Journey to Well

Holistic Habits For The Corporate Woman Who Refuses Burnout | Maddison Sutton

• Hannah • Season 2 • Episode 26

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The pace of modern work can make even basic self-care feel out of reach. We sat down with Maddison Sutton—former corporate turned integrative health coach and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner—to map a calmer, smarter path: tiny rituals, honest body check-ins, and practical boundaries that protect your nervous system while you build the career you want.

Maddison opens up about navigating grief, stress, and the moment she realized “pushing through” wasn’t resilience—it was burnout in disguise. She explains what an FDNP actually assesses across hormones, digestion, detox, sleep, and stress, and why most people don’t need every lab to start feeling better. The surprising unlock? A return to basics anchored in consistent, doable actions. Think five quiet minutes for breakfast, a short morning inventory of mood and tension, and cooking simple meals as intentional resets rather than chores.

We talk about how slowing down can increase authority at work, improve sleep quality, and reduce anxiety. Madison shares how phone-free cooking, evening tech hygiene, and a gentle night routine lowered her stress and brought more presence into meetings and relationships. We also dig into making big moves with both courage and logic: creating financial runway, building safety in your nervous system, and trusting yourself enough to leave what no longer fits.

If you’re a busy woman in a corporate role looking for holistic health strategies that don’t require a life overhaul, this conversation is your blueprint. Expect grounded advice, real stories, and tools you can use today to feel better tomorrow.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a calmer morning, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find us.

Connect with Maddison at wellwithmaddison.com 

Let's connect on social media! You can find me @ _journeytowell
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be well, my friend
xx Hannah

SPEAKER_00:

Hello. Welcome back to the podcast, Journey to Well. My name is Hannah, and I am joined with uh Madison Sutton today. She is a two-for-sacral manifesting generator. I don't know when I'm putting out all of these episodes, but I don't know how it's happened. I feel like the last five guests I've been having conversations with, I haven't even talked human design with. So I'm very excited to talk human design with you. Um, not the point of this podcast, though. Madison is a certified integrative health coach and a functional diagnostic and health practitioner. Uh, she and I had a really cool conversation about how we can incorporate holistic health into our corporate lives. So, for those of you that are in the community that work the corporate nine to five and love it or work that at corporate nine to five and maybe want to make some changes, this episode is definitely for you. And it's really an episode for the busy woman, which is technically everyone these days. So, um, Madison, I'm so excited to chat with you today. I would love for you to give a little bit of an intro of who you are, how your life journey has been thus far, and anything that you'd like to share to introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me, Hannah. You have such like a calming voice and presence, and I love it. Um, it's very nice. So yeah, I guess a little bit of background on me. Um, I was in the corporate space for the majority of my career. Um, I was in the software space, and funny enough, I'm kind of getting back into that, but I'll go into that in a little bit. And loved that world, like really thrived in that world, did really well. I feel like it opened up so many experiences and like really changed who I was in so many ways. So very grateful for that time. I think that because of some stuff that was happening personally for me, I kept being drawn back into the holistic health space. Um, I felt like the universe very much was like, you need to be in this space, and I'm gonna do everything I can to like bring you into it. Um, so you know, kind of started with somebody that I was dating getting really ill. Um that was kind of a big intro for me, and that's what really opened my world to holistic health and wellness and how much we are in charge, truly, and do have so much more authority over our health and our future than we think that we do. Um, so that was the big eye-opening moment for me, and it just became such a passion. I carried it through into my own health struggles. And when my father was diagnosed with cancer, probably about four years ago now, I think that was really my the beginning of the end of my corporate, you know, job. I don't think the pace that I was moving was sustainable for the stress that my body was experiencing. And I think I had been experiencing high levels of stress just from work for a very long time, but I had been able to kind of just push through it. You know, I was in my like 20s and I was like, this is fine, like it's okay. It's fine that I don't sleep literally ever. Um, it's fine that I need alcohol to go to bed and gummies every night, you know. Um, so I was just just, you know, kind of making excuses and just unaware. And then when dad got sick, I think just the grief, like knowing that he was gonna pass along with the stress that I was already experiencing. I also like entered into like a new relationship with my now partner. And I think that was a bit eye-opening. So it was kind of like worlds collide situation. And just like the timing of everything, I was like, I'm stepping away from the corporate space. I decided to get my functional diagnostics and nutrition practitioner. I had already been coaching people just for fun on the side. Um, and I decided to sort of make a leap and make it my career. Um, funny enough, now I'm doing consulting for um a wellness company that wants to bring wellness into um the corporate space. So it's like very, very much um it's very synergistic.

