Athena Moberg
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“My definition of hope is knowing that there is something better out there even if I don’t know what it is yet. For anyone out there that’s survived any type of isolation or abuse or anything and you just don’t even know if you’re ever going to make it out alive, but just having that glimmer of hope going ‘You know what? I’m going to make it. I know I am. I don’t know what it’s going to look like, but I know I’m going to make it.’ The only way through your pain is through it. You can’t go around it or over it or under it because it will pop up and smack you in the face right when you’re in the middle of something that you think you’re doing great at. I’m Athena Moberg and I Share Hope.” -Athena Moberg
Having survived years of violence and sexual exploitation, Athena speaks and writes about real life that’s not always pretty. She shares hope through her blog and weekly live show on Google+, YouTube, and RokuTV. She’s a founder of Trauma Recovery University and The #NoMoreShame Project, which lends a platform to abuse survivors who desire to share their stories.
43 Athena Moberg – Hope vs. Abuse – #isharehope
“For anyone out there that’s survived any type of isolation or abuse or anything and you just don’t even know if you’re ever going to make it out alive, but just having that glimmer of hope going ‘You know what? I’m going to make it. I know I am. I don’t know what it’s going to look like, but I know I’m going to make it.’ The only way through your pain is through it. You can’t go around it or over it or under it because it will pop up and smack you in the face right when you’re in the middle of something that you think you’re doing great at. I’m Athena Moberg and I Share Hope.” -Athena Moberg
Intro:
Welcome to I Share Hope! The podcast where world leaders share their real stories of hope and how you can use actionable hope to start changing your life today and now here’s your host, Chris Williams.
Chris Williams:
Athena Moberg, I can’t thank you enough. You and I have talked before this moment, so you really know I mean that. I thank you so much for spending your time with us today. So, you’ve done a lot that’s inspired me and thousands of others just watching along in the story that’s developing around you. You’ve created this thing called Trauma Recovery University and #NoMoreShame. Anybody listening, just searching for those two things is really insightful.
You have an incredible story of abuse and recovery and now not just surviving, but thriving in life and helping so many other people. We’ll get to that in a minute because you’ve got some great steps and really good action points for anybody who’s either dealt with trauma in their background, particularly sexual abuse trauma or if you know somebody who has dealt with that or is dealing with it, some great things to hear coming up that would be worth your while and would really point someone’s heart or your own heart in the right direction.
First of all Athena, what in the world are you doing today? I understand you live in Hawaii. Is that right?
Athena Moberg:
Yes. I live in Hawaii. Thank you so much Chris for having me on. This is such an honor. I live in the beautiful island of Maui and it is about 74 degrees out and the trade winds are blowing and I have a view of the ocean and islands…
Chris Williams:
Well, that’s about it for the episode. I’m sorry that’s all we need to hear. We’re not going to–
Athena Moberg:
Wrap it up.
Chris Williams:
Yes. You’re not sharing hope unless we can come visit you, you know?
Athena Moberg:
Well, this definitely was not always my life and I think that is why I am so excited about this interview in particular.
Chris Williams:
Yes. I’m glad you’re here and I wish I was there doing the interview live. That sounds really awesome.
Athena Moberg:
It’s an opportunity then.
Chris Williams:
I know. I know it. Okay, let’s do this then. We ask the same five questions. Athena, you know how this works. We go through 1000 interviews around the world and ask people from all walks of life, from all backgrounds, in all professions, everything you can imagine, the same five questions about hope.
Question 1: What is your definition or your favorite quote about hope?
Athena Moberg:
Okay. I’m a little bit torn down the middle on my favorite quote about hope, but I would say my definition of hope is knowing that there is something better out there even if I don’t know what it is yet. For anyone out there that’s survived any type of isolation or abuse or anything and you just don’t even know if you’re ever going to make it out alive, but just having that glimmer of hope going, “You know what? I’m going to make it. I know I am. I don’t know what it’s going to look like, but I know I’m going to make it.”
What inspired me to even think of those thoughts, I have a favorite scripture it’s Jeremiah 29:11. I’m sure that other people, if there’s 1000 interviews, more people than me have probably said this, but the scripture reads “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you a future and a hope.” I feel like that scripture was written specifically for me.
