Episode 32 - Amy Denson - Former Professional Athlete turned Leadership & Health Coach

In this episode of The Realtor Who Wines, Rashelle sits down with Amy Denson, a retired professional basketball player whose journey from the court to the corporate world is marked by grit, grace, and growth. 

Amy opens up about her early years growing up in southern Oregon, earning a scholarship to Arizona State, and living her dream playing professionally across the globe from Puerto Rico and Poland to Australia and Spain. She shares the highs of international competition, the challenges of constant physical demand, and the powerful lessons learned through movement, consistency, and resilience.

Together, Rashelle and Amy explore the parallels between athletics and business, from learning to accept feedback without flinching to navigating major life transitions and leading with both toughness and empathy. They also discuss the power of teamwork, big-picture thinking, and how to learn from mistakes quickly to keep moving forward.

Now helping other women prioritize their health and well-being, Amy’s story is a reminder that while the uniform may change, the mindset of a champion never fades.

So, pour a glass, pull up a chair, and join us for a conversation that celebrates the power of perseverance

Thank you for listening! Connect and collaborate with Realtor Rashelle on any of her social media platform pages > https://linktr.ee/RealtorRashelle

Transcript

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Welcome to the Realtor Who Wines podcast. I'm Rachelle Newmeyer, your hostess with the mostest a student of life, a connector, a passionate wine enthusiast, and your local favorite guide. Join me as we explore the vibrant Pacific Northwest. Savor the finest wines and champion the spirit of entrepreneurship. Each episode, I'll sit down with inspiring guests, supporting business ownership and uncovering the stories that make this community unique. So grab a glass of wine, settle in, and let's embark on a journey of discovery and connection together. Cheers. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the realtor Who Wines. I'm Rachelle Neumeyer, your host of the realtor who wins? I can't wait to dive into all things to do with Amy. But first, I would love for her to introduce herself. But I'd like to cheers you for being on cheers. Thank you. Well, thank you for the opportunity. My name is Amy Denson. I am a retired professional athlete. I, after retiring, I went into coaching high school and college at the D1 level, and, Yeah, then I jumped into the corporate world only seven years ago, so I, I joke that I've only had two real jobs. Yeah. In that time, I just, I think with a lot of us, just a lot of transition and change, and I had some struggles with my health, and wasn't getting the answers that I needed. So I just, I took it into my own hands. And then that kind of blossomed into, you know, helping other women and doing what I do now. Yeah, yeah. Well, you give a little bit of history, like before you were a professional athlete, like starting out young and working your way up to that. Yeah. So I grew up in, southern Oregon. I grew up in Klamath Falls. I graduated from, Crater High School, and, I played at Arizona State. I got a scholarship there, and we were really young, and we had, we went from like 500 my freshman year to making the sweet 16 and almost to the Elite eight. So I got to kind of live out my dream there. And then I got an agent, and I didn't even know that women's professional basketball existed outside of the States. I didn't get selected, like, drafted into the WNBA at the time. So, yeah, I started my career in Puerto Rico, which was the most wonderful place where all they care about is games and partying and hanging out. And, we were really successful. And then I went on to play in Romania, Poland, Australia for three years, where I played year round and then, Spain. And then I ended my, career back in Puerto Rico. You then. Yeah. And what were some of the lessons that you learned just being exposed to, like the different cultures and how they like, respond to fitness or health? It was really inspiring to see the support that we had in service or, sorry, in Puerto Rico. I played for a small town called veterans, and we, and we were winning and it was fun. And so we just had so much support. I played in smaller towns, suburbs or towns, but in my whole career there was just a lot more support for women's basketball. Also, there was a a lot of different levels of playing where you, you know, maybe you get paid, you know, $1,000, and then you can work in a coffee shop, or you were going to school and you still get to play up to getting paid, you know, a full salary. And really basketball is all you do. So there was just so much more opportunity. But as far as like the fitness stuff, it was very, very different from college and what I was used to. I was very regimented. The grind there was, really not much of that rigidity besides sometimes within practices, sometimes we'd have two a day. So sometimes the mentality would be, we need you to work more rather than efficiently. Yeah. Which was really trying on my body at the end of my career, like having two a day practices. So would you be playing up to 4 to 5 hours every day and then going into games? So I was pretty worn down by that point. But, yeah. So in that way, you know, I learned so much in college about lifting. I mean, I started lifting when I was an eighth grader. So I kind of took that and then I just worked out on my own. Yeah. Around my actual practice. But wasn't a lot of the fitness is it. When I played was very different as far as like within the