Building Resilience
Issue 12: Bouncing Back From Adversity With The Help of Evy Poumpouras's "Becoming Bulletproof"
Welcome to Spark Siren, where stories inspire impact ✨
Spark Siren’s slogan, “Inspiring Impact”, has very much to do with accessing content that inspires change. Although it might seem simple to grasp when reading these books, understanding the theory is often not enough to fully commit to creating a different life for ourselves. This week’s book though, gives us not only the full understanding but also incorporates the practical approach to help us get over that initial hurdle that can prevent so many of us from moving forward with our visions for life.
The life lessons from a secret service agent will have you moving from feeling fear to embracing the challenge and moving past it with growth and confidence. Evy Poumpouras, a former secret service agent, wrote this book as a part memoir and part self-help book where she takes readers through the steps of what it means to grow into a person of confidence. Handling stressful circumstances, building on your emotional intelligence, as well as understanding your environment to best help you navigate your situation, are all themes she addresses in her book.
Evy Poumpouras discusses her own experience from working in the Secret Service, and derives the practical approaches for us to use in our own daily lives. An overall message that stood out to me, was to practice overcoming fear so that we can start living the life that we’re inspired to create. This was a book that I referred to when I felt I needed it. The personal anecdotes alongside her practical advice, helped me resurface that confidence in myself. Of course, it requires us to then actually apply those steps to achieve the mindset fully, however, I found that this book was far more inspirational than I initially thought it would be. So, I’m sharing it with you this week.
In this email we’ll cover:
The Book of The Week
Quotes and Questions to Reflect On
Insights and Inspiration
Fear can be a limiting influence on our lives. It can prevent us from pursuing goals that we long to go after, from speaking openly and honestly, from being who we’re truly meant to be.” - Evy Poumpouras, “Becoming Bulletproof”
What’s New?
Book of the Week:
Becoming Bulletproof by Evy Poumpouras
Genre:
Non-Fiction/ Self-Help/ Memoir
Synopsis:
Evy Poumpouras takes us through her journey to establishing herself as a Secret Service agent. This includes the training she underwent, her trials, challenges, professional experience, and what she learned along the way. Although her personal experience is prominently positioned in this reading, it is the lessons that she learned throughout her experience that truly shine throughout this book. It becomes clear that Poumpouras is not only sharing the experiences that helped shape who she is today, but also showcases her passion to helping readers become better and more powerful versions of themselves.
Why We Love It:
There’s something so fascinating to learn about women who work in environments that are more typically perceived as male-dominated professions, as she’s showcasing how powerful we can be as individuals regardless of gender identity. Evy Poumpouras not only shares her incredible journey but writes in such a way that readers can immerse themselves in the lessons that she’s learned along the way. She comes across as a teacher with an incredible determination to generate impact.
She’s skilled in so many facets of life and graciously shares them with readers in a comprehensible and intelligent way. I thoroughly enjoy consuming any content of hers that I can find, simply because all her skills and experience have allowed her to share her stories from the heart. These stories can benefit readers to become stronger and more resilient versions of themselves in their everyday lives, when they learn and apply what she’s teaching.
Improving ourselves to the point where we are growing a little bit more every day requires work. However, sometimes the direction or practices we need to implement are unclear. Evy Poumpouras gives readers a sense of direction by clearly dividing each component to bettering ourselves into individual chapters, and building on them from one point to the other in this book. This book is so well-written, and it’s inspirational to see strong women share their experiences and lives in a way that can reach people who may feel stuck or afraid to move the needle forward. She’s a genuine teacher.
Key Message:
When I pulled this book off of my shelf, there were parts of me that were crippled by fear that I knew I needed to address. As Evy says in one of the podcast interviews that she had done, “Kill the fear while it’s still small,” I took that to heart and started to delve into books that could give me the information I needed that make those initial steps forward. Starting, of course, with her very own Becoming Bulletproof: Life Lessons From A Secret Service Agent.
This book helps readers to know themselves, know their environment, and gives them the tools that they’ll need to better themselves. Each step taken will over time lead to a much more fearless and confident version of ourselves, if the advice is taken. The first step towards any sort of forward movement is taking those initial steps outside of your comfort zone. What I find that Evy does very well, is she encourages readers to embrace fear so that stepping outside of their comfort zone and embracing challenges becomes easier. As she states in the book, “The best way to manage fear is preparation,” in which her book advises the theory behind the actions.
Our degree of fear can be adjusted. The more we expand our comfort zone by showing up and taking on challenges, the more that we can approach situations confidently. Our degree of fear can depend on the situation, of course. However, the goal should be to not allow fear to prevent us from taking steps towards a life that we feel inclined to lead. By expanding our comfort zones, as Evy states, “It isn’t hiding from the things we’re afraid of – its facing them head-on, taking responsibility for our safety, and giving ourselves the tools and the knowledge we need to manage any situation that might come our way. It’s about confidence, personal strength, and self-sufficiency.” We’re learning to manage our insecurities and fears, so that when the opportunity to live the life that we see for ourselves arrives, we won’t hesitate to take it.
Quotes and Questions To Reflect On
Quote of the Week:
“Fear can be a limiting influence in our lives. It can prevent us from pursuing our goals that we long go after, from speaking openly and honestly, from being who we’re truly meant to be.” Evy Poumpouras, Becoming Bulletproof
Reflection Questions:
Do you feel that you sometimes hold yourself back from taking the action that you know you need to take to bring you closer to your goals?
What chapters of the book did you feel you resonated with most?
What advice offered can you apply the lessons from this book to your own life?
Take a moment to think about these questions and add your answers to the comments bellow!
Insights and Inspiration
Author Spotlight:
Evy Poumpouras
Background:
Evy Poumpouras is well-known today for a number of things, but mainly for her work as an author, an adjunct lecturer for the City University of New York, as well as a national media contributor who covers national security, law enforcement and crime. However, her former work as a Secret Service agent is what she discusses most within this read. She has several educational qualifications to add to her already impressive resume, including an MS inn Journalism from Columbia University, and an MA in Forensic Psychology.
Beyond the Book:
If you have the time, The Diary of a CEO has a great interview with Evy Poumpouras that would be worth listening to if you haven’t yet read the book and are looking to gauge more with the author:
Closing Remarks
Spark Siren is all about finding stories that inspire impact, however, all those stories stem very much from the individuals who feel that pull to move beyond themselves and challenge themselves to become overall better people.
This read, if you need an idea of where you take your first steps, is one that I would recommend for that. Evy Poumpouras has an informative approach that is heavily backed with her own experiences and knowledge, which may not only inspire women to step outside of their comfort zones but also the societal parameters that may be making us more apprehensive.
Really taking personal responsibility for ourselves and being open to learning more so that we can improve over time will not only help us build more confidence but overall a more fulfilling life. Although Evy discusses experiences that are extreme in nature, and that many of us won’t have to endure, the rules and advice still apply.
Being the best versions of ourselves will require us to take action that can help us learn more and achieve more in the end. It begins with our mindset, and then it trickles down into the choices we make, and actions we take. Remember, the earlier we are willing to fail, the sooner we’ll know which direction aligns more with us, so that we know better which actions to take.
Until Next Time!
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Keep living life on your terms!
Warm regards,
June Tara
Founder of Spark Siren