Ready Set Coach Podcast

Real Talk: Red Flags & Wellness Check-in for All Coaches

• Emily Merrell and Lexie Smith • Season 2 • Episode 91

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This week’s episode is a wellness check-in for ALL coaches. Inspired by a recent personal health event, Em and Lex share their experiences identifying wellness red flags and how to navigate your business and life through different seasons of health.

Here’s what you’ll learn: 

  • Real talk on wellness as a business owner
  • Tips on identifying red flags ahead of time and focusing on preventative care instead of reactive care
  • What Em and Lex have started doing as they continue to get even busier with business and life.
  • You can’t pour from an empty cup 
  • Tips on maintaining your wellness and self-care to be able to pour into your clients
  • Ideas on finding solutions that allow you to avoid hitting rock bottom physically, mentally, and emotionally etc.
  • Tips on creating a list of things that will support you holistically
  • Having your business plan solidly in place so your team can help you if you have to take time for wellness
  • And more!



Listener Links: 




Emily Merrell  

Nice. I guess I won't call you sexy Lexi


Lexie Smith  

that's weird. They did in high school. I'm down to bring it back. Stopped


Emily Merrell  

that it went from sexy Lexi to ma'am. I


Lexie Smith  

know, right? Yes ma'am. And Meghan if you listen to this, but she's Southern and so she says ma'am and stuff like that too. And I'm like, sexy looks sexy Lexi to me. I'm in Miss and Mrs. And all the things like Coco Coco.


Emily Merrell  

Oh my god. When I hit a Ma'am, I'm like, Oh, Jesus, do people think I'm old? Or meeting students who just graduated? And they're like, You graduated that year? That was a long time ago. time


Lexie Smith  

ago. Okay, quick, like fluff my own feathers for a minute, because we all got to do it once in a while. Right ladies? I just went to a Bachelorette. And it ended up being a lot smaller than intended. And so it was four of us. And we got in like, you know, I went I put on outfits that I have not worn in many, many years. Like I'm like, This is my moment. I've been doing yoga Pilates like, I don't have my kid for weekend. I'm going to try like the tight little romper. You know, like Mama's gonna want it. And it was the my like life was made. We went to this line dancing class and this guy this really like endearing young, goofy guy ended up I ended up being partnered with and at one point he's like, so do you go to school here? And I was like, Yes. Last year, like, which What are you studying? I'm like, I'm 32 year old. I'm 32 and I have a mom and the look in his face went just like the fact that he was shocked was made my life that's all


Emily Merrell  

I could be. That is the best I have to say in terms of like the clothes that are a little tighter. I've been totally with you on that. Like I've been wearing more crop tops than past Emily would feel comfortable with and it's funny to see people's reactions when I wear like I wear it out given it my friends are like wow like oh god as I'm wearing like a from the oversize well I


Lexie Smith  

know more neck I feel that's more me at the moment to like dip into like mama still got it.


Emily Merrell  

Mama Sita vibes not not mama, mama. I love it. Well, it sounds like you were taking good care of yourself. You know, like you're taking good care of your body. You're feeling proud of your body, and you're able to represent it in a certain way.


Lexie Smith  

I wasn't till Tuesday morning. What happened next or wasn't Monday morning? What are we on Thursday?


Emily Merrell  

It was Monday. It was Monday.


Lexie Smith  

Do Monday.


