Josh

Welcome to Pick Lane.

Erin

I'm Josh. And I'm Erin. And apparently we have a lot to say. I

Josh

live with chronic illness for years and then finally healed using a technology called

Erin

Bioenergetics. Through that experience, we co-founded a holistic wellness brand called Ruti.

Josh

We've learned a lot to say the least, and we wanna

Erin

share it with you. We'll explore mindfulness, wellness, and spirituality toPicks

Josh

ranging from pooping out parasites to breathwork, and even traveling to parallel

Erin

universes. We spent a lot of years not living authentic to ourselves, so our hope

Josh

for Pick Lane is to help you find your freedom and Pick your own lane in

Erin

life. Tune in to a new episode of the Pick Lane podcast every Friday on. Spotify or Apple Podcasts and subscriber review if you haven't already. We hope the show resonates and we can't wait to connect. Welcome

Josh

to Pick Lane.

Hi everybody. What it do baby Boo. How are you? I'm so good. How are you? Good. I'm excited to introduce Micaela to our people. Yeah, this was a really fun episode. I really enjoyed hearing all about my July and her chronic illness journey and even her relationship with her mom. That was really cool. Yeah, I am just honestly amazed by her, like knowing that, seriously, knowing that she has, Lyme. Yeah. Hardcore. And she's over there just running businesses. I know. I feel like sometimes people with chronic illness, I'll be like, do y'all know how much you're doing? Yeah. there's so many we want to do. I know. And as soon as you get sick, I feel like you're able to identify all of those impactful things you want to do. So it cuts the shit out and you get straight to the good shit. I get that. I was just listening to, I think it was a TikTok. I hate when people do that in conversation. You did it, but I sure did. I saw this TikTok theme other day. Honestly, so many things have come from TikTok. I've learned so many things, so don't hate on it. It's true. Anyway, it was. Dr. Gabor, Dr. Gabor my man. Did I send this to you? Maybe I sent this to you. He was on a podcast. Yeah. Yeah. But he was talking about how any chronic illness, but especially like lime and these ones that are really complex and steal a lot of your life. Yep. How they, for a lot of people he's like, it's a mystery. I can't really explain it. But. It is this like defining, refining experience for people. Yeah. He said everyone that he works with and talks to that has dealt with some sort of extreme health issue and has gotten to the other side, identifies that season as a gift. Yeah. That's I don't know. It's hard to say that to somebody in the thick of it, but I do believe it's true. Yeah. I think regardless of if it's chronic illness or like whatever traumatic experience you've had, even small and large, I don't think there's a ranking of this, but I think that those seasons of life help identify the powerful impact that you're gonna have in this lifetime. Yeah, and it it just brings things into focus a little bit, like what is important and what's not. You know, What's your purpose and what's just like you, I don't know. Yeah. It gets you to the good shit. Yeah. That's it. So yeah, we're stoked for you guys to listen to this one. Micaela is just a beautiful human being and we hope you enjoy.

Josh

How are ya? I'm good. I'm stoked because we have Micaela on the podcast. Yay. I feel like we've been trying to get you on the podcast for a minute, and now you're finally here. Woohoo. Yeah, it's gonna be so good. Micaela is co-founders of my July, also a line warrior, and she's just recently come out with a course called Chronically Hacked, which we're super stok to talk to you about today. First of all, just how are you?

Micaela

I'm doing well. I've had a few flares lately, which is why we've been having to reschedule the podcast, but I am here now. I'm here and my highest self. I am here and I am ready.

Josh

Yeah, that's all. I'm sorry you've gone through flareups, but it's like the name of the game with this podcast cuz we do talk so much about chronic illness that so many people I know will be like, I'm gonna flare up. I can't do it. It's just how it goes. So we're here for all types of space, and here to support you through that. So I hopefully you're on the other side of flareups for now.

Micaela

Yeah, but I'm feeling good and I was

Josh

thinking someday

Micaela

cause. Oh, that would be amazing. But I was thinking there's nothing more on brand than having to reschedule a podcast about chronic illness because you're going through a flare up due to your chronic illness. So everything is very on brand here.

Josh

That's hysterical. Yeah. You're just thriving in your own brand right now. You are. You're winning. Y'all Micaela just did a Ruti scan. So we're hoping, one day move that needle. Yes. Flare ups gonna be in a past one day. Awesome. Tell us a bit about yourself. I'm curious to hear what your health journeys look like. We all have our own stories in chronic illness on when it started or our just experience through it. I'd love to hear just a little bit more about, one, how it all has been for you, what your journey has looked like, and then two, just how you're finding a way to navigate through it.