SPEAKER_00:

What a full circle moment. And how cool that we are having these conversations, not just on podcasts, but we're really seeing this integration in corporate worlds. And one of the big foundations of my business often I talk to my clients about is like we feel that we need to make these huge shifts sometimes because we've been burning the candle at both ends for so long that we really have this breakdown moment where we're like, nope, can't just I just cannot do it anymore. Which sometimes happens in relationships too. Like it doesn't have to be your job, it could be moving or a relationship or your job or or wanting to lose weight or something like that, a lifestyle change that we often don't change until we hit a breaking point. But we don't have to get to that breaking point before we start making some small adjustments. And so I personally love working with clients in the corporate world that love their job, uh, but they know that it's not sustainable the way that they are doing what they're doing. And they know that they're gonna eventually hit burnout and to have that foresight to be able to do some preventative measures and make these little shifts is so cool. So I love that you're going back into the corporate world in a different way. And I think you and I kind of talked about that a little bit when we had a conversation. It'll be interesting to experience how how you feel going back in this new way with the tools that you now have, because I would imagine that it's going to be vastly different and feel much more aligned, making sure that you have these boundaries and your own whatever whatever it is that you do, and we'll learn more about you, but like having your own morning routine, nighttime routine, creating that space within your day and your week to really pour back into yourself versus kind of constantly being in that go, go, go mode. Um, so let's start at the beginning. What is a functional diagnostic health coach? What do they do?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So uh maybe I'll differentiate here between like just a health coach and the FDNP, which I ended up getting later down the road. So I got my my health coaching certification through IIN. Um, and it was, I loved that. You know, it was such a good education on like holistic health and really like high-level everything from like nutrition to ancestral trauma, um, you know, wellness and how important it is to really look at all aspects of your life as being important to wellness. So, like your social, your relationships, your creativity. And so that was like the health coaching aspect. So, really, with that, I would work with women and I kind of always have I I definitely always wanted to work with women. I felt very called to that. Um, I felt that's where I could make the biggest impact. That was a little bit more of like the high level stuff. Um, and it's funny because after I got my FDNP, I was like, okay, it's still all about the high level stuff. You know, um, it's funny, like you get all these certifications, and then you're like, I didn't actually need any of this, but I needed to get that certification to know I didn't need it. Um so when my dad was about six months before he passed, I was experiencing my own like physical health issues. And I ended up going to a naturopathic doctor, and that did not, they just it it, you know, gave me some temporary relief, but like really didn't do what I needed. Um, I was not better. I was still like waking up at night with all, you know, all these issues. I won't even like go into it. I was having like what I believe was just like a total like nervous system shutdown. That's when I decided to get my FDNP because I was like, well, if my naturopathic doctor can't heal me, and if all of my holistic stuff that I already know and like what I educate women on today, if that won't help, let me try this route. And what FDNP does is um, you know, I'm still not a doctor, but I'm able to interpret functional labs, basically. So the, and I really, really aligned with FDNP's sort of mantra and how they approach health. They really like to look at the whole body at once. You know, we're not just looking at digestion, we're not just running a GI map, you know, we're not just testing your hormones. We're gonna look at all of these areas, which kind of feels like overkill to some people. They're like, why am I gonna do all these labs? I'm like, I get it. Labs are expensive, but like if we fix your hormones and your digestion, but you're not detoxing properly, then like maybe you'll get some temporary relief, but then you're gonna have some issues down the road because your liver is not working the way that it should be. So it's the idea of looking at all major body systems and making sure that all major body systems are in balance so that we can find all areas of healing opportunities and basically bring health and restore health completely to the body at a cellular level.