Chris Williams:
Wow. That’s a sweet verse and I’m really curious to hear how that plays out in your story because – and I’ll let you get it there on your own, but there’s people who are really going through tough times as you have. It’s hard to see that when you’re right in the middle of it, you think, yes and maybe if he could have prevented this stuff that would have been the most helpful thing he could have done. I’m not trying to stack the deck one way or another in this argument and there is no argument here. I just think it’s a really powerful verse and a lot of people do say that verse that I’ve talked to in the past. I think it’s an interesting one I want to hear about.
Question 2: With your definition of hope and that verse being a hinge point for that, who has shared the most hope with you in your life?
Athena Moberg:
Interestingly, it’s not one particular person, but it is one particular time in my life like a series of events in a chronological time. For instance, I was 14 years old at the time, very impressionable age, living in total isolation away from healthy people and there was a lot of abuse and a lot of things that weren’t going very well. I didn’t think very good thoughts about myself. I didn’t believe in myself and I was on that hamster wheel trying to do good in school and be a good person and have friends and all these different things. No matter what I did, it just didn’t seem to be good enough. That was sort of compounded and confirmed for me by certain family members and that is what made it a little bit more painful even. Add on top, with the sprinkles on top, with bullying and everything else that goes on when you’re a child and when you’re at that age, when you’re like 8th, 9th grade, it’s just painful. It’s a hard time to live through.
All within one week, my literature instructor at school, her name was Gail Leonti and she’s still a teacher to this day and she just got some sort of a word, I heard – she pulled me aside one day after class and she told me that I was a really good writer and I was gifted and talented and smart. I had never heard that before. I have never heard that I was gifted and talented and smart. That was a pivotal moment, an intrical part of my story, I think, and it’s incredible that I still remember it as though it were yesterday. I remember the color of my book, I remember what paper she was talking about. I’m sure that perhaps she said that to many people, but to me it really stuck and it mattered. Two days later, I got an opportunity to go to church with one of my friends’ parents and we walked in to church. I had never been to a church before. That was like a church where people clap and like a non-denominational type of church. I was raised in a catholic church where everything was really quiet and silent. So, we walked into this church and it was in California. I remember everybody was clapping and singing and they were nice and I was just like, whoa, these are my peeps! This is incredible! This is fun! I want to come here more!
The pastor that day, his name Greg Laurie, he said, “no matter what anybody says about you, no matter what you think about yourself, none of that even matters. It’s what God thinks about you and he says that you’re special and he says that you’re uniquely gifted and you’re talented and you’re smart and that he has a future and a hope for you.” He goes on to say in Psalm 139, that you are fearfully and wonderfully made in his image and that he knows every day of your life and what’s going to happen every single day before you were even born. He knows you so intimately that he can count the number of hairs on your head and the good thoughts he has about you outnumber every piece of sand on every beach in the whole world. I was just likes stopped. It’s like every person in that whole place was gone and it was just me and I swear I just started crying and I was like, oh my goodness, I don’t understand that. I’ve never heard that before. No one ever told me that. That was the day that I had faith and faith, as it says, well it’s pretty common, but I really lean on this. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
I couldn’t see a way out from what I was living through or going through at the time, but I look back on that now and I’m like, yeah…You know what? That’s true. There is going to be a way out. I don’t know what it looks like, I don’t know how it’s all going to play out, but all this is going to be used for good somehow and I’m going to get out of this one day.
Chris Williams:
Wow. Okay then, I’m just going to roll into question 3.
Question 3: Tell me about a time or what was going on back there, paint that picture and give us the story of what life was like when you were at a time where hope wasn’t one of the things you were really using a lot and you were getting hopeless. What happened?
You seem like you’re doing really well today.
Athena Moberg:
I am. It’s been a lifelong journey of recovery from childhood trauma, but I am doing very well today and I do lean on my faith a lot. I do lean on that quote about hope a lot because even if I don’t have it all figured out, God says he has a future and a hope with me and his plans are for good. So, I really have learned to just trust that.
I will paint a picture of what it was like when I was younger. During that time in my life when I was a teenager, my parents split up when I was young and my mom had remarried a few times, a couple of times at this point and the people that she was married to, they were very isolating that they lived in places where there weren’t a lot of people. There was just a lot of isolation in my life going on at that point. My mom who is a beautiful, wonderful woman, she really is and we do have a relationship to this day and I have some really healthy boundaries in that relationship, but we do have a relationship. At the time, she was just coming out of being really, really heavily involved in a lot of drugs and alcohol, specifically a lot of cocaine and addiction and there was a lot of abuse in my home, there was a lot of domestic violence, a lot of blood, a lot of weapons, a lot of police activity and it was horrible, horrible, horrible. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy in the whole world.
