The Dx2 Podcast
Two sisters discuss what they are learning about having a balanced wheel of life that rolls along as smoothly as possible.
The Dx2 Podcast
Get to know Denise
What anchors you when life throws its inevitable storms? In this heartfelt conversation between sisters, Denise reveals her journey toward finding balance across the various dimensions of life. From her early days as a young wife juggling pregnancy and massage therapy school to her current life as a grandmother who still prioritizes growth and learning, she shares the practical wisdom she's gathered along the way.
The discussion begins with a simple story about quilting with her 79-year-old mother that reveals a profound truth: we all make mistakes regardless of our expertise. This sets the stage for an authentic exploration of how balance develops through different life stages and responsibilities.
Organization emerges as a crucial foundation for Denise's balanced life. Her color-coded Franklin Planner helped manage a household with four children while her husband frequently traveled for work. By scheduling dedicated time for exercise before her children woke up, she maintained her physical and mental health amid the demands of motherhood—a practice that significantly improved her relationships and resilience.
Denise's approach to the "Wheel of Life" offers practical insight for anyone feeling overwhelmed by trying to maintain balance across multiple areas. Rather than addressing every dimension daily, she prioritizes spiritual and emotional wellness every day, fitness most days, and rotates attention to other areas like finances or education as needed. When any "spoke" begins to feel neglected, she gives it focused attention.
Perhaps most powerful is Denise's sharing of her personal anchor—the framework of "God, Family, Country" that guides her priorities and decisions. This emotional testimony reveals how having clear values provides stability through life's challenges and transitions.
Whether you're struggling with time management, seeking to prioritize your physical and mental health, or simply looking for a more intentional approach to life, this conversation offers both inspiration and practical strategies to help your own wheel roll more smoothly.
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Welcome to the Dx2 podcast hosted by sisters Denise and Debra. We are all about finding balance in the various parts of life. Using the Wheel of Life as our guide, we explore how to keep each spoke rolling smoothly. We discuss health and wellness, education and spirituality, as well as mental and emotional growth. Join us for real conversations, practical tips and a few laughs as we share stories, insights and strategies to help you create a life that feels balanced, purposeful and designed by you.
Speaker 1:Hi Denise, hi Deb, here we are again. How have you been doing? Pretty good, good, what have you been up to? Well, I have a couple of grandbabies being born in the next little bit. That's so exciting. I'm so excited that we'll make eight and I've been making a quilt, and good for you.
Speaker 1:I'm not. I'm not the best sewer, but I can sew, but I tend to put things off. I've had this material to make a quilt for like three months and have not made it yet. I bought the material to start early and be a head start, but I'm leaving in a couple of days to go help my daughter and I haven't got them made yet. So mom is helping me. I was gonna say I know where you could find some really good help. Yeah, so mom is helping me, so I'm very grateful for her help. Always she seems to bail me out a lot with my sewing project, but she loves it. She does love to be able to do that and it gives us some time to spend together. But yesterday, when we were sewing, we're putting triangle shaped pieces together and you have to put them together in the right order. Well, she's been. How old is she? She's 79 years old and she's been quilting for a long time at least two decades, a long time and she's like oh man, I messed up. And I was like, oh, mom, I'm so glad you messed up. It makes me feel so much better. Instant validation. She's made hundreds of quilts and she still makes mistakes. And I just thought, you know, we make mistakes all the time. It doesn't matter how experienced we are in something or not. And it just made me feel good and we had a good little laugh about it. Yeah, well, it's good, I'm glad. I'm glad you laughed at your mom's mistakes. Well, she laughed too, so that makes it okay for me to laugh. Good reminder though we're all human. We all make mistakes. We are Awesome. Thanks for sharing and good luck with finishing your quilts. I hope you get them done today. They should be done today, awesome, okay, they're super cute.
Speaker 1:So let's transition into I would like to interview you about you, your story, your journey. I mean, I've known you since you were born but I don't know everything about you. I don't know always what's in your head and we haven't lived together for most of our lives, Right? So tell me, kind of your like, where you started and what has brought you to where you are in your life right now, specifically with finding balance in your life. Finding balance, wow, that is a loaded question, I know. I don't think I've been super great at balance until maybe the last 10 years or so of my life. Balance until maybe the last 10 years or so of my life, okay, and part of it just comes from maturity, I think, and life experience that teaches you certain things.
Speaker 1:When I was high school, I had a pretty good life, right. Oh, you were bee-bopping around. I remember you coming home from high school and making a shake every day with slim fast and ice cream. Oh yeah, and I thought I would weigh a bazillion pounds if I did that and you were doing it to fuel your muscles it was so good that and two sneakers, inickers and a Pepsi yeah, so that's where you started. That's where I started. I do not do that anymore.