SPEAKER_00:

I have so many questions. Um will do you recommend getting all of this, all of these panels ran when there's a problem, before there's a problem, when you notice something, when is the best time to kind of start?

SPEAKER_01:

So I will say I am a big believer in the basics. Like obviously, if something is very, very wrong, you should, you know, go to your naturopathic doctor or whoever your healthcare provider is and get that checked out. But do I think that you need to run all of these labs just like for preventative reasons? Not really. Um, you know, I think if you're checking off the basics, if you're getting quality rest, if you're eating good, neat nutrient-dense foods, if you are really truly caring for your body, like I believe that's good. You know, if you're listening to your body and making changes as needed, then yeah, maybe you just need to run a, you know, do a Dutch or like a hormone, stress and hormone test. Um, if you're feeling slightly off. I'm not, I don't think that you like always need to go get everything. And I certainly don't run all of these labs with all of my clients. But if somebody comes to me and they're really unsure what's going on, they're super symptomatic. Um, weight loss is a big thing. A lot of women come to me for weight loss. They just can't lose weight no matter what they're doing. They feel like they're doing everything right. Then yeah, let's look at everything. Let's make sure that everything is operating well.

SPEAKER_00:

You said something interesting. You said, as long as you're listening to your body, what does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_01:

I think it means maybe something different to me than it does to like others because I again I've been in this space and I feel like I am very in tune with my body. Um I think for some people, they're like, oh, I'm hungry. You know, like that's and that, yes, that's listening to your body. That is a cue that you get from your body. For me, it's waking up and doing a little bit of an evaluation. So I'll give you an example. This morning I woke up and I was just kind of in a bad mood. And like there was no reason for me to be in a bad mood. I slept really well, you know, I've been eating really well. Like, what is this? Like, I'm I'm in my follicular phase, like, you know, I'm not in my lunatile phase. Like, what's the deal? So, you know, I sat down and I meditate every morning. And I think this is really where I'm evaluating like, how do I feel? Like, this is where I'm doing a body scan. And I actually noticed that I was really feeling like a lot of grief and sadness. Um, you know, I kind of had like a routine right when my dad passed, and I was like regularly like scheduling time to cry and be upset. And I haven't done that recently. So I have myself like a little cry session this morning. And I noticed that with that, so much tension that I've been holding this past week in my forehead was gone. And this like tension headache that I've been having was released. And I went on a walk and I was just so happy. And, you know, maybe there had been a few like little signs, you know, the past few days that have kind of been pushing maybe my tension headache that I've had. Maybe something was off. And I but it took sitting down, I think, and just kind of giving myself that that moment of peace and quiet to to listen to what I needed. I think it's listening to that emotional intelligence. Um really listening to like how you are feeling and how maybe how you feel about the day. You know, I have a lot going on this afternoon. So um really kind of trying to tune in to like my stress levels and how do I feel about this afternoon? I'm a little bit nervous because you know, I'm going back into the corporate space. I'm have more of a jam-packed day. Like that kind of scares me a little bit. So, what can I do this morning prior to those meetings to make sure that I'm set up for success? Um, that's I think what listening to my body means to me. It's waking up, evaluating where I am currently, thinking about maybe a little bit of what's coming. I don't like to think too far in the future, and figuring out how do I work with myself and give myself what I need in order to get through those things in the most positive way possible.