town or the people or what you're doing, you know. Yeah. Well and but that was a unique experience because until recently, I feel like female sports haven't been completely embraced by the American culture. Like they're like, oh, that's cool. You play basketball cute, you know? But like in other countries, it's like you're still looked at just like a male athlete, like, wow, that's amazing. You do this. Yeah. And you don't get paid as much as them as the men overseas. But you do get paid a lot more. So even it used to be, it probably still is in the WNBA, you know, because you have WNBA on your resume, you do get paid quite a bit, more in Europe. Sure. And then you go over to Europe and you play, you know, a seven, eight month season. And that's that's really where you make the bulk of your money. But I think with Nil and in college now and getting more recognition. I think, you know, we're slowly but surely making our way up there. But yeah. Yeah. How do you think being an athlete has driven you as a person or a business woman. Yeah I think understanding you know the power of being consistent and showing up every day. Yeah. I think that just physical movement in general, has always been such a. Like, in a positive way, a crutch for me. I more mental and emotional support there. Let's see, how else has it transitioned from me. So I played sports my whole life. Never. Not to your degree. I did play a little bit in college, but for me, I played basketball and volleyball. I played volleyball in college. Sweet. But for me, it got to where I was like, is this, like a full time job? And I it's I have to I'm not going to the Olympics or anything. Like I just want to be a college kid. So I ended up stopping halfway through college, but I was trying to explain it the other day to a business coach that was like, you do not have to sugarcoat stuff for me. I grew up with coaches being like, turn your body this way and do like do what I say. I'm telling you, I'm your coach. You're going to do it this way. As I did theaters. I'm used to a director directing. Yeah. So I'm like, my feelings are never hurt. If you're like, oh, Rachelle, can you try it this way? And I'm like, sure. Like, that's just my mindset is that I can take direction or feedback. And my feelings aren't hurt because I was raised with, like, that's what your coaches are supposed to do. I had coaches, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's you. And I think I was just thinking, you know, I have a really, really and I think this is not necessarily an athlete, but I think stems from being an athlete at a really high level is that my expectations on myself are very high. I can get very low about things. I think another thing that was hard for me, I've been thinking a lot about this is just the transition in general, you know, going from a pro athlete. And I always say, I got to live out my first dream. And for when I was young, it was my only dream. All I wanted to do was play basketball. I never thought I could travel the world. I never thought I'd get paid, you know, money. Sure. And then transitioning from that to coming back to the States after almost eight years and literally not knowing what to do with my life. Yeah. I think, like, big transitions like that, you know, even like career to motherhood, motherhood, back to career, career to career. You know, athlete to I always I keep you know, the term is athlete to average and it's not that average is something that's negative. Right. It's just it's so different. And I was so young. Let's just like a soldier become a civilian again. It's it's it's such a big transition. So I think expectations is also a big one that I think I struggle with a bit. My, my own self. But I you know on a positive note, it was a bit of a shock to kind of come into the corporate world after being in athletics like only surrounded by athletes and there's athletes that are women. So there's, you know, things that we can learn from that. But I was, I am and was also surprised just I feel like people are a little bit soft. You know, how we have to, you know, and that's fine. We have different ways of communicating. But like I'm the same way. I'm like, oh, I'm not offended. So you just say it like you need to say it. I like, feedback. I want to know how to, you know, do my job well or what? You know, I need to do better. Yeah, I'm the same way. And I've found that that is not always the case. Yeah, it's not always well-received. I the first time I took a leadership position in corporate because of my mindset and my background, especially in sport, everyone thought I was such a hard. They're like, oh, it's a little hard ass coming out here because I was just like, what? What are we crying? What is happening? Like, I just didn't understand, like some of the heightened emotions. And so it was a lot of like Myers-Briggs and stuff. So I like, learned to just be like to be the leader they needed, but I didn't. I don't understand either. Yeah, one might knee jerk reaction is not to cry like I'm just not that person. So especially at work as someone's like, meet the deadline, I was like, why are we crying? What happened? Who died? Like, because, but I know obviously years later recognize like, oh yeah, everybody reacts differently. Oh, kind of a thing. But that was a hard transition for me too. It's just like I was just like, no, this is what we do. You just work. We're here to work. Yeah. Put in the work. I think one of the other things. And, you know, I want to stay positive. I think I am a forever optimist with having an athlete mindset because I do believe in with all my heart. I do believe in teamwork. I do believe for growth. I do believe