"Family" Sara Im

As I continue to progress on this podcast journey, I find myself feeling so fortunate to be able to have these types of conversations with such interesting, unique, and amazing people. Sara Im was my latest guest and we had a beautiful conversation about family, hope, love, and the importance of keeping the right mindset to overcome the difficulties life throws at us. Sara led with "family" as her most important value, but a big part of that was rooted in the value of hope. For Sara the love and duty she felt for her family kept her motivated and hopeful that life will always get better. This is especially impactful coming from her, since she was a survivor of the "Killing Fields" in Cambodia. Sara was held captive by the Khmer Rouge Communist regime for 4 years and endured harsh working conditions, working all day in rice fields under intense heat, with very little food or sleep, and at one point was sent to a death camp for the severely sick. Fortunately for her she was able to recover and escape but about 2 million people died of homicide, diseases & starvation during that period. Given that experience, it was absolutely amazing to get to deep dive into her values and approach to life. She was so gracious to answer my questions as I probed and explored how she tried to keep hope alive during that horrible time.  We talked about the values that her family, her culture, and her belief in God instilled in her, which she believed allowed her to make it through. We also talked about the challenges in having those beliefs-- did she only value family so much because she was taught to do so, did she only believe in the power of hope because she was lucky enough to get out, and did she only trust in God because it was easier to do that than to face the reality of the world? Sara had really insightful responses to all of those questions and ultimately explained why no matter what, she always believes things will get better (even if they might not). I really hope you enjoy this episode and I thank you for taking the time to listen to it.  If you want to learn more about Sara and her life, please visit her website at https://www.saraim.com