SPEAKER_00:

That's really beautiful. And and I love that you are able to have those moments of I have found in my journey that when I get quiet, that that's when my body speaks. Um, or that's when I'm able to gain these insights. And I know in my journey in the beginning, it was like two seconds sitting down. I'm like, I don't know what to do, or I don't know how to help myself, or I don't know what this, you know, tension is trying to communicate, or this pain is trying to communicate. But I certainly have found that the more that I'm able to slow down, even without that expectation of trying to figure it out, of just sitting down and kind of just being with myself and not really doing anything, that is when the communication lines tend to open up and I'm able to communicate a little bit more. But you also you're making me chuckle when you're like, I'm in my follicular phase, because I had the same conversations with myself of like something that I really love learning and and that I love teaching as well is our cycles. So, like luteal phase, follicular ovulation, menstrual cycle phase, and um and how we can feel a little bit well, our our hormones are different in different phases of our cycle, and and then our emotions and our ability even sometimes to tap into those emotions or those insights are different in different phases. Um, and then the moon phases, like there's so many things that we can kind of check off that for me and from a human design perspective, I have a one-line in my profile, and like I really I want the data. I I'm very um logical, and like I just want someone to tell me, you know, the steps or or tell me what to do. Um, same with body scans and checking in with my body, and so there's always like kind of these things that I run through in my mind as well of oh, I'm in Ludial right now, and oh, it was just a full moon, and oh, blah, blah, blah, blah. But what a great reminder that you just shared that we can do all of these beautiful check-ins and hold all of these tools. But kind of like you were saying with your training, like it really does always end up back at the basics of simply checking in with yourself, and and you're allowed to have these feelings of grief and sadness or overwhelm in your ovulation phase or in your follicular phase, and it's not just your luteal and menstrual phase that we're more emotional, as I'm putting that in quotes if you're listening to it and not watching the video. Um so interesting. So, thank you for sharing that reminder and and kind of giving us giving us a chuckle. So, I'm really curious. I want to hear your journey, but I also would love to hear how this is incorporated with your client work and and any advice you have for people that are listening that are hearing this and saying, Oh my gosh, that sounds lovely to be able to sit down in the morning for however long you sat down and meditate every morning. And good for you, Madison, love that for you, but I can't get into it, or I don't have time for it. And how did you feel in your corporate journey? Like, did you start meditating when you were on your corporate journey or before you left the corporate world? Um, and how can we begin to take these small steps of creating these beautiful routines that we hear about, but often we kind of stop at like hearing them and we're we tell each tell ourselves, oh, that's a great, great idea, but I don't have the time or I don't have the consistency or I don't have the discipline or whatever excuse we give ourselves.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, I will say now my morning routine is aggressively long. But it did not always look that way. I mean, I probably did not like do any work this morning until like 11, and I woke up at 6:30. So, but that was me going on a walk and everything. So, um, and I'll never go back, honestly. I think the more you lean in and the more you realize you need these things and you see what peace and happiness it brings you, you're not willing to go back. Um, I think it's almost the same as being like in a bad relationship and then leaving and being in a good relationship. And you're like, why would I never go back to that bad relationship? Um, but to answer a question, so starting out, obviously it is difficult. I try to journal. I've actually been journaling, like I picked up journaling when I started in high school, like in high school, probably end of my high school um years, and definitely did not do it consistently. I would only do it if something was like really bothering me. Um after college, I started journaling, but again, not consistently. Like I've probably had 15 years of like inconsistently journaling. You know, I would go for a month and I'd journal every day and then I wouldn't do it again for like three months. Same with meditation. Meditation for me has been harder than journaling. Um, you know, same probably tried for like eight years, on off, on, off, on, off. So, you know, if that is you right now, I hear people say all the time, well, like you're good at the health stuff, you're good at it. No, I'm not good at it. Like, I didn't want to take a break to make lunch for myself today, but I made myself do it. You know, it's not necessarily easier for some people than it is others. I just think you reach a point where you're like, I feel better when I do this. And I'm not no longer willing to sacrifice that. And I think that's what's happened with me. Um, at the height of my like stress with work, right before I decided to leave. And I see this with a lot of women, like they're wanting to find, they're wanting to add in the morning routine. I didn't add in the journaling, the meditation. I added in making myself breakfast. Making myself breakfast and sitting down to eat breakfast. So many women, in fact, every single woman almost that I've worked with, they don't eat breakfast, they don't take that time. Um, they either don't eat breakfast or they just like run through it or they're like shoveling, you know, a granola bar in their mouth. If you are not sitting down to eat breakfast or allowing yourself just five minutes to like eat something in the morning, then don't try to meditate or journal, you know. Like start with sitting down and eating breakfast and just, you know, allowing yourself a few minutes there. I started by I would like make breakfast and then I would go sit on my porch for like 20 minutes. That was it. I wasn't meditating or journaling, but I was like, oh my gosh, this is nice. And because I'm actually making myself like a home cooked, like protein practiced breakfast, I have energy now and I feel good and I'm not crashing throughout the day. Um it really is trying something small, and the concept of we do not have time or the lie that we tell ourselves that we do not have time, it is just that it is a lie, it is not true. Um I know so many people are busy, I get it, I I do, but you have to make time for yourself because nobody else is going to make time for you in the way that you need. You know, you have to create that space for yourself, or you will literally never have it. And like I think this is so important for moms, for women that are busy, for women of the corpus, literally just women, because men don't really have this issue, not as much as women do. So ask yourself, what do you need to happen in order to create a little bit of space for yourself? What do you need to do? Do you need to wake up a few minutes earlier? Does that mean you need to go to bed a few minutes earlier? Do you need to say, hey husband, hey partner? I need you to help me with this in the morning because I I need that time or I need that space. Like you have to figure out what you need.