Emily Merrell  

More day? I don't remember Monday, Monday, Monday. Okay, so


Lexie Smith  

this, this episode is going to be a little bit different. Um, let me give you a bit of context. I woke up, let's call it Monday, I'm not able to move literally, I was in so much excruciating pain, my husband had to pick me up and put me on the couch. And I was pretty much, ya know, like, literally could not move. So I couldn't take my child to school, I couldn't lift her up, I couldn't feed myself, I couldn't do anything. And this happened to me back in 2019. When I was in corporate, that whole moment in life escalated, I ended up in the hospital, I was bedridden for about a month. And it really changed my life. Because what that taught me back then was really you have nothing in life without your health might give you a bit more context. why that happened back then was a combination of stress meats, physical meats, emotional, manifesting itself in the body, and that manifested with, you know, bulging discs, slipped discs, pinched nerves, a whole bunch of things happening in, in my back. Well, fast forward back to Tuesday. Luckily, I was able to address this right away because unfortunately, this isn't my first rodeo I went got X rays. And lo and behold, here we are, again. And I can point to exactly why this happen. It's a manifestation of emotional physical and stress manifests in my body. So I'm going to pause because this two person podcast and just say that this is transitioning us into a big topic today on health and wellness and business.


Emily Merrell  

Well, thank you for sharing. And I also think that this is a real talk. This is a real talk podcast and as as your host, we've also tried to be as transparent as possible in what is happening in our lives and be able to share the good the bad and the learnings in between. and So lacks, like this Wake Up Call is is pretty significant because in 2019 Not only did it ultimately have you reconsidering your whole life and corporate, it led you to the coaching industry and yet Here we are four years later and we're noticing or five years later in your body is is kind of sending you have a knock on the door and a little wake up message. So let's talk about when your business can break you and how to how to how to come back from that. So yeah, I'm gonna do


Lexie Smith  

and well, let me give you guys a little bit more context before we go forward. This chiropractor that I'm meeting within this journey is like phenomenally well rounded. So she's addressing this from all angles. And she had me kind of outline what happened last time and what happened this this time. And let me just share this because I want you guys to all think of your own life, because there were a lot of red flags and warning signals that this was coming. Number one, I've been traveling incessantly, okay, back in 2019, I've been traveling incessantly, I'm older now and traveling is wear and tear on the body. Back then I wasn't sleeping, because of work. Now I'm not sleeping because of my child. Back then work stress was at an all time high, not gonna lie. There's some things on the client services side that are making my stress levels, insanely high. So what do we have here, we have a combination of red flag physically red flag, no sleep, red flag stress. Same thing happened back then. So the first thing I want to call out is for everyone here to tune in and be so much more aware of those red flags. Because I have been pushing them down. I have been ignoring them. And there was a lot of things I could have done to to prevent getting here. I don't know Emily, and then we can talk about going forward. But I'd love to also know if there are other red flags you've ever experienced in your life that indicate Whoa, whoa, whoa, like, my body needs to reset?


Emily Merrell  

Well, I think it's, for me, at least, it's seen like what what's going on in my family, like, on a health and a health journey, like my sister recently got diagnosed with SIBO. And so I decided to like meet with her naturopath. My I love like I'm a regular doctor see her like every single year I go to the dermatologist I'm always like, please don't find anything. But I It feels really good to have that peace of mind. And I've also been asking for more extensive bloodwork. And so the thing that's been popping up for me in the past few years has been my cholesterol has been has gotten really high. And my cavities, I've been getting more and more cavities since having my son and so I reached out to that same


Lexie Smith  

room, right? Would that be calcium?


Emily Merrell  

I think so. Yeah. Maybe which I Oh,


Lexie Smith  

wait, cholesterol interesting. Continue.


Emily Merrell  

I know, I know. It's like a lose lose. But you know, I don't I eat predominantly vegetarian, I work out a shit done like I don't drink during the week. Like it's annoying when you feel like you do all the things. And then you still have these like obstacles in your future. And then I started going to the chiropractor last year, just because my I used to be a runner. And I can feel like the beat up nests of my body from running from my hips fell really painful. I had something called bursitis for a while and I was just like, I want to reset myself before it gets really expensive. So any little thing that I have like going on. I'm now just doing a little bit more investigative work. I think during the pandemic, we took some time off from the self care part of of self. So I've just been in the exploratory part of that wasn't your question. But the question was the red flag markers saying


Lexie Smith  

thank you for saying that because something that I've witnessed through you that again, I'm in this guy's this week is like, this is a very raw moment for me. And if you think I look stiff on this call, it's because I can't even like turn certain ways right now. Um, but Emily, I have noticed you being very, very great at preventative care. Like you've been going to the chiropractor for some time. Now. I'm like why? And it's not that you necessarily have an issue you're working through, you're doing it preventatively and I've always been not always what I fallen back into is reactive care. And speaking of expensive, mum over here just paid a very big credit card bill to ms chiropractor who thinks it's going to be five to six months to get me back. The first month is just get me out of pain and then we're going back to fixing them we're going like ignoring these things upfront, are costing me big time now.


