Dolly Parton Wisdom For Inside-Out Wellness

“You can’t heal a body you hate” is the kind of truth that stops you mid-scroll, because it explains why so many wellness plans feel like a fight. We sit with that line and talk honestly about the hidden voice underneath common goals like weight loss, getting stronger, eating better, having more energy, and sleeping well. Wanting change doesn’t make you shallow. Starting from self-disgust just makes the journey harder than it has to be. 

We borrow a little wisdom from Dolly Parton and use her quotes as a map for inside-out wellness, body image healing, and sustainable self-care. We unpack how comparison steals your peace, why “find out who you are and do it on purpose” can reset your fitness mindset, and how joy-focused wellness makes room for real life. That means movement you actually enjoy, foods that make you feel good, rest without guilt, and relationships that help you feel connected instead of consumed by the mirror. 

We also talk about courage: the bravery it takes to walk into the gym, start over again, and keep going when the scale won’t cooperate. Life storms like injury, menopause changes, stress, grief, and exhaustion can feel like proof your body failed you, but we reframe them as seasons that can grow deeper roots and stronger habits. If you want the rainbow, you put up with the rain, and the “rain” can be simple, consistent care, not punishment. 

If you’ve been stuck in a cycle of fixing and criticizing, come join us for a truce and one practical question: what’s one thing you can do this week to care for yourself on purpose? Subscribe to Spandex and Wine, share this with a friend, and leave a review if it resonates.

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Welcome To Spandex And Wine

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Spandex and Wine Podcast. I'm your host, Robin Hackney, and I'm so happy that you're here. This podcast is a place for conversations about balancing a healthy lifestyle and being happy. More specifically, happy hour. Together we'll explore all things wellness and wine. I hope you learn a little, laugh a lot, and along the way, know you're not alone on this balanced wellness journey. Ready to jump in? Pour something in your glass that makes you happy because it's time for Spandex and Wine.

You Can’t Heal A Body You Hate

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Welcome back to the Spandex and Wine Podcast. The other day I was talking with a client and she shared a quote with me that I thought, whoa, that is really good. So the quote was, You can't heal a body you hate. And I've been putting that, you know, rolling that through my mind ever since then, because so many of us spent years trying to improve a body, we spend an awful lot of time criticizing. We want to lose weight, we want to get stronger, maybe it's eating better, having more energy, sleeping better, just feeling better overall. But underneath all those goals, sometimes there's another voice saying, I hate the way I look, I hate my body, I need to fix this or that, I'm not doing enough, I'm not enough. And then with the passing of Dolly Parton this week, her quotes kept popping up on my feed. And I think we can learn so much from the way she lived her life or the amount that we got to see. I know she was a very private person, but she never pretended to be subtle. She certainly never apologized for wanting to look pretty. Um, she created a look that was unmistakably dolly. And I think she also understood something really important that the outside was an expression of something that she was already happening on the inside. I heard her in an interview, and I am paraphrasing this, but she said that she felt pretty on the inside, so she wanted to feel the same way on the outside. So maybe taking care of ourselves isn't about convincing ourselves that we have to love every wrinkle or roll or scar or extra pound that we're carrying around, or even every part of our body that we might wish looked a little different. Maybe healing begins when we stop treating ourselves like the enemy. You can want to lose weight and still respect yourself. You can want to get stronger and still appreciate the body that is carrying you through life right now. You can want to change and still believe you are worthy. Those things can exist together. So today I wanted to borrow just a little wisdom from Dolly and talk about loving yourself, believing in yourself, taking care of yourself from the inside out, and maybe learning how to stop being at war with the person staring back at you in the mirror. And of course, since this is fandex and wine, we'll eventually talk about the fact that Delhi had her own or still has her own wine. I mean, seriously, she would have been the perfect guest on the show. I can't even imagine. That would be fantastic. But we're gonna start