Micaela

Yeah, so I'm a freelance entrepreneur and small business owner living in la. I was born in New York, then grew up in Connecticut from Connecticut, moved to the Bay Area, and then from the Bay Area about two years ago in 2020. Moved down here in la. And that was due to health reasons, which we'll get on later on. But yes, I'm from tick territory, so it comes as no surprise that I have Lyme disease, though. Ticks are everywhere at this point, so it doesn't really matter. It's not just something that's on the East coast. But growing up, I always felt chronically ill, not in the sense where I was bedridden or I would get the flu constantly or anything major, but just minor aches and pains here and there that I would have, like stomach aches or weird headaches. Joint pain, skin flareups. So little things that obviously were not normal, but it wasn't enough for me to really investigate. I just assumed, okay, I guess that's just my normal I had, I. Friends in school that were lactose intolerant or they were allergic to flowers and pollen. And of course that's not normal either, but it's a little bit more mainstream in that I thought, maybe CS are just my quirks. I got stomach aches. I have these weird pains and the bottoms of my feet and I have unexplained stretch marks. Things that are very not normal. But when you grow up feeling like that, you just assume that's your normal, cuz you haven't experienced a world outside of that. Totally. I just kept it all hidden from my parents because it's not exactly sexy to go around saying oh, I'm really constipated, or I have this extreme bloating. When you're really young, like as little as three, four years old, I would feel like this, except for my skin rashes, which was eczema except I. Have a theory that it's actually not eczema. All these dermatologists say it's eczema, but I think it's mainly associated with my Lyme disease whenever I got a flare up. But that I couldn't hide from my parents. Yeah. So my mom would take me to the pediatrician for that, and that was just, that was basically from my parents' point of view, the only thing that I was dealing with were these weird eczema flares that I would get. Yeah. Oh, so that's yeah. Sounds in a nutshell early for you. Yeah, it was. It was very early. Yeah. And now even going back, in my health history, putting the puzzle pieces together, since I have black mold, In addition to lung disease and barella babier, the two co-infections that I have, maybe more at this point, but we don't know. This is just the diagnoses that I have so far. I was yeah, conceived in a home that had toxic black mold that we didn't know about and wow, from day one brought home from the hospital with to a home that had toxic black mold. So now that I am so much more aware of how mold can really wreak havoc on your health, I think that maybe I could have even developed mold and utero. Who knows? It's just one of those things I'll never know. But from a very early age, my body was in a state of fight or flight. Yeah,

Erin

definitely. And so you said you moved to LA for specific like doctors or health reasons, or was that mostly for the business?

Micaela

A little bit of everything actually. So in the Bay Area, I don't know if you've ever been to San Francisco, but it's very damp, cloudy, overcast. Oh, yes, you said that. Totally. Yeah. So yeah it's not the best healing environment if you're trying to heal from mold as mold likes, damp dink environments. Also my Lyme doctor, who I found Dr. Erica Lehman, is in la and I wasn't seeing her too much. This was very early on in my diagnosis. It was only like six months into it that I decided to move down to la, but I just foresaw in the future. I had a feeling that I would feel a lot better down here. My doctors down here, the clean skincare line that I run with my mom, my July. Ironically enough, our biggest market was LA so it wasn't a hard sell. Yeah. For me to move to LA now. Yeah. I live with my parents still just for finances. It's easier that way and we all get along so might as well. That's great. It actually worked out with. Yeah, I know it's not the like most sexy thing to be almost 30 and still living at home, but it is what it is with chronic illness and that's just like being completely real. Yeah. That's awesome. But Covid. Actually, I don't wanna say this oh, it worked in our favor cuz it was great and like the whole lockdown actually worked in our favor though because my dad was working for a bank in San Francisco at that time, and then he had this mandate. To work from home. So in that time we're like, oh sweet, let's move to LA during this time because no one's gonna be the wiser that my dad's logging in from LA versus San Francisco. While he's sure can. And then once we get to la, hit the ground running and he can find another job down here. And At that time, that's. How we moved down here. Otherwise I don't know how we would've all moved down to LA cuz obviously my mom's married to my dad and she can't just be like, peace out moving to LA with Micaela. So yeah, that's how we all got down here. And I do feel a lot better in this dry climate. So that's really nice.

Josh

Do you, yeah, that's, I was just about to ask you if did you notice a difference moving from the Bay Area a little further south? I had an experience. Yeah. What my entire experience in chronic illness, heat actually really bothered me. And so what, we were living in Nashville. We lived in Nashville for about 10 years. And so when we were in Nashville in the summers, the heat. Is unbearable, but what I found was that it actually was more the humidity and the dampness of the air. Felt like toxins were just chilling inside of the humidity. But when I'd go west to LA or just go to a drier climate, I'd thrive. Yeah. That's fascinating. Hundred

Micaela

percent. Just from your experience too. Yeah, I. Totally agree with you. I flare up in the humidity. I don't like the coldness either. I have actually like deathly fear. I hate being cold, but I think actually if you wanna get more granular about it, it's more so humidity and dampness than the actual low temperature. If it's sunny and cold, I can do okay, even though I prefer hot and dry. But the key to me, I think is just that dry climate. And of course LA still isn't the desert, but it's still, it's better than how it was in the Bay Area. And I think also, this is a little tangent, I think the house that I was living in the Bay Area had mold in it. So that was not a good situation either. So now I'm happy to be living in a home that doesn't have mold, so prevalent in an area that is dry.

