77. Adrenal Fatigue & Collapse: Finally Sharing Some Recent Health Updates

Welcome to the That Healing Feeling podcast. I'm your host, Faith Ashenden, founder and CEO of That Healing Feeling, where we show you how to become a self-healer of mind, body, and spirit through nervous system regulation. Join me and thousands of my other students as I dive into the world of neuroscience, subconscious programming, energetics, and radical self-love. In this podcast, you will learn that your body and mind are meant to heal, and that under the right circumstances, we can experience miraculous healing by leveraging our own internal infrastructure. Let me guide you as we challenge preconceived notions and outdated narratives and dive into the empowering world of self-healing. My intention is that you leave this podcast full of hope and actionable tools. So without further ado, let's dive in.

Hello and welcome to the That Healing Feeling podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in with me today for a solo episode. I thought that it was about time to come on and share some stuff that's been going on in my personal life, like behind the scenes. Um, and also I feel like doing this in a two-part series could be really helpful for anyone who's listening in because I want to share what's been going on, but I also want to share how I've been dealing with it and all the resources I've been using that were super helpful for me in my journey. And hopefully it's going to reach people who might be in a similar situation and kind of just help you with whatever you're dealing with, if it's similar to, you know, what's been going on for me. So if you follow me on social media, you probably will be surprised to know, um, that the past, I would say, like, few months have been pretty challenging behind the scenes. One of the things that I feel like I kind of do on social media in general is keep it pretty professional. What I mean is I tend to keep social about just, you know, information I can give you, resources I can give you. I do a lot of like free challenges and guides and masterclasses and just trying to get you as much information as possible about healing what's going on in your life, anywhere from chronic illness to anxiety and in between. And I generally keep it that way. I would say my account like switched to that probably 2-ish years ago and moved a little bit away from just like the everyday. Like, you know, every now and again I do share my routine and like some stuff about my kids on the weekend, but generally speaking, it's not really a— it's definitely actually not like a lifestyle account, and it's not an influencer account. It's really there to be a resource for people who are looking to heal, and I've kept it pretty much that. And what that's also meant is I feel like there's not a lot of, like, what's happening behind the scenes of me, like, pulling all this work together, and what's happening, like, in my life, and how am I doing, how am I feeling, because I don't really feel like that healing feeling is about that. It's really about how I can serve you. But I feel like sharing this is going to serve a lot of people for two reasons. One being it just kind of shows real life and sets the expectation of real life happens. And if you're one of my students, you will know that because we talk about that a lot and how life is gonna life, you know what I mean? Um, and it's not something we need to be fearful of. And two, Um, I just think that it's going to help you by giving you loads of tips, which is what I always try to do here on the podcast. So I just was like, you know what, I'm gonna do something different than I usually do and do, uh, hey, look what's been going on in my life, and less about, um, let's go deep into some sort of like mindset healing, or let me do some sort of mini lecture or meditation. Which, by the way, I hope you guys are loving the little, like, meditation series I'm doing. So I have put 2 out and I want to continue to do it. So if you haven't listened already, I'm going to link those in the show notes because I wanted to just, like, put meditations out that have helped me and helped my students so that you can actually have them on your phone. So if you haven't listened to them, go ahead and listen to them. Let me know how you feel and if you like them. Like send me a message and tell me what you want to hear more of because I'd love to know. