-year-old son's mouth over the past week. In rhythm like this:
We've been playing the same game of Monopoly for the past week by my children's request. Yesterday, he wiped us all clean of all we had - all the money, all the get out of jail free cards, all our properties, everything. He literally took three other people to the cleaners. I've never played a game of monopoly in my life - and I have played some games of monopoly, especially with two brothers and no TV on weekends with our grandmother in the summer growing up - in which we played to the bitter end, and one person just wiped the table clean. And my eight year old son just did that to us, the entire family, all older (but perhaps not wiser when it comes to monopoly), this week. It was interesting to watch it happen. We're all competitive in our own fun way. He's especially competitive. He loves sports, he loves math. He had the cheapest properties on the board at first, the two brown properties, Baltic Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue, which were right after you pass Go. At the very beginning of the game, he nearly went bankrupt putting four houses and then a hotel on each one. Then after he gained some of his money back, he eventually bought all three of the green properties, Pacific and the other two green properties, on the other side of the board, in the lineup before passing Go. Then he did the exact same thing, bought: one house, two houses, three houses, four houses, and then hotels on each of those. Here he is, sitting with these two fully stocked properties, the brown and green sets, all with hotels, while the rest of us are just playing and scrambling for whatever on the board we can get. He set his in investment, had very little money sitting in front of him, and waited. He passed go, collected his $50 on the Beauty Award or whatever refunds from the Chance or Community Chests, and slowly but surely build his own bank up. Then we started landing on his hotels. It was a clean sweep on his behalf. A thousand monopoly dollar mistake to land on his green hotel on Pacific Avenue. A $450 mistake to land on his Baltic Avenue. He just kept getting richer and richer. And the rest of us… did not. At the beginning of the game, we were all trying to scramble to collect what we could get to keep playing, pass Go. Meanwhile, he's investing. Investing in himself; in himself by way of his properties and the belief in a better future. During that early part of the game, he almost went bankrupt. He had this vision of hotels - again, at eight years old - for his two sets of properties. And found a way to do it, no matter what. I thought about this strategy in a bigger way. While life isn’t a game, this particular game has many things that life also does: rhythm, emotion, strategy. There’s an obvious connection to real estate, and being a landlord in this way, in the right market, can be a very, very good business to be in. If you're in that business, I'm sure that that would be a connection you would see as well. But let's talk about the bigger picture of investing in yourself. That's what I'm trying to envision for myself, for any entrepreneur, for any person who sees the light, for anyone who's starting a new venture, be it going back to school, starting a new venture, whatever the case may be. Should we not invest in ourselves to such a degree with all of our beliefs and hearts and vision and strategy go into it? Such that we are willing to almost go bankrupt doing so, because we know that in the long run, it's going to pay off? How do we set ourselves apart and be different, and make investments that are unique to us and our unique qualities? How do we create that blue ocean in which we have endless potential possibilities and abundance? That clean sweep monopoly board strategy that I learned from my eight-year-old’s natural ability to envision who took us all by surprise in the course of a week. So perhaps the other part of it is the patience to accomplish his vision, too. Maybe some of us would have given up, with the initial low. We did all right, we pursued what we wanted, it didn’t go as planned, them to play a different game. We bought these houses, we bought these hotels, and nobody's landing on our stuff. Nobody likes our stuff. Nobody's reading our stuff. Nobody's investing in us or believing what we believe or understanding our concept. But then he waited. He kept passing go. He kept growing. And he kept asking us:
Do we have the patience to withstand the abundance that we will get if we believe in ourselves and follow the bigger picture here in God's plan? It's an interesting virtue to learn, patience. It’s difficult sometimes. Such an important one, especially for parents, to learn patience. I try my best. Every day is a test. It is challenging. Even just driving down the street, you have to learn: patience is a virtue. That we all could stand to have some more patience. In this particular monopoly game, my little guy knew that if he played long enough, he was going to take us for everything that we had. Kids are so in tune with themselves. It is so fun to watch and learn from them. His investments in the green and brown sections of the board multiplied, by a factor probably only his math mind can understand. He literally took us all for everything that we had at the end. It all started with that initial strategy to investment into himself. I have learned these things, and I'm trying to apply them to my own life and trying to connect the dots:
Also:
Maybe your reward will come in Monopoly bucks. Maybe in some other quantifiable way. But the feeling of abundance by way of purpose and fulfillment, bravery, accomplishment, even adventure, those will come for sure. |
Jackie MorrealeJackie writes from her own experiences and reflections on her journey in seeking wisdom, creativity, spirituality, and life in general. This is "putting thyself out there" at its finest. 
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