Reclaiming Your Spirit: A Journey Through Burnout

Valerie Pedigo’s  journey through burnout began with a shocking moment—finding herself crawling up her stairs, physically unable to walk, yet still answering work calls from the floor. This powerful visual captures what burnout truly means: not just having too much to do, but having nothing left of yourself to give.

As a certified life coach, human design reader, and co-founder of Renewed Spirit Adventures, Valerie transforms her hard-won wisdom into a framework that helps women reclaim their authentic selves after burnout. She walks us through the five essential steps of her approach, beginning with the most challenging: acknowledging burnout without shame. For those hiding behind the "I'm fine" mask while suffering physically and emotionally, this simple admission can be revolutionary.

What sets Valerie's work apart is her emphasis on integration—the missing piece in most wellness interventions. While many experiences provide temporary relief, without integration, we return to the same patterns that caused our burnout. Through one-on-one coaching, small group work, and immersive retreats, she creates spaces where women can not only experience healing but also learn to apply it to "five o'clock on a Tuesday" when real life comes crashing back.

The power of community emerges as another cornerstone of lasting recovery. Whether through culturally immersive experiences or the shared understanding that comes from sisterhood, this connection provides perspective that catalyzes deeper transformation. For those currently struggling, Valerie offers a simple starting point: take five minutes to write down who you are—who you used to be before burnout took hold.

If you're feeling the emptiness of burnout or supporting someone who might be, this conversation offers both practical guidance and profound hope. As Valerie reminds us, healing begins with choosing yourself when you've been choosing everyone else for far too long—not out of selfishness, but as the authentic path toward becoming who you were meant to be.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Valerie Pedigo
• 6:00 Personal Journey Through Burnout
• 12:13 The Five Steps to Overcome Burnout
• 16:41 Finding Micro Joy Moments
• 20:05 The Power of Sisterhood
• 25:14 Cultural Immersion and Retreats
• 28:19 Taking First Steps and Supporting Others

Transcript

Sherry: 0:01

Welcome back to This is It! The Podcast by Thriving Yinzers, where you keep growing, especially when life feels overwhelming? Today, we're honored to welcome a guest whose work speaks directly to that mission. Valerie Pedigo is a certified life and business coach, human design reader, attuned Reiki practitioner and co-founder of Renewed Spirit Adventures, an organization that helps women reclaim their energy, realign with their purpose and recover from burnout through transformational retreats, sisterhood and intentional living.

Sherry: 0:35

In this episode, Valerie shares her personal journey through burnout, the five things she teaches to overcome it, and the power of healing in community. We'll also explore how her one-on-one coaching, small group work and culturally immersive retreats are helping women create lasting change from the inside out. Whether you're running on empty or simply seeking a reset, today's conversation is a reminder that you're not alone in your healing.

Sherry: 1:02

So welcome, Valerie. We're happy to be able to have an opportunity to share what you're doing, because there's a lot of synergy between our goals and why we're doing this in the first place, so it's really cool to have . you

Sherry: 1:14

.

Valerie Pedigo: 1:15

Thank you for having me.

Sherry: 1:17

Your personal through your own burnout is what led you to co-found Renewed Spirit Adventures. I was wondering if you could share with us how that experience shaped your mission to help others reconnect with their authentic selves. ...

