The Evolution Of Me ~ Grief, Purpose & Vision ~

Get to know your Host, Cassie in this personal Q&A episode. This is a solo episode unpacking several key parts of her journey so far - including grief, loss, joy and why she does what she does! 

This season is all about the evolution of you, exploring growth, change and what it means to step into the next version of yourself. 

Cassie Davenport is a experienced and degree qualified naturopath and nutritionist, Cassie is passionate about co-creating achievable and sustainable solutions with her clients. Her approach involves combining the latest evidence based research with traditional herbal medicine methods and believes small changes can create a big impact.

 If you loved this episode, follow Cassie on Instagram HERE for more, and HERE to learn more about working with Cassie one-to-one.

The information shared in this episode is general in nature and is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not a substitute for personalised medical, nutritional or therapeutic advice. Cassie is not responsible for any actions taken based on the content of this episode. Always consult a qualified health professional before making changes to your health, diet or lifestyle.

Transcript

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I love nourishing food for my body, but I'm not strict and I will always say yes to cake and brownie if it's on offer. It's romance, full fantasy, dragons, say, witches, fairies, and a little bit of spice. I'm a Bridget and girly now to through and through for sure. I love being in the earth and in nature, but I cannot camp for more than one night. I am a creature of comfort and I love luxuries and amenities. Welcome to In with Cathy. I'm Cathy Davenport, your host, naturopath, and clinical nutritionist. This season is all about the evolution of you. It's a space for anyone who's done with extremes and the pressure of doing it all, and this is for women who are ready to come home to themselves. If you're missing the village, you're in the right place. Come and join ours. Hi, hi, hi, and welcome to In with Cassie. If you're new here, I'm so glad you found your way in. This episode is actually a little different. It's a get to know me episode, the woman behind the mic, behind my work, and everything in between. Because while we talk a lot about hormones and nutrition and nervous system and motherhood, I think it matters that you know who's guiding these conversations. So, today I just wanted to share a little bit more about my story, what has shaped me, what has softened me, what has stretched me, and why I care so deeply about supporting families, particularly women and little kids, how to feel well and steady and guide them back into the driver's seat of their health. So I'm gonna answer some questions. I'm a little bit nervous. Okay. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Sydney, Sutherland Shire, around Crenalaway. It's a very coastal little town. It's a little bit like country town, actually. Very outdoorsy, lots of long days by the water. My family was really into nippers. Anyone that I think lives on a on a coast in Australia will know it's a surf surf life-saving club. We were lucky enough to also have a boat growing up. So lots of knee boarding and biscuit rides with friends and camping on the Port Hacking River, lots of being chased by goannas and chasing crabs, lots of long beach days where we were just there from morning till evening, really, till the sun went down, lots of dinners on the beach. So a really beautiful childhood. Simple but beautiful in the best way. I had a really, I was really fortunate to have the childhood that I had. Do you have any siblings? Yes, I do. I've got two sisters. My baby sister, Brittany, she is no longer here, but she was one of the most vibrant people. She was funny and cheeky and very sassy. She was an incredibly intuitive person. She really felt things deeply and brought this immense, incredible light with her. She was living with cystic fibrosis, which is a part of her story. And being close to that from such a young age really shaped me, probably in ways I didn't fully understand at the time. But it is a big part of why I do the work that I do now, supporting women to feel well in their bodies, making sure that people have energy and not waiting till something forces them to pay attention to their health. So unpicking really complex, long-standing health cases is something that I really love doing. My middle sister Lauren, she is a nurse. We are very alike and very different all at the same time. She is loyal and fun-loving, and she's just one of those people that you always want in your corner. The sass gene definitely didn't skip her either. She has a lot of sass in spades. We, my sister Lauren and I look really similar to the point where we've often gotten asked growing up constantly if we're twins. Um, I'll have if we're shopping together, I'll often have the shop assistant come and say, Hey, I've just popped your clothes in the change room. And I'm like, not mine, but thank you. I'll let her know. Now with her being