Emily Merrell  

And it sucks. I think even the preventative care like when I get a bill. I'm like, Oh this is so stupid. It's not covered by insurance like why am I doing this? This is this is so Dumb. But then when we see pictures of our neck, you see it before you started working or doing the chiropractic care. And then after, you're like, Oh, I was carrying 75 pounds of head, versus like 12 pounds. And that's a significant weight on your shoulders and your neck and what you can do. And as we age, I just think it's really important. The other thing that I've started doing was so silly, that I never took care of my hair. Like, I was never, I was always one of those people that was like, I get one haircut a year, you don't really do anything else in between. And so now it's even, like, let me go to the hair salon every three months and like, take pride in my appearance in that way. So I don't know, as much as we can do at this point in our lives do with therapy therapy was a big one for me, I took many years off. And then when Jackson was a year old, I was like, I think I need an outlet. That's not my friends or my husband. And I do it more as like a maintenance than like, I'm trying to solve something, it's my opportunity to word vomit on a complete stranger, saying bad, bad thoughts that are in my head, and kind of just like, get it out of my body.


Lexie Smith  

And what have I neglected in the past like year maintenance? I mean, if I look at all the things, and I am looking at all the things right now that I'd let slip, I stopped seeing like a discs? Yeah, just getting like this. Yeah, check. Um, you know, I did I pulled back from there's a lot of things I pulled back on. On the other side of I've done to get myself some credit, I've reinvigorated my healthcare journey I, I've been working out more than I ever have. However, now, I can't do crapoly right now. So I'm paying a lot of monies to a very nice studio, that I can't do what, or I can't go to, but I think something like to bring this a little bit back to coaching and something, again, that I've been reflecting on this week. Whether you're I think this is applicable to if you're a parent, or if you're an entrepreneur, or if you're a coach. Our job is so focused on other people, we spend so much time pouring into other as a coach, we're literally supporting other people, right? That it's really easy to neglect ourselves. And it's really easy to say okay, I'll pour into myself next week. Well, the next week. Okay, I'll do it next week. Right? It's something that is easily procrastinated. And guys, I am freaking here to tell you. Monday morning came. And it didn't matter that my day was packed full of five, six meetings, I had to cancel them. I couldn't move. My world stopped all this business stuff that I had going on. Like, there wasn't a choice. And so the neglection you know, I'm paying for it, and pain, and it's affecting my business. It's affecting my team. And that's because I didn't maintain and I did procrastinate. So it's, I really, like really hope that this podcast, even if one person listening has been ignoring red flags, that this is your, your reminder to stop ignoring them. And you deserve to be poured into just as much as your clients.


Emily Merrell  

I don't like to drop it, I would drop it right now. Right? I think the fact that oftentimes it takes people to hit a rock bottom, and we've talked about this before, hit a rock bottom before they can start finding solutions. And to echo what you said, like we don't want you to hit a rock bottom, physically, emotionally, mentally in some way. So looking at that calibration, we need to come up with like a calibration tracker, like something that something that helps people just remember, like, Have you done something for yourself? And oftentimes, and we talked about this a ton on our podcast, we probably recommended it every single one. Most often. It's simple things like getting the heck outside. Moving your body in some capacity. It could be doing 10 Jumping Jacks could be going for a small little school, drinking water. And whichever new water bottle by the way,


Lexie Smith  

I dig. Oh, it's ours. The colors.


Emily Merrell  

I know. Amazing. I love it was gifted. Jenna gave this to me as an RSC colored water bottle.