Valerie Pedigo: 1:30

Yeah, absolutely so. I mean it would take a long time right to tell someone's whole journey, so I'll do it in a nutshell and then we'll come to the present day. But I am a recovering perfectionist, an overachiever, high performing, and so ever since I was a small child, one of the things that I learned to do and to use as a mask was to manage other people's emotions so that everyone liked me, everyone thought I was the best at everything, and it helped me really make my way through, and what it ended up developing was a lot of need for external validation inside, responsible, be the leader that I needed to be. What was happening was that I was losing the whole self-care, self-love, self-appreciation. So, I had a very long run with that. I went throughout my whole life and I have and had a beautiful life, but one of the things that started happening was I recognized that I was getting further and further away from my soul's purpose and who I truly was, and I'll tell you a people bit about how that happened and how that manifested in my health and lots of other things. But that's the background. I had a great childhood psychiatry- loving parents, and I think one of the things that we all need to leave understand is, for the most part, most people are doing the best that they can, and there's things that happen in our life your pain, shame, conditioning and just overall societal expectations that do have an impact on us, right? So we come here and our soul chooses this body at this time and there's a purpose for it, and so I really believe in that. But throughout my life, I had layers and layers added on. And so on the outside gosh, everything looked perfect, right, I have a beautiful family, four children, a great career, small businesses, active in my community and travel the world all of these different things on the outside. But on the inside, there was definitely something that was missing. And so, in 2021, I really started to feel the physical effects of what happens when you're not connected to yourself or connected to nature. At my rock bottom, I was not able to walk, I had some severe back issues, some injuries through playing collegiate sports, and I had a car accident, but it was more than that. And so there was a point where I was crawling up the stairs in my house to try to get from one room to another and the interesting thing and I can kind of look back at it and laugh right now, but at the time and for people in this journey, I was still answering phone calls when I was on the floor because it was so important to me to meet my obligations, be responsibleappreciation. So I went from that and I noticed I'm like, oh, this, this is not great, right. So I started to get some testing and started to think through what is it right? I had a lot of brain fog.

Valerie Pedigo: 4:34

I had all the symptoms that we're going to talk about when we help. We'll identify. I still wanted to push through. So that was 2021. And then I did not get help, a formal official help from a psychiatry psychology perspective, until October of 2022. And then I did not take a leap of absence from my corporate career until January of 2023.

Jodi: 4:58

That's a lot of pushing.

Sherry: 4:59

and just trying to find your way through while the outside world didn't know what was happening.

Valerie Pedigo: 5:11

Yeah, no idea. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure my family felt it in some ways, but I held it together, man, I held it together, it was all internalized.

Sherry: 5:15

Yeah, and it's so much more common than we realize. I saw some things that were happening and certain people, like you said it looked like they had it all, but they were facing awful realities. And that is true.

Sherry: 5:27

We don't know what someone faces, but if you were on the outside looking in, someone would have had no idea, because things seemed that they were going so well and and that's, I think that's what we do a lot put on this brave face and you know, I got it. I got this, I got it, let's go.

Jodi: 5:43

So, . Valerie, what brought you out of that? What brought you into the next phase of getting yourself on track?

Valerie Pedigo: 5:50

So I put together a team of people and, as I look back on that and as I've told my story over and over again, it really is a miracle that I was able to do that. I'm so thankful and grateful for that. But I was able to seek out healers and so I put together a team and I started to really dig in. I remember I was sitting on an airplane and I'm like okay, I know the root of this is self-love, right, it's a detachment from authentic self, it's neglecting yourself. And so I just sitting on that plane to search to my podcast self love, and there were some things that came up and I just started listening. I'm a part of both of the communities now that original time where I looked for those podcasts and doing a lot of work with them. But putting that all together was really important and I was resolved to say you know what this isn't right, this isn't the way that it's supposed to be. It wasn't easy. I take time to look back at my journals during that time and the writing that I was doing, and it was very bleak, but the first thing I had to do was convince myself that I was worth keeping those appointments that I made right. I was worth moving everything else aside as much as I could to be able to show up for myself, and that's really the whole process. So I tried lots of different things. I learned lots of different things.

Valerie Pedigo: 7:13

My whole life I've been very interested in self-development. A lot of it came in the form of like new business ideas and ways to travel and ways to live nomadically and independence, and so it's like my core always was peeking through, and so I went on a deep dive for self-love, and that brings us to where we are today. I'm very happy. I did have to make a lot of changes and so once I started peeling back those layers, it became clearer and clearer that the life that I was living wasn't necessarily the right life for me.

Valerie Pedigo: 7:45

And that doesn't mean that we take anyone for granted. That's a part of our life. But it's important to cut off the things that really are not meant for us. So I make I completely changed my life like a full 180, including leaving my corporate career after almost 20 years changing my family dynamics. So it was a lot and takes a lot of bravery, and so, along that self-love theme, I feel proud of myself.

