083 Worthiness and Chronic Illness- Adrienne Nolan
3 Sept 2019 · 73 min
In this episode of Lion Voice, hosts Aaron Sanchez and Sarah interview patient‑advocate and founder of Get WellBe, Adrienne Nolan‑Smith. The conversation weaves personal stories of growing up with chronic Lyme disease, the death of Adrienne’s mother, and the mental‑health toll of long‑term illness into broader themes of worthiness, mindset, and the daily choices that shape health. Adrienne explains her "100 choices a day" framework, the impact of social determinants of health, and how a sense of worthiness underpins both self‑care and effective treatment. The hosts also discuss practical tools (Kagan water machine, Oval Dogs coffee, dietary changes), the upcoming Live Lyme Summit, and Adrienne’s book Little Bite, Big Trouble. Throughout, they emphasize that healing is a series of conscious choices, that a victim mentality erodes progress, and that community, purpose, nature, and purposeful work are essential for a life beyond chronic disease. The episode includes sponsor messages, a rapid‑fire segment, and calls to action for listeners to connect with Get WellBe and support Lion Voice.
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And it's that simple. But I feel like especially when you're surrounded by lack, which you tend to be if you're battling a chronic illness for 5, 10, 15 years, you have multiple people, it's that victim mentality, whether you have it or not, starts to sink in because you're questioning your worthiness.
I'm so glad you brought that up because I feel very strongly that the feeling worthy of good health is like a foundation for healing anything, anything, or even like you said, giving yourself permission to do the things that prevent chronic health issues too.
Welcome to Lion Voice. We are your hosts, Sarah and Aaron Sanchez. We created this show designed to inspire, educate, and encourage you on your path to wellness. This show's purpose is to help you put the puzzle pieces of healing into place. Join us as we interview other warriors and discuss how fighting is a mindset, healing consists of choices, and living is the outcome.
Wishing your doctors could communicate and come up with a cohesive plan specific to your medical needs and genetics? At Invita Medical Center, they offer a team-style approach, giving you the opportunity to heal. In addition to a commitment of providing radical love and care for their patients, they are strategically located in sunny Arizona because Arizona offers the best integrative medical laws in the country. Call today to speak with one of their patient care coordinators. You can find them online at invita.com.
Line Voice thanks Invita Medical for the continued support. Please reach them at 1-866-830-4576. Welcome, Line Voice listeners. We are very perky this morning.
Yeah, we are. We are like 3 cups into 3. Well, I'm like 3 cups in.
I'm 1 pot, you're 3 cups. It's all good.
But I have a lot of Kerry butter and coconut oil. And I would. Thanks to my friend Stephen Groeters. And so I used to just drink 1 cup of coffee, but now that I'm putting butter in it, I'm like, mm, I might have some more.
And we should mention that today we are drinking Oval Dogs Coffee.
Yes.
If you haven't checked out Oval Dogs, because we've never mentioned it before, so I don't know why you would have, But anyway, Oval Dogs Coffee, ovaldogs.com. Check out their coffee. It's amazing stuff, organic. I know the guy that roasts it. He's very good.
Yep.
You can trust this coffee.
It's a great source for enema coffee, and it tastes delicious too.
Oh my goodness.
You can drink it. It is funny that we usually spend more on the coffee that we use for enemas than we do on the coffee we drink.
I know. Now we've switched over.
It used to be that way.
Oval Dogs Coffee is good stuff. We're actually getting good, good flavored coffee. Amazing stuff. Anyway, um, this week's episode with Adrian Nolan. Yes, tell us about this one, babe.
You know, this— there is so much depth in this interview, and you'll start to see the conversation kind of mount. It didn't start off about worthiness, but worthiness comes into every aspect of our life. And so it slowly like crept in, and we're going to be talking a lot about worthiness and authenticity in these upcoming episodes, um, because it's, it's so much a part of everyone's journey. And we've realized so many things about ourselves having gone through this whole second reinfection that there's a lot of limiting beliefs that we've held that hold us back.
Yeah.
And we don't want to live that way anymore.
No. Yeah, no, there's been too many things holding us back, and we're violently opposed to—
well, and there's so many things you don't realize. Adrienne talks about her mom's ability, because Adrienne had Lyme, chronic Lyme, as a kid, her and her brother, and her brother was very sick. And this has shaped their family.
Yeah.
