Recovery is more than just a physical process; it's a transformative journey that can reshape your entire life. Joining me, Kristi Falany, I share the intimate details of my path to wellness following foot surgery, an experience that's as much about rediscovering joy and purpose as it is about healing. This episode is a candid exploration of the personal shifts that come with bodily healing, the pivotal decisions that lead to a life reimagined, and the rediscovery of self amidst the tumult of change.
As your guide and confidant, I open up about the wisdom found in life's quieter moments and the unexpected strength gained from reaching out for support. It's a discussion that promises to uplift and inspire, whether you're navigating your own health challenges, reevaluating your career, or simply seeking to embrace the present. Together, let's cast aside catastrophic thinking and find grounding in our collective human experience. So, let's connect, learn, and grow as we embark on this healing journey, reminding ourselves of the vibrant individuals we are meant to be.
Recovery is more than just a physical process; it's a transformative journey that can reshape your entire life. Joining me, Kristi Falany, I share the intimate details of my path to wellness following foot surgery, an experience that's as much about rediscovering joy and purpose as it is about healing. This episode is a candid exploration of the personal shifts that come with bodily healing, the pivotal decisions that lead to a life reimagined, and the rediscovery of self amidst the tumult of change.
As your guide and confidant, I open up about the wisdom found in life's quieter moments and the unexpected strength gained from reaching out for support. It's a discussion that promises to uplift and inspire, whether you're navigating your own health challenges, reevaluating your career, or simply seeking to embrace the present. Together, let's cast aside catastrophic thinking and find grounding in our collective human experience. So, let's connect, learn, and grow as we embark on this healing journey, reminding ourselves of the vibrant individuals we are meant to be.
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Speaker 1:
Hi, I am Christy Ballard-Fellaini. I am a certified life coach who found herself at 42, freshly divorced kids off to college, and having never dated in my adult life, I was starting in the middle. If you haven't yet hit start on your middle time in life, let's do it together. Let the journey begin. Hello, my friends, welcome back to another episode of Start in the Middle.
Speaker 1:
I am your host, christy Fellaini, and, in case we have not been properly introduced, I am a certified life coach who loves helping women create a life that they love. I help them to create powerful decisions around any type of lifestyle change that they may be going through. Maybe it looks like you're going through empty nest. Maybe it looks like you are going through a divorce I, too, went through a divorce, so we are together in good company. Maybe it looks like you are in a career that is no longer serving you. Those are the type of powerful decisions. Those are the different types of lifestyles where we find that if we don't make powerful decisions on how to move forward, we can find ourselves in a place where we feel stuck. I also help women create bonding relationships, relationships where they are truly connecting with the people that are in their lives, and all of this is to say to help them to rediscover the joy that they want in their lives. So if you have been following me for any amount of time, you know that a lot of times, what I share with you here on the podcast is things that I am personally going through, things that I am struggling with in my own life, but also where I have seen breakthroughs and where I have overcome specific problems, and so I share all of those things with you because I want you to know that you have the ability to create a life that you truly love, and you have the ability to create an amazing life for yourself. So what I have to share with you today is post foot surgery Okay, things that I have learned throughout my experience over the last four weeks of post foot surgery. So, yes, this is my fourth week after having my foot surgery and basically what I had done was I had bone spurs on the bottom of my right foot, my driving foot and what was happening is that those bone spurs were actually causing a lot of irritation to my plantar fascia and so running again.
Speaker 1:
If you've followed me for any amount of time, you know that I am an avid runner. I love to participate in 5Ks, I love to participate in 10Ks. Due to foot problems, it's been quite a while since I've run a half marathon, but again because of the foot problems. It was slowing me down in just my normal everyday life. I had gotten to the point to where I was not even able to utilize walking as exercise even able to utilize walking as exercise. If my husband and I were going to go to do an activity where we were going to be walking for any amount of time.
Speaker 1:
I really had to take caution. I really had to pay close attention to my footwear to make sure that you know the shoes that I had on, were sure that you know the shoes that I had on were, you know, the most comfortable shoes that I could possibly have. So a lot of times it looked like not so cute cute shoes, but you know, maybe some tennis shoes or what have you. But for about a year I struggled with this and for about a year I had gone back and forth to the foot surgeon and we tried many, many different things and, of course, surgery is always the last resort. But when your quality of life goes down because of an injury like this, or because of an injury like this, or because of something happening in your body like this, I tell you what. It just plays a number on you. And so, again, the decision was made because of the lack of quality of life in the things that I truly enjoyed in being able to run any amount of distance without pain, in being able to go on a Thursday morning walk with my girlfriends without feeling pain for the rest of the day and into the next couple of days, and again, having to be very, very mindful about the activities that you're able to do and the footwear that you're able to wear. And so that quality of life of just having those things that bring me joy, is really what was the deciding factor. And, if I'm being perfectly honest with you, I wanted it so bad.