Valerie Pedigo: 8:09

One of the things, how we came into Renewed Spirit Adventures and I'll talk a little bit about my partner as well my business partner but we noticed we both went through a clinical burnout journey that there were some gaps. Everybody was doing their best, but a lot of things were existing in silos, and so one of the things that I said was I really feel called to this work and once I get myself onto the right track, I'm going to dedicate my life to helping women prevent, identify and overcome burnout, you reclaimed your own spirit and you are now helping others recognize burnout and you've developed a process for this, for helping others recognize burnout and begin their own healing journey.

Sherry: 8:46

Would you be able to walk us through you call it the five things. Could you walk us through that and sort of explain how each one contributes to renewal?

Valerie Pedigo: 8:55

Yeah, absolutely. So. This is to get started. As you said, sherry, to get started. This is by no means a complete piece, but it's a good place for us to start, because I think the term burnout is still it's like a, like an umbrella catch-all. Yeah, it's either a catch-all or something that people deny. So right, you know. It's important to understand that the burnout is chronic, unmanaged stress, and one of the things that we say at Renewed Spirit Adventures is day-to-day stress means you have too much. Burnout means there's not enough of you there's nothing left.

Sherry: 9:30

There's not much left. Yeah, it's like that numbness Almost.

Valerie Pedigo: 9:36

And there's nothing left. Yes, and so recognizing the symptoms is really important, and that's a part of the first step, which is acknowledgement, acknowledgement without shame. So, physical fatigue, sleep issues, brain fog Both my business partner and I thought that we had early onset dementia before we had this education, because we literally couldn't remember where we were walking into the next room. Emotional, this is a big one Irritability, feeling numb, feeling like nothing matters, but then also the cynicism or like this feeling that everybody is out to get you. That's what it really feels like.

Valerie Pedigo: 10:09

It feels like why is this person doing this to me? And then, from a mental perspective, it's hard to focus, you get really forgetful. And then, from a spiritual perspective, the acknowledgement is I don't feel creative anymore, I don't feel any meaning, I don't feel any purpose. The things that used to light me up don't do anything for me anymore. And then you combine that and this is probably for another time, another conversation for us but you combine that with perimenopause and late diagnosed ADHD, right, all the things that we're starting to learn now, especially with women in midlife. It's like, okay, which one am I dealing with right now? But they all contribute to burnout.

Sherry: 10:50

Yeah, there's a whole slew of things contributing to some of my symptoms and the path that I ended up on, but what I'm figuring out along the way is that the path forward, no matter the cause, a lot of the ways to help you move forward are similar and it comes back to that self-care and learning to be your authentic self.

Valerie Pedigo: 11:09

Yes, yeah, yeah. So the acknowledgement without shame is the first one of the five things. So there's all kinds of things. We come from all different backgrounds, we come from all different life stages, but the course to start to correct and start to get back to your authentic self, it can be very similar and that's why we can group together women and actually it's really fun to see women from different backgrounds, different life stages, different ages come together and really share in sisterhood about what they've gone through.

Valerie Pedigo: 11:41

So that's the first piece, and then the second piece and we're all kind of alluding to this is to identify your energy drains, and this is easier said than done, right? So we're just doing a small conversation on this. We're going to talk about the kind of support that's available, but I have to admit that relationship that maybe has not been giving for many, many years and it has been taking, taking, taking that job that you don't enjoy anymore or maybe never did, and you took it out of desperation. So again I say this, not because it's easy, but it's a place to start.

Sherry: 12:15

That's what we do we just push through. Then you just keep on adding a layer and, before you know it, you're burying yourself. Yeah, push through.