Find Who You Are On Purpose

SPEAKER_01 3:24

with some posts. I think I have five of them. Um, the first one is find out who you are and do it on purpose. Find out who you are and do it on purpose. This fits perfectly with the way she lived her life. And I love this because I think so many of us are spending an awful lot of time trying to become someone else or the person that we once were. We compare ourselves to others on Instagram or social media, maybe it's the person at the gym, maybe it's the person that you used to be 25 years ago, the person that we think that we should be in 25 years, or even that woman who seems to have it all figured out. Somewhere in all that comparing, we lose track of who we are. Maybe that's part of why we struggle so much with our bodies. I know as we age, we tend to get better at that, but that voice is still there, and we constantly look at ourselves and think, ooh, this isn't right, or I should look different, or I should weigh what I weighed when I was younger, or I just need to get back to where I was five years ago. Um, I should have her arms or her stomach or her skin or her life, whatever it might be. But what if the goal isn't to become that past somebody, that future somebody, or even somebody else in general? What if the goal is to figure out who you are now? Like I said, not who you were 20 years ago, not who you think you should be, who you are now, who you are now. Um and you know, I think questions that you could ask is what makes me feel alive? What makes you feel strong? What makes you feel beautiful? What kind of movement do you actually enjoy? We've talked about that so many times on other episodes, but the movement has to be something that you enjoy. But it goes with food too. Like what foods make you feel good? You need to take the time to feel that apart and find what makes you feel good and what doesn't. Um kind of life you want to create. And then the second part of her quote is do it on purpose. So take care of yourself on purpose. Move your body on purpose, rest on purpose, eat in a way that supports your health on purpose. Spend time with people who make you feel good and make that intentional. Because when you know who you are, it's a whole lot easier to make decisions that support that person. And maybe that is part of healing. Not spending the rest of your life trying to become someone that you're not or fitting yourself into a box that you think that you should be in, but you don't need to be there. Maybe just becoming more and more comfortable being who you are already. Because I guarantee you are a beautiful person just the way you

Joy, Connection, And Giving Smiles

SPEAKER_01 6:22

are. So the second quote that I loved that I kept seeing is if you see someone without a smile, so let me start over. If you see someone without a smile, give them yours. And I know you're probably thinking, what does that have to do with healing our bodies? But I think actually it does have a lot to do with it because how we feel on the inside eventually spills outward. And how we treat other people often reflects what is happening inside of us. And trust me, I know this firsthand. I have hurt so many people because I was the one hurting, and I was projecting that. When we feel good, when we feel connected, when we feel hopeful, when we have joy in our lives, we have more to give. Now, I'm not saying that you have to walk around pretending to be happy all the time. We don't want that. We are real people, absolutely not. Like some days are hard, some seasons are hard, sometimes you don't have a smile to give because you're just trying to find your own. But there is something powerful about remembering that we are connected to other people. That a smile, a compliment, a kind word, holding the door, just checking in on somebody, all of those things can change that person's day. And what I think is interesting is sometimes when we are focused on everything we hate about ourselves, our entire world gets very, very small. We become consumed with what we eat, what we weigh, how genes fit, um, how you look in the mirror, and the things that you think that you need to fix. You know, like pick yourself apart. And again, I understand I've been there too, but sometimes healing and loving yourself means looking up, looking outside of ourselves, finding joy, connecting with other people, giving something instead of constantly criticizing ourselves. Because maybe health isn't just about what we eat and how often we exercise. That is like, you know, I'm gonna put it out there that health is also about joy. I talked in a couple a couple weeks ago in one of my Porch Talk Tuesdays about joy-focused wellness. Um it's not just about that eating, it's not just about that exercise, it is about joy, it's about relationships and kindness, and maybe it's also about feeling connected to something bigger than your reflection in the mirror. And sometimes when you can't quite find a smile for yourself, giving one away might be a good start.

The Courage To Start Again

SPEAKER_01 9:13

So the third quote is you'll never do a whole lot unless you're brave enough to try. Every change requires bravery. I think we can all agree on that. We don't always think of getting healthy as something that requires courage, but it does. It's brave to walk into a gym when you don't know what you're doing. It's brave to take that first fitness class. It's brave to hire a trainer or admit that the way that you're taking care of yourself isn't working anymore. And it's super brave to start over again and again, especially when you've done that so many times before. Maybe you have lost the weight and gained it back. Maybe you joined a gym and then stopped going. Maybe you started a program, you followed that program, you counted the macros, you did all the things, and here you are. Thinking about starting again. And all of that does take bravery and courage. And I think sometimes we underestimate how brave it is to simply say, I'm going to do this again. Here's the thing though, you don't have to know exactly what the outcome will be. You don't have to guarantee that you'll succeed. You don't have to have the entire plan figured out. You just have to be brave enough to try and jump in and do it messy. And maybe this time the difference is that you don't start because you hate yourself. Maybe this time you start because you believe you are worth the effort. That is a very different starting place. Okay.