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about me and what's been going on. So today was a particularly hard day for me. It is like 11:55, it's almost midday, and I've managed to, um, get the kids sorted, do some stretching, take a shower, and I'm sitting here at my desk for like the first time this morning because I like physically haven't had the energy The reason I have such a late start to my day and the reason I'm feeling this way is because I've been dealing with what they like to call the very end of adrenal fatigue, which is adrenal collapse. And I was hesitant to share this because, again, I really didn't want to come out on social media as this person who's kind of talking about healing all the time. And then say, oh, I'm in this situation. Um, but then at the same time, I feel like it's important to share the, the ups and downs of life's gonna life and how different this experience has been for me than the last time and how different it's been since doing this work and how even when life life's, there's this degree of resiliency that is built that allows you to not be fearful of these seasons. And so this has been happening now behind the scenes for actually a really long time. And the, the— it's, it's kind of on an upward trajectory, which is why if you've been following me, you can see that I'm like out of bed and I'm like walking my kid to school and even doing some workouts and and really trying to like get back into some semblance of routine. But only a few months ago it was not that way. Um, and so I wanted to kind of share about like how this happened for me, how it was different than last time because of the work that I've done and some of the signs. Um, and maybe as well, like if this is something that you might be dealing with that you weren't aware of. So this has happened to me before. I'm no stranger to this like cycle of burnout. I think the reason why I started that healing feeling is because I am a high achiever, type A, and that's one of the things I had to recover from in order to reverse everything that was going on for me. Because that kind of like push, push, push, of course, is so detrimental to the nervous system. And when we're like always pushing further and we want things to be perfect, nothing is ever good enough. And if nothing is ever good enough, the nervous system feels unsafe, and that's where we get into this state of hypervigilance. And then we see things like burnout or epigenetic changes like autoimmune conditions or unexplained symptoms pop up. And so I'm no stranger to this and kind of seeing the signs of this and making sure to like mitigate when it goes too far. So I will always call myself a recovering Type A or recovering perfectionist. I think shifting my identity away from those things as much as I was married to them is really important for healing. And so all of that to say, I'm no stranger to the way that, that, you know, impacts your overall health and well-being. And I would say, generally speaking, my students are in that category. We see that a lot. Um, I work with really successful, high-achieving women. Like, that is my demographic. You know, I didn't choose them, they chose me. Like, we are all the same because it is that kind of identity that we assume that is so highly correlated with these chronic symptoms. And it is in shifting that identity that we begin to heal. So, you know, anyways, all that to say is I'm very like, I have a very intimate relationship with understanding that cycle as it relates to chronic symptoms. And I, since doing the work of shifting that identity, I have been able to like have this steady journey of health without an autoimmune flare. Um, and that was one of the big things that I did. It's one of the big things that I teach because there's a lot of nuances within that. But, you know, recently I'd been on such a good high over the past like 5 years after reversing everything, and life was just going well, and it still is. But at the time, you know, I would say maybe this all started like 6 months ago, is just really pushing, balancing a lot in my business and my workout routine and my kids, and just generally trying to do it all, and falling into those like tendencies of like how How far can I go to optimize every area of my life? And I would say that my business was a huge part of that because I love that healing feeling. I just get so much out of it. I get so much out of like all the messages in my, um, Accelerator program of people achieving these huge things. And I was just really going hard and burning the candle at both ends, as they say. I think that's the right expression. Um, and so I was still implementing so many of my practices to try to avoid that tendency for burnout, which again has been something I've experienced multiple times. And so I was still really consistent about implementing the habits I teach within my program, even though, you know, the temptation was there to push harder, to, you know, check my emails, to keep working later or whatever. I really set those boundaries. And I think that is the reason why this didn't go as far as it could have. That was the reason why I haven't had an autoimmune flare, thankfully, because I was in many ways practicing what I teach and in some ways I wasn't because I was flying high. I was like Icarus who flew too close to the sun. If you guys know that story, it always stuck with me. If you don't, you can Google it because I feel like it's such a good analogy for like so many things, especially this scenario. So I was burning the candle at both ends and I started to have these symptoms and I made a reel about this and I think it's something so important and this really is why I'm sharing it because I feel like