Exploring Life & Business with Brianna Murray of TrustWealth Strategies

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brianna Murray.

Hi Brianna, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Decatur, Indiana – a relatively small town that is safe, quiet, and where people are friendly. I could never quite put my finger on it, but, even as a young girl, I felt that I couldn’t fit into the mold that I was being asked to fit into. I’ve held true to honoring my family and have valued tradition throughout my life. But, unwaveringly, I felt split. I’d always felt as though the “outside world” wasn’t as off-limits as everyone around me had made it seem. I wanted to hold onto the self-identity I’d had, while wanting to someday, somehow, get out into the world and explore.

In December 2019, when I was 23 years old and was presented with the opportunity to travel with my job. I remember loading up my small SUV and mapping out the route to Boston on my GPS, I often look back on that solo road trip (the first of many) and laugh at myself. Not in a, “gosh, you’re so funny” way, but in an, “Oh, you sweet girl, you didn’t know what you didn’t know” way. Growing up, my parents didn’t have the means to take us on many vacations. My parents were high school sweethearts and married young. My father has had a long career in auto mechanics and my mother was an office secretary until she, later, got her RN.

I did not know that Boston, MA was on the coast. Like, the very edge of the east coast.

I remember as I got closer to the city, maybe an hour away, I thought it was odd that my map was showing the vast Atlantic Ocean. “What, the roads are just…ending? Oh wow, am I far away from anything that I know: cornfields and flatland”. This little blip in time is important to my story because it highlights my character: Being eager to do something a bit outlandish, without having a plan or looking at the roadmap beforehand. I felt this freeing, powerful aura about myself. I was unstoppable. Boston wasn’t ready for me.

Quite the contrary.

I’d struggled to find a safe place to live. I was humbly knocked down and reminded that I am merely a spec on the world’s map. I was no longer someone of slight significance in a town where your last name tells your whole story you,

The trip was not smooth. During the last four hours of my drive to New England, I was clutching my steering wheel, completely white-knuckled at 10 and 2. It was January and the treacherous winter weather was in full effect. I would not stop, I would not pull over. I needed to be on-site, at the hospital, by 7 am the next morning, And hell or high water (in this case, a snow blizzard) I was going to be there.

In Indiana, Ramada hotels aren’t too shabby. So, that’s where I decided I was going to stay for my first night in Boston. Are you laughing with me, yet? The hotel reeked of cigarettes and, it was there, that my virgin eyes had taken witness to their first heroin needle sighting. What. Had. I. Gotten. Myself. Into? I don’t think I’d slept that night, I had my pink .22 loaded underneath the pillow next to me. Thank goodness no one came in that night, because my shot is terrible. I blame it on my weak ocular muscles, but maybe it’s actually just poor coordination.

In the next month, I’d scored the roommate lottery of the century and moved in with the most wholesome couple to ever exist. I could breathe again. They took me under their wings – this girl who was crazy enough to leave home and accept a job at the city’s innermost hospital. They introduced me to their friends and families. Took me on local trips to Maine and New Hampshire and Cape Cod. Even coached me on pronouncing New England’s odd town names, so I could fit in a little better.

My life was changing radically. My adult self was more than ready; she was elated. My child side of me was saying, “Wait, you forgot to ask if I was okay, first”.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s impossible to tell my story without its preface. Chronologically, this is how my story played out. I’d been running full speed ahead while not looking ahead to where I was going. What happens when someone does this? They inevitably trip over something, maybe sillily run into the family dog at a cookout, or they do what I did. They hit a giant cement wall that leaves them battered and unable to get back up for a period of time. Maybe they reflect on what they could have done differently to avoid the thing from ever happening again. They think, “How could I have let this happen?”. And that’s exactly what I did – for months. I examined myself, my life, and the undoings that needed to be done.