Valerie Pedigo: 12:23

Yeah, so taking some time in your journal and your voice memos just thinking about where do I the biggest drains of my life, and that will point you to the right direction, and then we can talk about what to do to move on and then reclaiming micro joy moments. Not everybody needs to quit their job and change their whole family and move out of the country and do all the stuff. That may be it, but where we can start is micro joy moments, those little things that are absent from your life, that you used to just love, maybe when you were younger. One of our sisters, when she came on retreat with us, she's like I want to walk barefoot again. I used to do it all the time when I was a child and it's like, well, do it, take off your shoes right and just starting there, lighting that candle that you look at every single day but you never do it because you don't have time. Those are the tiny little things that you can do to start to create that momentum, create that magnetism, and then rituals for yourself. It could be what happens at night, a nighttime routine, and I don't subscribe to a lot of the stuff that's happening right now about like you've got to get up at four o'clock in the morning and do these seven things do a whole day before your day has started. I understand the thought process behind that, but this is your own ritual, just starting with some suggestions that you can find within the support that we have here. But even if, like, oh man, I would really like to do a face mask I haven't done one in a long time right, just little things like that. And, believe me, self-care is a lot more than a bubble bath and a face mask okay, those are more rituals that you can start. That gets you down the path of true self-care. The idea of self-care is choosing you, choosing you, when you have been choosing everyone else but you for so long. So any kind of rituals, it's giving you intention.

Valerie Pedigo: 14:05

I did a speaking engagement at the beginning of this month and we talked about simple rituals and one of the women there said you know what? I haven't looked at my cookbooks in a long time and cooked a recipe. I used to do that all the time, but now I order in or I go to the grocery store and get single serve meals and I'm going to take out my grandma's cookbook and I'm going to make one of those recipes Perfect. And then, finally, don't do this alone. We've all, along the line, shared our stories and it's just fascinating. I had several calls today with clients. We call our clients sisters and everybody is dealing with this in some form or fashion.

Valerie Pedigo: 14:40

Our goal at Renewed Spirit Adventures is to help before it gets to clinical burnout. And if you are clinical burnout, we have support and resources available for that, because we believe in the entire spectrum of care, treating the whole woman mind, body and soul. But the whole point is you do not have to do it alone. You may think that you're the only one going through this, but you talk to any other woman a little bit of vulnerability, you'll see over 50% of all American women are in burnout and I believe that that's very low. But the idea is don't do it alone and there's so much support out there to help you. So that's the last piece.

Jodi: 15:14

So, of those five things, is there a particular area that you feel like you see people resisting the most Like? Is there a particular area where you think that it's harder for people to kind of get on board?

Valerie Pedigo: 15:26

Absolutely, it's the first one, the acknowledgement of it. Yeah, no, I'm fine when things calm down. I'll be fine when I stop doing true jobs.

Jodi: 15:37

Yeah, it makes sense to me. Yeah, I mean, I had a doctor's appointment a couple of years ago and it was just my regular checkup and I'm sitting at the table and the doctor was asking the routine questions and she said how are you feeling? And I went to open my mouth and bursted into tears and I was mortified and I'm like I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay. She was like I think we need to talk about this and it was that moment when I was like okay, I'm not really okay, right, right.

Valerie Pedigo: 16:05

We as a collective really need to normalize burnout and strong, capable women. There's roadblocks and challenges with all these right, when you can only transform to the level that you choose and the effort that you give to yourself. But yeah, I think, jodi, just to answer your question and to mirror what you're saying and reflect what you're saying about your own experience, it's that first one. That's our automatic response. Nope, I'm fine, just let me walk it off, right, yeah?

Sherry: 16:32

yeah, right. So I think that's why what you're doing with the sisterhood piece of this is so critical and that community really is a cornerstone of what you're doing with the sisterhood piece of this is so critical and that community really is a cornerstone of what you're doing. Why is that renewed spirit, sisterhood I think you've kind of already touched on this, but like why that kind of belonging is so important to healing and how that helps the process.

Valerie Pedigo: 16:55

Yeah, Anyone that works together with us becomes a part of our sisterhood. We are going to be launching our online community, so that will be the official online sisterhood. It's membership based, it's completely accessible, and that space is to know that you are not alone. There's resources, there's material. We're going to have recorded calls and we're creating pathways where you can take courses for yourself from start to finish. There's going to be live calls with our beautiful practitioners that we have all over the world. So it's really, when you get in there, it's a space where you can be yourself, talk about what's happening, and I guarantee if you're facing something, somebody else is as well. So we're just we're going to talk about it. So that's the composition of it, is the learning component and the resources that are available, but then the conversation.