Storms That Grow Deeper Roots

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Fourth quote of Dolly's storms make trees take deeper roots. I think this might be one of my favorites because we all have storms, and sometimes those storms show up in our health. Maybe you've had an injury. You guys have heard me recently talk about that, and I am thankful to all of those that have come to me with their injuries and allowing me to help them. And maybe you've gone through menopause and suddenly your body seems to be operating under like just a completely new management team. I don't know. Maybe you've gained weight, maybe you've lost strength, maybe you don't recognize yourself anymore. You could be dealing with stress or grief or loss, exhaustion. Um or you're just in one of those seasons where life seems determined just to throw the kitchen sink directly at your head. I don't know. We all have those storms that we are dealing with. But what if the storm isn't only something to survive? What if it's teaching us something? What if the hard lessons force us to get back to basics? Just to simply pay attention and to rest, to ask for help, to be stronger, to find out what really matters and figure out what works. Trees don't grow deeper roots because everything is easy. And I think people are a little like that too. I mean, they definitely are. The hard things change us, but they don't have to destroy us. Sometimes they make us stronger in ways that we never even expected. Sometimes their answer to prayers that we're just opening our eyes to her and we're like, oh, yeah, okay, yep, I'm supposed to learn this. And that can be another part of healing and learning to love your body. Instead of looking back at all the things that went wrong and thinking, my body failed me, maybe we should ask, what has this season taught me? Why did this happen in my life? What can I learn from it? Um, what do I need to know that I didn't know before? What deeper roots can I grow here? Your body may be different than it was 10 years ago. I guarantee that it probably is. Mine is too. But different doesn't automatically mean worse. It just means different. And sometimes our job isn't to fight our way backward. Our job is to figure out how to move forward from exactly where we are. And I don't care what age you're at right now, and if you're just starting, if you've you know been on this wellness journey for a long time, your future self is going to thank you if you take the time to weather the storms and make this happen.

Rain, Consistency, And The Rainbow

SPEAKER_00 13:47

So and then the last quote that I wanted to share of Dolly's is the way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. I think that is classic Dolly. I think we all love the rainbow part. We all want to feel better. We all want more energy. We want to be stronger, we want our clothes to fit better, you know, feel confident, sleep better, I don't know, age well, just all the good stuff. But sometimes we don't want the rain that comes with it. We don't want the consistency. Um, we don't want to make time for workouts, or we don't feel like cooking. We don't want to go to bed earlier, we don't want to drink less wine. I mean, I know that that's something maybe it's just me. I don't know. We want the results. Sometimes we just don't want all of the process that comes with it. But here's the thing: the rain doesn't have to be miserable. I think we have made health way too complicated and way too punishing. We think that if it's hard enough or restrictive enough or sweaty enough or miserable enough, it doesn't count. What if the rain is simply showing up? Maybe it's taking a walk, eating a salad, lifting the weights, um, drinking water, going to bed, starting again after the weekend, and not because you're punishing your body, because you're caring for it. That's the difference. The rainbow isn't the result of hating yourself thin. It's not about beating yourself into submission. It's about consistently taking care of yourself over and over again, even when it isn't exciting, even when the scale is not moving. The scale doesn't tell the whole story, you guys. We've talked about that before. And even when you don't feel like it, because the things we do consistently are the things that eventually change us. I think that's worth repeating. The things we do consistently are the things that eventually change us.

