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Erica D'Eramo 0:05
Hello and welcome to the Two Piers Podcast. I'm your host Erica D'Eramo, and today we have Megan Bingman joining us. Megan has worn many hats in her career, including yoga teacher, author, women's health therapist, and currently a closer and marketer for Real Estate Closing Services. She also happens to be a professor of practice at Penn State, my own alma mater. She's here today to talk to us about being guided by your why through all the various personal and professional pivots that life will send your way. Hello, Megan. So happy to have you on the podcast. Welcome.
Megan Bingman 0:50
Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
Erica D'Eramo 0:53
Yeah, I I think that this is a topic that probably has come up many times in our podcast episodes around handling all of the different ways that life will throw us curveballs, how we adapt, and I really love your framing on this around following your why. So, tell us a little bit about yourself. Like, what was what's what's some of your journey that's brought you to this point?
Megan Bingman 1:19
Yeah, so many things. So my first degree was in physical therapy. So sort of went that traditional physical therapy route, working at the hospital. I worked everywhere from pediatrics to outpatient, and my time at the hospital ended in acute care. I had an injury, so that sort of sat me on the bench. But yeah, then from physical therapy, so I had that injury, and so I started a consulting practice, I guess you would say, where I was just helping other therapists find temporary positions and doing that for my couch while I healed. You know, I'm very much like a okay, quick to pivot, right? What do we need to do now? How do we survive? Yeah, next move. So went from there to eventually starting my own practice, and that was the biggest chunk of my life. Was I specialized? So actually, that injury that I had led me to myofascial release therapy, which is really focusing on the connective tissue in the body, and I trained with John Barnes, who is a they call him the renegade physical therapist. He had like a long gray ponytail and was very, you know, different than the traditional physical therapy world. He talked about our emotions, and he would play drumming songs, and you know, just it was a very different way of practicing physical therapy. So then I opened my myofascial release practice, specializing in women's health and pediatrics, and I did that for 16 years until COVID happened, and then I decided it was time for a switch, and that sort of brought me into the real estate world,
Erica D'Eramo 3:02
yeah, I feel like a lot of folks, myself included, during those that COVID period of time, really had some some big decisions to make, but also some big opportunities because the world was kind of like flipped upside down, and things that we probably would have can you know like talked ourselves out of previously suddenly kind of became options that might be worth pursuing? So,
Megan Bingman 3:28
absolutely, and especially in healthcare, that compassion fatigue was was real. So, putting your family at risk in order to continue to treat you know putting your own health at risk. I I have chronic Lyme, so my immune system is a little wonky. So it was just the first time I really had to make the choice to prioritize my own health, which is still very. I don't, I don't love prioritizing my own self. That was something I really had to do, and it created this pivot, which has been a whole new adventure.
Erica D'Eramo 4:00
Yeah. So tell me a little bit about what that's like. Like, what is it like to kind of rebrand yourself? Like changing not just not just the the title that you use, but like probably parts of your identity, part parts of like your community, parts of your professional network. Like, talk us through that a little bit because I think that that's probably pretty scary to a lot of people.
Megan Bingman 4:29
Yeah, it definitely was, and also going from a business owner where I had a lot of freedom, I had time freedom, I had you know I got to make my own decisions about a lot of things, to then you know being in a more rigid role-that was also a thing. But the most interesting part of it was people saw it as a as a what's that word? Like I want to say downgrade, but that's not right. But maybe it is right. But you know, they were like, "Why would you go from physical therapy to real estate? Like, why would you do that? You know. So really, just and in the first year, I found myself saying like, "Well, in real life, I'm a physical therapist. You know what I mean? Like, I was like, I wasn't still know I was smart. Even when I started here at Treworgy, there was one day they had me helping with the phones, and I could not. I'm not tech-savvy at all. I'm a boomer at heart, and I was trying to work the phones, and I couldn't, and I couldn't transfer it. And I just said, I was the valedictorian of my physical therapy program, right? Like I'm trying to like validate and justify that I'm still smart, even though I'm not using that degree anymore. So it was hard. I feel like it was hard for me to internalize the change as much as for other people to to see me in a different light.