Sherry: 17:47

Yeah, that's so critical. Is that going to be something that's done through social media, or is it a standalone platform? Do you know what that will look like?

Valerie Pedigo: 17:56

Yep, it's a standalone platform. It's called Kajabi, that's who we use. They are excellent with small businesses. It's an online community platform. One of the most beautiful things is even when myself and my business partner, melody, kind of step back and observe the way that people come together to ask each other questions.

Jodi: 18:15

Is there something that stands out? Do you have a story of someone that made a big breakthrough?

Valerie Pedigo: 18:20

One of the stories of major breakthrough and transformation that comes right to me is our sister from Northeast Ohio, someone who was married for 40 years and she always knew that she was meant for something different. But we do what we do right we mom, we wife we do all the things and we say, maybe this is the best that I can do, or maybe this is just the way life is supposed to be. But she was able to take a step back, review, have a great conversation with her partner and they decided to have an amicable separation and they're still friends. But now she's going on retreat, she is traveling to where she wants to travel. She's preparing for her retirement in a couple of years. She is looking at how the traditions of her family are different now. And that strength, first of all, is so admirable, but second of all, it always makes you very emotional. It doesn't matter how old you are. If you choose yourself, we have one life to live. If you choose yourself, you're not going to go wrong In your authentic life.

Jodi: 19:27

And that doesn't mean being selfish, right, truly saying this is who I am, and the right people in your life are going to appreciate that and love you even more for it right?

Valerie Pedigo: 19:31

Yes, that's right. And you know, jodi, you just made me think about that, one of the things that I say aloud for the listeners, because, especially if you're a mom, you think I have to create stability and consistency. Okay, whatever that means, but I need to keep things the way that they've always been for the children, and, the truth is, the greatest gift that you can give your children is being yourself, and for them to see your strength.

Sherry: 19:57

You mentioned about your retreats. Can you tell us a little bit about that? And then also, I know you offer one-to-one coaching and small group coaching. Tell us about that and how that supports women in integrating those more intimate settings.

Valerie Pedigo: 20:10

Yes, well, they all go together. We never have large groups, and if we do, we make sure that everyone knows that, but our goal is always to have between 10 to 15 people max women max, and sometimes depending on the stage of burnout that they're in or the situations. Like I said, we curate everything and we have plans to be able to scale this. It's always going to stay custom, no matter how big we get, because that is our commitment and that's where really the true transformation happens, so we are always committed to small groups. Our retreats all include the core fundamentals, and that is movement, energetics, relaxation, wonder, and then integration.

Valerie Pedigo: 20:53

So I'm going to talk about the integration, because that is the differentiator for us. I think that's the differentiator between one-on-one work, small group work, retreats, and, first of all, I want to say I honor anyone that does this type of work, so this is not about. This is the right way, this is the wrong way. One of the things that I noticed, though, is that integration is truly missing in this field, and it's because of capacity. Right, if you go to a massage therapist.

Sherry: 21:21

So when you're saying integration, can you clarify?

Valerie Pedigo: 21:23

that. Yep, yep, I'll talk through it. So integration is taking that transformation, the learnings that you have, the understanding that you have and being able to apply it in your everyday life. Because what happens and I'm glad that you asked for clarification, because what happens is we go and do a thing, we go for a massage, we go for a massage, we go for a facial, we go for a Reiki healing, we go to a retreat, and then we feel great, but then we go right back into our same lives with our same schedule and our same issues, with our children and our pets or whatever it is right, and so no true sustainable change is made. That's the difference.

Valerie Pedigo: 21:58

At Renewed Spirit Adventures. We stay with you, so it's not about the event, the experience or that one-time appointment. Once we start working together, then we focus on integration. We have an integration coaching and framework method that helps with that. It's specifically for women in burnout situations and major life changes to say, okay, I've done this work. Now what does that mean for me at five o'clock on a Tuesday? Because when you're in a bubble, everything's easy Right.