you might be in this position. And if you are, I don't— I want you to learn from the situation I'm in, right? So like, I was getting all these symptoms, but I was kind of brushing them over because at first the body tells you in really like seemingly small ways. So things like a little bit of anxiety, a little bit of fatigue, a little maybe like, you know, your blood sugar levels are a little bit off. Or you are like craving sugar, your gut is saying something to you. So I was kind of having these small symptoms for the first time in a while, and I was like, this is weird. But they weren't screaming yet, right? They weren't debilitating. Like, I would have a little bit of anxiety and I thought, hmm, that's weird. But, you know, maybe I'm just a bit sleep deprived because the baby was up and this is normal. I would have like, my blood sugar would be super off and I would be having these crashes and I would recognize it. I got like a continuous glucose monitor. I was working with a dietitian and I got the book from the Glucose Goddess, which I highly recommend. It was super helpful and I thought, oh, maybe I was just eating wrong, you know, even though like my diet was like pretty good. I'm not going to lie. And my body was being extra sensitive. But like, I just tossed it up to, well, you know, maybe I'm 33 and that's just how I'm— now I have to kind of think about these things. So these little symptoms were popping up that weren't an issue before, which was the first sign. And I teach this to my students, and I want to get this out to people before they're sick because it's like your body speaks to you. It tells you when you're feeling fatigued, when you're feeling anxious, when you're feeling like blood sugar dips, if you're shaky, if you have stomach issues like that, your body's talking to you. Something's going on. And for me, it was just pushing myself too hard and my cortisol was rising. But because the symptoms weren't anywhere near to what I'd experienced before, Like, I didn't really feel bad. In fact, like, I felt strong. I felt good. I was, I was in reformer 4 days a week, really building up a lot of strength, uh, after having Addie and, uh, feeling really accomplished there. And my business was, was doing really well. My team was growing. So I was, I was feeling like good generally, but like there were little bouts of this and that that I hadn't had in ages. That were signs, like my body and my mind were speaking to me. They were like, you need to slow down. And I just wasn't. And then it got a little bit louder. So I started thinking, okay, maybe something's going on. And I started going back to my functional medicine doctor and I was doing all these tests because I thought, you know, I've stabilized my blood sugar. Luckily my gut was okay. Like I wasn't having any like GI issues, but I was really starting to feel wired but tired and anxious, which is not normal for me. And so I started going back to my functional medicine doctor. I was still working with my dietitian, working with my coach, and just trying to figure out, you know, like, what's going on. And I did all these tests to see, you know, how is my inflammation in my body, Um, hs-CRP, that is one of the markers that we test with my clients just to see like, is there any like essentially chronic inflammation in the body, which is the precursor to disease. And when you're chronically dysregulated, we'll see a lot of times when my students come in that that level's really high. Now, my students don't have to do this, but it's just for those who like to have that lab work, you know. So my HSRP was fine. I was not in a flare. My thyroid was stable, so that was good. My levels were generally okay. Like we kind of, you know, if you're in like the wellness world, we kind of did like a lot of, of that kind of testing, like functional tests and kits and stuff like that. And everything was looking pretty good, which was great on one hand because, you know, I've been on this streak of doing all this work that I do, that I teach you, that I talk about. And to see that reflected in the lab work, even though like I have these kind of like funny symptoms, is really powerful because it's like, hey, this stuff works. And then on the other hand, it's like, what's going on? You know? And of course, I, I do know it really comes back to stress. Subconscious stress, really. And stress doesn't necessarily mean, you know, like something horrible is happening. It can, and that can be the tipping point, but it also can be all of those little moments in the day where you're pushing and pushing, pushing your nervous system. And so I started to kind of tighten things up in my lifestyle a little bit, whereas typically I I'm pretty kind of loosey-goosey, you know, like I, I, I eat what I want, but I keep it organic because I want to nourish myself. But, you know, I, I really like— I stopped drinking wine pretty much, or stopped drinking alcohol pretty much completely. Wine is really the only thing that I had in years and years, and it's very infrequent. But I just kind of decided, okay, I'm