We recently had the chance to connect with Sequoyah Branham and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sequoyah , thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
Right now is a busy season on the ranch, especially for my husband. So my morning starts early fumbling my way through making him breakfast with sleep still heavy in my eyes. I send him off with a kiss and then get my morning coffee–black. Nursing it in one hand I reply to some texts that came in after I had already gone to bed the night before. Then it’s time to wad up in a coffee chair in the living room with my Bible, a blue pen, and my journal.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a ranch girl–raised on one and married a cowboy–and I’m an author of real ranch (fiction) stories. As I beat the brush on my trusty gelding, flank calves with my husband, or hunt a water leak in the pasture I’m thinking of how these things will push my characters to deal with trials inside themselves. These seemingly ordinary things don’t usually make the news, but they’re the little moments in our lives where we have to wrestle with ourselves and God and grow.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
That I was behind. I’m from a long line of cowboys, but I didn’t take to being horseback until I was close to twelve years old. By the time I decide I really enjoyed it I felt behind. My dad had already started his first young horse by the time he was my age, he was roping way better than I was by my age, and the list goes on.
I struggled with that past my childhood. Slowly as I grew in other areas of my life I realized I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I’m doing things that other people in my family have never done before (writing books) at my age or older!
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I went through a period of eighteen months or so that it felt like every three or four weeks my life was falling apart in some big way. As I slowly began to creep out of that and trust that good things can stay in my life, I realized all the little things that clicked into place during that hard time.
Connections I’d made that served me well, healing that had come even when it didn’t feel like it, and relationships deepened–those things thought me to see the good in the hard seasons. They are still hard seasons, but being thankful through them helps soak up the best of each day.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
“Do more.” I’ve bought into it to and still catch myself. We cram pack our days full to the brim. We’re doing so many things that we don’t soak up what is at hand.
I am focusing my efforts on finding fewer things that make steps in the right direction. I want to spend time making good meals and enjoying the people in front of me, craft good books that stand the test of time, and have good conversations with close friends.
There’s a lot more I could do, but more doesn’t always get us where we want to go.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
I am embracing a slower pace. In releasing books, in training my horses, in my day-to-day chores, I am embracing a slower pace. I believe I won’t burn out and will have a healthier life and business in ten years because of slowing down.
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Madeline Alvey
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