Erin

Yeah. Good. Yeah. People don't realize, I think it's estimated like 50%, maybe even more buildings have had water damage and therefore are at risk of having mold. And it's, I think, of course certain people are more susceptible to mold illness depending on just certain genetic predispositions and things like that. But it's. For sure a huge component that we see in a lot of people. This combo of lime and or co-infections and mold is a doozy. it's tough. It's a lot for a body to try to clear. Yeah.

Josh

Yeah. We see it a lot with most of our clients. Anytime we see lime and co-infections pop up, doesn't usually happen immediately, but. There's always some mold that has to be dealt with eventually. And it may not be first. Yeah. Yeah. It may not be right at first, but it's usually before we can take care of Lyme. So it's, yeah, it's fascinating. I feel like that happened to me as well. My experience where at least my symptoms skyrocketed, my health plummeted when I felt like I started to. Experienced mold type symptoms and then the flareups came. At a rapid rate.

Erin

Yeah. So I wanna hear more about what are some things that you've been doing for your health now that you've got like a team that you. It sounds like you're, you are really enjoying the team you're working with, your healthcare team in la do you have any, specific, things that you're doing? Saunas or, I dunno, I'm just curious to hear what you're trying.

Micaela

I have a very specific protocol. I'm like really organized. Yeah. So I love having like my schedule and I have my whole day planned. I'm the type of person that will like, put in my planner shower, polished nails. Like I just, I love having everything all planned out. Yeah. So get really granular, I am very holistically minded, but I understand with these diseases like lime and mold, there is only so much to launch in the world that you can be juicing in order to get rid of these. So my doctor's also very good about balancing up pharmaceuticals with, supplements and tinctures and other healing modalities. So I am on a few prescription medications with my doctor as well as some supplements. And. Some of my healing modalities that I love to do to support detox are my detox baths with epso salt and baking soda. I love just walking in the sun because I always say, I'm like a lizard. Just put me on a rock in the sun and I'll just absorb all that vitamin D and love it. Me with that. And I love acupuncture. I have an infrared sauna, a blanket, which I love to do. I actually just went in it this morning, and anything that I can do to sweat and get my lymphatic system moving, I haven't tried rebounding, but I've heard good things about that, but that's also something I'm really curious about. Oh, cellar juice. Every morning I do cellar juice.

Josh

I did that too for a year. Yeah. Oh yeah. Good old cel juice. Cel juice and blueberry smoothies for two years almost. Yeah. Rebounding was good. Yeah. Once I started to feel a little better, I found I found for me, when I would be, when I was really sick, rebounding almost would trip me out. I'd get really dizzy. Dizzy or I felt like my head was just sloshing around and yeah, it was a lot. But obviously lymphatic drainage is a key component and so continuing to keep your. Limp moving is obviously important. So I, sometimes I would dry brush, but I'm like a bear. I have hair everywhere. So it wasn't really as efficient as like when Erin dry brushes. But, it's difficult when you're so sick. I used like the vibrating plates so yeah. I don't know.

Micaela

Have you used, oh, what's it called? Oh my goodness. What is it called? That machine? That. Yeah. See, welcome to my line Brain. Is it the is, oh, that's okay. First it'll come to you. Josh

Erin

is very familiar with life, so familiar. Yeah. Bartonella Brain, I feel like is more so than Lime Brain,

Josh

but Oh, yeah. My experience with Barella was wild. I'd be mid conversation with a client and gone. It would almost be like my brain would just fully shut off and I would be mid-sentence with a full idea and then a blank power, and I would just stare at the Zoom call being like, I don't know where I was going. And when I was really sick, I wasn't something that I advertised very often, although I wish I would have for various reasons. I don't know why I chose not to, but none of our clients knew that I was sick, so it would just be like, You good Josh? And I'd be like, I have no idea what I was talking about. So next question, and it's real. How do you work? Speaking of that with my experience was pretty gnarly owning a company. And we worked with a bunch of big clients that had very successful companies. And I know you're working with a bunch of people in a similar arena. How do you approach the professional life living with chronic illness? Tough

Micaela

balance. Yeah. It really is. So it's something that I used to keep to myself, but there's really no, no benefit that you gain from that. So I just put it out in the open. And I feel like because of social media and I'm very open, I'm an open book on social media and I talk about my disease all the time and healing. And everything that I'm dealing with, I feel like even if I don't. Say it to my clients, they follow me on social media. Yeah. So they get it somehow anyway, and I'm so blessed. They're all very understanding and they let me work at my own pace and as long as I just get them their deliverables at the time they need, they don't care when I do it. Totally. I think that Covid has also opened up. I'm like, oh, all the benefits of Covid. I think it's also. Opened up people's eyes to how you can get so much accomplished at home. So working remote is not so like off the beaten path anymore. So a lot of people are working from home. Yeah. And I am so grateful to be able to work from home.