Speaker 1:No, I learned, but you could I'm going to say in quotes get away with it back then. For sure, I was pretty busy and pretty active. So I got married and that added a dimension to my life that made me have to look at how I lived my life. You were young when you got married, yes, and I started having to plan menus and how to do a laundry schedule. And then I got pregnant and I was in school and I had to organize my time a little bit better. And he was in school. And he was in school yes, so he's in school. I was going to massage therapy school and was pregnant and I had to make really good use of my time. So I started learning a little bit more about keeping my life organized, because I never really have had to do that before.
Speaker 1:Then, as children came, I did much better at getting organized and people always looked at me and said you're so organized. I was like I don't feel like it, but it was a work in progress. One thing that I think helped me is I had a Franklin planner. Oh, back in the day I did too, yes, and when we were kids at home, like I probably was 10 years old, dad bought us all planners he sure did, and we would go through and plan our stuff and he used one for work for a long, for years and years and years. So that's where I went back to.
Speaker 1:I went back to my Franklin planner and I started scheduling time out of the day to do certain things and color coded it for each child and that helped me a lot to keep track of everything. We had four kids, which it's not a ton of kids, but it's not also it's not none, that's not none. So, and my husband worked a lot and he was gone a lot, so it was mostly me keeping everything together. So that really helped me get my life organized. And in doing that, finding balance, I started making sure I scheduled time to exercise because I love to be strong and fit, and that helped me with the rest of my life, with dealing with all the stuff at home and getting kids where they needed to be and homework and practices. And when my husband would say I got called on a job and I'm not going to be home for I don't know how many days, I could be. Okay, because I figured out how to roll with things a little bit better, yeah, yeah. So I think that you had to do a lot of that kind of planning on the fly, yeah, because of the nature of his job.
Speaker 1:But you, I think that, like, obviously I haven't seen it all, but I think that you have done historically a pretty good job about prioritizing your fitness, like going to the gym or working out at home or something. And you, even when you had kids at home young kids you would do that in the morning, right? Yes, is that how you made it work? Okay, yep, I woke up before them and went to the gym and came home and jumped into my day. Okay, was there a mental health component of that that went with it for you? Or was it all about fitness, strength, moving your body? Oh, no, there was mental, emotional, physical, all of it. Okay, in that, being strong is important to me, being fit is important to me, but it produced all those good endorphins and good things like that, and it allowed me to take more stress out at the gym. So you had stress, yes, yeah, and there have been times in my life where I have not been able to take very good care of myself for whatever reason, and I know that my relationships with my children and my husband suffered during those times, and I mean that's motivation for me to take care of myself, whether it's through exercise or getting massaged every once in a while or playing pickleball or whatever it may be the mental component more important than to me, than the physical component. Interesting.
Speaker 1:So I know you have four kids. Have any of them transitioned or picked up any of the habits they saw you emulate? Yes, okay, yes, tell more. So when my oldest daughter went to college, she went to a nutrition class. Oh, uh-huh, my favorite, your favorite. So, debra, you talked about in your interview, about the nutrition class at BYU, yes, and my daughter had not as strong of a reaction as you did, but she had a hard time in that class because it was so different from what she'd been taught at home. She learned how to eat clean and she was an athlete and so she ate clean and took care of herself, and it was eye-opening to her to see a different, that kind of a different view, even different than what she'd been taught in high school. So that was good.
Speaker 1:But she she with her own children, gives them, feeds them healthy food, and when they get sick she calls and says, hey Mom, what can I do for my child? And she tries to help them more at home than just running to a doctor for a fever. They've all kind of done that and they've found a balance. Like my husband is more what kind of pill can I take, and I'm more like what can I do for myself, and the kids have gone to a happy medium Between the two of you. Yeah, they do look for things they can do on their own and then, if that doesn't work, they are able to go to the doctor and get some help. Yeah, because there's a time and a place for both.
Speaker 1:But I always think it's a shame if you don't try to help yourself before just giving your power to someone else to take care of you or tell you what you need, because a lot of people I find they're pretty intuitive about it. Yeah, before just giving your power to someone else to take care of you or tell you what you need, because a lot of people I find they're pretty intuitive about it. Yeah, or instinctive or whatever. So they've learned the importance of a good nap, a really hot bath and some homemade chicken soup Fantastic, it's really the simple little things it really is. Yeah, so I know you were speaking about your oldest daughter. I don't know if she wants us to say her name or not, so I'm not going to, but she also now has little ones at home, yep, and she is finding that balance with food and taking care of herself and like fitness wise, but also making time for herself, and I think you have been a good model for her with that. I hope so. Yeah, I'm not, as like, geographically close with the others, so I don't know as much for sure with them.
