Rise Again Episode 15 | Behavioral Health

Welcome to Episode 15 of the Rise Again Podcast: Behavioral Health.

The choices we make every day shape our health more than we often realize. Our habits, routines, thoughts, and behaviors all play a role in how we experience midlife and menopause.

In this episode, we explore the importance of behavioral health and how small, consistent changes can lead to lasting transformation. We discuss building healthy habits, breaking unhelpful patterns, managing stress, improving sleep, staying active, and creating routines that support your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

If you're navigating perimenopause, menopause, or simply want to create healthier habits for the future, this episode offers practical encouragement to help you move forward one step at a time.

Remember, lasting change doesn't happen overnight. It happens through the daily choices that move you closer to the life you want to live.

#Menopause #Perimenopause #BehavioralHealth #HealthyHabits #HabitChange #WomenOver40 #MidlifeWellness #HormoneHealth #HealthyLifestyle #MenopauseSupport #PersonalGrowth #WellnessJourney #RiseAgainPodcast #BeautifulOnions

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Why is it so hard to stay consistent? When you used to be disciplined, why do you know exactly what to do, but you're not doing it? Well, why do you start things with good intentions and then somewhere along the way you just stop? Your routine feels off, your habits feel broken, and you're sitting there wondering, is it me or is something deeper? Yes. I understand this.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Shadows fade in the light this time. Every scar tells me.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