Erin

Oh man, that's so huge because he would, be on a Zoom call, but like in bed because he was Oh, yeah.

Micaela

So pet fatigued. Oh, that's, he couldn't get out of bed. But that's totally me. I show up sometimes. Like I, I look like death, like I have no makeup on. I'm just like in my pajama still, and I like, I don't even care anymore. And I'm so grateful that my clients don't even care. They're just like, okay, show up in whatever capacity that you can just make the meeting.

Erin

Yeah. It's definitely a tough balance and I wanna hear more about the birth story of my July cuz I'm I love hearing how beautiful things can be born from challenging, hard seemingly, No silver lining situations that, chronic illness can feel that way. But we have such a beautiful thing now in my July. It's you and your mom creating these amazingly powerful skincare products that are really helping people. So I wanna hear more about how that kind of started and, yeah, how it's going.

Micaela

As I mentioned, one of my main symptoms was my skin rashes, and that was something that was plagued with for as long as I can remember. I would get these intense rashes that were itchy and oozy, and being on the east coast of humidity did not help at all. Behind my knees or elbows or anywhere that kind of, you get sweaty in my hands. And it was just this endless cycle of, my mom would take me to the pediatrician and then the pediatrician would say, oh, it's eczema. Here's the prescription ointment. Have fun. Don't use it anymore than a week, cuz it's gonna thin out the layers of your skin. But have at it. Let's all, basically all they can do. I would use the ointments and it would. Help. And then a few months later or whatever, it would come back and then same story, go back to the doctor and they would write out another prescription. So it was this endless cycle. And then when I was 13, We moved from Connecticut to the Bay Area and just moving From the humidity to the dryer climb. Even though San Francisco is not by any means dry, it was drier. So I, yeah, felt like my skin was improving It was weird how my eczema went away a little bit. Not completely, but enough that I could live with it and my family. And I thought maybe my issues are more so climate related, but who am I to investigate why things are doing well? Like I'm not gonna go to a doctor and say, Hey, why am I improving? Just take as it is. then, If you fast forward a few years later when I am in college for graphic design, but doing it online, I started experiencing this really bad skin flare up, and this was when I started, realizing that my gut issues, my joint pain and brain fog, insomnia, skin issues, it was not normal. So this was at the very beginning when I was. Trying to chase a diagnosis. So I was seeing a nutritionist with my mom and we were trying to heal my leaky gut. Just basically my nutritionist was helping me with a symptom, not getting to the root cause, and lime was way not even on my radar. And I totally experienced these debilitating rashes on my hands and it just, it felt like all the years that I was, dormant in remission, whatever you wanna call it, with my skin flareups. Yeah. It all came back and it was like trying to make up for lost time because it was like the worst I had ever experienced, and I knew that going to the dermatologist was not going to accomplish anything because I had. Been down that road before, so unfortunately I didn't know what to do to save it. And the rashes were funny enough, only on my hands, so it got to a point where my hands were so inflamed and so rashy. Irritated that they would just crack and bleed out of nowhere. If I bent my fingers, the skin around my knuckles would just bleed. So I essentially lost flexibility in my fingers because it was too painful to move them. And I would walk around the house with these bandages wrapped around my hands so as not to bleed all over the place like a burn victim. And I'm sure you can relate with chronic illness. If you canfin figure out a way to cope, you just take it as it is. You feel mediocre at best. You're like, okay I'm just trucking along. It's okay. I don't feel great. I don't feel bad. But then sometimes it reaches a climax and then you're like, okay, this is not workable. This is not sustainable. I need to find out what to do. And that was it for me. And that was it for my mom too, because we were living together and my mom saw I couldn't make my bed. I couldn't wash my own hair or cut up my. Fruit and vegetables to make food or even drive or walk. My dog, she had to do everything for me for that time. And yeah, it's during that time that she took to the kitchen and started alchemizing different skincare treatments for me to use because we had to do something. Because just doing nothing wasn't the answer. Yeah. Going to the doctor wasn't the answer. So we took matters into her own hands. And she did some research looking at different blogs about natural skincare and how to use essential oils and what essential oils are good to heal different things, and that's really what started the whole trajectory to us starting my July. Oh, that's