SPEAKER_00:

Amen. Isn't that isn't that the secret of just creating a little bit? And I like that you even started of just sitting on your deck. Those were some of my favorite mornings where I just would sit on my couch and watch my cats play and drink my coffee and not do anything. There's no journaling, checking in, doing the body scan, doing the meditation, doing the yoga, whatever it is. It's just sitting, and that's wild, just slowing down in that way of not doing anything. And it's different than meditation because I think meditation can also be a little unapproachable for people when we are really busy. It's hard to slow down that much where we are supposed to clear our mind. Um, so maybe just try sitting. Maybe that's the invitation that you pull from today's episode of just sitting and doing nothing, or sitting somewhere beautiful, um, or noticing. I always like noticing what you notice around your house or uh what you notice outside, like just not all of the mess and all of the stress and everything that you need to clean, but just noticing the little beauty, the little beauties that come up. Um so what did you what did you notice? Speaking of noticing, I guess, uh what did you notice was the biggest shifts that you felt in your body moving from I actually I was going to say from the corporate, but that's not how I want to word it. What were the biggest shifts that you noticed and felt in your body when you began to incorporate all of these tools that you learned in your training and that you now share with your clients? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So I I I had a very large decrease in anxiety personally. Um, and I started sleeping a lot better. So I would say those were like the two biggest like physical things that I noticed when I started creating that space for myself. I also just started craving more space for myself. You know, like you give yourself that little bit of space in the morning and that peace, and you want to protect it. Um, something else I was gonna kind of add to that is like I started slowing down with other things. So, you know, instead of doing like a K cup with coffee or whatever, I would actually make my mud water, which is like a seven to 10 minute ordeal, you know. And I, but that's okay. So I started noticing I would do other things slowly. And in the shower, I'm not like rushing through, running out, you know, like slathering on some lotion. I was slowing down in the shower, and I was taking some time afterwards to like put on my body oils and like massage my legs, you know. I started slowing down and creating more space for myself. And I am a believer that when you start moving slow more slowly, when you start really like flowing through life, other things come in. Things that you want, things that you're working towards, things that you're probably pushing really hard to get start coming to you more effortlessly. So as soon as I started doing this, partner came in to the picture for me. Like I started really owning, like I felt like I had authority at work. But when I really started protecting my peace personally, that's when a a partner, a good partner came into my life. You know, that's when I started being able to slow down at work because I think I was maybe exuding a little bit more authority. I wasn't, you know, trying to rush to meet everybody else's needs and make everybody else happy. I was showing up to the meeting, not stressing out, giving my authentic self, giving my best and not stressing out about it and not worrying about it afterwards. And I just, I don't know, I felt like other things just started falling into place very well, including me having the confidence to actually step away from that job. So I don't know. I think when you start giving yourself that space and that permission to take care of yourself, I believe that the universe responds to that.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you feel like having the confidence to walk away? It was also this trust that you had of I'll be able to figure it out or I'll be okay. Like, walk us through that journey of making that big life shift.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think I had been like sitting on it for a long time. And I am a person that when I make a choice, like truly actually actively make it, it's decided, like it's happening. So I think I was like kind of sitting on it for a little while, not 100% sure that it was the right move. And I honestly think I could not continue to stay in that role and keep the peace and happiness that I wanted. You know, like for me, it wasn't necessary. I mean, yes, there was a confidence that it would work out and it would be okay. Truthfully, I also looked at my finances and I was like, okay, like I've saved up enough money where I can be okay for a little while without making money. So like it wasn't just like blind confidence in myself. Like there was some logic behind this. I was like, okay, I have a little bit of a cushion, but I was not operating as the person I wanted to be any longer. Like that job was not making me happy. I was not showing up in my relationship the way that I wanted to. I did not feel the way that I wanted to. I was not living the life or being the person that I wanted to be any longer, even with my journaling and my meditation and my eating healthy. You know, like I was doing all those things, but I was just not in the right space any longer. I had outgrown that situation and it was becoming a toxic place for me. And that was really what pushed me was, you know, I don't want to be this person anymore. I want to be happy in my life.