a nurse, I often get stopped at Woolworths of from very grateful mums saying, Thank you so much for helping me deliver my baby. And I have to let them know that I'll pass it on that I didn't deliver it. But if they have gut problems going down the track or they'd like to sort out their microbiome, I'm the gal. So three girls. Happiest childhood memory. Gosh. Okay. I don't think I have just one, to be honest. They would be like holiday memories or ocean memories. So we went on an annual family holiday up the coast to like Rainbow Bay Tweetheads area. And we were lucky enough because we were heavily involved in the surf club and Cornella Surf Life Saving. A lot of the families did the same trip that we did. So I was going on a holiday with all of my friends. We would all stay essentially in the same hotel. So we were just lift friding, having sleepovers, surfing all day, sun baking. Parents would let us walk up to go see a movie. Like we had a lot of freedom. It was really fun. Long days outside, salty hair, sandy feet, nobody really watching the clock. It was bliss. I think as well, looking back now, I realize how much that shaped what I value, like space and slowness and the feeling connected to what's around you, and that connected to community as well. So that was a big part of how I grew up, and I loved it. What made you want to be a naturopath? This is a great story, actually. So I always knew I wanted to be in healthcare, but I didn't really know where I sat. I always thought I wanted to be a nurse, and then if anyone knows me, I don't do well on too little sleep. So shift work would have just been a nightmare for me, or actually, it would have been a nightmare for anyone around me. Because I wouldn't have been a kind person. So nursing was out. I thought for a really long time I might have wanted to do psychology and to dip my toe into it. I decided to do a diploma of health counseling, which I loved, but it didn't really sit for me. And then a lifetime ago, when I was working in media, actually, I got a group on deal to go and see a naturopath. My hormones were a little bit out of sync. I would have just been right in my early 20s. I just wasn't feeling good. I didn't have energy. Food wasn't sitting right with me. I was eating and feeling tired. I just wasn't sick, but I wasn't well either. And anyway, I got a group on deal and I trotted myself off and I went to see a naturopath. And I remember leaving after my first session and thinking, I want to do what she does, to the point where I asked her in her next session, where do I go study? Like, how do I learn this? What do I do? And so she sent me off my way. I went and did the undergraduate at Endeavour College of Natural Health. And she actually ended up being a lecturer there halfway through my degree. So we were able to reconnect because she left the neuropathy clinic that she was at in the city. And I ended up working with her when I first came out and graduated with neuropathy. So I was really fortunate. Did you always want to be a mum? I think I always knew I wanted to have a family. So yes, I guess that means I always knew I wanted to be a mum. I don't think I fully understood what that meant before living it. It's been the most beautiful, stretching, identity shifting experience of my life. And also the thing that has brought me back to myself in many ways that I didn't expect. But family is is and has always been a really high, high value of mine. I wasn't one of those girly girls who like sat around and talked about what I wanted for my wedding, or I didn't never played weddings really ever growing up. I didn't pretend to have I don't think I was naturally maternal until I was much older. But I knew I always wanted to have a marriage. I didn't care so much about the wedding. I really wanted a marriage, somebody to build a life with, somebody to walk through and support on the hard days and celebrate the wins with and a family. Yeah. I wanted a family. What is your morning rhythm most days? Okay. My morning rhythm. So I co-sleep with my boys, and we probably wake up anywhere between 5:30 and 7. Um, I'm usually awake by around six, and I'll just usually doze because my little one is still weaning, so he's usually feeding first thing in the morning. And then we get up. We usually put a song on in the kitchen and we have a dance party, and I usually either make pancakes like banana oat egg pancakes or French toast. And then we all get dressed and head off to school. Start our day, then I start work after I've done all the drop-offs. That's usually our day, or our morning, rather. All-time favorite movie. Okay. That's tricky. I think I've got two like movies that I could watch over and over and over again, and I don't think I'd ever get sick of them. And the first one, this is gonna say a lot about me, like hopeless romantic. I love the notebook. Like love, adore, bore my eyes out at the end every single time. Could watch it over and over and over again. It's one of my favorite movies, for sure. Pride and Prejudice. I love Pride and Prejudice. I love all the Pride and Prejudice. I love the