gonna stop doing that. I did, I did like really in-depth parasite cleanse. I started doing my like infrared sauna 5 days a week and dry brushing and like really started doing all of the things. And this was the big thing that I really started doing all of the things that I teach my students. And so a couple weeks went by and I'm, I'm doing all this like work and I'm like slowing it down like big time and I'm like, okay. I think that I'm like onto something. Um, this is a process. I'm just gonna show my nervous system love. And then all of a sudden something really traumatic happens in our family, like just next level. And I'm not at liberty to share it, but it was one of those like big T traumas. Um, and it was just enough to put me over the edge. So as an isolated event, I would have had this like resiliency within my nervous system to deal and process that. But my nervous system was dealing with months and months and months of being pushed to its absolute limits. My cortisol had been running and running and running and running and running with very little respite. Um, and even though the symptoms were somewhat mild because of all my other practices, because I've been doing this work for so long, they were still there. And that led to a total adrenal collapse. So about 2 months into this event that was happening, my body just sort of was like, no, can't do this anymore. And my cortisol kind of flatlined. So for those of you who don't know what that means. Basically, um, your cortisol is, is really what gives you like energy. It's also known as the stress hormone, but we don't want to villainize cortisol because we need cortisol. Cortisol is what gives us like the energy and the gumption to go, go, go. Now, in situations where you're experiencing a lot of stress or you're pushing yourself too hard like I was doing, you will have too much cortisol. Now, that is something that's trending on social media, and that can lead to burnout. It can lead to adrenal fatigue and at the extreme end, adrenal collapse. So that's where you basically like run out of cortisol. That is a really simple way to put it. And you literally have none of the gumption, you have none of the energy, you're a zombie. And so that's what happened to me. But it was really unfortunate timing because I was really needed. So the symptoms for me were really just complete, complete collapse. Like, I literally could not get out of bed. And it was so crazy because it reminded me, like, in a very humbling way of 2018 when I had my second huge flare that I always share about. But of course, this time it wasn't, um, what it was in 2018 where I had like all these diagnoses and autoimmune stuff going on and whatever. So I've been here before, only this time I had kids, I had responsibilities, I had a business, I had students, and I was like, how the heck? Like, I don't know how I'm gonna do life. So it really sucked. So for about a month and a half, I would say I did my work from bed. So, um, I didn't really share the details of it. I just really didn't post about myself. Very much. I just posted about like other things. I had my team post on my social, but behind the scenes I was taking like my team calls from bed and just saying, oh, you know, we have construction going on, so I have to like take my calls from up here. I even did a coaching call from my room using the same excuse because I just like physically couldn't get up. Now, the good thing about me is I have tools. And if you're my student, or even just in this community, like, you have tools, but especially if you're my student because that's what I teach. So I have tools, and we're like, your average person might take 6 months to a year to come out of this. I'm like, uh, where are we at? September now. It's actually September 11th today. It's July. I'm like 3 months into this, a little bit longer. And I'm a totally different person today than I was then. And the comeback has been real. It's not— I'm not fully bounced back, as you will, but like, it's been insane because I have these incredible tools, which I'll make episode 2 about. I kind of want to give like the proper background because I feel like, again, if this is to be helpful for you, I want you to also kind of like see the journey, see the signs. Understand, um, kind of what it looks like and like maybe where you are on the spectrum of like this entire journey if it relates to you. So that day came, I knew it was coming. It's so crazy because I was actually like talking to my coach River, who I always tell you about, and I was like sending her a voice note and I was like, oh my God, this is so stressful right now. I feel like I am just going to— like, something's going to happen in my body. Like, I can feel it. My nervous system is like freaking out right now. Like, it, it just felt completely out of my control, um, in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. And again, when we talk about resiliency within the nervous system, one of the big reasons why we want to create that resiliency and the capacity to downregulate in our