Erica D'Eramo 5:45
Yeah, I mean that speaks a little bit to the identity element as well. Of like, I I feel it too. Sometimes when folks are like, "Wow, engineering to coaching, like, did you just not hack it? Or like, coaching might be some of the biggest, best use of my brain, to be honest. But like, no, I did well. Did well in engineering. Did well in that in coming through up the ranks of operations and leadership. But like, yeah, I sometimes fall back on like I'm still an engineer at heart. Like that is still part of my identity. Like there are elements that are continue to be like a through line, and communicating that to other people, I think, is the challenge, perhaps. And so, for you, like, what was what is the through line that connects some of these transitions, or what? What are your reflections on that.
Megan Bingman 6:42
So I always say, whether I was in physical therapy or real estate or title or a parent or a foster parent, my passion and my purpose is to help people see their own worth. Like that is why I am here on this earth in this lifetime. I want to support others. I want it. Like even in real estate, when someone else got the deal over me, I would call them and congratulate them and be like, "You did such a good job! Like congratulations! A lot of times they'd be like, "Wait, why are you going? Like that's not something people do, right? But I am very motivated by seeing other people win, and so I think that's really been the carryover. And I'm also very motivated by providing a safe place. So in women's health, I specialized in treating women who either had chronic pain or infertility as a result of sexual assault. And so very much, you have to go slow. You have to be the safe place. You have to work at their speed and realize that this is a holistic approach to treatment. Right there's layers of it, and I still use those skills now, even in title, because this is a very emotional process. You know, you could have one side of the table crying, you could have the other side of the table angry. You know, there's a lot of those same. Let me meet you where you are. Let me make sure you feel heard and understood, and I want to make sure everyone leaves the table feeling loved and supported. So that's really the the common theme.
Erica D'Eramo 8:12
Yeah, it's it's fascinating to me from a coaching perspective to see when people are facing down some of these choices in life, like some of these identities have been given to us, or we have inherited them, but they are external to us. So I love hearing you talk about the element of your identity that's really like internally generated, because that's so much more stable when we are the source of our identity, and it's something intrinsic and inherent, and it can't just be taken away. And I've seen so many individuals who have dedicated everything to a company or to a pursuit or to some much more fragile form of identity, only to have it taken away without their own volition, and they find themselves really having to ask some big questions about like who am I if not for this element of my identity if not for working for this company or having this job title or you know having even people who have like 20 direct reports and then there's an org change and all of a sudden they have no direct reports and it's it's kind of a big shift about like what am I even doing here and embarrassment and shame and all of these different elements that come in but if the identity is self generated no one can take that away from you if you are a helper a healer yeah so what are your thoughts
Megan Bingman 9:39
yeah I'm in COVID. When they told me I had to shut down my practice for two weeks, right? It was like when the whole world shut down for those two weeks. I still had rent to pay on my on my building, right? Yeah. There's still overhead. I still own a business, so it doesn't matter that the world has shut down. I still have this overhead, so I had to DoorDash. I had to humble myself, put my hair in a scrunchie, get out there with my mask, and deliver people's chicken nuggets. You know what I mean? Like you got to do what you got to do. But even that, I found joy because I felt like I was still a helper, right? I felt like I was still. There are people out there who are even more immunocompromised than I am, and they can't go out and get food. And I'm going to go and and be the helper and be the person who brings that. So you know, having that internalized motivation really has shaped my life because there are many traumatic events, there are many changes that could have created this like chaos in my life. It could have created this. Who am I, or what is my purpose? But I can always come back to, I'm the helper, right? I I am here to make others feel loved and supported, and you can do that in any job.
Erica D'Eramo 10:53
Yep, yeah, it's uh, it's interesting. It makes me think a lot about like some of the work from Daniel Pink around types of motivation and that that like internal locus of control versus external locus of control and even I mean it's funny somebody asked me today they're like you've probably read Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl and I was like I have read that book yeah but like when people say oh I I I don't have any options. I tried; it didn't work, or I did. It's like even even in cases where you have almost no agency, you still have access to like hope or creativity or the way you're going to relate to it. Like there are, there's always something you have a decision that you can make, and getting scrappy, letting the like ego go to like allow what could be possible. I think is such a more empowering framework to tap into than the like somebody told me no, you know the world told me no, or somebody told me no, or it didn't work out, and I tried. It didn't work. It's like, well, now what? Try something. What's what's the next thing we're gonna try? Like, yeah.