Lexie Smith  

Did she know she recognized that?


Emily Merrell  

She said I'd pick up this was the one I would pick up for myself.


Lexie Smith  

Okay, so like subconsciously she Yeah.


Emily Merrell  

And then the last thing I'd say is something that Lexi was mentioned at the top of the call sleep. And Lexie Smith, I was, well I have not been, you know, picked up by a stretcher at my work office. I was very close to burnout before I left New York City. like I was a proper psychopath, in terms of like the lack of sleep the way that I let adrenaline basically fuel me, I eat like an almond mom. And I was very, very hard on my, on my body physically and emotionally. And like I pushed a lot of things deep dive. So my wake up call was leaving. But when I left New York City, I don't know if you know the story, but the week when I moved to San Francisco, I completely just lost my voice. And I think that was like the universe being like, yes, the fact that you socialize


Lexie Smith  

this week, Emily, you need to take a break. That's, yeah, the body, the body will show up until you know, stop. Like, I can't keep going like this. It really can. And so let's talk about some of the things kind of going forward and that I'm gonna have to do the reality that I'm in first I've my husband, I'm very, very blessed that I have a partner A because in a partner that is showing up for me in a big time, he normally I do daycare drop off and pickup, but I can't get my kid in and out of a car seat right now. So I've had to wave my flag. I don't like asking for help. Like, I'm having to ask for help. Number one, number two, I don't know the bears have this health coaches listening, I would love for you to DM and tell me that this is unnecessary. But I my basically my chiropractor this week is having me basically fast because she says she wants my body's full attention on healing. I'm I'm a little I don't know, the merit on that. Because I think there's pros and cons. It's making me a little delirious, which isn't easy to work, but my diet is changing is the point there. And I have a six month road to recovery here. The next thing I know I need to do is really figure out what type of emotional or mindset support is going to have. So for me that might look at exploring therapy and might be is it a coach. And these, again, are things that could be so easily dropped on my to do list, but like Hello, wake up call. They can't be neglected anymore. So those are some of the things that are very real in my life. So it's kind of like a question back for everyone thinking like, what is one thing you need right now? What is one thing that you've been procrastinating on? What's one thing that really is on your to do list that will support you holistically because you guys, if you are not healthy, you cannot show up for your business period.


Emily Merrell  

Another mic drop right there. And I and I love I love that you shared that too. And I think it's definitely one of those one of those future plans that it's going to be expensive. But it's also you mentioned, you're not great at asking for help or like letting others hold to you. And I think yeah, that's something we both struggle with. Yeah, truthfully, like, I, I don't want to have someone I will be like struggling for a very long time until a stranger comes by and is like do you need your car tire change. And I'm like I do because I look like an idiot. And I don't I don't want to inconvenience people. But I think being held as holders to what we said or what you said earlier about, like how we hold space for our clients is a really incredible gift because it's also a practice of what it feels like just to let go and to be held and allow yourself to feel that feeling of taking up space, and being selfish with time and making it about you or me versus making it about the other person that you typically make it about


Lexie Smith  

100% And I'll say one more thing to offer tactically, that I'm grateful for something that's enabling my business to continue on. Our I do have support on my team and I do have systems in place. So while yes, there are some some things that like some meetings I haven't been able to take, you know, I've done a lot of the legwork. I have SOPs, I have a support team in place to help me through this time. I know if you're just starting out, you might not be at that space yet. But it's something to have on your radar because you have to think if my health goes out the window tomorrow. How is my business going to continue? Will it The answer might be it might not. So that's just something something to think about. I'm not trying to doom and gloom you I'm more giving you kind of waving the flag to have it on your radar because we are humans and we are breakable


Emily Merrell  

and we're muted. And we're one of the and we're it's one of those things where you don't have to do it all and at the end of the day like these moments are gonna happen. I am we've shared like crazy things that have happened in life but it's their seasons and their seasons of life. Right now you're gonna have to shift some of your priorities and energy into into the Lexie Smith season. That's kind of exciting. Oh, I'm


Lexie Smith  

not at the exciting part yet, but I'm glad you're excited for me.