Jodi: 22:27

So you mentioned going through different life stages. Is this something that is for all life stages? Is this for, like, the new moms, the moms who are new to being empty nesters, or the senior citizen that maybe finds themselves by themselves for the first time that will have lost a spouse? Is it truly everything, or is there more of an age grouping?

Valerie Pedigo: 22:50

Yes, it's for everyone what we find our typical sister is usually between the ages of 35 and 55, but that is just how it happens right now and that's because of a midlife thing and that's also where our connections are right. So, when we look at the demographics of the people who are part of our following, for example but it is for everyone, because the three examples you just gave the birth of a child, empty nesting and the loss of a loved one what do they all have in common? Grief, right. When I become a new mother, it's the happiest time of my life, but I'm saying goodbye to life before children. When I'm an empty nester, I have all these awesome things on the horizon, but what am I doing? I'm saying goodbye to these little ones needing me and then, of course, the most obvious is when I lose a loved one. And so there's more that unites us, regardless of age, regardless of life stage, and that's what we're there to help empower the healing on. And we don't heal people. We empower people to heal themselves. But that new mother that's 25 years old has a whole lot in common with the 75 year old woman that is starting to think about end of life or experiencing that in their connections, in their network, in their circle. So, yeah, definitely.

Valerie Pedigo: 24:06

And the other piece on that what usually comes up is what about the activity levels?

Valerie Pedigo: 24:08

So I met someone who is very interested and she's like I'm in my silver years, I can do whatever I want, but I am not hiking any mountains and I'm like it's okay, we don't need to do that. So we have different experiences that people can choose from, from one that's more in location spa services, workshops to a little bit more adventure, to cultural retreats and there is something for everyone. But how we find that out is we do pre, during and post conversations. For example, today I had two conversations with women that signed up for retreats myself and my business partner, melanie and what we do is just spend a half an hour getting to know them and understanding it, and once we have the final group together for that particular experience, then we make any tweaks or changes to it. So just very custom. But you don't need to be climbing mountains and doing cold plunges. That could be something, but you don't have to choose that. It's more about what sings to your soul and what lights you up when you take a look at it.

Sherry: 25:05

That's really beautiful. I'm so interested to hear more. Tell us about immersion retreats.

Valerie Pedigo: 25:14

Yes, first of all, we always use local as much as possible. So the things that we curate, the catering, the food that we use, the locations we use, it's really grounded in making sure we use as many local business, small businesses and practitioners as possible. But what I'd like to talk about, too, is what I think you're referencing, sherry, is it's important for us to understand that, even though we could live across the world from someone else, we still have uniting factors and there's things that we can teach each other. This person can be a teacher for me. Recently, we spent some time with an indigenous village in Costa Rica called the Bri Bri Village, and it is one of the last remaining indigenous villages left in Costa Rica that wasn't conquered by the Spanish, and so they still live the way that they lived many, many years ago. It's a matriarchal society. The leader she was holding court for . sure Beautiful, beautiful lady. She's the one that is teaching all the adults in the village Spanish so that they can know their indigenous language but understand the language of the country. But we went and we were able to see how they use the earth, how they use the things available to them to create, how they use the things available to them to survive, and we learned how to make cacao, which is a whole other nother thing that we could talk about when it comes to healing, but the goal there was to say I have my life here in Pittsburgh and I do my things on a day to day basis. Let me look up and look around and see.

Sherry: 26:36

Perspective.

Valerie Pedigo: 26:38

and it's about wonder and it's about awe yeah.

Valerie Pedigo: 26:41

Yeah, it's perspective

Sherry: 26:42

and that's the catalyst to much deeper transformation.

Valerie Pedigo: 26:51

Yes, and so we did journaling after. What did the Bribri people teach us about presence and about nature and connection with nature.

Sherry: 26:55

Yeah, you only see things through your own lived experience and that's a way to gain perspective and so much more.

Valerie Pedigo: 27:03

We always do something like that. And, then we have complete cultural retreats that we're planning. We are going to be taking a group of women to the Christmas markets in Europe and that's still a retreat, it's still healing and we'll still do some of the movement and some of the sound practices. But the day-to-day stuff is that wonder, how do I expand my mind?