SPEAKER_00:

And isn't it interesting when we create the space to slow down and the space to notice that and when we are doing these holistic wellness supportive things, isn't it funny that we normally end up learning, realizing, realizing or recognizing the areas in our life that are just not aligned anymore, where we spend a lot of time just kind of going, going, going, like the hamster running on the wheel. And we don't spend a lot of time looking around because we are just too busy going. And so creating that space, I think that's also could be part of part of the alignment and everything kind of coming into flow is that you are actually aligning with what you want to bring into the world and how you want your energy to feel and how you want to feel moving through the day. And and when we have that intention, then they then I guess from an energetic our our woo-woo side, when we have that intention, then we're putting that intention out into the universe, and the universe knows that they can work with that. That's a little woo-woo, a little spiritual, but no.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I've I believe that. I feel like, you know, I have some friends that they tend to have like a more negative outlook on life. And it seems like bad things, like thing, you know, not bad things, but you know, they they tend to have the bad days more than you know, the people that have the positive outlook. I do really believe if you are in this like chaotic space that's always busy, I don't have time for anything, space, that's what you're gonna get back. Um, so you really have to, and this is the hardest part taking that first step to make space for yourself. But once you do it, like you will get a return. That is a time investment that you will get return on.

SPEAKER_00:

Hmm. You said something interesting that I want to point out about your human design. And and I was curious how you answer. So the two four profile is like our profile is like our personality, and there's always two numbers, so it looks kind of like a fraction. You have a the first number, the second number. Your four line is what we call them in human design. So the four number is one of the cool parts about if you have a four line in your if you have a four in your profile, is when we're talking about making decisions and kind of making the leap, right? And like you said, like I wasn't a blind thing. I didn't just willy-nilly like decide. And I had been sitting with it for a while and I looked at my finances, knew that I would be okay if I didn't work for a while, and I had really created this. If we're talking in terms of the nervous system, this felt sense of safety and security to be able to leave this corporate job. That's a lot of what we talk about in four lines. It's important for them to like I always use the analogy of like you're jumping from one rock to another, big life shift, whatever it is. And four lines need to know like where they're jumping, but it's it you gave a cool distinction of it doesn't it doesn't mean that you knew exactly what you were gonna do, and that you know, you had the entire plan mapped out. You just knew that one, like you got yourself, you were you were okay, you had that confidence, and you were unwilling to be on this said first rock anymore. So you knew you had to move, you knew that you had the financial security, and you knew that you had, and and then you created these tools, right? Because you did decide to go back to school and you got all of the certifications that you felt that you needed. So really creating that safety, even if you don't have the whole plan listed out in front of you, which we never can plan enough, honestly, because there's gonna be so many things that pop up that we don't think about. But um, yeah, that was just really cool. I like sometimes pointing out a few little pieces of people's human designs that seem to really pop out, and that was one of one of them for me.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's funny because I feel like I'm a person that very much like does need to feel safe, but I'm also not like risk averse, you know? So it's it's like a little bit contradictory, I'd say.