in, the power of movement. I do believe, you know, just like that grind it out mentality. I really believe that if you continue to to go after and do the things that are for your body, for your mind, for your soul, that are, that are supporting you, I, I believe that you know, something wonderful is that. Yeah, along the way, you know, it's not like an end point by any means. So I think in that way it might still be naive, but it's something that I just believe with my whole heart because I've experienced it. Yeah, actually good things coming from. Yeah. I think another trait that you learn from playing, like being an athlete or playing sport is big picture mentality too. So like, you understand like running the lines today. It isn't about the lines today, it's about the endurance for the game. And so and that's the same with business and stuff. Like when you're doing things in business you're like, okay, well I'm going to this networking thing today. It's not because I'm trying to get business today, right. It's about building relationships to build my business longevity. So it's kind of the same. I think it gives us a little bit different perspective to see a bigger picture or like the importance and the repetitive mundane, I guess. You know what I mean. Like, nobody I don't know about you, but I was never excited to run Lions. But I always understood their importance and what they did for me. Yeah, there was a means to an end. I, you know, totally. I'm not a runner, but I will, you know, I'll, I'll run for days if I get to shoot a basketball. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's totally different. Yeah. Well, and the last thing you want to do is be on the court and be like, yeah, look at that. Well, you have that while they're just, like, blown by you. Well well I would that was never allowed. But you're also never going to finish never going to be able to perform if you're not in your most physical peak. So you can't think in a big part. And what was so hard for me to learn in college was we were we had to learn how to talk and play at a really high speed. And that was so hard. I'd never done it like that. Where you're talking consistently for, you know, two hours, three hours, yeah. While you're sprinting. Well, and you cannot do that at all, but you can't do your job if you're not in in physical shape. So it wasn't a choice. Yeah. Another thing that just popped in my head too, that I think is really cool, and then I do want to talk about what you got going on now, but as an athlete, one thing you do, a skill that you do learn on the court is letting stuff go quickly because you cannot continue playing the same game. If you're worried about the shot you missed in the first quarter and we're in the fourth quarter, like, you can't like you have to just be like, oh, mistake. Yeah, fix it, move on, adjust like kind of thing. So I think that does that also helps with like business and stuff too. Yeah. Like you can't just like beat yourself up nonstop over the small things. I mean I think that's one of the hardest qualities for, for athletes to get into. Master I think to like, you know, I think a lot about there's one example in college when we were, you know, conditioning, we had a month straight of conditioning and we didn't stop playing. So it wasn't, but it was like, okay, the season starting, the rules were at the time, you you don't really touch a basketball. Maybe you're doing individual workouts, but our team workouts were just conditioning for a month and it was kind of, you know, it was like hell month before we actually got to practice. Practice was hard to hear. You know, we were practicing for 3 to 4 hours early on. So and we were running and it dawned on me like a couple a year, a couple years ago, you're thinking about running and, you know, being tired. And we would joke about, like, hitting our ankle on the line and being like, do I just roll it today if we yeah. Do I if I roll it today, can I still play tomorrow. Right. We would joke about it. Right. But it was so crazy it I realize I never had the thoughts her stop. And I was like what I never had. It wasn't an option for me. Until we were in one of our conditioning sessions, we had a player, a new player come in from junior college. She was not used to what we were doing. And of course it was a huge transition. And one of the sprints, she ran off and went and sat in the seats and just sat down and just said, I'm done. And we were like, what? Yeah, like me. And then, you know, we have to go and we have a we had to go, but like, hey, like you stop. We have to keep going until, you know, we have to finish. You have to finish. Like if you don't finish, we no fish. And it was just such a weird, recognition I had because I was like, That that thought never crossed my mind. Yeah. And I think so many times, whether you're an athlete or you're, you know, right now you're focusing on just being consistent, any sort of movement when you are in a physical situation where especially in our like adult days now, we're mostly it's a choice, right? I'm choosing to do this exercise especially for getting back in shape. And it's super uncomfortable. What I love about movement is that you're going to it's like gives you an opportunity to come to a crossroads every single day. Totally. And you have, you are at a point whether it's like physically you feel like you've hit a wall mentally, emotionally you just don't want to be there. But you're always going to hit a crossroad where you get to choose to keep it moving, or you get to choose to quit. And I just feel like there's nothing else in life that we can have control over, where we can get into the habit of knowing