Josh

incredible. That is incredible. Not incredible that you had to experience that, but such incredible beauty coming out of an experience like Erin was saying. What happens with all these cronies is when you get to that point where it is completely life-altering. And you pissed. You're like, this is, I'm not letting this take over my entire life. What can I do inside of this? It's, the fascinating piece is when we're at rock bottom as cronies, somebody else usually close to us. Kind of comes in and sparks something that I don't think that happened to us with Ruti. Like my mother-in-law was the one that introduced me to bioenergetics and it sparked it. And the rest is history. And now we're living our lives authentically, one who we are, but two like. There is this piece of passion that, okay I'm not going through this for nothing. And I'm going to use it to help others. the cool thing about my July too is skin is such a gigantis absorber. It's the biggest organ. It is the biggest organ. Not many people understand that or even consider it, especially as cronies. We're putting on regular lotion or even, I used to sweat a ton and I would put like aluminum all underneath my armpits and things like that. Nobody was talking about it Even as I was chronically ill, doctors were prescribing things to me that I would have to put on my skin and I suffered with eczema significantly to, not to your extent, but yeah, our skin is absorbing anything that we put in onto it. And to take that into consideration, not only in the chronic illness community, but for the general public. That's going to make so many big impacts on people's health that you have no idea how they're then gonna be able to impact others because my July specifically, is not causing their toxic bucket to no kind of fill up and overflow. It's a big ripple effect.

Micaela

Yeah. Oh, thank you. Yeah, it's mainly because, obviously it was born out of necessity for my skin issues. Sure. But doing all this research, my mom started getting more aware of all the talks since that are in products, especially I. In the United States, it's very unregulated with beauty products and skincare products that she didn't wanna use anything on her skin that was toxic. So it's not only for those with chronic illness, but for anyone who doesn't wanna put anything exactly on their skin, they wouldn't trust eating. So it's a way for us to use that to spread awareness, not only about chronic illness, but just to be aware of. Everything adds up with your toxic burden. We're not saying that you have to go live on a farm somewhere out in the boondocks and live a completely natural lifestyle, but just be aware that things do add up with all of the toxic burden that we carry.

Erin

For sure. And I think skincare is honestly such a perfect place to start for people. Like sometimes food is too much, like I'm not willing to give up whatever X, Y, and Z, but skincare there are clean products like my July out there that first of all, your skin's gonna look better and feel better. But it's just, it's an easy swap. Like just don't use that lotion and use this one. I think it's a great place for people to start.

Micaela

Totally.

Erin

I wanna hear more about, your relationship with your mom. I just love that you guys own this together. I think it's really, sweet and beautiful and probably not all mother-daughter pairs would be willing to go into business together. But I, yeah, I think you already have spoken to how integral she was to your healing during that. Whatever you wanna call it. The dark night of your soul when you're not able to use your hands. And yeah. How is it working with your mom and now that you're in a better spot, health-wise? I don't know. I just wanna hear about that

Micaela

relationship. She's my best friend, and I say that like completely, honestly. She really is. We do everything together. And growing up, I was an only child and she was a stay-at-home mom, so it was just natural that we really bonded and she really wanted, she's an only child too, and she has a good relationship with her mom, so it was very important for her to. Create a unique bond with me too. And instead of just, yeah, dropping me off at daycare or, viewing me more as a burden than anything else. She included me in a lot of things, like whenever she went grocery shopping, I'd come along too, or she had to I would go with her on errands. Like that sounds so, so small and minute. But I just remember always being by her side. And then as I got older, When I would have off from school, we lived in Connecticut right outside of New York, so we would go to New York City and walk around and it was so much fun that Awesome. It just seemed like a natural extension of our relationship to then start a company together and work on that together. I

Erin

love that. That's incredible. It also makes my heart so happy, Miguel. Yeah, because we have an only child, and it's one of my, I don't know why, it's one of my biggest, not insecurities. I just often feel oh, are we doing her a disservice by not providing siblings?

Micaela

I just, but she's

Josh

not getting

Micaela

siblings.

Erin

She's not. But yeah, I just love hearing that, that makes me like, honestly get a little bit emotional. I'm like, what a beautiful gift it is to have a mom who I do feel like I have time and space for her in my life. Yeah. And we have a connection because of, I'm not distracted by a whole brood of children. Seriously.

Micaela

Yeah. It is really special. So cultivate that. Okay.

Josh

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, that's a good encouragement and a good reminder. I think especially building companies multiple right now, it would be in incredibly difficult with multiple kids, but I do feel like when I am with Zoe is our daughter's name, when I'm with Zoe, I feel like I can be fully present. It is a gift, at least for me as a father, to be able to just solely be with her when I'm with her She is in the present. She's gonna be five in August. you even saying that about your mom, me coming as a dad, I'm excited to experience that level of connection. Yeah. That is cultivated because of the gift of just having Zoe. Yeah.

Erin

Guys, big perspective shift today. It wasn't

Josh

expected. Let's go Micaela. You're looking at, you shift in our brains.

Micaela

Yeah,

Erin

I've just transparently McKayla, I've gone to a lot of therapy over the fact that we're only having one child, so this is helpful. It's good to see.