At the time, I just was hoping that something would happen and my mom and I would get out and we would get away, but it didn’t happen that way and that’s okay. It was very scary and I would call my dad in the middle of the night if the phone was still attached to the wall at that point because it was kind of like…It was scary. There was a lot going on. My dad would come and he would rescue me and he would take me to his house, which was 30 or 40 miles away, but he would literally come in the middle of the night. It was this cycle, it was the cycle of things would blow up, there would be blood or weapons or cops or whatever and then there would be the “I’m sorry” and “everything’s going to be okay, it’s going to get better”. Then there would be the silence, which is scarier than anything and then the abuse would start again and it would just start over. It just kept happening over and over and over for so many years. It was very scary and it was horrible. No matter what I did, it wasn’t good enough and I wasn’t allowed to go to people’s houses or birthday parties. I needed to work outside in the hot sun and pull weeds and do yard work and sort of pulled my weight because they provided a roof over my head. That’s what I was told, that I should be grateful for the roof over my head. It would go bad, bad, bad and then things would be okay, but it is a cycle.
That’s where I was in my life and when that teacher, Ms. Leonti, told me that I was smart and I was talented and I was a good writer, it gave me hope that I could do something good someday. When I went to church and all that, sort of it was said to me again. I thought, oh gosh, this isn’t a coincidence. I need to just hang on. I’m going to get out of this. I just know I am. I just wanted to do the best I could to make it through what I needed to make through so I could move out and get on with my life.
God strategically placed people around me at that time in my life to encourage me and I am still in touch with that family that took me to church that Sunday. They come and visit me here in Hawaii and when I’m on the mainland, I go and I visit them and they’re like the parents that I never had. They’re like, if you could pick your parents, those are the parents that I would pick. Their names are Chuck and Lyn, if they’re listening. They might listen if I tell them to listen in. That would be awesome.
Chris Williams:
I’m sure they will. How old are you when all of these starts? Is this just as early as you can remember.
Athena Moberg:
Yes. It was not a good situation. My mom wasn’t raised in a real positive environment and she didn’t know that she had the tools available to her to make different choices and so she didn’t make healthy choices. I’m 41 years old now and when I was 40, I had a conversation with my mom on the phone and she said “I’m so sorry. If I would’ve known how bad it was, I would’ve tried to get us out sooner” and she skipped to another topic of conversation and I said, well, well, well wait. Back up, back up. I’ve waited my whole life for this conversation. Can you please say that again?She cried and she said she was sorry. I had already forgiven her years and decades before that, but it was just special to hear those words out of her mouth.
Chris Williams:
When you were going to church and you met this new family that is listening now, I’m sure and you’re going through that process, how long after you started seeing some hope in that family or in the church you were attending? The community you were starting to engage in, how long did it take for you to get out? Was that your 17th year or was that years earlier?
Athena Moberg:
I did see hope in that family, the Vogel’s. I saw hope in their family because they made things that I only saw on TV. They made it real. I could see that they really liked each other and they were kind and they weren’t one way one minute and then change it up the next. They really were who they said they were. Not everybody has that gift. Not everybody gets to meet people like them. I did see hope in them. Unfortunately, I came home super excited to share this hope and I was shut down abruptly. “What the heck are you talking about? You’re catholic. Get outside and pull some weeds.”
Chris Williams:
Wow.
Athena Moberg:
So, I did. I sort of hid my faith for a while and I would sneak outside at 6:30 in the morning on a Sunday and they’d pick me up at the end of my driveway. They’ve reminded me recently of a time that there was one of my family members chasing the car, screaming at me that I wasn’t allowed to leave. They were looking in the rear view mirror and they said, “Whoa, who’s that coming and running and screaming?” They said, “Do you want us to stop the car?” I said, “No, drive, drive, drive.”
Chris Williams:
Wow.
Athena Moberg:
It wasn’t like I was running away from home. I just wanted to go to church.
Chris Williams:
That’s a pretty gutsy move on their part because you know they had to be thinking, “Man, I could get picked up for kidnapping for this one”, you know?
