16. You’re Still That Girl (Even When You Feel Like Sh*t)

This one’s for the days when your glow is MIA, your hormones are chaos, and you feel disconnected from yourself. 

In this raw solo episode, I talk about navigating funks—physically, mentally, emotionally—and how I’m resetting after a tough month with thyroid flares, burnout, and gut issues.

If you’re bloated, burnt out, or just not feeling like That Girl, this is your reminder that you still are. We cover gentle wellness tools, mindset reframes, cycle syncing, and the power of small steps to get your mojo back.

Save this for your next reset. 

Your glow is coming back. 💛

00:26 Dealing with a Funk: Personal Experiences

01:23 Understanding Thyroid Issues and Their Impact

02:28 Tips for Resetting and Refocusing

03:11 The Importance of Gut Health

03:44 Managing Hormonal Cycles and Energy Levels

04:41 The Power of Rest and Self-Compassion

08:10 Physical and Mental Resets

11:45 Creating Routines and Setting Goals

17:09 Embracing Balance and Wellness

21:16 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

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Transcript

Madeline: 0:00

Welcome to Becoming Sunshine. For those of you that know me, you know that Sunshine has been an alias of mine for almost a decade now, and sunshine also is me becoming my highest self, and that's what this podcast is about. I'm here to help you understand yourself better and maybe learn some more about myself along the way. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm excited.