Josh

Transitioning into, okay, my July It's really happening. You guys are doing great. You are. And war one huge fans, two huge proponents of the authenticity and. Transparency of my July. How did then chronically hacked evolve out of all of that? Obviously you have chronic illness, but what kind of ignited that idea and encouraged you to move into that? During all of this,

Micaela

Yeah, so chronically hacked is very recent. We just launched this month May in conjunction with National Lyme Disease Awareness Month, and that was, love it. Obviously born out of my chronic illness too, and I. Let me backtrack a little bit with my July. At that time, I was still chasing a diagnosis. I mentioned that it was just at the very early stages of me not even knowing what was going on. I had gotten tested for SIBO and Celiac and Crohn's, and I was diagnosed with I B S, which essentially is like, what does that mean? Just have a really irritated stomach that's. Still doesn't get to the root cause. So it was just, in those years, it almost took me a decade to finally get diagnosed with Lyme disease in 20 20th of July. Wow. That, I thought, there are so many people out there who are walking around not feeling well every day, and they just assume that's normal. They're walking around undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. And how many times do you hear people say oh, I need my coffee to wake up. That's not normal. Do you ever think about having to take a pill to go to sleep's not normal either. Like insomnia, right? Headaches, migraines, skin flareups. There are so many people that are suffering from. Chronic illness that don't even realize that's chronic illness. So there I think is a lot more awareness with social media I was actually talking to my Lyme doctor a few weeks ago. She said a lot more people are getting tested for Lyme lately because they're working from home. Yeah. So they have more time to go investigate their health instead of commuting to the office. And it's just, I think, a new chapter of people gaining more awareness and. Realizing that they have to become their own health advocates. during that time with me bouncing from doctor to doctor, I had to do my own research and I came across Lyme on my own, no doctor that I saw even suggested Lyme disease. And I was, mind you, I was working with doctors who were covered by my insurance, so I was going the Western Medical. Sure. Because at that time I was still under my parents' insurance, so I thought I might as well just exhaust every doctor under the sun that is covered by insurance instead of going to a doctor that doesn't take insurance and shelling out boku bucks for something that may not even give me the answers I need. And it actually took me like exhausting all the doctors under the sun to finally. Get the motivation to, or get the clue, I guess the universe was telling me, okay, get a clue, Micaela. You have to go see a doctor, like a Lyme l medical doctor or a functional medicine doctor who wasn't covered by insurance, to finally get diagnosed with Lyme disease and like all along with Lyme disease. Me and my best friend Diana, who I actually met through a chronic illness support group on Facebook. So that's very, to keep on brand. We're all like working within the brand here. Yeah. We met when I was, shortly after I moved to LA and we. Connected because she was in LA and she just posted Africa exactly what she posted on, as a post on Facebook. And I just commented and I said, Hey, it sounds like your symptoms are very similar to mine. And then we really hit off. So then after we realized we're both entrepreneurs, we both live in LA and we have a lot of things in common. We really connected from that and then, Later on, a few months later, we realized, we have a lot of shared knowledge about the chronic illness world that we take for granted. Not a lot of people know about it, just from our experience of like years and years of doing research. People don't even know that. There's a doctor that exists called a Lyme literate medical doctor. Yeah, like as basic as that. Yep. That's who to get tested for Lyme disease or like what is a Lyme test, what is the best one out there? And just these little nuggets of wisdom we thought that. Would help other people. We think that it's so basic for us, but not for other people. So that kind of built to the foundation for us to think about. It would be really nice to have a place where people can just go to find out all the basic 1 0 1 knowledge about chronic illness. So you're dealing with mystery health symptoms. What do you do? No doctor knows what is going on with you. Yeah. They say it's idiopathic. Like they say, it's all in your head. They say it's stress and you have to just take a vacation. There's something else going on. So this is just basically a roadmap to point them in the right direction and just share our experiences and share where they got us in our healing journey and help other people get on their path to health. And also with us sharing on social media. I like, over the past few years, I've become a lot more transparent about my illness and a lot more being an open book, just really trying to raise awareness about, Hey, it looks like I'm not sick, but I actually really am and this is all about invisible illness and this is what I'm dealing with. I would get a lot of dms from people and they would say, Hey, I'm dealing with very similar symptoms, or have a loved one. And it was just something that really opened my eyes up to. The fact, as I said, there's so many people out there in the world that aren't feeling good on a daily basis, and I actually did an Instagram poll totally a few weeks ago that said, Hey guys, like how many of you don't feel well on a daily basis? I'm not saying that you have Lyme disease. I'm just saying like you deal with chronic migraines, or you deal with insomnia, or you have joint pain or skin issues, 93%. Who follow me now, mind you, of course I have a huge chronic illness community following me. Sure. But it was just mind blowing to me that more people than not have some sort of issue they're dealing with. So with all that being said, we thought that there's no one else really that we can think of that's doing this, that has this online course that's just sharing these different hacks, tips, tools that we did to get us on our healing journey that can help other people. That's Awesomes. Beautiful.