when we keep, we can keep pushing, and knowing when it's enough is enough. Yeah, because a lot of times life that happens to us, you know, we don't have a lot of control or we don't anticipate the things that are happening. And so physical movement, I just to be able to bring yourself to a crossroads, to make a decision every single day, that's only going to prove your physical health. But it's more of that mental and emotional choice to go somewhere that's a little bit more difficult, I think is just so powerful. Totally. Well, and I think it is hard sometimes to put ourselves first. And like, I know a lot of people myself included, when I'm like, I should go work out or I should go for a walk, I should like any kind of movement because you're not talking about like, everybody needs to be like hitting the gym nonstop. But sometimes it's just subtle movement. But. And I'm like, what? I need to help RaeLynn. I need to do this. I need to do that. But I do think that we need to be stronger about I'm going to walk and then I'm going to do that. Or if I'm going to do this now, then I'm going to commit

to walking at 9: 16:52

00 after my once I'm back or whatever kind of a thing. And I just think so often we don't choose ourselves, you know. Yeah. Talk a little bit about that and like what you're doing now and the kind of coaching and stuff you're doing. Yeah. So I started once I kind of, you know, I'll just kind of give you a roundabout quick answer. After I was coaching and right before I went to the corporate world, I just felt like absolute crap. And I was doing the same type of workouts that I've always done on a lesser level, but just things that are kind of keep me going. And I, you know, it's a lot of doctors. I ended up going to an endocrinologist at OHSU and they diagnosed me with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which is like an autoimmune side of thyroid stuff, and then hypothyroidism, which is, you know, super common. But our answer was there's nothing we can do. We let the disease progress and take your thyroid doesn't work anymore. And then we put you on separate hormone whatever supplements. And yeah, I'm like awesome. Well, just like I think for me in any sort of like even talking about what offering now and working with other women, you know, my message is just please listen to your gut. Because when this person of authority said this to me and I think they're great at, they're probably great at what they do, I don't think they were great at specifically Hashimoto's. My gut told me that that doesn't sound right, and I didn't know what that meant, but I just was like, hey, that doesn't sound right. Just to let your body basically kind of destruct itself and then blow up and then, you know, because I already felt so bad at that point. And so for me, I kind of that's where I started. Looking into how can I just feel better? How can I just feel better? And then I got with a natural path and we kind of went through some stuff there. But, after I started feeling better and after I started it like, okay, I feel like I have some hope again, you know, obviously, like with a lot of our businesses in our personal stories, I wanted to help other women. So I started a nutrition coaching business. I grew pretty fast. And then I was also working my corporate job and then just got, like, completely burnt out. Yeah, yeah. And, so then I just had kind of taken a pause on that. But what I loved, I love talking to women and and obviously hearing their stories. But when coaching together, what I kept, we kept having the same conversation, conversations. We kept having the same conversation of, I should have done this, but I chose to do that. Of basics of getting steps in, if we want to change our bodies, body composition, if you want to be stronger, we have to lift some other weights. Right. We can start with body weight but we have to progress into building muscle. Right. Getting protein. And of course, like, I know we're all probably just, like, rolling her eyes on the protein thing right now, right? We. But we were missing the consistency in the basics and wanted to see what else I could do to optimize. And so I was like, hey, what if we just, like, really low cost entry fee and let's see if we all just had like a group team effort of accountability and we just focus on the basics like what could that do? Right. And so that's my offer now is I, it's I called the pack process and my, my business is called the pack. So it's purpose accountability consistency and knowledge. And also unless working with an one on one and I am not a doctor. I love learning church. I think you should be working with a doctor that you trust. And I know that that's very hard to do. And then I can come in and support you along the way. We can get more into the nitty gritty, but running my first, it's so it's 90 days and it's a challenge. So you have to complete 80 of the 90 days and you can't miss two days in a row. So then you get really strategic around, hey, my kid has a birthday party here. I'm probably not going to get my steps in or I'm going to take an off day, which I don't really. I hate the word off days. Like, yeah, if we're not if we're not high performing athletes, we don't need an off day from the basics, right? Like I'm not training for anything. You know, I need an off day for, right? I'm trying to get movement in. I don't need an off day from not moving for two weeks. Right, right. And we had ten women join the first round, and it was wonderful. And if you missed two days in a row, no worries. You you start over and you keep it moving. Yeah. And, you know, even if you stop and start and stop and start, you know, it's just