0:27

Hi friends. Welcome back to Becoming Sunshine. So I'm back on my couch today because I just am kind of in a funk. I've kind of been in a funk probably for the past month or so, so this episode is really about what to do and how to feel better and to get your mojo back when you're not feeling your best, especially if it's not just an emotional or mental thing, it's also a physical thing. whether you're feeling blah because of hormones or in my case it's thyroid issues. These are just some things that have helped me and some reminders for when you're feeling this way. So today we're gonna talk about how to reset, refocus, and feel like you again, even if your body's not quite caught up yet. For those of you that know me or have listened to my earlier episodes, I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis. I have an autoimmune disease that affects my thyroid. It's pretty well managed for the most part. I got into remission about four or five years ago, so I don't really have too many issues unless I have an exposure to something that I'm really sensitive, or if I stop taking my medicine. I didn't have my meds for a few weeks, and then once I got them, it took a while to feel better and to get back on track. So this month has been challenging and I just have not really felt like myself. For those of you that aren't super familiar with your thyroid or thyroid hormones and what they do for you, they basically are what give you energy and it pretty much regulates all your hormones. It also affects your digestive system and your overall immune system. I ended up getting an infection and had to go on antibiotics and that messed up my gut and just made everything worse. It's just been like one thing after the other this past month, so I'm working on resetting my hormones, my gut health and my energy, and these are my tips. Getting back on my medication has helped. It takes a little bit of time to adjust, and after doing a round of antibiotics, I decided to up my probiotics to reset my gut. The only thing that sucks about that is that whenever you start taking a new probiotic or you up the dose, you have a transitional period where there's side effects. but I know that after I get through this little transitional period, my gut health is gonna be so much better supported. I feel like every hot girl has digestive issues and no one ever wants their tummy hurting or to be bloated. Especially in my line of work, it's really hard being a hot girl when your tummy hurts. I feel like I can take on the world, but then when my tummy hurts I just don't wanna do anything. The gut brain connection is so strong. Whenever I'm having digestive issues or gut issues, I feel so low and bogged down and depressed. it's definitely hard to stay in your routine when you know you don't feel good I feel like we all go through funks sometimes, whether that's emotional or mental or hormonal like you know, deep in your luteal phase. I'm also in my luteal phase, so it's just kind of like everything right now just kind of feels less than ideal, but it's okay. I feel like the only thing that makes me feel worse when I'm in a funk is when I feel like I'm falling behind or I'm not being productive. I know that my productivity is not directly linked to my level of worth, that's something that I'm definitely working on healing. I feel like when we are in a funk, whether you went through a breakup with a romantic partner, a friendship breakup or you're having hormonal issues or gut issues or whatever. Sometimes I feel like it's'cause our body needed a little bit of a break, and burnout is so real. Taking that time to honor yourself and not feel bad or guilty for having to slow down is so important because at the end of the day, your body is asking you for rest. and It's important to not Sit around and wallow in whatever you're feeling, but if you genuinely do need to take it easy and you do need to rest and you do need to recover, give your body that time because spiking your cortisol and draining your adrenal glands and trying to push through when you're unwell physically it's not gonna do anything. Especially with my thyroid issues. pushing myself to work out when I really don't have the energy is not gonna be productive. It's not gonna make me lose weight, it's not gonna make me stronger. It's not gonna make any of my inflammation go away. It's just gonna drain my adrenals and make the burnout worse and prolong the funk that I'm in. Just acknowledging any shame or pressure that you feel, especially around your appearance or productivity. You have to learn to give yourself grace. In the industry that I've worked in, it's challenging because I feel like my worth has always been tied to my image or my level of productivity. Maybe God or the universe giving me this disease in particular to struggle with, it's just like a lesson in itself in grace and patience and that worth is intrinsic. It's not about bouncing back overnight. Having a mindset shift and reframing things is so powerful. That's something I've always been relatively good at doing. You know, we control our reality and our internal world is just a reflection of our external world. You can justify pretty much anything or make anything make sense if you reframe it, and I've used this in the past, you know, to justify relationships or friendships or like behavior, and it's like, why don't we use that for good? Why don't we use that to reframe situations where we need to give ourselves grace and talk to ourselves like our own best friend? If your best friend was struggling with their health or you know, whatever. You wouldn't be like, oh my gosh, you're such a lazy piece of shit. Like, get up. I mean, you might do the tough love, but at the same time, you know your body's asking for rest and you need that. So give yourself that time to recover and then you'll come back even stronger. When you're refreshed, you'll be more productive than you would've been if you tried to push through and prolong everything. Healing is not laziness and rest is not regression. We have to remember, that nothing in nature blooms year round and so, sometimes we go through funks. That's okay. Obviously, if this is something that you're dealing with on a continuous basis, it might be something you need to take a closer look at or get addressed. I used to have really bad PMDD and I don't really struggle with that anymore, but when I did, I did a lot of holistic things to help reset my hormones. Even during this time where my hormones are a little bit outta whack, I go back to basics, and I go back to the things that have helped me before in the past. One of those is meditation and resetting my nervous system. I feel like when your hormones are all over the place, your gut is all over the place. Resetting your nervous system and your endocrine system and just helping your body relax is gonna make you feel better all around and giving yourself that deep rest. Meditation really gives your body five times