Speaker 1:But so, through all of that, being married pretty, in my opinion, young, because I was much, much older than you when I got married, but you got married young. You had kids. You were in school. How did you find the balance between school and wife and pregnancy, slash, baby, like, did you have a magic potion, magic formula, or was it just the color coding in the Franklin planner? When I was in school, I was still pregnant, okay, so you graduated before you had? Yes, okay, yeah, so our daughter was born six months after I graduated and then after that, after she was born, I stayed home, okay, so my husband was going to school and I stayed home with our daughter, and then I stayed home with all of them until our third child was born. And then I had a friend who invited me to come do massage therapy at his chiropractic office, and then that required me to start looking at my time a little bit closer and making sure everything was planned, because then you were still wife and mom and also part-time work and then pretty busy in church as well. So the Franklin Planner really did help.
Speaker 1:Like I know that really is old school, but I tell you what writing things down and seeing things at a day glance, at a week glance, at a month glance, really did help me a lot. Sometimes I miss it, like I stopped using one several years ago because I was like I don't really have that much going on, but it really would still help me. And I've tried digital planners. They just don't do the same thing for me. I'll tell you I use my Google calendar a lot.
Speaker 1:Like I run my business, I like I I'm busy, I have stuff going on and things all over my Google calendar, but I also have. It's from Emily Lay, the Emily Lay planners. I love them because to me it's more aesthetic, it's more up with the times. But I have like the week at a glance, like I used to do back in the day with the Franklin, and I still like I will take the things from my Google calendar and write them out in pencil on my planner book and that's where my brain sees it better. So I actually still do that. I just do it that way.
Speaker 1:And those planners I've used for probably five years now the Emily Lay planners. I love them. They're pretty, that's good. There's good stuff in there. I I do a mixture of both. So I had all when I started using my smartphone to keep track of everything. Every child was still color-coded and I could plan out all of their games and invite my husband so he could see them on the calendar instead of writing them on the calendar on the kitchen wall for everybody to see. Our our digital calendar became the house calendar, but I still really miss writing everything down. I should get a calendar like calendar, like you. You should, you should like it. It helps me a ton. I'm sorry I don't have an affiliate cover for you, it's just my favorite. I actually have already ordered my one for next year because I have stuff scheduled into next year and it just helps me to have it all down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so talk to me about a day in the life. At this point, how do you balance what you're doing? Because you find, like you practice the wheel of life that we talk about. Yes, there's mental, emotional, spiritual, there's education, there's financial stuff, there's I'm going to say career stuff. You've got social, you've got family, you still have health and wellness. What are you doing on like a day to day to do those all the things, to do the wheel?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I find that if I get up in the morning and do some people call it a daily devotional I read my scriptures and when I start my day that way, everything goes better. I read my scriptures and say my prayers and start my day out acknowledging God first, really, everything does go better. And say my prayers and start my day out acknowledging God first, really, everything does go better. And I don't do it every single day like I should, but I do most days and then I work on physical fitness, go play pickleball with you twice a week Although that's ending soon, because it's going to get cold and we can't play outside when it's cold, so we're going to have to find something else. So I play pickleball with you a couple of times a week, and so that's my physical fitness part. For without you do other stuff without me, though. I know you do some strength training, I know you do some other stuff I do, but you're, so you're not touching that every day though. No, okay, I try to make sure I do three or four times a day or excuse me, that'd be way too much Three to four times a week. So pickleball a couple of times and strength training, so that's my physical fitness.
Speaker 1:For education, I'm always looking stuff up how to do things better, whether it's podcasting, like we're doing, or working in my garden, or sourdough, or fermenting, or how can I can this vegetable and and what is a non-toxic way I can clean my house, like. I'm always learning something about something right. So, and then finances I don't have to touch finances every day. Usually a couple times a week I check in and make sure the finances are good, and so I just do little check-ins so you don't have to hit every spoke every day no Good, because I don't eat. That would be a lot. That would be too much. Yeah, there are some that I do every day my mental, emotional, spiritual, I do every day. Fitness I do most days. If I feel like a spoke is clunking, hissing, greeting, feel like a spoke is clunking His degrading, I will spend some more time on that, yeah, and harness in, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:So I want to circle back real quick to the education aspect, because you talked about being in massage school massage therapy school when you were pregnant with baby number one, and then, as a grandma, you went back to school. Yes, yes, yes, I did the BYU pathway school and it got me back into learning, and since I did that I think that's been seven years ago I went through that program and I've, because I did that, I could take online classes through BYU-Idaho at a reduced rate, which was fantastic, and I've taken all kinds of classes a writing class that was fun and tapped into my inner writer. That was fun. I took a nutrition class and I took Spanish class. That was fun. I remember when you took that one. I have in-house tutors you do, so that made that class really easy. I decided not to go on and take another Spanish class, though, because it was way too hard for me. So I can talk a little bit and I know some of my verbs, so that's pretty good. Yeah, that's kind of the college education that I did after that.