day-to-day is because life is gonna life, right? So things are gonna happen that are out of your control. Like, it's part of being on planet Earth. You know, you can't really control your life. You can control how you respond. But if you create resiliency in your day-to-day and you don't do what I did, then when something happens, you aren't gonna lose control of your nervous system. Like, you're gonna be able to process that. And yes, like, you might say in an extended period of sympathetic because you're in an actual event that requires that. But it doesn't have to lead to some insane adrenal collapse. Like, but the only reason that that happens is because we're not listening to the signs beforehand. And that's exactly what I wasn't doing. Again, I see clients all the time where their story is much like mine was in 2018, which was significantly worse. And it was so bad that it flared my autoimmune diseases. So it can be like a spectrum and it depends how long you've been living burning the candle at both ends, right? So for mine, it was definitely like a few months and I was mitigating it. So this happened and I was aware of what was happening. I could see it happening. Like I was, I was like, it's happening now. I went for like 4 or 5 days with like complete hypervigilance, um, and I didn't eat. Like, I was in so fight or flight, but I kind of had to be during that situation. And then when I came out of it, finally, it was like within 1 hour, like, um, I could feel myself kind of coming out of it. The hunger came back, and then there was like a full collapse. And it was like I was super dizzy. Like, I remember, like, I couldn't even stand up in the shower, um, because it was so dizzy standing. It was just horrible. So this sort of began my journey of like, well, I have to now kind of get back up on my feet. So I did the retest just to see like, did this flare anything? And it didn't. So it still proves that, you know, even, even after the situation, like the work that I talk about and that I teach, like really works. I wasn't practicing what I preach. But I was practicing it enough that, you know, by the grace of God, it didn't, it didn't flare. And I'm so grateful for that. Um, and I'm a human being, so, you know, it's just, it happens. Um, if, if I don't follow the, the structure that I preach as much as I can, then I'm still susceptible. I, I did the testing and everything was clear. But what was interesting was I did a— I don't know the exact name of the cortisol test, um, but your functional medicine doctor can do it. And it's a saliva test throughout the day to test your cortisol levels. And so I did the test just to see, and my cortisol was like flatlined, like it just didn't exist. It was like If anything, it was worse. It was, it was below like what you could measure, like, which was indicative of how I was feeling. So the kind of dizziness and nausea, lightheadedness, all of that, it sucked. So then became my journey to heal and get back to baseline. Now this is not a like you have a cold, get better kind of situation. Like you, this It takes time. You've gotta replenish and nourish your adrenals after a serious event. And alongside, as I mentioned, now experiencing that, being a mother and a wife and a business owner is no small feat because whereas before, even though I was more sick before, I only had to take care of myself. And at the time that felt really overwhelming and it is, but also when you actually have to produce and you have to do other things, like, it's hard. And so I cut back a lot, right? Like, I stopped working out. I physically couldn't. Um, I did as little work as possible. Like, I did as much as I had to do to keep the business running. And I, um, leaned on a lot of support. Like, I had to hire nannies on the weekends because I just couldn't— just couldn't do anything. Like, and so thank God for that. Um, and my mom had to come into town, which in and of itself comes with, you know, when you have family in town for a long time, uh, in and of itself does come with its own stressors. But it was just impossible for me to do it without the support. And so, um, that was happening behind the scenes. My students wouldn't know it, I don't think. Um, my team knew very knew some, um, and I just kind of kept my head down and focused on myself. There were a lot of things that I did, and, um, like I said, I'm gonna do part 2 because I want to actually, like, write it all out. But I would say that most of what I did was honestly what I teach in my program. And I'm not just saying that to, like, plug. I'm genuinely saying that because, like, I have spent 3 years writing a program on literally how to regulate your nervous system, and and, and it's for people who essentially have like burned out or still in that stage of like extended periods of cortisol. And also this is where I wanna say like be careful on social media because there are a lot of reels and stuff about, oh, like, you know, you can't lose weight cuz you have too much cortisol or you're always hungry cuz you have too much cortisol. And it's