Valerie Pedigo: 27:33

Because when we expand our mind, when we eat different food, when we see different things, when we hear different languages it does. It gives us perspective.

Sherry: 27:44

and seeking perspectives other than your own is transformative because it helps you grow. When you listen to someone else's ideas or experiences, you begin to see the world in a new way.

Valerie Pedigo: 27:54

Yeah, yeah, not to feel guilty. Not to feel guilty about where you are. This is not like oh well, you think you have it bad, they have it worse. That's not the point.

Sherry: 28:02

Right. No, I don't want to talk about comparing trauma or anything like that, but I'm saying it grounds me in gratitude.

Valerie Pedigo: 28:08

Right, yes, yes, gratitude presence yes.

Jodi: 28:12

Yeah, for people that are struggling right now, what is one of the most important things that someone could do right now? If somebody is listening, and feels like they're just really stuck in it.

Valerie Pedigo: 28:23

Yeah, it's tough, because I want to make sure that one thing that you can do, if you're listening right now and you're struggling, is pause for just five minutes, take out a piece of paper and write down who you are and just a couple of bullet points to at least get you started. The frame of mind might be like who I used to be or what I love to do, or it doesn't matter, just start writing a little bit, because a lot of us don't take that kind of time to and again, it's five minutes. It could be two minutes, but even with the first word that you put, it will feel probably very disconnected from your life right now. And so, again, that first step is acknowledgement. Then you can move forward with support and we're available for you. At the end here We'll give how you can get in touch with Renewed Spirit Adventures. If you're like, okay, I already know I'm disconnected, then you have support, you can reach out and we will at least get that journey started.

Sherry: 29:23

Yeah, and to piggyback on that, how can you support someone through burnout? What is the most helpful thing that a caregiver, a friend or a family member can do? How do you show up in support? You can't come at it with here's the answer, because we don't have the answer. But how do you help lay out, maybe small stepping stones for somebody to take the initiative to start their own journey?

Valerie Pedigo: 29:46

Yeah, I know what you're saying, right, because it's a balance of trying to save everyone, but here's what I will say, and I think that this is where you're going with it. The first thing is listening, just listen and ask the question multiple times. So, for example, are you okay? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine, are you okay? Are you okay Right? And reinforcing that you are a trusted person for them. There's a lot of assumptions that we make because we all have the same societal programming, especially women, and there's an issue with vulnerability. Vulnerability is our natural state. So, to caregivers, to friends, to family that know something is off with someone that they love, you do not have the answers. You cannot force someone to do something that they're not ready to do yet, but what you can do is listen.

Sherry: 30:34

I'm thinking about your moments of crawling up the steps and things like that, when you're so in it you can't see the way out. Somebody almost has to crack the door open a little. And I like the question are you okay? I don't want to say I have a problem with how are you? It comes from a good place. But when you're really going through it it's a hard question to answer. It's just something we do and something we say. But how are you? We just say we're fine and move on, or we throw some line of shit.

Valerie Pedigo: 31:02

So remember the wording not how are you, but are you okay? Yeah, Right, Because there is a difference in those semantics, right? If I ask you, are you okay, the answer is yes or no. What's going to happen is people will say yes, but that's no right. No is no. So that's why it seems simple and it seems a little bit surface level With people you care about. It's not broke, right, you know. You want to know how they are. However, that, are you okay? Instead of how are you make some assumptions. That allows them to put some walls down.

Jodi: 31:34

Yeah, that's a really powerful shift.

Jodi: 31:36

I like that.

Valerie Pedigo: 31:37

Yes,

Sherry: 31:37

I have a quick question about two other things that you offer that we haven't talked about yet- your work as a Reiki practitioner and also a human design reader. I know about Reiki. I'm not familiar with human design, so can you tell us more about that before we close it up?