soundtrack of Pride and Prejudice. I love the old English speaking, I'm a Bridget and girly now, too, through and through for sure. Um, Elizabeth Bennett is it for me. I love her. She is fabulous. They might, I guess they would be my I'm sure I have more. I'm sure I do, but I can't think of them on this. Oh, actually, do you know I love, oh my god, this is a bit of a weird one, left of field. Um, Molly's game. It's more of like Yeah, you just have to watch it. It's n it doesn't follow either of those genres, not that any of those match anyway, but um Strong Woman lead carving her own way, all of that. It's a great film. Um, all-time favorite playlist artist or album. Okay, favorite music. So I'm an 80s baby, which means my taste in music has definitely gone on a little bit of a journey. A was deep into my old school RB era. Like, give me Ashanti, Usher, Rihanna, Destiny's Child, Alicia Keys, oh Jar Rule growing up. Biggie, I definitely was in that era for sure. I was full-blown RB Disman headphones. I have now transitioned fully into country music early phase for sure. I love it. I cannot get enough. Give me a Randy Hauser, Kelsey Ballerini, Luke Combs, um, who else do I love? Brett Young, all-time favorite, Lainey Wilson, Morgan Whalen. I'm very happy. I'll listen to that all day, every day. And it would be amiss of me, actually, not to mention the the boys' uncle is in a band as well, Sons of the East, that would that's on quite often. We listen to Uncle Dan Dan's music. They've got some great albums, easy listening, similar to that country vibe, but more folky. And the boys love it. I love it. Favorite nourishing meal snack or favorite pleasure item meal or snack. Okay. I'm gonna start with the pleasure items because they're super easy. Brown I'm a brownie girly. I love chocolate. I love making my own brownies. You would know from my Instagram, chocolate crackles, all of that. Give me anything with chocolate any day of the week. Um, that would definitely be my pleasure food. My favorite meal, it would have to, you know what, it would have to I don't have it often. I don't actually can't tell you the last time I had this. It would be before children. But I make a really good lobster tail with butter and dill and chili and steamed greens and crispy roast potatoes with lemon on top. That would be like my favorite meal of all time. If I didn't have lobster tail, it would probably be like some sort of roast, slow cooked lamb or roast lamb. They would be my favorite meals. A snack, probably like pickles and cheese. Such a weird combo. But I love it. It's so good. What is my coffee order? Okay, my coffee order's changed and it's stayed since having kids. I am a decaf arm and milk latte girly. And this has evolved. I used to be a decaf arm and milk cap until my firstborn was cow's milk protein intolerant, and I realized that a lot of the chocolates on top of the milk that you have on top of a coffee on top of your cappuccino actually contain milk. So I've evolved again to a latte. I'm now a latte gal. I used to drink caffeine, just not gone back to it since I've had the boys, and it was one of my first pregnancy symptoms. I did not do well with coffee. I craved it and I loved the smell and I really wanted it. And if I drank it, it would make me sick. I vomited in both my pregnancies till around 30 weeks. I had rough pregnancies, but I was a little bit like a crazy person. I would still order and buy a small coffee and sit there and smell it in the morning, even though I couldn't drink it. Is there a podcast book person that's changed the way that you think? Yes. I love a podcast, love a podcast. I don't get to listen as much. Anything, Brene Brown, I adore. Love learning about emotions and us as an emotional being and just growth and how we can improve. Anything from the school of greatness, I kind of flick through and pick and choose. But he is just such a lovely, lovely host. And just the way he interacts with who he is interviewing, I think is incredible. And you can just tell he is really invested in helping people. Like it's like it's almost like you're on a journey with them, and you can pause and he's like, How can I help you in this? Like, how do I move the needle forward for you? So Lewis Howes is incredible and I love everything that he produces. I don't often listen to like my own realm of work, but if I had to pick one, it would probably be Simon Hill, like the proof. He does a great nutritional podcast where it's a topic, and then they unpack sort of all of the data and literature to date. So if you were leaning that direction, and then I have a subscription as well to Kylie lately, because I think just for self-improvement, all round community-based feeling like you're part of something, she does beautiful work. I love, I love, love, love all of her episodes. She's brilliant. Books that have changed my way of thinking. There are a few, actually. Probably number one would be why zebras don't get ulcers. And this is just it helped me understand stress from a physiological perspective and what's actually happening in the body. Probably similar to that