Megan Bingman 12:12
And I learned that early on in physical therapy. Patients who would come in either with a good support system or would come in with a positive attitude always did better than patients who came in and were like, "Woe is me! I have to do this thing, you know. And I was good at motivating people to participate, even when they really didn't want to participate. But it was an uphill battle, and so I really learned that mindset is so much of healing. It's so much of succeeding. It's so much of being human, right? We can control our mindset in every situation. And I remember when I ran my own practice, I had a man call, and usually I worked with only women and children, right? And I had this man call, and he said, you know, I've heard that you're really good at myofascial release. My doctor told me I need myofascial release. I cut off three of my fingers. He was using a chainsaw and accidentally cut off three of his fingers. And he said, "But you know what? I've always wanted to learn piano, and I signed up for lessons. And I let him come in because I was like, 'You are exactly who I want. I want someone who says I don't care what the facts and figures are. I don't care what people say. This is what I'm motivated to do, and I'm going to find a way. So it was all my ladies and him.
Erica D'Eramo 13:21
I love that. I what I mean, what a powerful story too. Like this is my life dream, and I will figure it out some way. And in fact, so I mean, one of my dreams is to write a book at some point. Like I've got drafts going, and so you are inspiring because you wrote a book. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that journey? Because that is a tough journey, like putting out a book,
Megan Bingman 13:41
I feel like such a like an imposter about the book because it's really like a booklet. I did. I learned that 40,000 words is a book, and I think my first version of the book-it's there's now a second edition-was like 40,001 words. I was like, I just wanted to qualify as a book.
Erica D'Eramo 14:00
Can I tell you? These days, I only really can do audio books because, and I I read your your physical book from front to back in like just a couple sittings, and I loved that. I felt so accomplished because I was like, I read a physical book. I read so. Thank you, thank you for your 40,001.
Megan Bingman 14:19
Very good. Oh, I love that. Yeah, a lot of people say I read it in one sitting. Like I just couldn't put it down. I was making dinner with it, and that always makes me feel so good. But yeah, that started kind of unintentionally. Jim had been transferred to Maine, so all of a sudden my practice is closed. I'm up in Maine. We had just lost our foster son. Had lived with us for three years, and that placement failed, so you know I was dealing with the loss of of having a son at home, and I just started journaling as a way of getting it all out. Right, we were lucky enough that my husband's company put us in a lake house, and I would just sit and listen to the waves come in and out on Sabago Lake. And just write, just journal my feelings. And that was when my friend Molly, my dear, dear friend, she works at Penn State, and she said, Megan, if you write a book, I I will use it in my class, and I'll have you come in and teach, and you know the kids will all have to buy the book. So just write it, just write a book, and then they'll. That was very motivating for me. So I just did 1000 words a day. There was no excuses. I just wrote 1000 words a day, and it would usually take a couple hours. And before you knew it, there was a book on the table.
Erica D'Eramo 15:34
So there's the mechanics of putting a book out on the table, and like one of our recent podcast guests this year wrote a book called Story Work about like owning your own story, and that was one thing that really came through to me in reading your book, which is like owning your own story, like being able to take that narrative and put it out there for the healing purposes for other people who might be facing similar challenges, who might be navigating similar choices, and I just think it does take like a lot of pers. It takes a lot of work doing the work. I don't mean just like writing the words. It takes like the internal work of doing it. And so I do want to say like thank you for doing the work and getting that out into the world. Because and for anyone listening, like I highly recommend checking out Megan's book, I think you just had a new edition come out too.
Megan Bingman 16:26
I did, yeah, second edition of Angel in the Marble, and just got a little bit more drama, a little bit extra in there for people, and also just you know a little little better editing. It was my my first my first try out of the gate, but yeah, I'm I'm so glad that I was able to do it. I'm now working on another book that is not about my personal life story, but it's about actually communicating with spirit. So it's called Channeled Answers.