Speaker 1:
I was ready for the surgery in having dealt with that pain for not only the last year but a couple of years, in going to PT and in having, you know, cortisone injections and things like that, but the last year of really just taping my ankle or taping the bottom of my foot, all of those things, and just going ahead and following through knowing that the rest of the day was going to be in pain because I enjoyed running or because I enjoyed that time with my girlfriends. So I was at a point in my journey where I just didn't want to wait anymore. And so, four weeks ago, I followed through and I had the surgery, and I tell you what this probably has been one of the toughest experiences that I have gone through in the physical realm, because, of course, life experiences that I have gone through have been equally as tough. When I went through my divorce Definitely the toughest season of my life, this is the toughest season that I have been through in the physical sense. And so, as I mentioned, I was so ready to get back into activities that I enjoy, and so I went into the surgery without even looking back. I saw my doctor on a Monday. He said I've got a slot open for you on Friday, and the rest of that week I spent preparing myself inside my business. I spent networking, because that's something that I enjoy doing out in the community.
Speaker 1:
I never once Googled what the surgery was going to look like. I never once Googled what the recovery was going to look like. I did not do any of those things, and I'm not saying now that I regret that I just didn't do it. Okay, because I was so excited for what was on the other side. Okay, I was so ready to get back into pain-free, running pain-free, enjoying a nice walk out in the sunshine as part of my morning routine. I even go and take a walk in the middle of the day when I find myself stuck in whatever it is that I'm working on, or when I just need to bring my body back to calm center, and so all of those things have come to a halt. Okay, all of those things have come to a halt. Okay, and just this week, I did experience a setback, and it's not a setback in that I was doing anything wrong or I could have done something differently. It was just a setback.
Speaker 1:
And so the thing that I want to talk to you about today are the things that this season in my life has taught me, and the reason that I know that is because I am someone who likes to look at what is going on in my life, especially if it's something that might feel like it is impacting me negatively or, in this case, if it feels like a setback. And I like to look at those things and I want, and I like to say. What is this teaching me? Because I believe that there are gifts in any season that we go through in our lives. So there are definitely, for sure, gifts that I am seeing within this season of being completely laid up, not being able to drive, having to rely on other people to get me back and forth to PT doctor's appointments. I have amazing girlfriends who have come and picked me up and just taken me out to get my eyebrows done. All right, just a little bit of girl type. So I'm sure you can imagine, with all of that, being completely by yourself for the majority of the time over the last four weeks does play a number on you, but still there are lessons to be learned, teaching points to take away from.
Speaker 1:
The first big nugget of wisdom that I will drop on you is that there is no place to get to, there's only a place to be. This comes from one of my coaches, coach Kim Jobe, and I love how she put this in. That is, there is only a place to be. Generally, what happens is that we are so caught up in the hustle and bustle and I've got to be here and I've got to be there that oftentimes we forget to be present in where we are at, and so the first lesson that I have learned during this time is that life around me didn't stop. People are still out there doing their thing, and I get to choose the pace in which I do mine. Right now. This is a slow season for me, and it's okay, because we all need to recognize when it is our season to rest, because we cannot sustain a hurry busy, keep going, keep moving, doing all of the things all of the time. So it is oh so good for you to recognize when you actually need to be in a season of rest, and that's just the season that I'm in right now, and at first it felt very tough, it felt very lonely, but as I started to recognize this as being my resting season, I have been able to just settle into it and allow it and completely decide the pace that I want it to be.
Speaker 1:
So the first one is to just be in the place that you are in. Number two, it is totally okay to ask for what it is that you need, because people generally want to be helpful, they want to feel needed, and when we're in a posture of I can't do it all myself, we may essentially be blocking someone else from blessings that they could be giving, from connections that they could be offering. So it is okay to need other people. We are supposed to do life in community. So start being okay with asking for help and start being okay with asking for what it is that you need Because, again, we were meant to do life together. We were meant to help each other out. We were not supposed to be individuals out there being completely independent of one another. We were created to do life together. So don't be afraid to ask for help when you are in a season of needing a little bit more.