like the pursuit is, is really the purpose. You're not you're not stopping and just saying I'm over it. I'll pick it up in three months. Six months. Right. Whenever it's convenient. Like we have to get into the habit of when we say we're going to do something for ourselves, that we follow through and do it totally, because that will literally have a ripple effect on your business, on your family, on your mindset, on everything. Yeah, but the I think that, myself included, we've gotten out of the habit. Let's not even worry about what food you're eating. Let's worry about the commitment that you're going to make to X, Y, and Z. And so that's really it's it's super low cost. It's 90 days. You're in there together. And you know, we just we meet once or twice a month and see how you're doing. And then we, I teach on other aspects that I'm learning about are really in two. We celebrate each other. We ask, you know, what do you need for help? I don't with these basics. It doesn't, you don't. There's no supplements. Our health shouldn't cost a ton of money. Yeah, and you can change your health by not spending a lot of money. Yeah, a lot of it's mindset. An entire mindset. It's preparing. It's planning, and it's just commitment. And I want to I want women to gain more empowerment in and trust themselves. And you know, I was just thinking sometimes it's hard to trust the process when we're not in the habit of trusting ourselves anymore to actually do what we say we're going to do. Totally. And if you kind of get that baseline of confidence and you and it's also a challenge. So like I completed this, and I don't know about you, but time is going by super effing fast. The older I get, right? So like 90 days, I'm like, wow, that seems like a long time. It went by like that. And then we went into summer feeling wonderful, right? Right. Let me know. A lot of people have lost some weight, maybe lost inches, but it was more about holy crap. Like, we did that. And then also won by 90 days. It's a habit. Well, yeah. I mean, you you you you can you feel the difference in where you see the difference. But like, it's also just like the confidence that you just proved that you did something for yourself. With your life responsibilities, with your kids, with your schedule, with your partner, with whatever you're going through, their jobs change. And so, so one of the pillars I call them pillars are the habits. And one of them is no alcohol. Right. So what one of the big things that I took away from it was okay, I know that I probably can miss on average three days a month if you wanted to do it like that. Or you can aim for like getting 89 and a 90 days. You do you. Right. We would have an event come up. I'm like, okay, on Saturday, I know I'm going to have a couple glasses of wine. Sure, but I know on Sunday I can't get too crazy Saturday because Sunday I've got to pick up on my habits right? And I don't want to feel like absolute crap. The first time I did that, I had way too many drinks. My brother coaches basketball. His state tournament is at Forest Grove, which is down the street from me, and we just celebrated and the next day was effing miserable. And I'm like, the leader of this. I'm like, oh my gosh. I'm like, I'm I'm like texting the group. Like, I think I'm going to start over. Think about this like 30 something days and and they're like, go on a walk right now. And I went out at 6 or 7 p.m. and I walked four miles to get my steps, and it was miserable. Yeah. And guess what? I didn't do that again. Okay. But it was like, even just like the the forward thinking of like, hey, I have something here. Rather than every night I come home and I'm like, God, I feel like a drink. Or every night I come home, I'm like, oh, I was supposed to go to the gym today, but I did it. But it was just it was more forward thinking and I think that was one of the biggest advantages for me of like, oh, I can still like enjoy myself. But it's like when it was more intentional and that all my other habits were like majority of that month, right? It made a world of a difference. And I don't know how many of us have experienced that at all. Yeah. Or experienced that recently. That's really what I was. The aim of the process is. Yeah. I recently saw you speak at a women's keynote and you were talking a little bit about dabbling in vitamin D naturally. Like do you want to talk about that a little bit because I was like, oh I like where she's going with that. Yeah, I like this. So I have been following a couple of doctors that, you know, we're all looking for the one thing. And me included, I love going down rabbit holes. I love looking at all the Pinterest diets, all the Instagram this or that. And it's like oh well she's convincing. Maybe that would work for me or hey this is different. Maybe that would work for me. And we're always looking for that one. Yeah. Right. Well, I started to follow a doctor and then I took a group on light on sunlight, particularly in March. And it was talking about how which makes a lot of sense to me, you know, what is the one the biggest thing that has like, skyrocket our society right now is technology and also like how we are we are indoor creatures now, right? And we are afraid of the sun. We are afraid of the sun and the sun grows all the trees and the sun grows the plants. And then the the animals eat the plants and then we eat the animals. I'm like, so the sun is the source of life. Why are we not in it anymore? And so I know that like the food industry we could talk about for days, the processed food we could talk about for days. But we also have to consider what is being in this light. Right. 