Erica D'Eramo 16:54
That's awesome. I I definitely want at some point to like tell some of these wacky stories I've accumulated over my life, my career. Some of them wacky, some of them maybe a little bit traumatic, and so there is like a memoir project. But the other project, and I think I shared this on LinkedIn recently. I want to do what the cat taught us: leadership lessons from a crazy cat lady, and and part of like what I thought of when that idea bubbled into my head was when you there was some there was one day where I was in a meeting with you and you talked about like wouldn't it be great if we could all just bring the thing that excites us and like for Erica it might be like a little cat and I was like yeah that is my thing that's like my brand, right? And you saw it, and you saw what bring you. I feel like you can see what brings people joy, and that's a real skill.
Megan Bingman 17:49
Yes, yes, and and definitely being able to tune into other people's energies without losing yourself is a skill that it took time to learn, but it is a little bit of my superpower.
Erica D'Eramo 18:02
Yeah. So for folks out there who are maybe facing an identity shift or facing a pivot in their world or in their life, or maybe even considering making a pivot and changing what they do. What are some what are some sage words of advice that you might have based on your own experiences?
Megan Bingman 18:28
I don't know how sage it is, but my best friend and I have a little mantra that we sing to each other. So we say, "Feel, heal, and grow. Surrender to the flow.
Erica D'Eramo 18:37
Oh, I love that.
Megan Bingman 18:40
Quit scared, right? I I really strongly believe that every decision we make is either based in love or fear. Every single decision, if you break it down, you know, fear may look like anger, fear may look like hesitation, fear can look like anything, and love can look like the wrong decision from the outside, right? But really, ask yourself that question when you're making a decision. What is the question? What is the decision that's based in love, and what is the decision that's based in fear? And you will never regret making the decision based in love, even if it doesn't make sense on paper. Because I, I really believe the purpose of this earthly journey is to not give in to fear. Right? Like our highest vibration is, you know, this is interesting. I I used to always say our highest vibration is love, but they've actually done studies, and people vibrate at the highest bandwidth when they're authentic, even more than being loving. So if you are an authentic asshole, am I allowed to say that on the podcast? Yeah. If you're an authentic, not nice person, you're still resonating higher than if you're being fake nice, right? So I think the key is to be loving and authentic, and then then the world is your oyster.
Erica D'Eramo 19:56
I mean that actually that ties into that like highness versus. Is niceness, and I was just having a conversation with a client about this, about them like struggling with some boundary issues, and saying like, ah, but I just I care about them, and I wanted to, but now I'm feeling resentful, and it's like right. Sometimes that people pleasing stuff, that like giving in at the initial, because we don't want the discomfort of saying no might be nice, it might be easy, it might be easy to write that off as being from a place of love, but actually, like what you have just shared is making me think about like it doesn't though. It comes from a place of fear of saying no, or fear of setting a boundary, or fear of upsetting somebody, and oftentimes, like the brave, kind thing to do that is based out of love is setting like a respectful boundary about what you can do and what they can do, and like what what is going to work sustainably for the long term, so that everybody's needs are met and there's reciprocity and people don't feel taken advantage of, or don't end up doing things that they don't want to do, and yeah,
Megan Bingman 21:07
yeah, absolutely. It took a long time because I'm like the queen of people pleasing, and it took a long time for me to realize that people pleasing is a form of manipulation, right? I am doing what I think you want because I want you to behave a certain way for me, and the first time somebody said that, I was like, "That no, but when you really think of that, it is right. It's a it's a form of I'm trying to manipulate your response, and it is based out of fear because the fear of if you are not pleased with me, what's going to happen?
Erica D'Eramo 21:37
Yep.
Megan Bingman 21:37
So that that is a big. That's a hard one.
Erica D'Eramo 21:40
I know there are a lot of people who are like, well, I don't want them to be upset, and it's like you don't get to control that. If they if they're going to be upset, they're going to be upset. It's it is what they get to be upset. They get to own their upset, and you get to set your your boundary. But the I love your con your comment about like it not making sense on paper because definitely pivoting from working in energy, I was actually like really happy at the time, but I knew I was drawn to coaching, right? Like I knew I'd found my calling, and it didn't make sense on paper at all. And I had people saying like, "You're you are crazy. Like this is you're crazy. Are you okay? Like what are you doing? This is wild. I still remember too, and this person actually like liked one of my posts recently or liked something, but a a manager several levels up said this must be a generational thing to like go follow your calling. My generation never did anything like this. I'm like, I think you're like six years older than me. I don't. What are I don't know what we're talking about. But it is just based on I had to take the leap of assuming if I step the the rock will be there, right? And I know that I was privileged to be able to do that and to like have a little bit of a buffer. But even if it was scary, even if there wasn't that, you know, there wasn't a ton of buffer. There was like a little buffer, and I really had to reconcile. Like I would prefer to live my life knowing I didn't, I don't have a bunch of what ifs, even if it means I try and I fail and I gotta come back to engineering at some point, right? Like that. That's okay. That's okay.
