Welcome to Design Your Well Life - Episode 1

Transcript

Yeti Stereo Microphone & FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in): 0:40

Welcome to the very first episode. I'm excited to introduce you to design your well life, and have you with me today. I'm going to start by sharing a little bit about my background. I am a certified interior designer and for the last 25 years, I have been choreographing people's interactions with the indoor environment. A lot of times I've been living in those same environments. And when you think about it, everything in our lives and around us influences the way that we live. The way that I draw out a set of plans for a home can directly shape a persons patterns and routines within that space. And similarly, the finishes and furnishing selected directly impact physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. I want to use my knowledge of designing spaces and I plan to help you intentionally design your life to maximize health, wellness, and longevity. I'm going to tell you a little bit about why I'm doing this. This became a passion of mine over the last two years when I was diagnosed with five, auto-immune diseases. And I've watched other family members suffer from these diseases and was determined that this was not going to be my story, but to use the experience for my benefit, and ultimately the benefit of others. I love how it states in Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. He says"sometimes the situation in which a man finds himself may require him to shape his own fate by action. His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his burden." As I began creating steps for myself to heal. I needed to ensure that my home supported healing both in its functionality and how it affected my body. Every choice we make plays a role in our overall wellbeing, and I wanted to ensure that my environments, not just for myself, but for others were aligned with that. In future podcasts, I'm going to take you on a deep dive, into specific ideas. Take for example, the importance of sleep and how many hours we actually spend in our bedrooms each day. This is a perfect place to begin selecting and making healthier choices. Uh, I want to back up a little bit and tell you my story. Uh, before my diagnosis, I was constantly at the doctor or in the emergency room. And I had a laundry list of health complaints, 33 to be exact. And when I went to the doctor, or the emergency room and the doctor would ask me what was wrong, I would pull out my phone and start scrolling through and list the multiple symptoms. Like constantly gaining weight, my fingers and toes tingles. My eyes would bleed. My hair was falling out. I had constant, severe stomach pain. And really painful joints. I was having reactions to all basic products. Foods and medicine and items that I had used for years. Sometimes practitioners would just look at me and think I was a hypochondriac because people just don't have that many symptoms. One profound experience was when I was actually visiting an eye doctor for a recent episode that no one could identify. And at first I was relieved that he was actually able to tell me what it was. And I asked what I needed to do about it. He told me that I was asking the wrong question. And that I hadn't found the actual root of the problem. He said that I should be asking why it was happening. That got me thinking. And it started my journey in a completely new direction. I began searching for someone who could actually help me find the why. I finally met a wonderful functional medicine practitioner, and they took all of my complaints seriously. That became the set out point to find the real root of the problem. I remember going to the lab and having over 40 vials of blood drawn, I felt like I was donating blood that day. And when we finally found the tip of the iceberg and we started to uncover it, it was a lot. And emotionally it was a lot. Many days, I found myself in tears wondering how I was going to be able to really live the life that I wanted, let alone manage what was to come. There were many moments when things became so hard that I wanted to just give up. I remember when I was first diagnosed with one autoimmune disease before the others were discovered. I had gotten through the shock and had begun to look for a starting place. And as I was working on my health, that's when we found more problems, it felt like every time I came back from the doctor's office or the lab. They'd found something else. It started to feel like climbing Mount Everest. How was I ever going to get on top of one? Let alone five. There were definitely moments when I thought, why try. Should I just resign myself to the fact that this is my fate. That I have five auto-immune diseases and that's how I'm going to live the rest of my life. Learning that you have a chronic or a terminal disease can be incredibly stressful on the mind. And in the beginning, as I learned about each of the diseases and the stages of deterioration that my body was going to go through, it was terrifying. For many of us, we live a really comfortable life. And when it's taken away or you have to go through pain and suffering. The unknown is almost as debilitating as the actual disease itself. Our minds are powerful, powerful tools. And it can be used to our benefit during healing. But they can also manifest fears and make it harder to recover, if we're constantly focused on negatives. I realized that to truly begin healing, I had to cultivate hope. And embrace a really positive mindset. So I started to study and receive inspiration. I learned about inflammation and its profound effect on the body. I decided that that was my first goal. That was going to be step number one, I needed to reduce the inflammation to give my body a fighting chance to reset. By focusing on that one thing, I identified five specific ways to address it. And that's what I'm going to take you through during this year. Body. Mind. The environment. Spirit and relationships. They all play a really key role in healing and creating a wellness in your life. I believe our body is like a cup. Constantly working to manage the stressors that we encounter every day. Genetics and DNA may predispose us to certain conditions, but, and I want to really emphasize this, we also have the power to influence whether those conditions manifest. So stressors, like the food that we eat, the products that we put on our skin. The pollutants we breathe and even emotional stressors from work or family, just continue to add drops to our cup. Our bodies are incredible. They are always on our side. They're