24 hours a day doing to us. Right. And it's just primarily blue light for me. I work in front of a computer all day. So you know I was learning about how blue light affects affects our metabolism, how it literally is affecting our aging skin. Yeah. And I was like all of these things and like we all know our circadian rhythms are all off because we can't sleep. You know, most women we're we're looking into what our hormones are off because we're wired and tired and we just feel like we have to have, you know, right. I was like, oh, well, that makes a lot of sense. And even with like internet and Wi-Fi everywhere, our bodies were never used to having Wi-Fi. Like, it's literally energy. It's regressive energy. And so how how are we evolutionarily handling this? And I don't think we are because we we weren't really this is new, right? Yeah. So I started to learn more about like vitamin D and how to get sun and how to build that up. And so I learned about like our skin types. And there's a free app called D minder like reminder D minor. And so you can set where you live and you can set your skin type and that it will help you, know at what point of the day like, I'll be like, okay, I'm going out to the sun now and it's I can't go out for five minutes. So you're building it up. But if you are very fair skinned, if you have blue eyes, you're much more sensitive. And if you're worried about burning, what you can do is natural. Red light therapy is get outside when the sun rises. And I know that that's inconvenient or it seems inconvenient, but all those pink skies in the morning and at sunset, that is literally the red light energy that we're all spending our money on these devices to put in our houses. It's free. And the sunrise is really a way to through your eyes. So no glasses, no contacts. And through our skin. So as much skin as you can get like out in the sun, you know obviously when it's cold it's going to be different. Yeah. It's a switch. It's a switch to our brain through our eyes. It's a switch to our body. And then once you're in that red light on your skin, it's it's almost a way to buffer your skin to get you to be more ready for when there's UVA out during the day. So it's almost like building a shield. Some people call it solar callus. And so then when you go and you can build up your skin and you build up your brains and your eyes and you like I walk in the morning now a sunrise when I most days if I can I literally feel like endorphins. I feel more connected and my whole health has changed. Like I feel like I've aged backwards this year and I have, which is awesome. Anything crazy? I did the pack process, which are the basics. I incorporated more sunshine. I got into. I got a natural tan for me. This is super tan. I just got bloodwork done today because I want to see, my vitamin D levels. And then, of course, you know, in the winter, we're probably gonna have to supplement. Sure. But to me, after learning more and more about it, I was like, you know, skin cancer is rising and our vitamin D levels are plummeting. And so to me, it was like, well, if, if, if the sun that's supposed to help us make vitamin D, if it's not super, super high, how can we correlate? Yeah. So anyway, it just kind of makes sense to me. And so I've just been really obsessed with sunlight and with darkness and it's night in and and how do we pair that with like instead of like what we eat. Timing of eating seasonal food. Like all of this stuff that just made it just finally kind of clicked and made a little bit more sense to me, because we all know to like what works for you food wise may not work for me. Sure. And so unless we're working together one, we can try to figure that out. You know, it's not a one size fits all, but I think our relationship to light and dark is probably the most common thing that we have for our health. So when I just think that's not something until you brought it up, earlier this summer when I saw you speaking, I hadn't heard anybody talk about that before. And I was just like, it's an as you're saying, I was like, that makes sense. It's bonkers. Yeah. So it just really resonated with me. Good. And I've thought about it all summer since I heard you, because I was like, well, we could go outside and a friend of mine, we do this thing we call wine and work where we go to wineries and work to get out of the office. And I was like, see? Yes, that's doing it. It's so like now I try to if I can't, I have breaks where I can take my laptop. I work outside or this morning I did a 20 minute peloton workout. I put the peloton by my window. I open the window because we can't actually get any. The sunlight can't penetrate most windows that we share. So especially if it's energy efficient. Yeah. Exactly. So open your window. Go outside if like I watch podcasts on my phone, I try to go outside because. So red light. So this is one of my the doctor's little sayings. But red light comes out to play and stays all day. So she does a lot of rounds. So that beautiful red light, that red light we get all day, we actually get blue light with the UV of the sun. But it's in a spectrum. We're supposed to be receiving light in a spectrum. We're not supposed to be receiving only this type of light at one, you know? Integral. Yeah. Blue light. So, like, if you have a blue light from your phone, if you can get outside and you have that kind of at least you're providing a little bit of balance for your skin and your eyes. And just kind of think about it is like the sun is giving me my switch, or the sun is giving me what I need for my hormones, what I need for my, to wake up my digestion, the way the sun communicates with me is through my eyes and through my skin. So I want to try to, as