deeper rest than sleeping or napping, so it's really one of the best things you can do, and it helps a lot too with like brain fog, everything like that. Taking my tinctures that I've used in the past to help reset my hormones and gentle movement. Some days I don't work out if I don't have the energy for it, and that's okay. In the past when I've tried to push myself to work out, you're just gonna end up being more inflamed and it's gonna be counterproductive. Not even just when you're in a funk, that's the whole point of cycle syncing. For women, we run on a 28 day hormone cycle. Men run on a 24 hour one, so it's okay for guys to do the same types of workouts and eat the same types of diets every day. For women, we really should be eating differently every week and working out every week differently in order to support our hormone cycle and that way too we're less likely to have these types of funks. For people that don't know what I mean when I say cycle sync it's basically working out and eating in a way that supports your hormone cycle. When you're in your follicular phase or you're ovulating we have higher levels of hormones and we have more energy to do more HIIT workouts or lift really heavy then once we get closer to our menstrual cycle and deeper in the luteal phase, we have less energy and it's actually more beneficial and more productive to pull back on the workouts and to eat more grounding foods and nutrient dense foods. Foods that are more grounding are gonna be more supportive and beneficial so that you don't have those PMS symptoms. PMS honestly isn't normal. I know it's been normalized, but if you're having PMS symptoms, it usually means that your hormones are outta whack. So looking at your cycle can really tell you a lot of information about your hormones and where you're at in your body. Honestly, sometimes taking a nap or just doing a walk is more beneficial and you're gonna have better results when it comes to weight loss around your menstrual cycle. Restricting calories and doing really intense workouts is gonna signal to your body to hold onto fat and you're not gonna get the results that you want. It's actually super counterproductive. If your body's asking for rest, pushing through is not gonna be super beneficial, but there's also something to showing up as your highest self. If you were already out of the funk and feeling like your highest self, like what would you be doing as your highest self and starting to take steps, even if it's just baby steps towards that. I think that's one of the best ways to get out of a funk and create forward momentum. like, okay, maybe I haven't had the energy to work out for a few days, but you know, today I feel energized enough to go for a walk or do a meditation or I could really benefit from eating really grounding foods. Something that's helped me is getting back into my routines. I feel like routines are your saving grace, whether that's a morning routine or a wind down routine, or just pillars in your day that can keep it structured and help you start to hit your goals again. Doing a physical reset, a mental emotional reset, and then an energy reset. All of these things can help you start to feel more like yourself and start to feel better. With the physical reset, I feel like starting with gentle movements, whether that's a walk or just stretching. Getting outside and going for a walk is something that I try to do every single day, and I honestly feel like when I'm not walking every day, I feel worse, and I feel like I'm in that funk. just getting outside and getting some fresh air and being out in nature can really just reset your brain, whether you know you're going through something emotional or physical, or a combination. Hydration is also so important. Hydrating before caffeine in the morning, especially for women, is so important. I feel like that's honestly helped a lot of my gut issues. Half the time you might just be dehydrated, like you might have digestive gut issues because you're not drinking enough water, you don't have enough electrolytes, you don't have enough minerals. Hydrating first thing in the morning, or drinking lemon water can really help your digestive system just flush it out and just like get it revved up for the day. Gut soothing meals as well, and easy to digest meals, like soups and smoothies and cooked vegetables. And again, using a good probiotic is so important. I do hate the adjustment period, but I mean, at least that's how you know it's working. If you take a probiotic and you don't feel a difference, that probably means it's not working, that it's not bioavailable, that it's not actually reaching your gut, that the strains are not actually surviving all the way to your gut. if you wanna have a major glow up or you wanna feel better, get your gut health under control. A big part of a glow up is mental and emotional, but when you look good, you feel better. Like if my hair is glowing, my skin is glowing, I feel so much better about myself. Unfortunately, I don't feel like our food is always the best quality or it doesn't have all the nutrients,'cause of like restrictive diets or the way it was sourced, and so taking supplements to help support us, especially you know, if you have other health things going on. I'm always looking for another supplement to help with longevity, my gut and anti-aging and cell repair. I feel like there's so many things I've tried over the years. I don't like taking a bunch of pills and so if it's not worthwhile or I don't see a big improvement, I'm not gonna keep taking it. I also think another thing that gets overlooked, and I personally have struggled with this. It's easy to want to self-medicate when you're not feeling good. When I say self-medicate, I mean like cheap dopamine or cheap sources of energy, like if I am tired drinking an energy drink or something to help me push through. And I get it you have to work, you have to get stuff done, but limiting sugar or caffeine or even social media. If you're not feeling good mentally or physically over overstimulating your brain by scrolling is not gonna help you relax. It's not gonna help your nervous system. I understand sometimes it's nice to just kind of zone out and watch a cute TV show. I love the teeny bopper shows honestly, they are soothing to my soul, but I feel like that's a little bit different than scrolling. If you are watching a comfort show or a movie or something to reset and chill, make sure you pick something that is not going to raise your cortisol or be overstimulating. just something to be mindful of for the adrenaline junkies or people that like to watch the murder shows if you're just like not in a great place mentally, physically, emotionally. Be careful about the content that you're consuming. Another thing that I really like to do when I'm in a funk is to journal. Since the whole chat GPT craze, I've journaled a little bit less because sometimes when I hear something out loud, it'll click differently. And