Valerie Pedigo: 31:52

Yeah, Okay, yeah, why don't we focus on human design? It's not that everyone knows about Reiki, but, like you said, it's a little bit more common. The idea of Reiki, though, is that there are people that are attuned, that can help channel so that you can heal from internally from an energetic perspective. Human design is 100% the most profound thing. and I found this one podcast, and I was like you know what I really like this. Let me just start at number one, and number one was knowing your human design. So I was like what do you mean? There is a system that can help you understand how you're to function in this world, based on your authentic self, and the idea is you were put on this earth at a certain date, at a certain time, in a certain location, for a reason, and that moment in time and that location determines a lot of things about you. So the human design gives you your energy type, so how you should use your energy. There's five different energy types. We can't go into them, but we could do a whole another episode just about human design, because it gives people so much agency and license to say I knew I liked that, but I haven't been letting myself do that because no one else does that, okay. Well, you're not supposed to do what everyone else does, and so you have your energy type, you have your profile, you have your authority how you should make decisions.

Valerie Pedigo: 33:08

Most of us in this world are not meant to initiate, we're meant to respond. So a lot of us are out there hustling trying to initiate, and that's not what's meant for us. That doesn't create magnetism, and so it's anything from the major part, which is your energy type, to even things about what environment is best for your digestion, all from the date, time and location you were born. It puts together eight different things from all over the world to create this very complex human design. My job as a reader is to take that complexity and put it into terms that you can use every day.

Valerie Pedigo: 33:41

Once again, integration oh it's cool that I know that. No, how do you actually use that to empower yourself? And once you're living your true design, you create magnetism, and that's when we start to get into manifestation, and so, when you're really who you are and doing what you're meant to be, things come to you. And probably a whole nother thing for us to talk to the listeners about, but it is a joy for me and I am by no means an expert, but I see not only what happened with myself, but everyone that it touches. It's like, oh yeah, one of our sisters, her environment is a cave environment. That doesn't mean she's meant to live in a cave. That means that she's meant to protect her energy. And so she's like oh, that's why I like to stay in this one room with this one blanket. That's why it makes me feel so comfortable, because that's her natural environment and that's where she feels the best. And there's a whole bunch to do with that.

Sherry: 34:32

I'm so intrigued. It's fascinating. I'm going to do a deeper dive there. Where can our listeners go to find out more about your work and your upcoming retreats and all the things?

Valerie Pedigo: 34:43

Yes, it's www. renewedspiritadventures. com, and on our website you'll be able to see what we have upcoming, you'll be able to learn and get on the waiting list for the sisterhood, and then there's a Let's Connect form and it'll ask you are you interested in human design? Are you interested in energetics? Are you interested in one-on-one coaching? What? What brings you here? And that form will come right to us and we will set up time to to talk and do some discovery. Our website, renewedspiritaventures. com, and then we have a beautiful social media platform with lots of education. So, we are on Facebook as Renewed Spirit Adventures, we're on Instagram at Renewed Spirit Adventures and on LinkedIn.

Sherry: 35:24

I'll link all that in the show notes and it'll be in the transcript, too. Thank you. You're passionate and knowledgeable and I'm happy to be able to share that. So thank you for joining us and maybe we'll do this again. Thank you so much. Nice meeting you. Bye.

Sherry: 35:40

What an incredible reminder that burnout isn't a sign of weakness. It's a signal and with the right tools, support and intention, it can become the beginning of something beautiful and powerful. Valerie's story and the work she's doing through Renewed Spirit Adventures show us that healing is possible. And the work she's doing through Renewed Spirit Adventures show us that healing is possible and it often starts with small, intentional choices that move us toward peace, purpose and connection. And if anything in this conversation spoke to you, consider what your next step might be. Maybe it's rest, maybe it's reaching out for support, maybe it's just believing that something new is possible. This is it. Keep growing. Consider professional advice.

Sherry: 36:34

Thriving Yinzers LLC, its hosts or any associated parties are not liable for any actions taken or consequences arising from the information provided. The views expressed by the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of any organizations or affiliations. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please reach out to a trusted professional or crisis hotline in your area. Help is available 24-7, nationwide at the 988-SUICIDE-AND-CRISIS-LIFELINE Dial 988 to connect with a trained crisis counselor for free and confidential support. If you are local to the Pittsburgh area, resolve Crisis Services offer 24-7 crisis intervention and stabilization services to all Allegheny County residents.