Athena Moberg:
I know, but I was like no, no, no. Drive. Just drive. It was a long time, I mean it was a few years before I actually got to move out. I don’t have very many regrets in my life at all. I have, very, very, very few. I can probably count them on one hand, but one of the deepest regrets that I do have is that I did not lean more on my faith and just trust that God did have it all figured out. I wanted to fix it all on my own, I wanted to run on my time clock, I sort of hid my light under a bush and forgot about it, you know. I went out there in the world just trying to figure it out on their own just knowing that anything away from this house must be good, but that’s not really the case. The truth is that there aren’t really a million different ways to do things the right way. There’s usually only one or two or a few right ways to do things. If you’re really looking at it, you got to really think about making healthy choices, having healthy boundaries and surrounding yourself with healthy people.
Chris Williams:
You’re rolling right into question 4.
Question 4: How are you sharing hope today?
I have mentioned a few of those things. You’re doing a lot of hope-sharing, not just with some great phrases or slogans that you might put out there in social media or something, but you’re actually engaging with people who are in this healing process. So, how are you sharing this hope and leading people forward?
Athena Moberg:
Wow. That is a loaded question and I know that this is a timed interview, so I will be as brief as I can.
Chris Williams:
You’re welcome to introduce question 5 at the same time. It may be helpful with your background because question 5 is how can we, the listeners, grow in hope or begin to share hope? What are those simple A, B, C steps? So, you’re welcome to weave those two together or separate them out either way you like.
Athena Moberg:
Wonderful. This is awesome. Okay. So, the question being what are some of the things I’m actually doing to invite people to partake in hope and I want to press us all of this with.
I am so grateful to be alive. I am so grateful that when I felt like I just wanted to die, that I didn’t succeed at that. I’m grateful that even though I had suicidal thoughts and that I was so lost in all of this pain and what’s wrong with me, why was I treated that way, why was I treated the way that I was treated? Why isn’t my life something that’s beautiful? I just want to die. Even though I was thinking those things and I was even plotting and planning in my head, well if it was an accident, everything would still be okay. Nobody would blame me.
If you’re going down that road right now, people think those thoughts. They think, well if I die, no one would care. If I wasn’t even here, no one would even miss me. I’m here to tell you right now that you are wrong because I co-lead a lived, experienced community through social media with my amazing partner, Bobbi Parish and we have, what started off with three girls in a Twitter chat, has now grown into a global community where people share their lived experiences through triumphing through abuse, neglect, eating disorders, suicide, self-harm, addiction, you name it. We talk about it. It is a non-judgmental community, we have several private secret Facebook groups, we have two live Twitter chats that happen every single week on Twitter. We have a third chat that has a video component with it. You can watch us live on Google+, Hangouts on air which goes straight over to our YouTube channel, which goes straight over to our RokuTV channel and that’s every single Monday, 6PM Pacific, 9PM eastern and it’s Trauma Recovery University and you can send me a message from anywhere in the whole world on Twitter. Anything you need to say by using the hashtag no more shame (#nomoreshame) and I will find you. You can put my Twitter handle on there if you want and it’s just Athena Moberg, a little @ sign, Athena Moberg (@AthenaMoberg). You can have an anonymous Twitter account that says that your name is Goofy on a skateboard or whatever your name wants to be, I don’t know.
You can send me a message 24/7, 365 using #nomoreshame and I will find you and myself or my partner Bobbi or someone on our team will respond to you.
You’re not alone. No matter what you’ve been through, no matter if your parents are abusing you, whether it’s sexually, physically, mentally, emotionally, whether you’re in a domestic violence situation and you’re being financially abused or you’re being kept in isolation or if you have had an abortion or if you are in the middle of self-harm or if you have harmed another person and you feel hopeless, you are not alone.
You could never shock us. You could just share with us your story and I guarantee, someone in our community is going to go “wow, me too, no way, I thought that that was just me…”
Again, you can find me online anywhere: athenamoberg.com, on Twitter I’m @athenamoberg, on Facebook, I’m Athena Moberg, Trauma Recovery University and we also have No More Shame Project which is a platform we provide. We provide a platform for other abuse survivors that want to share their real life stories and we publish a book every November which is No More Shame November.
Chris Williams:
Awesome.
Athena Moberg:
That’s what I’m doing.