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, even from a psychological standpoint, it's always interesting. I've read some studies of like, I think there are baby monkeys, but um, when mom is there and the child feels safe, then the child will go out and you know, go explore that like weird-looking toy or that weird sound machine. Um, and isn't that true for all of us? I mean, whether that's the relationship that we have with ourselves, again, like I've got me, I will be okay. The relationship we have with our partner, that I feel safe enough to be able to take those risks. Uh, I think some people are definitely more risky without needing that safety net, but it really does again. I I think everything always comes back to the nervous system, and that's a really good indication or insight that you shared of having that safety to then be able to take the risks and feel confident in them. Yeah, I think that makes sense. Interesting. It does, yeah. So coming on this podcast, what have you not had the opportunity to share or touch on that as you're setting your intentions to come on that you feel like you would really like to share? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I think I've talked about this for the majority of the time, like creating that space for yourself, but like I think I cannot emphasize it enough. Um and I'm seeing it come up as I'm going back into the corporate space. Like it would be very easy for me to go into this new role and go back into bad habits and wake up in the morning and you know, open my phone or my laptop, check email, check Slack. And like I think that's what most women or a lot of women I work with do. They wake up in the morning and they immediately jump into action into going into work. It's so easy to do that. And we are just like trained, you know, I whether it's society or watching our parents, or just this like fear that as a woman we need to work harder than a man, but you do not have to start your day with that chaos. You don't have to do it. Um, so I really think that's the biggest thing for me. Find and it doesn't have to be the morning, but find a time in your day to create space for yourself if you are not doing that right now. And I can pretty much guarantee that once you start creating that small space for yourself, it is something that you're gonna want to hang on to and probably grow and expand in your life.

SPEAKER_00:

What are some of your favorite ways to create space in your day?

SPEAKER_01:

I so I definitely have my morning routine. I meditate a journal, like I want to walk when I can. If I can't, that's fine. But the journal meditation is non-negotiable. Um, I make space in my day by cooking every meal. So like I make myself breakfast every morning, I stop and I make myself lunch, and I end my day at five and I make dinner with my partner. So I feel like I almost use cooking as a way, one, to nourish my body, but to also kind of recalibrate throughout the day and make sure I'm taking a break and like being intentional with my health. Because, you know, I'm cooking at home, I'm not eating out, I'm making sure that I'm making something that tastes good and is beautiful and colorful. Um, so that is a way where I add space that I think a lot of people they're like, oh, cooking's such a, you know, takes so long and I hate doing it. And I'm like, cooking is showing your body love, like and being intentional with your health and taking time for your health. So I think that one is a really good one. I'm also very intentional about like electronics. So I put my phone away after dinner and well, really before like while we're cooking. So basically after work, my phone is pretty much away. Um, and you know, we'll watch maybe a show or something, but I like to have my nighttime routine of like reading and making tea. So with all of that, like I feel like I do bring a lot of, they're not crazy things, I don't feel, but it's spread out throughout the day in a way to where I'm like kind of always coming back and to that stillness and that intention with my health.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I like that reminder of using cooking or using something almost as that reminder of taking some time to clear your mind or clear your energy and reset. And I like that reminder, I like that pairing with food. Although you said what I was thinking that there's so many people that I've that I've met that find cooking very stressful, uh, and like it's almost like another job instead of getting off of work and having this tool to unwind. It's like they're not really able to unwind until after that, after they cook. And it's always like, how fast can I cook? Or what's the easiest thing to do? Have you always been a great have you always found that you enjoy cooking, or was this something that you've worked on and kind of developed?