I used to have a deep, deep shame around admitting that I have Major Depressive Disorder. Still, even typing those words and reading them back creates an eyesore, for me. It feels unfair. It’s the equivalent of a red scarlet letter but in the psyche/personality realm. It’s a warning to people around me to stay back as if I’m a loose cannon that no one wants to be near when it fires in an un-proclaimed direction. I used to believe that it deemed me as dangerous. I hope you’ve taken note of the past tense.

Depression isn’t a cute hashtag – it’s anything BUT cute. It’s f***ing dark and lonely and horrific. But, it is the epitome of feeling. It is the pinnacle of being human. It is not going along with the “norm,” just because. It’s saying “Wait a minute, this doesn’t make sense…”. It doesn’t allow aim for avoidance. And what does the world demand of us? To avoid this, be careful not to feel too much, and don’t be so human. NO WONDER why I’d never felt I could fit the mold I was asked to fit into. My very core rejected it. It said, “This doesn’t feel right, don’t fall in line, you’ll never make it with the way you’re designed”.

It’s always intrigued me that physically handicapped persons, more times than not, come around to calling their handicap a blessing. As ironic and wrap-it-up-in-a-pretty-bow as it sounds, Major Depression IS my blessing. It allows me to look someone in the eye who is ‘feeling too much’ and ‘being too human’. In those moments, I get to remind them that their thoughts and emotions are valid. That our environment is inhabitable and we aren’t broken for recognizing this. And sure, anyone can speak such words. But, the power I hold is the credibility behind, “I know, me too”.

Maybe I’m alone on this, but isn’t it interesting that we aren’t able to see things clearly until we step back, remove ourselves, and look in from the outside? That’s what living in Boston, and later Seattle, allowed me to do: step back, remove myself, and look in from the out. I felt as though I was able to see my whole life on a neatly organized timeline. This happened after this and before that because of ABC which led to XYZ. Clarity! Clarity sounds refreshing, but for me, it was a nightmare. I was in the midst of losing my blissful ignorance. I was stepping into individualized ownership and peeking under the bandages of old, yet all-to-fresh wounds.

My all-time favorite author, Glennon Doyle, referred to herself as a canary in a coal mine, in her book, Love Warrior. In the early mining years, a canary was kept in the caves with the men. This all-knowing bird could sense when the mine was going to implode. It would let out a loud cry and fly out of the mine, giving fair warning to the men to get the heck out immediately. I don’t know that I’ve ever related to a text or an animal as closely as I did when I read this. I’ve been screaming, “Get out! Something isn’t right! It’s not safe here!” my whole life. But, there was no mine and no visible threat.

So, what was the threat? Alas, my family’s deeply rooted traumas. I come from a line of emotionally fragile human beings who armor themselves with hurtful words that all but punch you in the gut upon hearing them. As a young girl, I knew that I was going to be the one to break the tumultuous cycles. How? No idea. Did it sound fun? Nope. I just knew. And wow, what an immense responsibility and privilege to carry.

I call it a privilege, because, it’s as if my grandparents, and parents, had put in the backbreaking work to pave the road ahead. Before the road was smooth, they inevitably tired and decided their work was done. They felt peace in knowing that their contribution may not have helped them directly, but would help their descendants. Being one of the descendants, got to walk up to the road and see that it was able to drive on. I wouldn’t get injured or even die from being on it. It just wasn’t quite optimal, yet. It needed perfecting. And what a privilege to be able to come, as some sort of design architect, and critique the laymen’s hard work. Without the backbreaking, laborious days and nights, there would be nothing to perfect. There would only be starting from scratch with additional years and generations of backbreaking work.

My life, eventually, came to a screeching halt during the summer of 2020. It was then that I recognized it was time to stop critiquing the work that had been completed before me. Now, it was my turn to pick up my tools and start chipping away at the issues.