Megan Bingman 23:25
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I did it with zero buffer, right? My when I opened my own practice, I I had no. It was leap, and the net will appear. That's all there was to it. But I was a single mother. I knew I couldn't make enough in a traditional physical therapy setting, and have enough time with my daughter. I wanted Wednesdays off to spend with her because the weekend she was with her dad. I wanted to be able to be there when school got out so that I could pick her up. I wanted to put her on the bus in the morning, and the only way to do that to make those hours was to work for myself. So it was I had to make it work.
Erica D'Eramo 24:01
Yeah,
Megan Bingman 24:02
and I think I think leap in the net will appear is it works nine times out of 10.
Erica D'Eramo 24:09
I I always say like I'm not risk averse. I am risk informed. So I do think like we want to know what happens if the risk if the net doesn't appear. But I also think that people people have a false dichotomy around like oh this is the risky decision and this is the not risky decision but they are both risky just in different ways staying in a in a role that doesn't give you autonomy that chips away at your like mental health your physical health that doesn't allow you to establish the relationship you want with your daughter, that sounds high risk to me. It's just about what we're measuring, right?
Megan Bingman 24:47
Absolutely.
Erica D'Eramo 24:49
Yeah. So they're all risky for all all our risk averse people out there. Don't worry, it's all risk. It's all risky. Just about which ones we want to choose. So. So, if you were to summarize the key thesis here for our listeners to take away, what what might that be?
Megan Bingman 25:10
I would say, and I did this for a while. Make a note of the thought you're having every time your soul lights up. Right when you think about something that you're like, that that sounds awesome. Like that really excites me. Make a list of those things, and it it is a roadmap that will guide you. I mean, I think my list had everything from like playing guitar. I love playing guitar. Like that lights me up. And the idea of teaching chair yoga at a nursing home that was so exciting to me. And you know, just all these random things, and then you add them together and think, well, why? Like, what's the common thing about each of those things that excites me? Right. I love the idea of making people feel happy by hearing a song that they love. Right. I love like the memories because my dad taught me how to play guitar, and I remember the songs that he taught me. Right. I loved the idea. I loved the idea of working with the elderly and showing them that they can still move and get stronger no matter how old they are. So really, looking at that list, I realized that my why was supporting people, making other people feel like they can take on the world. And so that was a huge aha moment for me because I realized that I I really could do that in any job, so that would be my advice for people. Is every time you get that little glimmer of like, oh man, that sounds fun. Like right now, I'm planning a doggy drag show. I oh yeah, and that like is a huge glimmer for me, right? And I'm like, okay, so that's something I'm gonna do because it let me, it lights me up, you know. I really, really believe the purpose of life is joy, so you got to just follow your joy. You got to follow your bliss.
Erica D'Eramo 26:45
Yeah, ugh, I know it's it's too short to to do otherwise. Like I really believe, like every dollars, yes, they get us food on the table and heat in our houses. And honestly, like you'll lose money, you'll gain money. You can never get back the time and like the the joy that you could get from those hours on this earth, like with your loved ones doing things that light you up. So yes, follow the joy. Well, I would. I also want to make sure, like we share with our listeners how they can check out your stuff. So, if they wanted to say read your book or maybe connect with you, if they're in Maine and they are looking to say close on a house and they want a real like they they want a team that they can trust, how would how would folks find you?
