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Today on the podcast I’m talking with Montana Dennis, a friend, speaker, and fellow creative about Mental and Emotional Awareness. Montana was the perfect person to have this conversation with because he’s a huge proponent of men learning to express themselves and debunking societal expectations for emotions and emotion sharing. He’s also an expert in breaking patterns in communication and how that affects both our business and our personal relationships. 

He shared with me how his childhood shaped who he is today, what his view of success now looks like, and the big impact situations in our lives that allow us to sift through and reprioritize our connections. He’s everything I could hope for in a guest, real, raw, authentic, and vulnerable, and I know this conversation is going to hit home for the majority of you listening in.

Tune in on Apple and Spotify, and keep reading for some of my key takeaways from this episode! 

Parenthood & Healing From Childhood

Montana and his wife are expecting twins any day now, and we chatted a lot about parenthood and how to heal from our childhood to change how we do things as parents. 

Growing up, he was the creative one of his family and was affected by his parent’s relationship. Montana describes himself as a sensitive feeler, and looking back now, he can see multiple moments where he took the weight of his parents’ relationship on his own shoulders. In order to do what he could to make things better, and “control” what he could, he began a pattern of pleasing people and putting himself last in order to gain some stability.

We talk about how no matter what childhood you had, there are still things to work through and patterns you can choose to change in your own life and how you decide to parent your children. 

“My goal is to fill up my cup with all the love, grace, and self control that I can so I can pass that on to my children.” 

Changing Stigmas Around Men & Mental Health

As a society, we often stigmatize men and mental health. Montana gives a great example of how it’s okay to get a trainer if you are working towards fitness goals or a business coach to help you scale and grow your company, but when it comes to mental health – we’re told to just figure it out. 

We need to normalize therapy, and overall mental and emotional awareness for men (and all of us). Understanding that we do not have to deal with issues alone and that to gain clarity on an issue you need a perspective shift. 

“We need healthy men. We need healthy women. We need healthy relationships & culture.” 

Breaking Patterns in Communication

Montana and I met years ago in Phoenix, where he was speaking as a keynote for a conference. I was so drawn to his calming energy and willingness to have the hard conversations. 

We talk about how to break patterns in communication, and I share my biggest recent change of setting boundaries in my life. It’s taking me years to get to this point where I can feel okay saying no, and then I don’t have to be everything to everyone. 

Success & Relationships 

With all of these leaders I talk to, the definition of success is a big topic that keeps coming up. We discuss how success is a constant evolution, and how our own definition of it can and should change over time. 

For Montana, some of the ways he describes success are: 

• Having peace
• Mental clarity
• Building successful habits
• Achieving personal goals

As he prepares for the birth of his children, success might look like getting sleep while his children sleep, and prioritizing work when he can. 

Ask yourself: what does success truly looks like for you at this stage of your life?

Connect with Montana 

To continue the conversation with Montana, visit his online at www.montanadennis.com and on Instagram at @montanadennis. You can also email him, he will actually answer!  montana@montanadennis.com 

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