much as I can, not have a ton of stuff on my skin and on, and I wear so I'm, I don't wear sunglasses as much anymore. Because I want to make sure that my light and my eyes are getting as much of the UV spectrum when I'm outside that I can't see. So yeah, I know what people are afraid of. Skins like brown spots or sunspots. I've seen people that like their skin tags have fallen off once. They're because, the sun helps regulate, regulate blood glucose, glucose. So like, any sort of, like, blood sugar regulation, you know, I don't like I'm really red right now because I'm really warm from the coffee, but, like, I don't really wear a lot of foundation anymore. And I've just found that it's actually the benefits that I've received have been more opposite than what I anticipated, which is just been super refreshing. So yeah, it may not be for everyone. I'm not saying anybody should go outside and burn, I think. Yeah, just run around your neighborhood naked skin type two. You may burn more the more inflammation that you have in your body. Yeah, and that one. You're not saying don't wear sunscreen either. No, I'm not saying don't wear sunscreen, but I'm just saying, you know, like anything of food. Like, try to get something that's less processed. Yeah. Less, you know, you know, and just take care of yourself. But I think just slowly, like, titrating it in and I guess, bottom line, not burning. Get in the shade. If you if you're under a tree or in the shade, you're still outside a natural light. Totally. But we have lived. We are now migrated so much indoors and I think it's doing a lot more harm. It's a big component of doing more harm for our health. And that piece is not is not being talked about at all. Yeah I know you have something starting in October. This episode will be on in November. But what is like one way people can connect with you if they want to do one of your pack 90 day challenges. Yeah. Do they. Yep. So I'm on Instagram at the Chronic Athlete. And I'll just give you the the links. Do you I'm assuming link things. Email me I think I'm going to slowly start to take one on one clients. So if you are interested it's going to start at a very low rate. Again I don't I don't want costs always be an issue. But then it would just be, I'm just not going to take on very many. Yeah. Work with many people at once and just kind of, play with this new aspect of light mixed in with health and habits, but it's more like one on one centralized for you. Yeah. So that would probably be offered. But yeah, I'm going to do it. The pack process in rounds. I've, I've just found that if we have kind of a core group that you go through something with, it just, it makes it, special and also just with kind of people coming in or out. So I think, but so I'll be offering that maybe in January again, but definitely next spring. So yeah. Yeah. Well, another thing I love about the pack, idea, especially for someone like me, like I mentioned earlier, sometimes it's hard to show up for yourself, but if you have a pack, you're like, well, the girls are counting on me there, and I don't want to be the one girl in the group that's not pulling my weight. And the women that we had the first round, they're incredible. And, they kind of they're. I think I'm going to just keep them in my pack forever. Sure. In. And they can contribute. They don't have to. But they were so willing to be open and vulnerable and they were so committed they went all in. But our group chat was an it was unbelievable. Yeah. And it really was one thing. And they showed up for you and they're like, you go on. Yes. You're going to work today. Yes. We have like a little calendar where I, you know, Instagram. You just send a snippet and everybody would check off their day and just send send us in the group chat like, hey, day eight. Done. Hey, day 42. Done. Share. But the group chat, it was it was pretty incredible. And, you know, but it's like anything whether it's so it's $90 for 90 days. So nothing. Yeah, right. It's one time. Yeah. Whether it's $90 or $900, it really is the importance that you put on doing something right. And and that, you know, can be something. I know that people are like, well, if you charge, more people are going to commit more. I actually haven't found that. Yeah. Out. Me personally, I think it's just like you're it's going to has to be a choice at some point. Yeah. I do think that sometimes a low entry fee, like just a fee, does get people to show up. But like when something's completely free, I have seen where people are like, oh, I forgot about it, or they don't put importance on it. Even when it's 25 bucks, I go, I don't spend $25 on them. Should probably show up. Yeah. So like the $90 is probably enough. Yeah. To get them to show up. And then the accountability yeah is what gets them to continue to show up. It has to be some awesome commitment. Right. It is our time. It's our time together. But yeah, I just have found that we're really good at talking ourself in or out of things. So, yeah, it's just about going all in and that's what the first group did. But the group chat was very, very good accountability. And I just I did many laps around my island in the kitchen just like oh my gosh. And I also was like, why do I do this to myself? Like get up 15 minutes earlier and walk or just put some more walking in the middle of the day, you know, and I know it. But gosh man, that was a lesson that yeah, I still there's been a couple times that I've been in like a step challenge and I'm at the side of the bed just locking in place because I'm like, gosh, I just need 300 or whatever. And then your spouse or significant other was like, why are you marching by the