Respect Your Body While You Change

SPEAKER_00 16:02

So that just brings me back to where we started. You can't heal a body you hate. And again, I don't know that you have to wake up tomorrow and suddenly love every single thing about your body. I don't want you to think that. I'm not saying that at all. Um, I don't think that's realistic. But maybe you can start with just respecting yourself. Maybe you can call a truce with yourself. You can say, I may not love everything about this body, but I'm done treating it like the enemy. I am going to feed it, I am going to move it, I am going to rest it, I'm going to strengthen it, I'm going to listen to it. I'm going to stop waiting until I lose 10 pounds or 20 pounds or whatever the number is. I've decided I will finally make me worthy of taking care of myself. Because you are worthy now. You are worth this. And I think when we start taking care of ourselves from the inside out, the outside often begins to change too. Just like Dolly said. Maybe not exactly the same way that we expected, but we become stronger, we're more capable, more energetic, we're more confident and resilient. And I don't know about you, but I think those things are pretty beautiful.

Dolly Wine And A Life Lived Fully

SPEAKER_00 17:21

So just briefly, uh, since this is fandex and wine, I can't do this entire episode around Dolly quotes without mentioning that the woman has her own wine. I didn't realize this. I had to do a little research. It's called Dolly Wines, because apparently becoming a music legend and a songwriter and an actress and a philanthropist and a businesswoman and an absolute icon wasn't enough that she had to also give us wines. So from my research, I learned that Dolly Wines includes a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir in the United States and then other varieties available in other markets. And yes, I find it completely appropriate that Dolly managed to find her way into the wine world. I remember her saying in an interview about her wines that she thinks wine is about connection. And I love that we all need each other and we could all use a little dose of Dolly. Like I said before, she would have been the perfect guest for the podcast. Can you even imagine that? I mean, she already has the tight outfits and the spandex and the wine and the stories and the laughter. That would have been so very cool. But what I really admire about her isn't just the rhinestones and the big hair and the one-liners. It's that she seemed to understand how to live fully. She encouraged people to be themselves. She encouraged kindness. She encouraged courage. She understood that hard times are part of life. And she never seemed particularly interested in shrinking herself to make other people comfortable. I think that is a fabulous lesson. So maybe that's what I want to leave you with today. What if we all lived a little more like Dolly? What if we spent less time trying to be who we think everyone else wants us to be? What if we found out who we are and we did it on purpose? What if we gave away more smiles? What if we were brave enough to try or try something new? What if we allowed our storms to grow those deeper roots instead of believing they ruined us or they're beating us down? What if we stopped complaining about the rain long enough to remember that sometimes that's what it takes to get to the rainbow? And what if instead of spending so much time criticizing our bodies, we actually started taking care of them? Not because we hate them, but because we have one life to live in them. Your body has carried you through every single day of your life. It has gotten you through the good days, the hard days, the celebrations, the losses, the workouts, the vacations, pregnancies if you've had them, illnesses, the sleepless nights, uh, the laughter, the tears. And maybe it's time to stop treating it like something that needs to be constantly fixed. Maybe it's time to start treating it like something worth caring for.

Your One Thing This Week

SPEAKER_00 20:24

So this week I want you to think about this. What's one thing you can do to take care of yourself because you love yourself, or at least because you're learning to. So maybe it's starting a new workout, maybe it's just working in some more walks into your schedule, maybe it's eating something that makes you feel good, or even just taking the time to figure out what foods make you feel good and what don't. It could be getting more sleep, maybe it's calling a friend, maybe it's putting on something that makes you feel fabulous. And maybe it's pouring yourself a glass of wine and raising it to dolly. Whatever it is, do it on purpose. And while you're at it, be brave enough to try. Give somebody your smile, put down some deeper roots when the storms come. And remember that the rain won't last forever. The rainbow is out there somewhere. And who knows, maybe we'll all be better off if we just add a little more dolly in our lives. Okay. Cheers, friends. I will see you next time on the Spandex and Wine Podcast.

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SPEAKER_00 21:31

Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to follow Spandex and Wine so you don't miss an episode. To do this, just go to the podcast and click subscribe or follow wherever you're listening. Look for the plus sign or follow button. This is one of the best things that you can do for the podcast. If you'd also be willing to give a five-star review, that would be amazing and much appreciated. Lastly, please share an episode with a friend or five to keep the love going. And join the Spandex and Wine community in our private Facebook group by searching Spandex and Wine. Feel free to reach out to me at any time by emailing info at spandexandwine.com or text me at 913 392 2877. I appreciate you. Thank you.