Chris Williams:
That’s fantastic and just to follow up with that, you know, there is so much shame and isolation in so many of these issues and for me, going through cycles of suicidal tendencies in my past, the question is always in my head, well is there anybody else dealing with this? I think I’m the only one and I wish somebody is out there talking about it, I wish somebody was talking about it that wasn’t just a PhD that did a bunch of research, but was like, for real – here’s what I’m going through and here’s how I beat it or how I’m dealing with it. That’s really, really helpful because you think there’s nobody else out there being that honest and you’re really scared to tell anybody because you wonder, will I lose my job? Will my friends hate me or think I’m a weirdo or somebody commit me to some place to get treatment for a month and I don’t want to do that right now. Whatever it is….
Athena Moberg:
No and there’s a lot of that. There’s fear, there’s a lot of fear because even I, I just talked about this on one of our lives broadcasts, Chris. I was lured in by a very well-meaning counsellor in middle school who could tell that I was exhibiting behaviors of an abused child. They told me it was safe to tell them and that nothing bad would happen and that they would protect me and they lied. They lied, they lied, they lied. My parents showed in the driveway of the school and I got the crap beat out of me and it got worse and worse and worse and worse and worse. So, what you’re talking about is real and no, I don’t have a PhD, but my partner has a Master’s degree. She carries all the pedigree and the diplomas and all the other kind of stuff. I’m certified as a grief coach, a trauma recovery coach, I’ve done business coaching, live coaching, you name it. I’ve done all of that. I’m certified through NAMI, I’m a speaker, I just am real, real to the core and I just share my story and I share the hope that I have and if it’s enough then agree and if it’s not and they need a PhD, then they can go find that too. But, we’re just real people sharing a real story. We just want to help people and we want to connect them with other people just like them that need help too and that need encouragement. So, if that interests you, then I am so excited that you are listening today, because it’s not a coincidence. This message was meant for you if you are hearing this and this is resonating with you. I am positive that you are the reason I am on this interview. If that’s you and you feel in despair or that you’re hopeless, so reach out.
Chris Williams:
Awesome. You can google Athena Moberg or you can go to isharehope.com and we have all the links, Twitter, Facebook, websites, et cetera… Everything she’s doing is right there underneath her picture. So please, if this rings a bell for you, just take the next step which is just as simple as going and finding more about what Athena is doing. That’s all you’re going to do. You don’t have to commit to any long programs or –
Athena Moberg:
No. We’re not going to do that and we’re not a multilevel marketing scheme and you don’t have to come my thing and buy my Tupperware – nothing. You can just say hi and I’ll say hi back. If that’s enough for you just to know that I’m here, then that’s cool too so don’t worry.
Chris Williams:
Question 5: Awesome. Okay, so the A, B, Cs, what are the simple steps that I can take as some who’s recovering from hopelessness or even someone who has friends who are recovering or still in that hard spot? What can I do to share hope or what can I do to grow in hope? Either way you want to go there?
Athena Moberg:
I’ll just go A, B, C then.
A – You’re going to ask. You’re going to reach out and you’re going to ask me, “Athena, what should I do? This is my story. What should I do?”
B – You’re going to be brave because you are brave. It was brave for you to even do A. It takes a lot of courage to be brave enough to even ask for help and say that you’re going through something. So, just continue to be brave, know that you’re brave and then…
C – I don’t know what C is, but just contact me. There you go. C is just to contact me.
Chris Williams:
I love it.
Athena Moberg:
I guess deep down, you guys, I just want you to know that you’re not alone and regardless of what you decide to do right now, if you decide to call somebody or whatever, you don’t have to go to a local doctor’s office and pour your guts to someone who sees 15 patients a day. I provide Skype help, I provide Facetime support. I have client agreements that are confidential. You can literally sit at your phone or your computer and meet with a helping professional like myself and we work on a sliding scale, so that no one ever gets turned away for lack of finances.
So, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask. You won’t ever run into me at the grocery store or at the restaurant with your family because I’m virtual. So, I am here to help you and it’s not a coincidence that you’re hearing this today, so just reach out.
Chris Williams:
Perfect. A – Ask for help, ask Athena or even another friend or family member if you can trust them, but it really is important that you ask someone who has some skill and some talent and background in this. It really does help because Athena’s seen so many people struggle with things and it’s really great when she can just give that professional direction. It doesn’t mean you have to pay a penny. It means you just need to reach out to her on Twitter, Facebook or somewhere where you can start a conversation. Take that brave step. B – Be brave. Great one for B. It is super brave and you’re going to need that bravery. Just know that you are brave. The fact that you are listening to this right now and haven’t already turned it off is probably pretty brave. It really is.
Athena Moberg:
I agree.