Erin

Even just connecting people with the right people. Yeah. I know that was the most confusing part. Like you said, you go to a doctor and either they look at you sideways or they tell you it's in your head, or they just give you, here's Prozac for your 14 symptoms that you just told me. You're like, where do we even go from here? So even just connecting people with the right people is huge

Josh

and We may be in the minority of having loved ones close to us that were our advocates and our darkest times. So many dms that I get literally on a weekly basis are people that were, in their early twenties. Really pushing for their career, moved out of state across the country. and then they tank and get sick Then they're trying to navigate through this as their own advocate while being completely demolished in chronic illness. And they're just looking for any answers. if I got chronically sick, as sick as I did, and it was just me, I for sure wouldn't be where I'm at now if I didn't have Erin. Being my advocate and constantly researching because I was tanked, I was done. It's really hard

Erin

to research when your brain fog is so thick. looking up anything is

Josh

exhausting. But yeah, I even remember, I'm very tech literate and I would just be on every thread possible. Trying to figure out anybody that was giving any direction on this, cuz you're right, like a ly literate doctor wasn't something that I was even remotely aware of. Before I got really into this. I didn't know about anything though at that point, and that's partially why I became so chronically ill. So having resources like that is going to be a gigantis gift to anybody in that situation who. In a way will become an advocate for that person and start to guide them in the right direction. So I commend you for that because that's something that's been needed inside of this community, but also can help people that aren't as sick as you or I were and nip it in the ass a little bit and be like, here's all of the resources. Like you're diagnosed with IBS right now, and Sucks, but it could get a lot worse. Here's all the resources that you may need in order to nip that so you don't have to experience an even worse situation,

Micaela

so that's awesome. Thank you. Yeah. If someone told me to check out Lyme Disease or earlier on in my healing journey, it would have taken out a few years of my journey to a diagnosis. Yes. Anyway, that we can pay it forward is what we really Yeah. We at least strive to do. Yeah.

Josh

And even like with Lyme disease there, I was tested multiple times, all came back negative. Just the initial

Erin

screening test which is a joke, but

Josh

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. people are sick and not having answers. And so any resources that can at least aid them in the right direction, regardless of if they have diagnosis or not, is again, just so needed inside of this community and out of it,

Erin

honestly. Even just the people sharing their stories like you, Michaela, and Josh now, I know we didn't really talk much during it because we just didn't even know what we were talking about. Yeah. Like I'm sick question mark, but I think the more people talk about it, the more. People are going to wake up to the fact that, like you were saying, Micaela, yes, it's common. No, it's not normal. Yeah, we're all feeling like garbage, but there are things that we can do to make ourselves better. To make ourselves well again. And just because it's common doesn't mean you need to accept it or live with it or, yes.

Josh

And Covid did give us a little bit of a global awareness of health. Yeah, for sure. And so everyone started to recognize one, there's a bioindividuality, like I may respond differently than you are to something. And my symptoms may be similar, but it may be something else. But that doesn't mean that we can't. Holistically look at how we're feeling and start to find some answers. So yeah. Yeah, that's really huge.

Erin

All we are really talking about, all the good things that came outta Covid.

Micaela

Yikes. Yeah, I know. I was just thinking that in my head too. Yeah, sorry.

Erin

Covid was bad and it's still, COVID

Josh

was a bitch, but there were a few good things that came outta this. where did the name I July come from?

Micaela

Oh, that's a really good question. I'm so happy you asked that because I love when people ask me that. That's sweet. So my favorite time of the year is summer. My favorite season for sure is summer. I love the warm weather and just the ease of having, not now cause I'm not in school anymore, but when I was in school I loved being off from school Sure. And just having beach days. I grew up by the water and going to the beach was so fun. Having the time with my mom, as I mentioned, we would go to. New York City and she would take me to Broadway shows or else we would just go shopping. Yeah. Or anything just as seemingly las as going to the grocery store. It was just fun it was a really ti it was a time that I really cherished and going back into my health history not only health history, but just my history of life. A lot of pivotal events. For me happened in July it wasn't planned or anything, but it was just very curious to me that. So many things happened in July. Like for instance, when we moved from Connecticut to California, that was in July when I ran my first half marathon with my mom. That was July. I traveled to Europe for the first time with my family. We took a trip to Munich. That was in July. And then I mentioned that I was diagnosed with Lyme disease in July. So all these events, these milestones happened in July. I was like, July is a really special month. Not only because I just love the feeling of summer and July, to me represents the peak of summer. But also it's just a really important month for me with all of these important events in my life happening in July. And it was this attachment of importance, but like good energy that I wanted to attach to. Yeah, totally. The products, because I'm hugely into energy and. Any way that I can attach something that has really special meaning to me, to my products. I feel if I have that, when I make them and I put them out into the world, it just has that energy that it's comforting to people. And you can take July, like July ESP essentially is just Whatever is, has special meaning in your heart. It doesn't have to be the month of July, if that's not your favorite month of the year or anything, it could be. Sure. Something that you just hold sacred that I wanted to attribute to our products. I love that so much.