This is Beautiful Onions, and I'm glad you're here today. You're here with Andrea hosting Beautiful Onions, and we're in the Rise Again series, and we're doing health. And in the health pillar, we are dealing with behavior health. We've been walking this thing out layer by layer because your health is whole, it is multiple layers. It's not just one layer, it is the first layer we talked about was the physical health, which that's where we always talk about physical, how we feel. But then we talked about after the physical health, we went into the mental health. That mental health is this is where our thoughts are, what's going on mentally with us. And then after that, we cover the emotional health. Because after our thoughts, emotionally, things happen with us, how we're feeling, how we're reacting to things. So those emotional feelings that we have going on. And now we are moving into what you do, the actions. Okay. Because here's the truth: your behaviors are visible results of what's happening internally. Okay. Your thoughts influence your emotions. Your emotions influence your behavior. So if your behavior feels off, it's not random. There's something underneath. And today we're going to gently uncover it. That's what we'll be doing. We'll be talking about why. So, scripture for the day is Proverbs 25-28. Like a city with walls are broken through, is a person who likes self-control. Now, this isn't about shame. This is about awareness. This whole season of health is about awareness. When you or when your behaviors feel out of control, it's not because you lost your strength. It's because something in your system needs some support. Yes, they need support. So this is where we're gonna begin our teaching. On section one, why behavior changes in midlife? Let's start here because let me tell you, because this is where most women get it wrong again. You think I've been inconsistent, I've been a little lazy because I don't feel like it. I just need more discipline. No. Again, again, again, midlife. Your body has changed. Your energy has shifted, your mental load has increased mentally. Your hormones affect energy levels, sleep cycles, motivation, focus. So the routine that used to work for you at 30 and 40 don't work no more. It ain't the same at 45 and 50. And that doesn't mean you're broken. It means your system needs to be adjusted. And we need to try to adjust that system so our behaviors are what they have been. What to pay attention to? When do you feel most energized? When do you feel drained? What habits feel harder than they used to? So some of these are the same questions I asked earlier and some more. Do you see the same thing? We have to stop and ask ourselves these things because this is us being aware. And when we become aware of these things, then we start tracking them and understanding our energy, not just the task. Notice what time of day or naturally what is functioning best. Give yourself permission to adjust, not be forced. So, in reflective question, I think I would ask is where have I been expecting my old self to carry me in my current life? Hmm, that's a good question. So think about that. But while you think, we got to move on to section two. Inconsistencies, right? And broken routines. Now let's talk about the inconsistency, starting strong and then stopping. That cycle. It is exhausting. But here's what really happened: you became overwhelmed, uh, consistent, like a lot of things was going on. When your mind is overloaded, your emotions become heavy, and your energy is low, your system shut down, not because you don't care, but because it can't carry everything. This is where I said, body, I'll tell you, baby, either you're gonna control it or it's gonna control you. So what happened is you skip the workout. Remember, I told you this last week. I ain't been to the to the gym yet. This week, for the last week, two weeks almost. You don't finish the plan, you stop the routine, and then you feel guilty about coming in or feeling shame that people might see that you're so inconsistent. What clarity does, and this is what happened to me. It took me a month to write the health series, to write this health series. This health series should have been out in May. It was due to be out in May. But in April, I couldn't, I could, I I just it was just a lot going on with me. A lot of things going on, marketing going on, and I did an event in last March, and just a lot was going on. Health was going on with me, a lot of health, because I wanted to make sure that I'm getting off of some of this medicine, diabetes and blood pressure. I've said it before. So I crashed down, I just crashed down uh in May. Could not focus enough to continue to write and carry this series. So I went before God and I was like, look, I know this ain't what you want me to do. I'm uh I'm being inconsistent. I know I need to do this, but I cannot finish this. I need your support. And I laid in May in the bed, prayed, prayed, prayed, talked to him and everything about where I was going and what was going on and how I needed to move forward and what you want me to say. Because I knew I had a lot of health things going on that I was dealing with, and I didn't want to portray them in the health pillar, but I wanted him to give me the clarity I needed. So he did, was able to write the eight episodes, and so this is where we at. So I'm back. I started, I'm on what, the the fifth one of this episode of this series. I'm on the fifth one because it's eight, so I got three more to go to finish the health, and then we'll be moving on. But I said that to say that my behavior of inconsistencies, it happened to me just recently. So, what to pay attention to is are your routine realistic for your current life? Got overwhelmed. Are you trying to do too much at once? I got overwhelmed. I had to slow that thing down and put some stuff in order and move things around and push things back in other months to be able to give me the time to focus and write. Okay, so then simple actions. Cut your routines in half, focus on one or two non-negotiable daily, build consistency before complexity. So the reflection question with this section is Am I trying to maintain a routine that no longer fits my life? And I was. I was doing too many things, it could not fit in what everything I was doing, and I needed to rearrange. Section three, emotional behavior. Okay. Now we're gonna go a little deeper because some behaviors are not about discipline at all. They they're emotional. Eating when you're not hungry, not eating when you should, scrolling instead of listening or resting, or avoiding things you know that matters. These are not bad habits, these are coping patterns. Behaviors become a response to an emotion when you feel overwhelmed or overstimulated. You reach for comfort. When you feel tired, you avoid effort. When you feel disconnected, you distract yourself. And it happens quietly without you even realizing it. What to pay attention to? What do you do when you feel stressed? What patterns repeat when you are emotional? Simple actions to take is pause before you react in behavior, because this is behavior, and ask, what am I feeling right now? Replace one coping habit with a healthy one. The reflective question would be: what am I using my behavior to avoid or manage? All right, we're moving on into section four, dealing with discipline versus capacity. Let's clear something up because this is important. You don't have a discipline problem. You have a capacity shift. Discipline feels harder because your body and mind are caring more. Hormones change life responsibilities, emotional weight, mental fatigue. So when you try to push harder, you burn out faster. The solution is not more force, it's more support. What to pay attention to is where are you pushing yourself past your limits? Where do you need support instead of pressure? Simple actions here is build rest into your routine, break tasks into smaller steps, and give yourself margins, not pressure. A reflective question here for you would be Am I trying to force consistency or support it? Okay, we're getting ready to move on to my last section of this is rebuilding healthy behaviors. Now, here is the good news about this. You can be, you can rebuild habits, but not the old way. Okay, did you hear me? You can rebuild habits, but not the old way. Not with pressure, not with perfection, with simplicity, with awareness, with consistency over time. Small, we still doing this. Small actions repeated daily be a real change for you. What to pay attention to? What is one habit you can maintain daily? That's that's what you need to do. One habit. And the simple action is choose a small habit. Walking, water, journaling, rest. Keep it simple so you can repeat, so it can be repeated. Trike it weekly. And your reflective question for this section would be What is one small thing I can commit to without over stimulating myself? An integrated moment. I actually have okra water in here. And I think some of the I don't want to say that. But anyway, so here we go. How to integrate, how this integrates with everything that we've been talking to. Your body, your mind, your emotions, and then your behavior. So behavior is how we act and through everything we're going through. And your body affects your thoughts, your thought affects your emotions, and then emotions start affecting your behavior. You stop doing things, you feel off, or you don't understand. So behavior stops, or what you normally would do, things start shifting. So when a behavior shift is not random, um, that's information, it's feedback. It's your system telling you that something is wrong, or the system saying, hey, this is not, it's too much. You need to watch that, you need to be aware, and you need to track. I keep saying this, tracking. So self-reflection takes a moment and ask yourself during this time what habits have changed for me recently? Where am I inconsistent? And why? What patterns keep showing up in my behavior? Just notice, no judgment. Okay. So in connecting, this is where we start triking. Triking becomes powerful. I say this every time. Triking is powerful because we need to talk to our doctors. We need to be able to look at it over a period of time and say, hey, I need to start this or I need to do this. So I can start preparing to have a better midlife. So when you start to notice your emotion, your energy, your behaviors, you're beginning to see patterns. And once you see these patterns, you make the adjustments. You are becoming aware, leads to small adjustments. And then small adjustments leads to that consistency again. And consistency, that's where you get your power back because you have the clarity. Because you don't figure out, oh, I can't do this no more because that don't work for me. And I don't want to, when I say I'm gonna go do this here on this day, I want to be able to do it. So I can't do that no more because that don't work. You see what I'm talking about? That's what I'm talking about. It becomes clarity in your life and peace, and you understand what's going on, that awareness. So, in closing, let's come back to the scripture. Proverbs 25-28. Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who likes self-control. This scripture isn't about being perfect, it's about paying attention because your behavior matters, behavior health matters, the things we do every day, the habits we build, the routine we follow, and the choices we make repeatedly and help shape our health. Behavior health isn't about judging yourself, it's about becoming aware of patterns that are helping you heal and patterns that may be holding you back. Small behavior, small behavior changes create big outcomes over time. So, in this season of midlife, you don't need more pressure, you need more awareness, you don't need more perfection, you just need some consistency, and you don't need to change everything overnight. You simply need to take one health step and then another. Because healing often happens through small things we do repeatedly. And in our next episode, which is episode 16, where we're going to talk about our environmental health. We're exposed, um, how did we're exploring how the space around us, the people in our lives, the information we consume, and the environment we spend time in, how it influences our peace, our stress levels, and our overall health. Because sometimes what affecting us isn't happening inside of us, it's happening around us. Okay. Until then, be gentle with yourself, give yourself grace, and remember that healing happens one layer at a time. This is your girl Andrea with Beautiful Onions, peeling back one layer at a time. See ya.