Unknown Speaker 27:35
So, the book is currently on Amazon. I know not everybody loves Amazon, so they can also get the book through me directly, and then I'm on all the social media things. So Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram. You can find me on Instagram. I believe it's my name, Megan Bingman, and then I also have Megan D. Closer just the closing content. And then Facebook is my name, Megan Bingman. So yeah,
Erica D'Eramo 28:01
cool. Well, and we will also link in the show notes and on the on the website where folks can find a summary of this episode. They can find the full detailed transcript if they want, and they can find links to connect with you. So I really appreciate you coming on and talking about your journey and and following the joy, following the why, and and taking taking some ownership over that identity. So, thank you so much, Megan.
Megan Bingman 28:26
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
Erica D'Eramo 28:30
Yeah, and for our listeners, we will see you next episode.
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Guided by Your Why Through Personal and Professional Pivots
Two Piers Podcast
In this episode of the Two Piers Podcast, Erica D’Eramo is joined by Megan Bingman to talk about personal and professional pivots, identity, risk, purpose, and what it means to be guided by your “why” when life changes direction.
Megan has worn many hats across her career: physical therapist, myofascial release practitioner, women’s health therapist, yoga teacher, author, professor of practice at Penn State, and now closer and marketer for Real Estate Closing Services. Her path has included injuries, business ownership, foster parenting, chronic illness, COVID-era decisions, and a major career shift into the real estate world.
Throughout the conversation, Erica and Megan explore how our job titles may change, while the deeper thread of who we are can remain surprisingly steady.
A Career Built Through Pivots
Megan begins by sharing that her first degree was in physical therapy. She worked in a range of settings, including pediatrics, outpatient care, and acute care. After an injury temporarily took her out of traditional clinical work, she pivoted quickly, first into helping other therapists find temporary positions while she healed, and later into starting her own practice.
That injury also led her to myofascial release therapy, a form of bodywork focused on the connective tissue. Megan trained with John Barnes, whose approach was quite different from the traditional physical therapy world she had known. His work included a more holistic view of the body, emotions, and healing.
Megan went on to open her own myofascial release practice, specializing in women’s health and pediatrics. She ran that practice for 16 years before COVID became the next major turning point.
When COVID Forces a Different Kind of Decision
Like many people, Megan found herself facing major decisions during the pandemic. In healthcare, the risks were particularly complex. She was weighing the needs of her clients, the financial realities of running a practice, her family’s safety, and her own health.
Megan lives with chronic Lyme, which affects her immune system, so continuing in hands-on healthcare during that period carried added risk. She describes that moment as one of the first times she had to consciously prioritize her own health.
That choice eventually led her into the real estate world, which became a new professional chapter and a new identity shift.
Rebranding Yourself After a Career Change
Erica asks Megan what it was like to rebrand herself, not just in terms of title, but in terms of identity, community, and professional network.
Megan shares that the transition was difficult. She had gone from business ownership, where she had a great deal of autonomy, into a more structured role. She also had to navigate other people’s assumptions about the change.
Some people questioned why she would go from physical therapy into real estate. Megan found herself explaining, and sometimes defending, that she was still smart and capable even though she was no longer using her physical therapy degree in the same way.
That part of the conversation will likely resonate with anyone who has made a career change and felt the need to prove that the pivot was intentional, valid, or connected to a larger purpose.
The Through Line: Helping People See Their Own Worth
When Erica asks what connects the different chapters of Megan’s life and career, Megan names a clear through line: her passion and purpose are to help people see their own worth.
That purpose has shown up in different ways. In physical therapy, it showed up through creating safe, supportive spaces for women navigating chronic pain, infertility, and trauma. In real estate and title work, it shows up through helping people feel heard and supported during what can be a very emotional process.
For Megan, the setting may change, but the purpose remains. She wants people to leave an interaction feeling cared for, respected, and more grounded in their own value.
Erica connects this to identity. Some identities are external, such as job titles, employers, roles, or status markers. Those can shift quickly. A company can reorganize. A title can disappear. A career path can change. But when identity is rooted internally, in something like being a helper, healer, guide, or supporter, it becomes harder for external circumstances to take it away.
Finding Purpose in Any Role
Megan offers a memorable example from the early days of COVID. When her practice had to close temporarily, she still had business overhead to cover. So she started DoorDashing.
Even in that moment, she found a way to connect the work to her purpose. She saw herself as helping people who might be more immunocompromised or unable to go out for food themselves. Delivering chicken nuggets could still be an act of service.
