#01: Take Back Your Life: How to Reclaim Stillness in a World of Noise

Are your days are full, but your soul feels tired?

Welcome to Be Still and Live, a podcast reclaiming what it means to live slowly, calmly, and on purpose. In this opening episode, Gillian Gabryluk - speaker, coach, and founder of Sileo Health & Wellness - asks a braver question: What if nothing is wrong with you, and everything is wrong with the pace we're expected to keep?

Stillness isn’t a fad or a luxury. It’s a survival instinct - a biological rhythm our nervous systems have always known but that’s been drowned out by noise, pressure, and speed.

We name the invisible weight so many carry: the “always on” feeling, the guilt for resting, the fear that ease equals laziness. You’ll hear a science-informed, compassionate lens on anxiety as a normal response to overstimulation - not a personal failure.

Gillian shares simple, real-life practices to help you regulate your nervous system and rebuild natural rhythm - through mindful pauses, longer exhales, quiet walks, and intentional transitions between tasks. You’ll learn how to:

• Reduce background noise and overstimulation
• Set gentle boundaries with technology
• Create home rituals that protect connection - like slow meals, quiet mornings, and shared breaths

Together, we redefine stillness as doing what matters from a grounded place. You’ll leave with a deep reminder: you don’t need fixing - you simply need space.

New here? Start with episodes 1-3: “Take Back Your Life”, "From Hustle to Healing", and “5 to Thrive.”

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Chapters

• 0:00 Stillness As Survival
• 0:29 Welcome To Be Still And Live
• 1:20 Naming The Invisible Weight
• 2:36 It’s Not You, It’s The Pace
• 3:49 The Lost Rhythm Of Rest
• 4:34 What Sileo Really Means
• 5:16 Stillness As Practical Choice
• 6:03 One Small Pause, Not A Overhaul
• 6:47 You Don’t Need Fixing, Just Space
• 7:30 Community, Guests, And Next Steps
• 7:47 Subscribe, Share, And Resources

Transcript

Gillian: 0:00

What I've come to realize often the hard way is that stillness isn't just a trend or a wellness practice. It's a survival instinct. If your days feel full, but your heart longs for more meaning, you're not alone. Between the screens, the schedules, and the never-ending noise, it's easy to lose your sense of peace. But what if the way forward isn't found in doing more, but in learning to slow down, to simplify, to be still. Welcome to Be Still and Live, a podcast for individuals, couples, and families longing for calm, connection, and a more meaningful way to live. I'm Gillian, speaker, coach, and founder of Sileo Health and Wellness. And I'm here to help you create space for stillness and step into a life that feels whole and good again. Hello, and welcome to the first episode of Be Still and Live. You found your way here, and I want you to know right away this isn't just another podcast. This is an opportunity to breathe and an invitation to pause. And just let that simple pause remind you you're not behind, you're not broken, you're not late, you're right where you're supposed to be. I started this podcast to invite you into a conversation. There's something many of us carry, but rarely have the words to really capture its pull or pinpoint exactly where it's rooted. It's that weight on our chest that never goes away, the feeling of always needing to be on, the tension you notice in your shoulders and your neck when you're making your morning commute, the guilt that shows up when you stop, when you do nothing, because somewhere along the way, you were told your worth was in your doing. I want you to know something. If you're feeling any of these things or all of the above, it's not your fault. You live in a world that has trained you to live under constant pressure. It taught you to hustle for approval, to constantly compare yourself to others, to keep scrolling when you're exhausted, striving, proving, performing. But underneath all of that, the original version of you has never been lost, just buried beneath the noise and all the complexity of the world around you. I used to think this was laziness, that there was something wrong with me, or that I was defective in some way because I couldn't spin all the plates. But really, what it was is overwhelm. Many of us carry shame for not being able to keep up. But what if it's not you that's malfunctioning? What if this pace of life is completely unnatural? What if your anxiety isn't a personal failure, but a perfectly reasonable physiological response to a world designed to overstimulate you? Have you ever considered that your body was never meant to process this much, this fast, this often? I truly believe we were designed to thrive in rhythm, a rhythm that includes both movement and stillness. But somewhere along the way, that balance was lost. The space that once allowed our minds and bodies to rest and reset has been hijacked by constant distraction. So many of us are living with a nervous system in overdrive, and we mistake it for a personal flaw. We describe it as failing, falling behind, or just not being able to handle life. But is it possible this is the result of our attention always being pulled and rarely receiving the message, you're safe now, you can relax without guilt? What I've come to realize often the hard way is that stillness isn't just a trend or a wellness practice. It's a survival instinct. For generations, it was woven into the natural rhythm of our days. Quiet moments at dawn, slow meals, conversations in passing, and pauses between tasks. But little by little that rhythm was taken from us, not in one dramatic moment, but slowly, quietly, as the world got louder, faster, and more demanding. Stillness didn't disappear. It's been drowned out by noise, by pressure, by a culture that forgot how to pause. My coaching practice is named Sileo Health and Wellness. Sileo is a Latin word that means to be still, but not just quiet. It means the kind of calm that comes after chaos, the peace after the storm. The message of Sileo is to remind you that stillness lives in you. It's always been there and it's always accessible. And what I love about stillness is it's available to everyone. It doesn't matter where you live, what religion you practice, what culture you're immersed in, if you're young or old, rich or poor. Stillness doesn't mean you're doing nothing. It means you're doing what matters from a place of calm. It means choosing to pause so that you can breathe again, so you can feel in alignment with yourself again. In stillness, you open yourself to who you were created to be. You remember, you remember who you are, you remember what matters, you remember your purpose, you tune into what you need to thrive, not based on the culture, your fears, or survival, but what your intuition knows can be trusted. If you're listening and you're feeling completely at your limit and can't even wrap your head around what you're going to eat for lunch today, I see you. And I'm here to tell you you don't need to change your whole life today. But you can choose one thing: one moment of stillness, one breath without expectation, one walk without your phone, one question asked. What would it feel like to pause? If today's episode resonated with you, I hope you'll take this as evidence. It's very possible. There's nothing wrong with you. You're not numb. You may just be overwhelmed. You're not lost, you're likely oversaturated. You don't need fixing. You just simply need space. Space to breathe. This is what Be Still and Live is all about. Returning to stillness and a sense of peace. I'm not here to teach you or be your guru. Really, I'm just here to remind you what you already know. This is just the first of many episodes that I hope will inspire you to create a life you love. I'll be inviting some amazing guests to chat about the things everyone's feeling but no one's talking about. This is just the first of many episodes that I hope will inspire you to create a life you love. We weren't meant to do this on our own, so keep listening and let's journey together. One breath, one moment, one pause. Thank you so much for listening to Be Still and Live. If today's episode brought you a breath of peace or a moment of clarity, I'd love for you to subscribe, leave a review, or share it with someone who might need it too. For more resources to support your journey toward a slower, simpler, more connected life, visit SoleoCoaching.com or connect with me on Instagram at SoleoCoaching. Until next time, be still and live.