bed? I'm like, mind your business, get up my shift. Oh yeah, he knew, don't worry about ever. After dinner. Almost. Oh dang. There. Every evening I was just doing laps and then I'd like, try to, like, watch the TV every, you know, lap. And I'm like, oh, God, party. Yeah. Now, when I do laps around the house, I have a small dog that's like, what are we doing? Oh yeah. What do we do? Yeah. He's like just going with me up and down the hallway. You know what? What is this? What is this? Yeah. Like got hurts. My stepson. Yeah. I know they have a podcast that's not currently or in an off season, right? Maybe it might. Maybe a few episodes will be out by November, but, who knows? Yeah. So again, it's called The Chronic Athlete. So kind of doing it a little bit differently. I think there's like 30 something episodes that are on that are up. When I first launched it, I was kind of on that same lines of like really women and nutrition, which there are some awesome interviews on there. Solo, some as well. But I think now I'm just I always say I'm kind of taking, the, the Joe Rogan approach where I just want to interview people that are interesting to me. I don't necessarily want it to be, all in the health. I mean, I'm obsessed with health that I be. That'll be how it works out. Anyway, I just want to learn from different people. And also, just like, you know, your question was so great is like, what are the lessons that you've learned? You know, and I, I want to hear those lessons from all walks of life. And so that's really taking a different approach where it's just, it's just people that I think that are interesting and really can offer some perspective or lessons or just anything because it just takes one person. And as you know, even being in the business world, like you can hear the same thing over and over and over again, but then you hear somebody say it in a certain way, or it's you're at a certain point in your life and it just hits different. And we never know where that message is going to come from. Right? Totally. I, was just at a conference for real estate. Yeah. Last seen. And I go to conferences probably once a quarter. I'm in leadership, so I would like have to go to all these things are good to go do all these things, I should say. But somebody said something last week that, like, smacked me in the face. And it's something I already know. It's like something you like, but I know I tell you, but. So they'll tell me, yeah. This person was also kind of cool. She, is an agent from Oregon that happened to be on stage. I was just like, hell yeah, girl, I get it. But, she said, if you're going to take the time to come to a conference and leave family behind or work or colleagues or whatever, you left behind, where people have to step up because you stepped away and you come to a conference, and then you go home and do nothing with any of the information. Not only is it a smack in the face to yourself, but it's so disrespectful to those you left behind. I have a ten year old, I'm coaching volleyball, so like my other coach had to step up. My significant other stepped up, my mom had my daughter for the first day of school. So for me last week it really hit me because like eight people had to step up while I went to a three day conference. And I was just like, she's not wrong. If I don't come home and do something with all the knowledge. I just learned not only what a waste of my own time, but how rude to the eight people that stepped up for me. So that has been spent like sitting. But to your point, like you just hear one thing from one person and you're like, dang, okay? And really, you know, of anything that we do and I'm talking to myself, but the power is in implementation and action. Yeah, for sure. And you know, I love learning and stuff, but I find that I'm reading or listening to podcasts or all the things. Yeah, way more than I'm implementing. I'm like, what are you what are we doing? Yeah. What are we doing? So I think that's wonderful. Yeah. So I love that. So if you get anything from this episode. Yeah. Go out and move your body and go sit outside. Yeah, I think so. I think just like, you know, start to think about how how you are living and how you're in your environment may be affecting you, good or bad. Yeah. But I think, like, you know, you said put yourself first and. You're going to get to a point or a crossroad where you're going to have to do it whether you like it or not. Yeah. You know, and that's just the truth. And the truth is, is that we're all like, probably not doing the things that we know we should do. And that's the thing too, is just like, listen to your gut or to ask you like, or room for four women when we were just with, at that picnic, what is one thing you can do to to better your health? Everybody has an answer you want to know right now? You already know. So listen to your gut. You already know you have information. It's just about implementing and starting taking little steps forward. But like committing to those steps like it's it means something. Totally. Because this mentality of like, oh, I'll do it later or I'll do this or do this. Yeah, tomorrow ten years is going to go by. And your life and your health and your body could look completely different. Completely. So I appreciate you. Thank you so much for your time. Yeah. As she mentioned, I will definitely tag the Instagram, your website, all the things that people can get in contact with you. I hope that you'll come back for. Yeah season two. I'd love to connect and hear how other things are going. Absolutely. But yeah. Thank you so much. You. Yes, thank you everyone for watching or listening. I can't wait to see you next week. Cheers.