And as Adrienne was talking through the interview, she just kept coming back to, you know what, this is about worthiness. And there's two aspects of it. There's one aspect of Knowing how to take care of yourself, maybe prioritizing yourself, giving yourself the food or medication or treatment that you need. But then the other side of that is knowing what you want to do and then actually doing it. Those are two very separate things. And you and I have been on that journey of like, oh, I may know I should go running, right? That's good for me, right? But there's some blockage because when your life is in chaos, right? There's this worthiness factor of do you deserve that time to yourself? Can you take that time? And it's—
well, and, and it's so confusing because even for ourselves, because I know I can do hard things. I've run marathons before. I've been active my whole life. Like, I can do hard things. But yet a 30-minute workout routine, I didn't— I— it wasn't that. It wasn't the, you know, it was something else. It wasn't my skill set that wasn't allowing it. It was totally in my mind. Yeah, I mean, I have discipline, but when it comes to food, I don't. Or I didn't.
You didn't.
But I'm getting there.
And it's not about the food, and it's not about the exercise. It was about your mindset. It's so powerful, you guys. Like, at this—
we're jumping ahead a little bit, but you're gonna dig it.
I know you are gonna dig it, and you I mean, that authenticity and that worthiness— Kyle addresses it even in his— the last interview that we did, Kyle Willis. Yeah, you know, it's giving yourself what you think you need to succeed. And yeah, you have to give yourself permission over and over again to keep doing that stuff. So it's— you know what, it's not about Lyme. That's what I love about this show, is it's becoming not about Lyme disease. And because Lyme controls so much of our reality, but it really doesn't at the same time, right?
There is a way out of it. No, you guys are gonna like this episode, 100% know it. But before we get there, let's talk about the Live Lyme Summit.
Yeah, we're really excited. If you guys are in the Colorado area and/or have the time, money, and energy and resources to travel—
yeah, go to the Live Lyme Summit, September 21st and 22nd. If you look on our show notes, there's actually gonna be a packet where you can download the, the whole summit packet and the registration and tells all about it, the prices, etc., hotels. And it's a beautiful venue.
I think, yeah, it is.
It's really nice. It's— and in Colorado, I mean, come on, it's this time of year, the weather is fantastic.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh, gorgeous. It doesn't get better than this.
And there's a lot of— it's almost all physicians who are speaking this year. It's very scientific, A lot of the speakers are scientific and there's huge value in that. It's learning about new research and stuff, but there's also, every time we've gone to a Lyme conference, there's just this connectedness and hope that, okay, you know.
And we always connect with people that are just attending and that can be so healing.
No, that's what I'm talking about. It's the atmosphere, it's the connection, it's the having a conversation with someone in the bathroom 'cause they're in a wheelchair and you were in a wheelchair last year or 2 years ago. I mean, it's just this journey, and people are hungry for hope, and you find that sense of camaraderie in a different way when you're actually in person. So it'd be super fun if you guys come say hi to us.
And we will be there in attendance. You'll see our faces, and we'll be smiling.
Yeah.
Hey, speaking of beautiful faces, your face has been looking so great lately.
Thank you.
And I think we can attribute a lot of that to, or some of it, to the Kagan water machine, our electrolyzed reduced water.
Yeah, I mean, I've been doing intermittent fasting and keto for the last year and a half.
Yep, that helps too.
And have loved it, but the water has been really huge for me. It's taken us about a year to learn how to really use our machine, but we use it all day throughout the day in every aspect of our lives. All our rags go sit in 2.5, which is very similar to bleach. Smells like bleach, but it's—
Explain the pH balance. So you can change the pH balances of water, and what does this do? You're not ready for that. Well, it basically— without the scientific— when we change the pH balance, we can use it for different aspects. Yeah, the 2.5 is almost like a bleach, kills bacteria.
I used to know the science. I'm having to relearn because I've lost a ton of cognitive memory in the last year and a half, but The 2.5 is like bleach, so we use it. It's been huge for restoring my teeth. When I started on antibiotics back in 2012 for the very first time, knew nothing about probiotics and how to help myself and was told nothing, and it turned my teeth like this green algae. The antibiotics did. Yeah, and it's taken me years to get back to that. But when I started rinsing with the 2.5 every day, it feels like you go to the dentist. I love that feeling. And I've got stuff, dental work I need to get done, but the 2.5 with charcoal had just made a huge difference on my teeth whitening. It's only teeth whitening I've done, but it's just made a huge difference. And the other thing that has been saving me is my hair has just— was falling out and usually does fall out during treatment. And so you can just— your hair kind of can feel like straw, right? And I'm trying to be gentle with it. My— a ton of my hair fell out last time after treatment. And it can kind of feel like straw, and I wash it in the 6.0, which is called Beauty Water, and it makes your hair so soft. So every other day I wash my hair and it just restores it in a way that I've never experienced. And we, we know it has a silkening property because our daughter, who's from Ethiopia and has really kinky—
really fine— and it's very, it's very delicate. You can't—
yeah, it's very delicate and So it's kinky, curled, just—
it's impossible.
We've used tons of product and she really could not do her own hair in any way.
It was no joke, an hour to comb through her hair, and it was a battle every time.
And once we got our machine and started using Beauty Water, she can now get herself ready in 10 minutes by herself.