like, I don't know, you could also have no cortisol, which is the opposite end, you know, which is the like burnout or adrenal fatigue, you know, collapse, wherever you are on the spectrum end. And no one's talking about that. And so that's another reason why I'm like, this is— you don't want to lower your cortisol if that's the situation. You need to raise it. You need to stimulate it in healthy ways, which is why I want to make an episode on that, because I think absolutely do not go jump in an ice bath, for example. Let's not be doing that. Um, but we'll talk about what's safe and what I did. And there are like everyday hacks you can do. I think things that can be supportive. But as always, I think the real work is that internal work, the work that I teach. I think, you know, all those other things like your diet and your supplements, like those are supportive and You should be nourishing your body with your diet. You should be working with a practitioner. If you want to supplement, you should be working with a practitioner to support that. Like, I'm all for it. But at the end of the day, if you're not mastering the internal stuff, if you're not mastering the mind, it's not going to work. And that's the truth. And so that's why I want to kind of break it down in my episode. And so, so, you know, fasting forward, I would say it took me about a month or so of like the ultimate pits. Of like, I'm dead. And then it slowly, about a month and a half later, started to get to a place where like I wasn't too dizzy to stand up and take a shower. That was really good. And if you attended my masterclass, this was one of my first masterclass I did. I did a masterclass, I had 3,000 people on it, and I was like, I'm gonna push myself to do this masterclass. I was like, I have it scheduled, I have a load of people registered, I have to show up. Got out of bed, drank coffee, shouldn't have done it but did, and showed up. And I had to— I said I had technical issues, but I had to stop the masterclass in the middle of a live masterclass because I was so dizzy. I felt so sick because of this whole situation that I hadn't shared about, right? And so there were signs, but I was playing them off, playing it cool. Um, that set me back a little because it was really stressful, but it was also this wake-up call of like, you're just not ready. You're not ready to be back, like, presenting, to make these commitments. And so I, um, kept doing the work and just kept my head down. And I would say Um, about 2 and a half months in, I started to be able to do like some walking because this is important and we'll talk about that. Be able to just like get up and make my meals and sit at my desk. I didn't sit at my desk for 2 months, you guys. Like I literally WFB, which is interchangeably work from bath or work from bed. So that's where I was living for so long. So today I'm into like, I would say, month— honestly, I don't know because I didn't look at the calendar— maybe 3 and a half, 4 months since the collapse. And I'm a totally different person now. It's still hard. Like last night, like yesterday, oh my gosh, I was really tired for the first time in a long time. Like I had to sit in my bed for a little while. Today I'm tired. I— the most I could do was a mobility exercise, but I'm back being able to lift weights again, and I'm back in my office every day. It's not a full day, okay? Um, it's not lifting the way I used to. It's certainly not at the gym. It's only like 20 minutes. It's light weights, doesn't matter. It's baby steps in the direction of where I want to go. And this kind of, if you will, bounce back, um, based on where I was is incredible. And it's a testament to the work that I teach, the work that I do, and our capacity for healing ourselves. And there's no doubt in my mind that I'm coming back stronger than I was before with the lessons that I've learned many, many times and yet again. And, um, also, you know, it's a humbling experience because I always kind of share, you know, this was my story and then here I am today. And while that's still absolutely true, um, it's just a testament to the human experience, but also, like I said, a testament to this work. The fact that I've come out without a flare of my conditions is like really insane to me because, you know, not insane in the sense that like I believe it, I believe in being healed and I believe this work, but also the past me would have like, you know, if you asked me this 8 years ago, I would never believe it. I would never believe there was a world where this could happen and I wouldn't flare. Um, and I think it speaks to how I view myself. I view myself as healed, and I'm proud of that. And who knows what the future holds, but there's, there's beauty in it, and we can be grateful for the beauty and without having to be grateful for the silver lining. And that's something that I've learned. Like, I don't want to be thankful for the negatives because whatever you're grateful for, you attract more of. And so I don't really do silver linings anymore. I just say I'm grateful for the