SPEAKER_01:

It's something that I worked on. So I I haven't like hated cooking. I've gone through my ups and my downs, but there was, I mean, when I lived in San Francisco, like probably the height of my like craziness with work, I probably ordered out like twice a day. I mean, I don't even want to know the amount of money I spent on ordering out. It's like terrifying. Um, so no, no, that's not always been my thing. I think for that person, I would challenge you and say, what are you doing when you're cooking? Or like, what is the stress that's associated with cooking? So, an example, I like had a busy day today, and I wanted to bring my computer and my phone downstairs to cook lunch. And I think if I had done that, it would have made, and really, when I say cook lunch, I was like heating up on the stove some soup from last night. So it took me 10 minutes. I'm not saying you need to do like soup, something super elaborate if you don't have the time, but like I was very intentional about leaving my phone and my laptop because that trying to like check your email and like your Slack while you're trying to make dinner or trying to like multitask while you're trying to make dinner, yes, that is very stressful. Um, so that would be my first thing. Like, are you just cooking or are you trying to multitask while you're cooking?

SPEAKER_00:

Hmm. Hmm. There's so much, but I thank you for sharing that that it was not always that way because I do feel like some people that I talk to are just like, you have it or you don't. And honestly, I never hated cooking, and I've always seen it. It's it's kind of this expression of love to my people, and it's also this expression of love to my body. You said that really poignantly, and and I want to bring us back there of you're nourishing your body, and this is this is like this act of love to your body. And when I have that perspective, it's like I'll take the time to cook the food. It's so important because I'm nourishing myself and I'm pouring into myself, and and then you can make kind of the whole cooking process that pouring in the love to yourself as well. Um but a lot, a lot of a lot of invitations. Cooking is always an interesting topic of conversation because I do feel like a lot of women feel that it's overwhelming or an extra job, or and I also wonder what would shift if you created more space in your day in other ways. Maybe you would enjoy cooking more. I don't know. If you didn't feel so stressed going into it, then maybe you would feel so stressed going through it as well.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's easy to feel like things are stressful when you're when you're trying to summon energy from nothing.

SPEAKER_00:

Ooh, that was a good one. Thank you for that. All right. Last question. Thank you so much for coming on. Oh my gosh, I'm jumping the gun. Thank you for coming on. I appreciate your time and your insight and your wisdom. And if people are looking to connect with you, learn a little bit more from you. Uh, where do you spend a lot of your time? Where do you hang out? Do you have a podcast of your own? I can't remember. Um, share all those good things.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no podcast of my own. Um, feel free to go to my website. Um, that's probably the best place to get in touch with me, learn a little bit more about what I offer and my services. I have an Instagram, but I'm honestly a bit, I'm kind of on a hiatus from social media. It just like doesn't jive with me. So you can go there, but there's not probably gonna be anything like super updated.

unknown:

Sure.

SPEAKER_01:

And uh website will be listed below, but what is the website? It is wellwithmadison.com and Madison has two Ds.

SPEAKER_00:

Beautiful. Thank you. Okay, now last question. Uh, if you could go back and gift your younger self a somatic tool or perspective that you now use daily, what would that tool or perspective be?

SPEAKER_01:

I okay, I think for me it would be a perspective. And I don't really know how to say this. Like, you know, kind of doing a lot of like inner work, like when I was younger, I was like super confident. And then, you know, that kind of really went away in those in-between years. And I feel like I'm just now like re-stepping into like that version of myself that I was when I was a younger, you know, child. And I don't know how I would give myself this because you have to go through those hard things and those growing pains. But you know, I think if I wish I could give myself that confidence to be myself and um not be scared to be seen and heard, I think that would probably be what I would want to give my younger self.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. That's really beautiful. Thank you for sharing. And thank you so much for your time and your insight. This was such a fun conversation. I appreciate you, Madison.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you. I appreciate you too.