I feel like Just replacing guilt with compassion, if you're not feeling great for whatever reason, talk to yourself like you would a best friend. You wouldn't make yourself feel guilty. And anchoring your day around rituals, even if it's just like a five minute morning routine. It just like gets your day off to the right start. Waking up, washing your face, doing your skincare, eating a nourishing healthy breakfast, meditating, maybe going for a 10 minute walk, journaling for 10 minutes. Just something that structures your day in a way that sets you up to be successful and to feel your best. I used to have all these really rigid wellness routines, and I feel like my life is a lot more balanced now. Whenever I am feeling off, coming back to these routines and using these tools really helps me reset and feel better. I don't think wellness is supposed to be super rigid and militant. I think they're just tools that we should be able to use and pull out when we need them. That's really what wellness is, it's about balance. When you're in a funk, energetically resetting is also so important, romanticizing your life and mundane things like making a playlist, lighting a candle, writing out a little glow up rebrand for yourself. Creating goals for myself when I'm feeling bad, making myself healthy food for the week, doing this many workouts a week, working this many days, carving out a certain amount of time to create content or whatever. It just makes you feel better when you make these little plans for yourself and then you to cross them off. It kind of starts with baby steps and one thing, you don't have to get everything done today. Whenever I'm in a funk, I think okay, what is gonna make me feel better? At the end of the day, it's really just about being gentle with yourself and being intentional. It's not about being perfect, it's remembering that you have power even on your off days and to start small but staying consistent, laying one brick at a time. Eventually you will end up building the house. Whether you're sad about a breakup or your hormones are off, at the end of the day, you're feeling disconnected from yourself or who you were when you were with that person, or how you felt in general, and taking the steps to start to give that back to yourself is what's gonna make you feel better ultimately. Some of my funk to flow favorites, just honestly shifting the music that I'm listening to, I could be so tired and then if I start to listen to a certain band or a certain artist, I feel more energized. If that's, getting through a workout or cleaning my house or pumping myself up for work or going to hang out with a friend, I might not have the energy to Go out, but just meeting a friend for coffee and a walk or meeting my friend for Pilates, like a workout that's not gonna over drain me, but I'm gonna feel really good after. Figuring out what's within your limits and what's within your capabilities. The more you show up for yourself, the more you're gonna build that momentum to feel better and pull yourself out of this funk. I think one of the best ways to get out of a funk if it's mental or emotional, is to be too busy to think about it. if there is some physical stuff going on, just doing things within your limitations is beneficial. Like, you know, I might not have the energy to do X, Y, Z but I can come up with a game plan sitting on the couch, or writing out my goals or delegating or outsourcing the things that I don't have the energy for. Figuring that out it's gonna make you feel better. Whenever I'm feeling bad, the things that help me feel like I'm back in my routine is doing my daily walks. Maybe I didn't get a workout in, but at least I got my walk in and I listened to one of my favorite podcasts that was inspiring or uplifting or educational, and it made me feel creative again. I feel like when you're creating or you have your creative flow, you start to feel energized and inspired. So even if you're not at a hundred percent, it's like a good way to create momentum and build momentum towards who you wanna be and how you wanna feel. I wanted to give you guys enough tips or examples of things you can do to try to reset, but I think, you know, addressing the emotional, addressing the physical, addressing the spiritual doing maybe like one thing every day to support each of those is a good place to start. And also just validating the way that you feel, but also acknowledging that it's temporary and you're not gonna feel like this forever. Sometimes we need these slower moments in order to reflect and integrate. maybe our body is asking us to slow down because there's emotional or mental stuff that we haven't processed or we haven't worked through. I personally like to find meaning in everything. I feel like it just makes my life better and I think there is meaning in everything, so trying to reframe things and even if you feel like shit, there's some positives that come out of it. I might feel bad right now, but this time at home is forcing me to reevaluate and kind of reassign where my energy goes, and I think in the end it's gonna end up making me more productive, and my output is gonna be so much better when I do feel better. I hope that this episode was helpful to anyone who's struggling or doesn't feel good in their body. It's definitely challenging to feel like not yourself and like you lost your mojo a little bit or you just don't feel like the baddie that you normally are. especially when it's about to be summer. I was talking to my girlfriend, I was like, I don't even really feel like it's summer. I don't feel like the baddie going into summer that I normally do. I know a lot of it is like hormonal and like physical, and then that weighs on my mental, but I know that this is temporary and maybe I have felt like this so that I could come on here and talk about it and give advice to other people. If you are struggling physically, it is something to address and get looked at because yeah, it's not normal to feel like shit for extended periods of time, and if you don't know what's going on with your body, it's really hard to fix it. And so making sure you have the tools and the knowledge to get yourself back into homeostasis and getting yourself back to feeling better is key. So thanks guys for listening, and if you guys have any questions or you need more tips on how to pull yourself out of a funk, please feel free to Message me. Send me dms I love hearing from all of you. If you're going through something similar, just know this is temporary and the reframe is so powerful. Our minds are so powerful. You can heal your body, just by the power of the mind, you really, really can. So give yourself grace. Give yourself the tools to support yourself, send this to a friend who needs to hear it or save it for when you're in a funk and you need a reminder of how amazing you are, even when you're not feeling like your most amazing self, because you will soon enough, anyways, I love you guys. Bye.