Erin

you ever heard of Dr. Emoto? He was the guy that studied

Micaela

water. Oh, the rice. Yeah. He also is a rice. Yes. They're also with rice. Okay. I was like, wait, no. Okay. Both. Yeah. Both him. Yeah. Yeah. I love his work. It's amazing and I believe it. I believe that everything is energy. Totally. Like we are all energetic beings, of course the energy we suit totally is what we're going to attract and return.

Erin

yeah. Things, products, food, all of it. It holds a frequency. It holds energy water holds cellular memory and intention and all of these things. So I love that your products are made with good energy. That makes me so happy. Yeah. So very cool. Yeah.

Josh

We are big fans of energy over here, that's for

Erin

sure. Yeah, everyone is. They just don't all know it. That's so

Micaela

true.

Josh

Have you heard of something called Astrocartography by

Micaela

any chance? No. What is that?

Josh

I. Okay, so Astrocartography is essentially a geographical astrology. And so what you do is you put your birthday, the time you were born and the location, and there's different energies based on the planetary. Alignments at that moment you were born and there's this idea where there you have your main lines, you have disharmonious lines, and then you have harmonious lines that energetically impact you. I've gotten really into it, feeling the energies in different places. In San Francisco, I have an astrocartography line that. Correlates with professional success and when I was there it was stupid, crazy. I have a disharmonious line actually in Columbus, but where we are currently living, where we currently live, but I have one just of us and. I know. Huge wom. hey, I only moved here to heal, like you moved to la. I wish my family lived in California, but no day Decided to live in freaking Ohio, so I had to move to Columbus, Ohio to heal. But I have a harmonious line that's just west of Columbus and it says, You will have a higher chance of healing and then using how you healed to impact the world. And so I'd just be so curious if you have a astrocartography lines around where you live

Micaela

or send me the info. I'll look that up. Okay. Sweet. It's like human

Erin

design

Micaela

meets. Yeah. I don't know. I was thinking like a human design. Fascinating. Yeah. What's your human design? I have to know now. I'm a manifesting generator.

Josh

Oh, we're both

Micaela

generators. Yeah. Uhhuh. That's so cool. Yep. Anything that tells me more about myself, I just eat that all up.

Josh

Human design is like the astrological Enneagram uhhuh, but human design has changed. Even how we're making decisions in business. our co-founder of Ruti and my business partner in peak. Is a manifesting generator too. But even just knowing I'm a sacl, being, knowing that my strongest sense is feeling and how I feel energy in different ways. And Erin's is smell, but how she senses things out. It's, it has changed how we're making decisions even with Astrocartography I'm not gonna move to someplace as disharmonious. all of our harmonious lines are on the West Coast, so we're coming. We'll be there. We're coming

Micaela

for you. California is calling your name.

Josh

It is. Sweet.

Micaela

Cool. Tell people

Erin

where they can find you. Your handles website. We'll link stuff too, but in case somebody's

Micaela

just listening. So if you wanna check out my mom and my Clean Skincare brand, it's my July and we are on Instagram at my July skin. Our website is my july skin.com. If you wanna check out the chronic illness online course, it's chronically hacked. Our Instagram is at chronically hacked, and our website is chronically hacked.com. And if you are interested in me, I have a personal Instagram. It's at McKayla who. Awesome.

Josh

Oh, you're awesome. I'll link all of that. Yeah, we definitely will. We are so thankful for you. I'm thankful to know you. You're beautiful inside and out. Yes. We always ask our guests one question at the end, and the question is, what is your freedom?

Micaela

Freedom to me is taking any situation that you are handed and creating something beautiful out of that. of my businesses were born out of my illness. So it's like universe hands you something and then it's up to you to create something beautiful out of that. I

Erin

love that. Ugh, that's, so we were just talking yesterday how all things are neutral and we ascribe the meaning to it, right? Like we get to choose is this good or is this bad? And it's powerful when we're able to shift that perspective. Like you said, like this of course is not all good. Like it doesn't feel good, but I can turn it into something. I can alchemize it like your mom was alchemizing in the kitchen. Yeah. Like I can alchemize it for good. Exactly.

Micaela

Yeah.

Erin

Yeah.

Micaela

here. Makayla, you're awesome. Thank you. Thank you. So are you guys, I love what you're doing.

Josh

Cool. Thank you. Thank you. And then fun fact guys, cuz most people, everyone on this that listen to this podcast knows about Ruti, we've officially partnered with chronically hacked. It's in chronically hacked, so you can get a huge discount on a Ruti Scan. There you go. If you go by chronically hacked. So y'all are fools if you don't go do this.

Micaela

Check it out, guys. It's in our ebook. Yeah.

Josh

Yep. Cool. Y'all, we appreciate you guys. Yeah. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.

Micaela

Bye.