vein, the body keeps the score. It's a bit deeper. It really highlights how the body holds onto stress and experiences over time and how to unpack that a little bit. An all-time favorite would have to be women who run with wolves. It feels a bit more intuitive and a bit woo-woo, but it's really about reconnecting with yourself as a woman. And I've loved it. I think I first listened to it when I was 21, and I listened to it on audiobook at least once a year. I love it. In terms of books that have changed my way of oh, actually, anything that's written by Lara Bryden, her work around hormones is practical and it's empowering and it's easy to read and digestible. She does brilliant, brilliant work. Libby Weaver, she is incredible at taking complex science and breaking it down into something that's actually easy to understand. I will never forget my first year in uni and I was learning about the Krebs cycle, which is this big complex of essentially how your body makes energy. And I went to one of her talks that she was doing in Sydney at the time. And I had literally been trying to get my head around this thing for weeks and weeks on end, and she explained it in 10 minutes, and it just clicked and I got it. And I remember thinking, wow, how incredible is the work that she's doing. What is one thing about being a mum that completely surprised you? One thing about being a mum. The mental load. Sorry if you heard that giant cocky just fly past. One thing that surprised me is definitely the mental load. You're not just doing, it's the constant thinking and the planning and the holding everything in your mind. What everyone needs, what's coming up, what's running low, what needs to be signed, what day is library day and sports day, and have I packed everything? Did we do lunch orders? What day's soccer? Or like I just don't think it ever really switches off. Um, and I know probably so many women are in that same boat. I don't think you can actually really truly prepare for that though, until you start living it. The identity shift was big for me as well. You don't just become a mum. You're still you, but everything rearranges and your priorities and your time and your energy and how you see yourself. And I think that transition and I think that transition is something that we don't talk about anywhere near enough. In saying all of that, even on the messy days, even on the really overwhelming days, I truly wouldn't trade it. It's stretched me in the best way possible. And I absolutely adore being a mum to my boys. I love it so much. What do you do to decompress after a really hard day? I keep it simple. It's a very hot shower. Lights are off. I don't like strong lights. I'm I'm a little bit sensory, actually, I think. So lights are off. Um, just quiet by myself. Once the kids are asleep, it would be getting into bed and reading my books. Actually, of note as well, the books that I would be reading at that point are absolutely definitely not the books that I mentioned above. When I'm getting into bed and I'm reading, it's romance, full fantasy, dragons, say, witches, fairies, and a little bit of spice, but nothing like the books above. It is, I'm heavily in my fantasy era. Give me fourth wing or The Glass Throne. Is it The Glass Throne? The book that I'm the series that I'm reading at the moment. It's an eight-part series, you guys, and it is truly, truly brilliant. It is called Throne of Glass series. I love it. If anyone has any fantasy recommendations that you would like to send my way, I would deeply appreciate them. Another great The Sky Called Her Home by Britt Wilder. Brilliant. And that's a trilogy as well. I think she's about to release her third book. Brilliant, brilliant read. And then what is something that people would never guess about me? I'm a complete juxtaposition. I truly am. I love horse riding. If I could design my life, I would be on a bit of land that also has to be near the ocean because I'm part mermaid. With horses, running my neuropathy clinic, a big community veggie patch out the front. I would be so happy as long as I was still close to the water. I love being in the earth and in nature and all of that, but I cannot camp for more than one night. I am a creature of comfort and I love luxuries and amenities. I love nourishing food for my body, but I'm not strict and I will always say yes to cake and brownie if it's on offer. I do like a cocktail, but I rarely drink a couple of times a year if that. So it's a real push-pull for me as well. So something that people would not guess about me is that I'm a real mixed bag. I'm a real juxtaposition. Thank you so much for being here and letting me share a little bit more of my story with you. My hope with this space is that it feels like somewhere where you can come back to to feel grounded, to feel supported, to feel a sense of community, like you're not in this on your own, and be reminded that you don't have to do it all perfectly. None of us really are. We're just doing the best we can with what we've got. And so, in case nobody told you today, you're doing way better than what you think. Keep going.