Speaker 1:
Number three vulnerability is not a weakness. It's actually our opportunity to be our true self. It's about feeling your feelings, allowing your feelings and allowing the vulnerability that sometimes needs to come up. It's also an opportunity to connect and to relate with others on a deeper level. It also gives others an opportunity to learn from your example and giving them the muscles and the permission to let your guard down. So, number three being vulnerable is definitely not a weakness, and allow your feelings to be there and allow yourself the opportunity to feel every human emotion. God gave us each emotion for us to completely utilize them to check in with ourselves, to connect with other human beings and to be able to feel what it truly feels like to be human. So allow yourself to be vulnerable and to feel your feelings.
Speaker 1:
Number four listening to myself and listening to what I need, both personally and in my business, has been a priority over this last season. You see, when you start to work with other people and people start to see you doing business and creating these relationships around your business, these people also like to have opinions, and that is totally okay, because when we're doing life in community, of course, again, we're reaching out to those who are willing to help. But sometimes we have to learn to listen to ourselves, especially when we are running a business, and I believe that the majority of the time, others are doing this with love and their desire to see you succeed. But at the end of the day, I am the CEO, I am the decision maker, and in order for me to continue to love the work that I'm doing, I have to follow through with my own heart and my own intuition as to where my business will go All right. So the last one. It's more of an observation than a lesson, but I thought I would share it with you.
Speaker 1:
It's also something that I've noticed, but has become way more crystal clear in the season that I'm in. It's my ability to call BS on my own catastrophic type thinking. I'm sure you know what it is that I'm talking about, when your brain likes to tell you that, oh my gosh, we can't handle this, or oh my gosh, this is too much Y'all. There have been times over the last four months when my brain has gone there and I've had to reel her back in and call BS. Come on, girl, you know you can handle this. You know what it is that you want. On the other side of this, you know that you are stronger than the pain that may be going on in this temporary season of your life, and so being able to call BS on my brain trying to be over the top, with all of the reasons why this is too much, has certainly been an asset over this last four weeks, and I'd be willing to bet that you have that ability too. And if this is something that you're not sure how to navigate through, if catastrophic type thinking is something that you notice on a daily basis, I would encourage you to reach out to me so that I can share with you the tools that I use to remind my brain no, no, girl, we've got this. Now what that could feel like are overwhelm, continuous anxiousness. So if you notice any of this type of catastrophic thinking, I want to share my tools that I use to help me to overcome that and again, to help identify to my brain no, no, we can do this, we can make it through All right.
Speaker 1:
So, especially over the last five years, since I have been really really digging deeper into my own healing journey and discovering that I truly am the co-creator, alongside my father, of my own life, I really question and listen to what it is that is going on in my thought, life and the circumstances of my life. So, for instance, is there a blessing in this setback? And I truly believe that there is. I truly believe that during this season of my life, there is something to be learned, something that I can take from it to help push me forward into the next season in my life, season in my life, and we often don't think about the possibility of either protection or provision. See, when things don't go the way that we had planned or something comes up unexpectedly we don't think about. Is there a possibility that God is trying to provide for me in some way? Or God is trying to provide protection for me in some way? And that is the biggest reason why I have had to really check in with that catastrophic all or nothing type thinking. Because when we are able to take a step back and really look at what are the blessings of this season or what are the setbacks, the thing that we may not notice and we might have to just follow in faith is that there is either a provision that he is setting up for us or there is protection, there is something that he may be protecting us from. So oftentimes protections aren't revealed to us, but nonetheless, we can still choose to have the faith count all circumstances as blessings. So, hey, if you know someone who may be going through a tough season, or if you share my mission in wanting to be of service to other women in helping them to heal and move forward in their lives, please be sure to share this episode with them.
Speaker 1:
I would also like to know how this episode lands for you. What is the impact that it has had on you? Have you found yourself in a season or in a setback and you have gone through and you resonate with some of these aha teaching moments that I have discovered and I have been willing to find in my journey during this time. I would love to hear from you. So will you do me the favor and go back and please leave me a review on this episode?
Speaker 1:
I read every single review and I would love to hear how this episode resonates with you. So, you guys, please reach out to me if you have any questions, if there's anything that I can help you with during this season of your life, and I am going to continue on my healing journey and share with you all of the lessons that I'm learning. All right, so until next time, you guys, have a great week. Who is your life coach? I would love the opportunity to work with you as you are rediscovering the woman you were meant to be. Visit christyballardfelainicom for more information on how we can work together to ignite that passionate, enthusiastic woman who may have been tucked away for some time. Let's start in the middle together. Thank you.