It seems as though 2o20 was a year no one liked nor wants to reflect on. For me, it was the year of my most profound reflections that I will not bury, I was actually comforted by the fact that the world needed to slow down and I could catch my breath and find my footing without being looked at, as strangely, as I may have under normal circumstances. Thank GOD I got the Rona and was forced into quarantine. It was during this time that I finally called a doctor and asked for help. I had finally stopped running from my own shadow. The sobs I let out when the voice on the other end provided comfort must have alarmed anyone walking down the street at the time.

During my quarantine, I had this powerful knowing that what I had come to Boston to accomplish, personally, had been done and, now, it was time to level up. I had lived in Boston for nearly a year, and, I feared that if I’d stay, I would lose traction on this new, terrifying endeavor that I needed to conquer. That is when I chose to accept a new job in Seattle. This is what I had written in my journal prior to packing up (again) and moving clearly across the country:

“I woke up this morning to a rainy drizzle, I’ve just recently come to realize that I love rain. And mountains. And nighttime. Rain, mountains, nighttime. They all demand less of me, I can cover up and be less exposed… What will it be like there? Who will I meet? Will I find love? Will I be ready for it? Is this the ‘right’ move? When will I be ready to go home? When will I get to be freely me?”

A dear friend of mine mailed me the said journal and included a note that read: “You are not alone. You are loved… for who you are and who you are to be”.

We’ve been impressed with TrustWealth Strategies, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At the end of 2022, I decided to leave the career I had begun with my college degree. It was in the medical field as a surgical technologist. I was around the age of seven when my mom returned to school for her RN degree. I watched her study for her classes and exams. I helped her go through her flashcards. Naturally, I wanted to do exactly what my mom was doing when I grew up. After high school, I went to the same university as my mom had in years prior.

And then, at the age of 26, I realized it just wasn’t scratching my itch. It wasn’t actually my dream to work in healthcare, as it was her dream to be a nurse. I was inspired by her having a dream – I wanted one, too.

Fast forward to the present day, when I’ve found what makes me tick. It’s within the finance and sales world. TrustWealth Strategies is a small, yet mighty, financial planning practice. It offers everything, plus the kitchen sink, to its clients. These are clients who range widely from blue-collar to white-collar. I mentioned, prior, that my family didn’t have the means to take my brothers and me on many vacations. I, also, mentioned that it was my responsibility to break certain generational cycles. One of these cycles is financial instability. I smile when someone tells me that they don’t have enough money to invest. “That’s only for the rich”. This gives me the platform to inform them that being comfortable in their finances allows for calmness in their home and irreplaceable experiences outside of it. With the elimination of financial worries, they get to be their full selves in front of those that they love. I get to be the first person to tell them this is not impossible nor out of reach.

TrustWealth Strategies offers long-term financial planning. Clients aren’t just clients to us, they are opportunities for lifelong relationships. We provide the tools to maximize retirement and investment funds – something that typically isn’t thought about until closer to retirement age. I think it’s widely known, now, that beginning investments as early as possible is best. Each financial plan is designed and orchestrated to custom-fit the investee. What stood out to me, most, about the workings of the firm was that there was no pressuring or rushing those that they helped. Financial decisions are usually pretty heavy, so, it felt right to join a team that didn’t consist of overly exuberant salesmen, but rather, calm and professional advisors.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I have learned to go with the tide, instead of swimming against it. I have learned that if a lesson or an opportunity is placed in front of me, it was placed very intentionally. I have learned that I am not nearly as great as I once thought I was. And thank goodness, because once we think we’re at the top, we don’t put in the work anymore.

We become complacent and stop evolving. I recently heard something profound on a podcast, it was, “May I never fully arrive”. Meaning, may I never completely get to where I’m going and show up perfectly. May there always be perfecting to do and adaptation to be overcome?

Pricing:

• Consultation $100

Contact Info:

• Website: www.twealth.com
• Instagram: @briannnamurray

Image Credits
Sean Blake Photography seanblakephotography.com and Demi Brunner Photography