lesson. I could have received that lesson without having to have that situation, but needless to say, um, the situation happened. It's neutral. The lesson is beautiful, and the lesson is that, you know, you always have to listen even when you feel like you're on the other side of a situation. You have to listen to what your body is saying and you're not invincible. And actually it is a continual process. And the tendency I had to push and push and push was starting to pop up. So I know that anyone listening here, I would probably say you, you are probably someone who pushes too. If you're feeling any of these symptoms and you have like some anxiety, you have like gut issues, because I didn't have gut issues this time, but I will say I did before. So in like the past 2 times that I had like huge, huge flares of Graves' disease and IBS and CFS, um, for those of you who don't know, that's chronic fatigue syndrome. I had gut issues those times. So like gut issues aren't normal. Bloating isn't normal. Anxiety isn't normal. Wired but tired isn't normal. Like these things aren't an accepted part of our lives, like they shouldn't be. Our body's speaking to us, and if we listen to those signs before we get to this collapse or before we get to an autoimmune flare, we can prevent those things. And that's honestly what I, I teach people to do. I, I teach them anywhere on that spectrum, whether you're just like kind of mildly having these issues like me, where they weren't debilitating. Like, I was still like, I'm, I'm one workout away from like busting through some anxiety and then I'm fine. I'm just gonna work out, you know. But, or I'm like, I'm a little bit tired, but— and I said this to my doctor, like, I was like, you know, I have a coffee, um, in the morning, and then I had a coffee in the afternoon. And I'm like, well, you know what, I'm South American by blood, um, and I was raised on coffee like water, you guys. And we both kind of joked about it. And she— and I'm, I'm a mom, I've got two kids, a 4-year-old and an almost 2-year-old who have nightmares. I'm up at night, you know, and I'm like, this is fine. And I'm not hating on that, but the thing is, I didn't used to have to do that. So it was a sign, right? That kind of level of exhaustion. So again, these are not normal things. They're not normal, and society accepts it, jokes about it, makes excuses for it. All the hot girls have IBS, all the moms are always tired, okay, but it's not how it's supposed to be. And so as long as we accept these things or we brush them off in the name of whatever we're achieving, we're one step closer to something inevitable, whether it is a flare of some sort of chronic illness, or whether it is just a complete and utter adrenal collapse, um, something does eventually happen, whether it's in relation to a big trauma or it's just like the compounding effect of all of these symptoms, and eventually the body says, I've had enough. And so I support people along that journey, but I also support them at the end. Like where I've been multiple times, clearly, um, in different ways. And in every situation, you can come back. In every situation. Like, I've been in situations of adrenal collapse where I'm literally passing out. That's how bad it is. I have passed out. I've ended up on the floor. Um, I've been on the whole spectrum. I've been on the roller coaster, you guys. And This whole experience reminded me of how hard it is to wake up every day feeling like shit. And like, I work with these, my, my amazing students who I just adore, who are in this situation. And while I have been there for so many years, I've been reminded, and it wears on you, your body, mind, and spirit. It wears on you. And when you have responsibilities, the feeling of not being able to show up as your best self wears on you. It's a horrible feeling. And I've always said this to my students, it's worse to me emotionally than it is physically, because the emotions of not being able to do what you want to do, not being able to pour into your family or your friends or anything like that, and the guilt and all of those feelings that are very real to me and to high achievers can feel worse than how bad it already is. And so all of these things need to be addressed, and it's a huge topic within what I teach my students. Like, you'll know if you're a student of mine, like, we address those emotions because emotions manifest physically. So if we're ignoring them and then we're ignoring how we feel and we're ignoring that toll, we remain So it's so complex, but also when it comes down to it, the solution is so simple. And it's just been a wild ride. Like, honestly, it's been such a wild ride. And it's been so hard for me as well on like an identity level because I have this sort of dichotomy of being this coach who is helping— I mean, I have thousands of women in my community. Through these symptoms and then also having like something similar to what I'm teaching occur and just juggling the way that that feels and trying to be the best version of myself throughout the process. I'm coming