That story illustrates one of the episode’s central points: when you know your deeper why, you can often find ways to express it across roles, titles, and circumstances.
Mindset, Healing, and Choosing the Next Move
Erica and Megan also discuss mindset, agency, and the choices available even when life feels constrained.
Megan saw the role of mindset early in her physical therapy career. Patients who came in with strong support systems or a more hopeful orientation often had a different experience from those who felt defeated before beginning. Megan became skilled at motivating people to participate in their own healing, even when the process was hard.
She shares the story of a man who had cut off three fingers in a chainsaw accident and still wanted to learn piano. His determination made an impression on her because he was focused less on what the facts appeared to say and more on what he was motivated to pursue.
That story becomes a window into the larger theme of the episode: there may be real constraints, but there is often still some next move available. The question becomes what we do from here.
Writing a Book and Owning the Story
Erica and Megan also talk about Megan’s book, Angel in the Marble, which began as journaling during a difficult period.
After Megan’s husband was transferred to Maine, her practice had closed, and she was grieving the loss of a foster placement that had been part of her family’s life for three years. While staying near Sebago Lake, she began writing as a way to process what she was feeling.
A friend at Penn State encouraged her to turn the writing into a book and offered to use it in class if Megan completed it. That encouragement gave Megan a concrete reason to keep going. She committed to writing 1,000 words a day, and eventually, a book took shape.
Erica reflects on the deeper work involved in putting a personal story into the world. Writing a book is not only about producing words. It can also involve doing the internal work of owning the story, shaping the narrative, and sharing it in a way that may support other people navigating something similar.
Megan has since released a second edition of Angel in the Marble and is working on another book, Channeled Answers.
Fear, Love, and Authenticity
When Erica asks what Megan would say to people facing an identity shift or life pivot, Megan shares a mantra she uses with her best friend: “Feel, heal, and grow. Surrender to the flow.”
She also talks about the role of fear and love in decision-making. In Megan’s view, many decisions can be examined through that lens. Is this choice coming from fear, or is it coming from love?
Erica connects this to boundary-setting and people-pleasing. Sometimes a decision can look “nice” on the surface but actually come from fear: fear of disappointing someone, fear of saying no, fear of upsetting another person. A loving choice may sometimes involve setting a respectful boundary so that the relationship or commitment remains sustainable.
Megan adds that it took her a long time to understand people-pleasing as a form of trying to manage someone else’s response. That realization can be uncomfortable, but it can also create more room for honesty, authenticity, and healthier relationships.
Risk-Informed, Not Risk-Averse
The conversation also turns toward risk.
Megan describes opening her own practice with no financial buffer because she needed a way to support herself and have more time with her daughter. The traditional physical therapy path did not give her the schedule or income structure she needed as a single mother. Working for herself became the way forward.
Erica names her own approach as being risk-informed rather than risk-averse. Every major choice carries risk. Staying in a role that harms your mental health, limits your autonomy, or pulls you away from what matters most is also risky. It may simply be a type of risk people are more accustomed to accepting.
The question is not whether there is risk. There is always risk. The question is which risks we are choosing, what we are measuring, and what matters enough to move toward.
Following the Glimmers
Near the end of the episode, Megan offers a practical exercise for listeners.
She suggests making a note every time something lights you up. It might be a thought, an idea, a project, a dream, or even something that seems random at first. Over time, those moments can become a kind of roadmap.
Megan gives examples from her own life, including playing guitar, teaching chair yoga at a nursing home, and planning a doggy drag show. On the surface, those may seem unrelated. But when she looked more closely, she could see a pattern: she loves helping people feel joy, capability, connection, and possibility.
That pattern helped her identify her why. Once she could see it, she realized she could live it out in many different roles.
Final Takeaway
This episode is a reminder that a career pivot does not have to mean abandoning who you are. Sometimes it can reveal the deeper thread that was there all along.
For Megan, that thread is helping people feel loved, supported, and aware of their own worth. Whether she is working in healthcare, writing, teaching, real estate, parenting, or simply showing up for another person, that purpose continues to guide her.
For listeners navigating their own changes, Megan’s advice is to pay attention to what lights you up. Those small moments of joy, energy, and curiosity may be pointing toward something more durable than any single job title.