Emily Merrell  

I'm excited for you in that I find it when you start kind of going down this like self exploration and self fixing route to you can uncover new new things about yourself maybe I always Lexi's has a very deadly allergy to peanuts and I'm like, well maybe she'll meet someone who can like cure her of that maybe this will like unlock something positive maybe this will be, you know, maybe there's something that's you can't even imagine in your life waiting for you on the other side.


Lexie Smith  

I totally cosign that it's hard to see through when you're in the thick of it, but I do maybe this sounds corny to some believe that everything happens for men for a reason that the drama that happened, you know, last time my body went through this, which again was much. It was different. I wasn't. Anyways, I digress. Um, it led me to Emily really like look at all the things that led me to lead me to entrepreneurship, I wouldn't have met Emily, there's so many things in my life that wouldn't be existing now if I hadn't gone through that. So who knows what this is leading me towards? I'd like step one to get out of pain. That would be super great. And then maybe I'll see more clearly. But um, but


Emily Merrell  

yeah, she sounds like a nurse voodoo doctor. You become like, you become a health coach like you like you never know what it could unlock. You know?


Lexie Smith  

Yeah, yeah. 100% or so. But 100% 500 times today, because I it's my word.


Emily Merrell  

I said interesting. So much. Yesterday, I I was like, gonna take a shot. It was embarrassing. Like, I need to come up with another word for interesting. Like, oh, you know, what was interesting? Oh, it was interesting when?


Lexie Smith  

Like, Oh, interesting. Yeah, words.


Emily Merrell  

It's like a play. It's like an M now, I think interesting as a placeholder. Yeah, we're unsure what to say and unsure how to articulate it. You just throw an


Lexie Smith  

interesting. Totally. One last thought before we give you guys your lasting party homework. This this conversation is transferable. Excuse me, this conversation is transferable to less dramatic moments to right. Getting a cold getting the flu. There's some level you know, for example, Emily, and I've toddlers, I think it's hitting you less, but like my household has been sick for almost a year. But it is okay. If you need to move things around to accommodate yourself when you're sick. It doesn't need to be a dramatic I can't move. Yes, we know humans get colds. But if you don't address it soon, that cold could turn into bronchitis it can turn into pneumonia. So no matter what ailment it is, it could even be completely not physical. Maybe it's you're just having a down day. That's okay. Give yourself the support and grease that you need. Because you are not a robot. We are not chat GB TS people


Emily Merrell  

at RTD to yes, no, I completely agree with that. And I was thinking about that today. I'm recording this from a lake. And it's really beautiful and so much neater around. And just thinking like in the future. Maybe next year, like I want to build and design my life more where I have more freedom with my summers. So I'm not taking calls in the middle of the afternoon. And you can spend more time outside and really like soaking up seasons. And again, seasons shift may change, and you'll have your seasons of self discovery. And you might have seasons of hustle and grind. But that season just listening to your body should be daily.


Lexie Smith  

100 100%


Emily Merrell  

interesting that you said that. Well, homework wise, yeah.


Lexie Smith  

I think that the homework has been sprinkled throughout. But my biggest, like summary for you guys is to tune in to see if you have any red flags right now. And if you do to listen to it, and see if there's something you can do to at least turn it to a yellow. Because most most humans like unless we I don't think I know a single person who has 100% Perfect 100% Even in that


Emily Merrell  

sentence. Yeah, you got to 97 Yeah, no, I can't


Lexie Smith  

95% perfect life like I almost guarantee every single person listening there is one red flags popping up. So while some red flags are more serious than others, just tune in. Check in are these red flags that you can address? Because red flags are so cool, right? They're gonna lead to another so tune in. That's my homework. Do you have anything? No, that was beautiful. Drink water and sweet drink.


Emily Merrell  

And on that note, we will see you the next time


Lexie Smith  

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