Speaker 1:Can I ask the motivation for why you did that at that point in your life? The motivation was because that I wanted to buy a business. Oh, okay, and my husband suggested that I take some classes to help me with business. So I actually did take a social media marketing class and I took a business and entrepreneurial class. That was my main motivation for going back to school. So hubby said instead of buying a business, learn about business and then maybe look at buying a business. Yes, okay. And then after that or along with that, you went through your nutrition coaching program. Yeah, I found the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and loved that. That was great. It reinforced and validated some things that I had lived and believed my whole life and introduced me to some new things and I was going to. My purpose in taking that was to integrate it into my massage therapy practice and also maybe start doing some nutritional coaching.
Speaker 1:Okay, but then you ultimately moved on from doing massage therapy. Yes, is that all you want to say about that. Was there a reason Like cause I did you know, once upon a time I stopped because my body had, like my joints were done doing it, yeah, all the time. Well, I needed a break from it, okay. And so I got a jobby job. Oh, I worked for an accounting firm and that was so much fun, was so super busy for three and a half months out of the year. They loved you so much. I really liked working there and it was good for me. I like interacting with people and I was front desk person, so I got to talk to people all the time and answer the phone and work with all the accountants and the people. I really enjoyed that job and I learned a lot and had clients contacting me all the time asking when I was coming back to massage therapy. And so eventually you did, I did. I know it, it's so hard to say no and stay away. So I actually did that for a couple more years and then my shoulders started hurting, my thumb started hurting and I took a break and I haven't gone back.
Speaker 1:So this podcast is one of the ways you can use some of those things that you learned, not in a hands-on way, but in a practical way, so that you can not in a hands-on way, but in a practical way, so that you can help other people. Oh, yes, I love this podcast because I can help way more people than if I were just doing one-on-one coaching or even small group coaching. Yeah, hopefully you can get some of the benefit that I learned from my classes and that you're continuing to learn. Yes, because you're learning all the time. Yeah, so I want to ask from growing up because we've talked before about how like dad is a lot of our inspiration. We were raised in the olden days when a lot of stuff was made from scratch, or at least in our home it was made from scratch. Are any of the things and the practices you learned as a child? Are you still using those today or have you completely modified and adapted and upgraded from there? I will say that mom's influence and dad's influence still live with me today.
Speaker 1:Our mom made a lot of our food. We've said that a couple times. Like she made food from scratch and I prefer to cook that way. Most of the food that I make is you know, I buy a whole chicken and I cook a whole chicken and then I use that as our food or like I don't buy prepared pre-cooked stuff very often. Sometimes I do, but when I need something in a pinch, but most of it I just I cook. I need something in a pinch, but most of it I just I cook, I chop the vegetables and cook the chicken, like I just cook it. So and she liked to make things I was going to say she also made our clothes. Like for a lot of our clothes, yes, there were a lot of us and they needed help. So she made the clothes. So she and her sewing, her sewing skills have been in use for like she's so good yeah, she is so stinking talented so that I also use from her. Like I like to sew, I sewed some things for the kids and I sewed skirts and you're doing your quilts. And we bless our babies in our religion. We bless them when they're little and I've made some baby blessing outfits or christening type outfits and that's been great. So she has actually motivated me to just learn different things knitting or crocheting or all of those things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and from dad, I still use supplements all the time to keep my health where it should be and the mental stuff that he taught us. That as a man think it, so is he? Like? I still do those things. I still get chiropractic adjustments. I work on all of those natural holistic things still, yes, yes, yes. Is your answer? Yes To natural holistic things still, yes, yes, yes, is your answer yes To my very loaded question? Yes, and one of the great things about living in the time that we do is that there's the internet and you can, like I can take the things that I learned from both of them and expand them Right. So it's kind of those things were a launching point for me. Awesome For me too. But I've been able to actually see it in you and you have used it as a launching pad.