Chris Williams:
C – You can contact Athena, but I’m going to go with another C, since were part of this community, it’s just the beauty of being in a community, you get multiple views of this. I would say continue and that continuing is hard because you think, oh I did it, I talked to Athena, I was brave. Well, next week it might be hard again or tomorrow or next month. This thing goes in cycles when you’re healing from something. So, continue – just don’t stop, keep taking baby steps forward, moving on a little farther. It’s so worth it.
Athena Moberg:
Just don’t give up you guys. Don’t give up. Just accept the fact that it’s time to recover from whatever it is you’ve been through and know that your recovery is a journey and it’s a beautiful journey even though it’s hard.
Chris Williams:
Yes it is. Okay, so again Athena Moberg, google it or look her up on Twitter, Facebook, a lot of other social media platforms, her website and many others. Again, I will have those on the show notes page so you can find those. A direct shot at her is going to be Trauma Recovery University or #NoMoreShame. Hashtag no more shame, no spaces, just spell it out, google it out and you’ll find all the social media feeds that deal with that that go straight back to Athena.
One thing that I want to make sure we mention before we quit the interview here is this thing that you’re doing. You got this thing going on in Birmingham, Alabama and it sounds like – did I get this right? The High Potential Live, it’s in Birmingham at the Ross Bridge Resort which is like a castle. It’s beautiful there. September 18, 2015, High Potential Live. You can go to HighPotentialLive.com and register for that. Just give me the 60-second commercial for this thing Athena. Tell me what’s going to be going on there so we can make sure we’re charged up and ready.
Athena Moberg:
Absolutely. It’s two components to this event, you guys, High Potential Live. First component, obviously is who’s going to be there. Who are you? Is this event even for me? The speakers that are going to be there including myself are going to be speaking to people out there that are struggling, that have struggled in whether their childhood, their teen years, their young adult years, they’re struggling right now, they don’t know what to do with their lives and this is all about reaching your highest potential regardless of where you’re from. I have domestic abuse survivors, I have people who literally went into recovery for drug, alcohol and eating disorder and suicide. A potential suicide at age 46, now living an amazing life. I have different speakers just from all around the United States that are going to be sharing hope with the audience that regardless of where you come from, you can overcome.
Your highest potential is just on the other side of your lowest point. If you’re at lowest point or you know someone who is, go to highpotentiallive.com and register to come for the event.
The second component is I’m bringing a little bit of Hawaii to Birmingham, Alabama.
Chris Williams:
Wow. Nice.
Athena Moberg:
A little bit of that. A little bit of a tease there. There’s a little bit of aloha coming with me.
Chris Williams:
Bring in a dolphin and a sea turtle.
Athena Moberg:
Not necessarily those, but it will definitely have a little bit of a tropical theme and I can’t wait to just bless every person there and just give them hope.
Chris Williams:
Good. Birmingham is a beautiful town, but Birmingham with Hawaii would be even better. Looking forward to it.
Athena, super fun to talk to you. Thanks for sharing your story, your heart, what you’re doing and some really simple A, B, Cs that we can follow along with some great music selections. I can’t wait to talk to you again and I can’t wait to see you on social media. I’m sure we’ll be chatting there as well as carrying the conversation forward once people get an earful of what you have to say.
Athena Moberg:
Absolutely. It’s been a pleasure being on this broadcast and I just can’t wait to see what the I Share Hope project does and just how many people we reach globally. So, I’m honored to be a part of your broadcast.
Chris Williams:
Thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Athena Moberg:
Thank you so much Chris. Aloha.
Chris Williams:
Aloha to you. Bye.
You’ve just listened to I Share Hope. If you’re ready to make a change, head to our website at isharehope.com and claim your free copy of the Top Ten Actions of Hope from World Leaders to use hope in your own life. Thanks for listening and we’ll talk to you next time.
Chris Williams:
You have a book coming out. Have you ever written a book? Is this your first one and where do we find it?
Athena Moberg:
This is my first book that I am the only author in. I have been featured in several different anthologies and in other people’s books, but this is my first book that is just the one that I’ve written. It is titled Aloha for the Soul, five simple powerful choices that will change your life forever.
Chris Williams:
You’re in Hawaii, you must surf and play the ukulele, right? Ain’t that what everybody does?