It's amazing.
It's amazing. It just softens her hair. So yeah, it is, it's good, but it's a learning curve, right? Like ART training is this whole Yeah, different ballgame, and it takes time to understand how to include those new aspects into your life. But again, it's a worthy journey because each step of that— we hardly ever use any cleaning supplies anymore because we just clean with 2.5 and essential oils.
Yeah, go to limewater.com, or you can text me at 505-681- 1-770. Of course, that works as a phone call too, but sometimes you like to text. Give me a text, we'll set up a time, I can talk to you more about this. And I know you guys are gonna love your water machine as much as we do. The other thing we need to talk about is super fans. Oh yes, your super fan. Yes, Sandy.
Sandy is my super fan right now, and Sandy from Canada sent me this incredible care package that had all these beautiful handmade written cards. And, um, was 60 of them or so?
I mean, I don't— do we count? There's—
I'll send a picture. I'm gonna post a picture of it. It's— there's a huge— on the show notes I'll post a picture, um, and probably on Instagram too. But I just— you guys, we don't get a ton of feedback from, from this show. Audience participation, it's just so huge. Like, yeah. And it, it's been so rewarding because I've— so many of our super fans have become our like near and dear friends. And so it's just really fun and it was really uplifting. So Sandy from Canada, thank you so much. And we have a new studio that we're gonna be showing you guys here in the future. We just moved our entire house around and we now have our own little studio and we're gonna be decorating it and stuff with all the cards and gifts and different things that we've gotten from people.
Yeah, we're actually— we've made an area that we can record in that could actually be filmed. So we're looking at actually getting Line Voice on film and yeah, that kind of thing. So it'll be fun. We're growing, we're getting better, we're getting healthier. Enjoy this episode.
Hi guys, I want to let you know about a book I wrote called Little Bite, Big Trouble, and I'm gonna read a review that recently came in. This is from Carolyn, and she says, thank you so much for writing your book. It has become the means by which I have explained Lyme to my 4-year-olds. They asked for it to be read as a bedtime story over and over again and love that the mama birdie does yoga and juicing like their mommy. I can't thank you enough for writing this book. It has helped my family so much. You can find it today at amazon.com. Little Bite, Big Trouble. Welcome, welcome, welcome to this episode of Lyme Voice. With me today is Adrienne Nolan-Smith, who is a board-certified patient advocate, speaker, and the founder of Get Well Be, a media company and lifestyle brand focused on bridging the gap between the healthcare system and the wellness movement. Her mission is to help people prevent and reverse chronic issues naturally, which we all love on this show. From her 20-year journey through the conventional healthcare system as a patient caretaker and then technology professional working with hospitals, Adrienne has seen how empowering patients through integrative health and wellness is key to preventing and reversing the chronic disease crisis. Adrienne received her BA from Johns Hopkins University and her MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. She lives with her husband in New York City. WellBe is her greatest passion and her life's work. Thank you so much, Adrienne, for being here with us today.
Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor.
Awesome. Okay, give us an overview of what brought you to found WellBe in, in a few minutes. What brought you to that place where you founded WellBe and you decided, I'm gonna change my entire career path?
Well, as I said, it's about a 20-year process, but the, the very moment, um, that I decided to change my career path and the biggest catalyst I would say for founding WellBe was, um, my mom's death, which was in December 2010. Um, she had been, um, in and out of inpatient programs for schizoaffective disorder, which is what they diagnosed her with, for about 3, 3 and a half years before her death. And she took her life, and it was actually just when I was applying to business school. So I had been working at IBM at the time, and, you know, it was a fine job. I worked with really nice people, but I just kind of knew, like, there are big, big problems in the world and I needed to do something that not only made money but also helped to solve some of those big problems. And so I didn't even know, you know, health and wellness and— this has all been part of my life since I was a little kid because of having had chronic Lyme disease. But some— and something my friends would ask me about, you know, just recommendations, things they made fun of me for, the way I ate, my supplements, like this and that, all my natural therapies like chiropractic care and acupuncture and everything. But I never thought it would be my career. And so it wasn't until I was applying to business school and writing my applications and my mom died 2 weeks before they were due that I had this kind of Like, I didn't even think I was going to be able to finish the applications, much less actually go, you know, to some business school 6 months later. And luckily, my friends were absolutely, you know, amazing in getting, you know, you have these drafts, so just get them out the door, you can do it, you know, staying up editing with me till 3 in the morning. And I managed to get a handful of applications out the door a couple of weeks later, and I changed all of my essays days that I had written and just said— and in a way, I guess that writing process was a little bit therapeutic for me, um, but just said, you know, I'm gonna work the rest of my life to fix the healthcare system. And I knew that I wanted to actually work and touch with— touch people rather than just kind of going to work with businesses that I thought could change the healthcare system. Because from what I've seen, the most impactful change that happens in any industry or political movement or anything else comes with people