Speaker 1:And like I even think about you out in your garden, like we were raised with a garden. Yes, it was never enjoyable to me. I just remember weeding and never getting any strawberries, because our punk brother, andy, was always eating the strawberries and eating the raspberries and we thought these are not producing, but they were. He just ate them. So I just remember weeding. But you grow a beautiful garden and you like process your food Like you have food like canned in your on your pantry shelves or your storage shelves and in your freezer and all of that, and like I see you doing that also from what we learned growing up from our parents, and that's a very healthy thing to do. I don't do so much of that. You make jam, I do, and I dry herbs, yep.
Speaker 1:Anyway, is there anything else that we haven't touched on that you want our listeners to know about you? Did I miss anything? I think it's important for our listeners to know what kind of viewpoint I have on life. Okay, and it's kind of what keeps my wheel in balance as much as possible. There was a book written several years ago by Ezra Taft Benson and it's called God Family Country. Oh, yes, that's the order of things in my life.
Speaker 1:My relationship with God is and it's okay, you can be emotional, I just love him. I don't know why I'm so emotional, but probably just because I love him so much. It's a deep relationship. I'm so grateful for him. He is the rock in my life. Jesus Christ is my best friend and I'm grateful for him and for his life and his death and his resurrection and all of that, what that means in my life, and so I try to take to heart his advice. The great commandment in the law is to love God with all your might, mind and strength. And then the second law is to love your neighbor as yourself, and I try to live my life that way, to keep my relationship with Him number one and then share His love and light with those around me. That's how I live my life. As an observer of you in your life, I think you are exceeding and you are a shining light for both of those things. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1:Oh, and my family, that's next. God, family country, right, my family. I love my family, you do. I love all of my kids and I count my in-law, my son's in-law and daughter's in-law as my family. I love them all and I love my grandchildren and I'm so excited when new ones come and I miss the ones that are far away. But I just love my family. Yeah, it's like I know your family has been a very, very, very top priority for you and it's admirable because it's different than mine, like my experience was different, but you put your whole heart and soul into raising and teaching and being there and caring for your family. I'm glad that you can see that. I see it, I see it, I acknowledge it and you have spectacular children you have. Like, I too, love your sons and daughters-in-law they're awesome and your grandkids like the tight-knitness of your family is, I feel, like anchored around you. I love them, yeah, yeah, so that's that. I love them all and I think they know that that I love them so much. Yeah, I think they do. I think they know that was a good thing that you shared when I said is there anything more?
Speaker 1:I'm going to switch it a little bit now, okay, and say before we wrap up, do you have a piece or two of advice or wisdom or action that you would like to share with our listeners? I think that it's important to make sure you know what's important in your life. Find what your values are. Yes, your truth is not your truth. There is truth and you build your life around truth. Find out what's important to you and live your life according to that. Find something deep and anchor your life into it, like I have anchored my life in God Right, find something deep and anchor your life and you will not be thrown up in the air by all the storms that come in life, because they are coming and they I mean times now are different than they were 10 years ago. Yeah, five years ago. So there's more volatility, yeah, and it's necessary to have an anchor. Yes.
Speaker 1:So I would say anchor your life, find out what's important to you. And I would also say keep learning. We're not meant to be stagnant and stay how we stayed. You know, it's how I am, it's how I've always been. No, that's not true at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I say keep learning, learn good things that you can use in your life and that you can share with others to benefit their lives. Beautiful. Keep rolling smoothly. Use that wheel and roll smoothly and be intentional with your life. Yeah, okay, I like it. Thank you for sharing those things. You're welcome. Thanks for sharing. I'm gonna say a portion of your story yes, and the the beautiful purity of your heart with us. You're welcome. I love you, love you.
Speaker 1:So let's wrap up here with our like. If you found anything of use or of value, or you loved anything in this episode and know of someone that it would benefit, share it with them. Please share. We're really our heart is trying to help people, and the more you help us share, the more people we can help. And if you would be so kind as to leave us a review and a rating. You can tell us what you like to tell us what you'd like more of. That's really helpful for us, because we know that people have questions and need some guidance and we are able to guide in some ways.
Speaker 1:Yes, we'd love to share our perspective and our knowledge and learning with you. Yeah, any wisdom that we have. So we'll leave you with that and until next time, keep ruling smoothly. See ya Bye. Thanks for listening to the D x 2 podcast with Denise and Debra. Keep ruling smoothly. See ya Bye. And just a quick note we're sharing our own experiences and ideas, not professional advice. Always do your own research and talk to a qualified professional before making big decisions. Until next time, keep your wheel rolling strong.