out the other side even better, even stronger, with so much compassion and understanding. I already had it before, but my God, it is so fresh in my, like, awareness and in my mind now. Um, just being in it. And if you are in this, like, anywhere in the cycle and you're having a hard day, you are not alone. But like, these things are temporary. And I think the most important thing that I think is so— like, what was so probably the most impactful thing that I did was I had the solid— the solidified belief that this is temporary. And I think if If you don't believe that it's temporary, it's going to be forever, basically, for you. Like, if you don't believe that you can get over it, you can't, you know? And so when it is day in and day out and day in and day out and day in and day out, and like, it's a freaking toll, right? You have to hold on to the belief that it's temporary or else you're going to be stuck there. And so I think for me, like, that was one of the most powerful things because like, not for a second did I doubt. That I was going to be on the other side soon. And like, as I was going through it, like, I just kept saying to my husband, like, every day, 0.1% better. And like, it's moving in that direction. And today is, you know, again, 0.1%. And then there's this compounding effect, and maybe it's more than 0.1%. I don't know. Obviously it is, but, um, it's better. It is a percentage point, and some days are even more than that, right? Like, some days I take a jump. And then some days it goes back down to a lesser percentage because I had to spend more energy doing something, and that's fine. And progress isn't linear, and progress isn't always so objective. Like, we can't always measure it by one metric, right? There's this mindset component, there's a spiritual component. And so we want to make sure to not be so linear in the way that we view and measure it and not use that as a are one sort of like factor of motivation. Our motivation has to come from our belief that it's temporary. And so if you are on the journey anywhere on this, and even if it's autoimmune or if it's any chronic illness or any chronic symptom, you have to start with the belief like this is temporary. And every single day with extreme faith, I'm moving in the right direction. Even if it's today, for me it was much harder than yesterday. Yesterday I was doing an upper body workout and it was the best one I've ever done. And today I couldn't even do like one of the mobility exercises because it was— it required too much energy. But I'm always moving in the right direction. And if I look back to 2 months ago, there's no freaking way, no way I would have even envisioned the strength I had yesterday and the day before and the day before and even today. And so your mindset is everything. I know you know that because this whole entire podcast, my whole entire platform is your mindset is literally your way out. Like, it is in the mindset. Um, everyone's gonna tell you their opinion. I'll tell you my opinion on the next episode. Everyone's gonna tell you their opinion for like what diet or what supplements. And oh my God, you will hear conflicting stuff. And do you know why? Because none of that is going to be the ultimate deciding factor. If there was one ultimate deciding supplement, or one ultimate deciding diet, or one ultimate deciding amount of steps, blah blah blah, that was going to get you over the line, it would be the ultimate. Everyone would agree. But they don't, right? Because the truth is, those things are helpful, and everyone's different, but the most important deciding factor is your mindset, which directly impacts your nervous system. And every single person in the world will agree that you don't get better unless you regulate. So that's why this work is so impactful, that's why this work is so powerful, and that's why this work works. So if you like this episode, share it on social, send me a DM, tell me if you would related to it, if it's, um, you know, something that you're going through, and any thoughts that you have, and any requests for any other podcast that I could make for you that might be helpful. Next week I'll share what I did to get to where I am today. Hopefully that's helpful for you as well. You can go below and also join my free viral masterclass if you haven't already. So So that masterclass breaks down like my signature method that I teach. And so if you're kind of like, what is this whole like mindset stuff? Then the masterclass actually breaks down like what is the mindset that I use, that I rely on, that ultimately got me over the hump in so many seasons of chronic illness in my life, and that has helped thousands of my students. So that masterclass will be linked below for you. If you haven't watched it, you should. It went viral on social and I have had insane feedback. Like, if you look at the page, people are having crazy results just by watching my masterclass. So I hope there are a lot of amazing resources for you here. Thanks so much for tuning into my podcast and I will see you on the next episode.