trying to clean up after us. But if we keep adding to our load day by day, eventually the cup overflows and that's when chronic disease and other illnesses begin to actually take hold. I realized that to get my inflammation under control, I needed to get my cup back to a manageable level. I'm going to tell you a little story about how wellness started for me. When I was younger, my mom was diagnosed with late stage non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. By the time they found it, she was given only two months to live. She shared with me a really impactful experience that has shaped my view on wellness. And this is what came to my mind when I was facing these new diagnoses. She told me she was advised by healthcare professionals to not eat any fresh foods because they might have bacteria that would be harmful to her. During her treatments, they wanted her to eat packaged foods, quote, unquote, safe foods. She told me that with all of her being, this did not feel right. She knew she had to fuel her body with whole foods and not packaged foods. And it worked. The whole foods gave her body exactly what it needed to fight. Watching my mother beat cancer three times was deeply inspiring and influenced my commitment to make healthier decisions. I think the more we can connect with and learn from the journeys of others, the more hope we find in our own healing. I believe in God. And I believe that he created us and this earth. In his infinite knowledge, he provided the things our bodies need to thrive. There are so many scientific discoveries happening right now about the natural properties of foods and how they play vital roles in supporting our body's functions. I believe that there is still so much more to uncover. But I know that food is medicine. And returning to the most basic natural forms of nourishment and products would naturally support my body as it was designed to function. So I want to share two resources that became my first companions on this journey of learning. And how certain foods support different functions in the body. So the first book that I ordered at the beginning of all of this was The Wellness Encyclopedia of Food and Nutrition. And one are the reasons that I love this book is as you look in it, it gives ideas for how to cook the food, how to store the food, what it can help with. The different key nutrients that it has. So if your body is lacking certain nutrients, It'll go through and tell you where you can get a great dose of those nutrients from whole natural foods. The other book that I really loved is called The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. And this is a really fun book. It is an A to Z guide on nutritional benefits and their medicinal properties. Let's say you turn in here and you find the common cold. It'll give you suggestions on things that you can eat. Natural foods that you can prepare that will help resolve that. These resources gave me a foundation and a direction for making intentional choices. With the memory of my mom's experience in mind, I was determined to use as many whole and natural resources as I could to strengthen my body. But when I went to my first rheumatologist appointment, And I was given a prescription for 14 medications. He told me that focusing on wellness and nutrition wouldn't work. That it didn't matter what I did, that my disease was incurable and I should just start trying to manage them. Since then I've actually heard so many others with similar experiences and personally, I just wasn't okay with that answer. I've learned through this journey that many times you need to take your own health and wellbeing into your own hands. I kept looking and I was very lucky to find a rheumatologist that was on board with the direction that I wanted to take my healing journey. I did not want to start with any medication. Instead, I wanted to take a natural approach to reduce my inflammation. And as of my last appointment, I have one of my chronic diseases in full remission. And I'm not taking any medication. And all of my numbers are consistently getting better. Now I believe Western medicine is absolutely amazing for emergent care. One of the best. We need all of our skilled doctors and physicians who can use their expertise to perform incredible feats, like repairing hearts, brain's, bones, and other serious injuries. However I believe the way they are typically trained does not equip them to guide us through the prevention of chronic disease. Or in integrating Eastern traditions that utilize more natural approaches to health. Over the years we've become so accustomed to just taking a pill. Whenever we don't feel well. Unfortunately, that pill is often designed to change the chemistry of what's happening in our bodies or mask the pain and symptoms. What a pill doesn't do is help you find the why behind the pain, or the symptoms that you're experiencing and it can sometimes lead to downstream effects that create more problems for you later on. Now I want to be very clear, I'm not suggesting that you stopped taking or avoid medications prescribed by your doctor. Many medications are lifesaving and absolutely necessary. But I do encourage you to start thinking about the root cause of your symptoms. And exploring additional ways that you can support your body. For example, the next time that you have a headache. Pause before reaching for the bottle of pain relievers. I want you to listen to your body and ask yourself why you might have this particular headache. Have you been looking at your phone or your computer for too long? Maybe you need to take a five minute walk outside. Are your back neck or shoulders really tight? Try yoga or qigong or stretching. Are you sleep deprived? A, 15 minute meditation can do wonders. And when was the last time that you drink a really big glass of water? Your body is constantly communicating with you. It will tell you what it needs, if you take the time to listen. Wellness is a popular buzzword right now. And it's more important than ever to be able to decipher true products that bring health and resiliency, and items that are not just tagged with wellness label. I'm going to take you through many products this year. And teach you how to identify and use things that will truly help you thrive. You'll be able to do this by asking questions and establishing your own standards for what you will or won't accept in your products. And I'm going to teach you how to read labels and identify ingredients and chemicals in everything that you purchase. You've probably heard of words like organic, cage-free, sustainably, harvested, environmentally