Athena Moberg:
Everybody asks me if I surf, play the ukulele, swim with dolphins and drink piña coladas in the sand. The answer is no. I used to surf, but I got hit in the head and it sort of freaked me out and I don’t really surf anymore. I have been trying to learn the ukulele and I definitely have it as a bucket list item, but I don’t play the ukulele yet as well as I would like to.
Chris Williams:
No dolphins?
Athena Moberg:
I have swam with dolphins actually and turtles. I swim with turtles a lot.
Chris Williams:
Oh my goodness, that’s awesome. Wow. Your voice, I don’t know if you listen to your voice much in playback on audio, but you have like the cutest voice and you sound like you could be a voice over for cartoon characters or Pixar movies. Those voices that make you smile when you hear them. Have you ever done any professional voice over work? Like acting?
Athena Moberg:
I have. That is hilarious. Thank you for the compliment.
Chris Williams:
I have no idea. I’m just going for these questions. Really honest, I didn’t have any clue. I don’t know where we’re going with this.
Athena Moberg:
Thank you for the compliment. Yes, I do some voice over work and I have a podcast and I have an audio version of a book that is in post-production right now and I’m not allowed to promote it yet because it’s in post-production. I’m a professionally trained voice talent, I did sing a lot when I was younger and I don’t sing very much now that I’m older except for when I’m singing worship songs at church or in my car. I’m a car dancer. I definitely dance a lot in the car and I sing in the car a lot. I do. I do voice over stuff and I love doing anything voice related. The very first impression I did in my entire life was a Bart Simpson impression that my son made me do.
Chris Williams:
I’m waiting.
Athena Moberg:
I can’t because it’s got like curse words in it and my son was just like, “Mom, just say it”. But yes, I do some voice stuff, I do some impressions that my son does too. He’s really hilarious. Maybe I’ll send you some sound bites.
Chris Williams:
I would love that. That would be so fun. Okay, so can rattle one off right now? Anything? You got anything sitting around there?
Athena Moberg:
I can’t. Not right now.
Chris Williams:
Favorite song. So, you’re rocking along in the car, you’re dancing like crazy and what’s in your ears? What are you playing right then?
Athena Moberg:
Anything on 95.5 The Fish, which is the Christian radio station here. I love worship songs. I love Carrie Underwood and I love Third Day, I love Jeremy Kent, I love MercyMe, I love Francesca Battistelli, but I was raised by parents who are hippies. Hence, like you already know the lifestyle, hello – my parents were total hippies, they were into drugs and rock and roll and everything, so I was raised on Pink Floyd and the Eagles and The Doobie Brothers. I have mass music trivia knowledge. I blow my husband’s mind because I know so much about the different 70s music, 60s and 70s music. If I had a 60s, 70s music trivia, I’d probably dominate.
Chris Williams:
That’s really far apart in the genres there. You got the Christian radio station and you got Pink Floyd. So, give me a 60s, 70s track, the favorite song in that genre, favorite song in the Christian music genre.
Athena Moberg:
Okay, awesome. Probably one of my favorite Christian music genre song is the Carrie Underwood version of How Great is Our God. She played it with the guitarist – I’m failing at remembering his name right now – Vince Gill. Vince Gill and Carrie Underwood’s live version of How Great Thou Art or is it How Great is Our God…How Great Thou Art. How Great Thou Art. That’s probably my favorite.
Chris Williams:
Awesome. I’ll look it up. I’ve never heard of it, but both of those are great talent.
Athena Moberg:
It’s so, so, so, so good.
Chris Williams:
All right now, go back to your hippie roots.
Athena Moberg:
Okay, one more Christian plug and that is if you go on YouTube, type in Jesus Culture.
Chris Williams:
All right.
Athena Moberg:
Everything they do is amazing. It’s usually live stadium type stuff. They’re just super-duper awesome. Okay, so back to my hippie roots, it would be a cross between Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here and the Eagles song that they sing about Lāhainā which is where I live. I live in Lāhainā, Hawaii.
Chris Williams:
No way.
Athena Moberg:
I do. They sing a song and it’s called [hums]…Gosh, I’m like singing it.
Chris Williams:
Is it, by any chance, The Last Resort? Is that the Eagles song?
Athena Moberg:
Yes! Thank you! Oh my gosh. It’s The Last Resort! Yes!
Chris Williams:
I’m just saying that if we go back and play some movie trivia or some 60s and 70s trivia on some music, you’re going to have something to watch out for there because I just got you.
Athena Moberg:
Apparently. I would always get that. You got me. I normally have it.