friendly, recycled, clean, all natural, non-GMO, whole grains, light, sugar-free, keto friendly, raw, BPA free, hypoallergenic, clinically tested, paraben-free, eco-friendly, plant-based, green, cruelty free. Do you know exactly what these words really mean, or whether they might be misleading you about a products, health benefits? I'm going to help you decipher these product labels and understand ingredient code words, and access resources to determine what aligns with your wellness goals. So together, we're going to uncover the truth behind marketing and empower you to make really intentional informed decisions. As I have been on my own wellness journey, I discovered like so many of us that these chronic diseases can be amplified by too little sleep, poor eating and toxic products in your house and on your body. These things were causing me systemic inflammation, and my markers were off the charts in the beginning. Putting my body in a state that it couldn't heal. Even if I wanted it to. So I created a series of steps for myself to slowly change how I was living. Initially I recognized that this was going to be a long process and a lot of patience was going to be required. And these changes would not return results overnight. So how do you build patience and navigate a long non-linear healing process? Wow, this is a big one. patience doesn't easily come to most of us, especially in a world where with a click of an Amazon button, we get things almost instantaneously. With Google and AI, we can now access millions of opinions in seconds. Patience is not something that we're used to, but it is something that we need to bring back. Think about the natural cycle that we were all meant to go through. Starting in the very beginning, creating a human life takes nine months. Followed by years of growth and development. Often until we're nearly 20 and truthfully, we don't ever stop growing even then. Life is really a lifelong journey. When it comes to patience, a good practice to begin his deep breathing. This can be especially helpful to calm both the body and the mind when you're struggling. Meditation and prayer are also really great practices to cultivate patience. In future episodes, I'm going to guide you through some strategies, but the important thing to remember is that patience is going to take practice. Through all the chronic disease and constant bombardment of toxins, the amazing thing about our bodies is that it's constantly trying to clean up damaged cells and create new cells. And if you give your body a good input. It can create new healthy cells as a great output. I want to help you have the tools you need to design your life without chemicals, without toxic products and without your body feeling physically depleted. I'm going to give you information so that you can decide what to add in, and what to take out. If you or someone you love feels overwhelmed about where to start on a wellness journey, we're going to start by gaining an understanding of what your body is doing right now. I've worked with several companies to establish a baseline and track my own health and my own body functions. And I'm going to start sharing those resources with you in future episodes. Once you have a clearer picture of your current health. Pick just one thing to focus on. Adding in everything at once can be really overwhelming. But if you pick one thing, whether it's improving your sleep, drinking more water, or cutting back on processed foods. Starting small can make the journey feel a lot less daunting. Over time, these small changes will add up to significant progress. I'll help you learn how to design a lifestyle to live your very best well life. So before we end, I have a question for you and I want you to think about it for a minute and then write it down or share it with someone. What does well mean to you? If I ask you to define what it personally means to you, what would you say? Does it mean that you're at your ideal weight? Does it simply mean that you're not feeling sick or not catching every cold that you come in contact with? Does it mean that you have low stress and more energy and your life feels balanced? Or is it more than that for you? Wellness to me is thriving. Not only physically, but mentally, spiritually, and in my relationships, and in my environment. Having resilience, adaptability, daily joy, making contributions to the world, and growing in every area of our lives. This is what thriving looks like to me. Surviving on the other hand is merely staying alive in our current state. It doesn't imply growth or healing. It's stagnant and it's a limiting state to be in. For me, thriving has meant finding joy in the small victories, along my wellness journey. Moments when I felt stronger and more energetic or more connected to my purpose. It has also met learning to adapt when life throws challenges my way. Like the countless appointments and setbacks that initially felt really overwhelming. Thriving isn't about perfection. It's about process and progress and finding ways to grow. Even in the face of difficulties. I've explored ways to do this, and I'm going to walk you through the steps this year. As I take you on this journey, I'm also going to teach you about intentional design. When I work with a client, the first thing we do is start talking about lifestyle and how they see themselves living in a space. There are so many who settle for less because that's the way it's always been. But I focus on possibilities and how to maximize their environments. We're going to take this approach when we design a well life. I want to know how you see yourself in the future. And let me show you the possibilities of how to get there. Thank you so much for spending this time with me. Next time, we're going to start diving into the body. How do identify your toxic burden and what we can do about it.

23:22

The information provided on Design Your Well Life is for educational and informational purposes only, and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or health concerns. The views and opinions expressed by the host or guests on this podcast are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organizations they are affiliated with. While we strive to provide accurate and up to date information, we make no warranties about the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of the content shared. By listening to this podcast, you acknowledge and agree that neither the host nor any guests or contributors are responsible for your health decisions or outcomes. Always make choices that are right for you in consultation with trusted professionals.