becoming informed and empowered and then rising up together to create change. And businesses have to respond to that because they're businesses and they respond to consumer demand. And of course, eventually the policies change as well. So that was my inspiration for founding WellBe. I did go to business school. I moved to Chicago from New York, where I'm from, for 2 years. And from the moment I got there, I just tried to talk to everybody that I could about you know, wellness and integrative and functional medicine and nobody had any idea what I was talking about. You know, wellness was like corporate wellness programs. You know, that's like all they knew about or like wearables or something. They're like, "You mean Fitbit?" I'm like, "No." And finally, you know, I think Instagram starting and everything else, I started to see this different world and people talking about the things that I've been talking about and sharing their stories and everything else and podcasts and— It kind of finally— I'd worked in the healthcare system after business school for 3 years— gave me the— I think the motivation and the courage and the sort of like kick in the butt to actually go and do it because I thought there was enough conversation happening around it and it was a moment that I thought we could actually destigmatize this idea of getting to the root cause of health issues and actually, you know, enabling the body to heal itself. By taking the wrong outputs out and putting the right inputs, you know, in. And that's what— yeah, that was my major motivation. But before that was a lifetime of getting better from different, you know, healing my Lyme and then healing amenorrhea when I was in college and then, you know, the conventional system really failing me on both of those but the integrative system really helping to heal me. And so I saw a very different perspective from a young age. And my parents, like, weren't hippies, you know. They, they, they did this really out of necessity. It was really, um, if we want to get these kids— because my brother and I were both sick at the same time— better.
How old were you guys when that started?
Um, I was diagnosed when I was 11, and my little brother was 8.
Okay.
Yeah. Wow. And I think I was sort of— I was in remission by 13, 13 and a half probably.
Okay.
Um, which I think in the grand scheme of Lyme is, is very short. Um, for most people, you know, I could— it could be so much longer, but it felt like forever, you know, as a kid at 11.
Of course.
Gosh, I know all my friends are, you know, having their first kiss and going to camp and everything, and I'm like going to these weird treatment facilities.
And yeah, so let me ask you this. We didn't talk about it in the pre-interview, but we talk about suicide an immense amount because it's something we all face. And I mean, I know for myself, we— I consciously had to choose thousands of times not to commit suicide. Because the pain was so excruciating. And one of the things that I— like, my trigger for me, the only thing that would be like, no, I can't even think about this, was I would be like, no, I want to leave a legacy. And I didn't even know what that meant. I just thought, I want to leave a legacy. And so if your mom— your mom has battled mental illness, which I can't imagine trying to care for kids with Lyme and be dealing with, you know, a mental illness and stuff. Like similar to chronic illness. What would you say to people out there who would be hap— like, I truly just stayed alive for my kids. Like, I had to fight for my kids. And so what would you say to those people out there who are staying alive for their kids?
Like, what—
I don't know, what would you say to them?
Um, well, so my mom's illness came on pretty intensely when I was like 21, and my younger brother was, you know, 18, and my older brother was 25.
So it wasn't something you lived with for a long time?
Yeah, I mean, she had many, many signs of this progressing and many other chronic health issues that I think all contributed to this mental illness for sure, including a lot of unresolved childhood emotional traumas and gut health issues, a thyroid condition like Epstein-Barr, chronic fatigue, all that stuff. Um, I would say though that having something that you care about deeply, whether it's kids, a dog, a career that's meaningful to you, a husband, something It, it really is incredible how much that keeps people moving forward and alive because when my mom was actively trying to get us better, she was brilliant. I mean, she was a researcher like you couldn't believe. She was, you know, running our house and, and, you know, our lives and, and also taking us to all these places and, you know, volunteering at our church and just, you know, wearing a million hats, even though herself not feeling great. I mean, there were many days I, you know, she just had to get in bed because she, you know, suffered from so many chronic health issues. But the rest of the time she was moving and shaking and, you know, making sure that the symphony that was our lives like actually happened in addition to getting us better. Yeah. Um, and so it wasn't really until we were all out of the house, you know, and my younger brother was sick for much longer than I was because I think he had been undiagnosed for so much longer than I was. And so once he was actually kind of better and didn't need her anymore and then went to college, I think that's— I mean, and my parents got divorced, um, that's really when things unraveled so quickly. And I think it was the lack of being needed and the lack of staying alive for your kids because she could tell that we were all kind of fine at that point on our own, even though we were still, you know, needing her, but not in the same way that you do when you have kids who are sick or little. So yeah, I think it makes a huge difference for that will to, to, to go on in hard times is having that feeling that you're needed and having something that you really care about that, you know, you've got to be there for them or they're not gonna be able to go on, you know.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Well, thank you. In her, in her mind, you know, she sort of thought we'd be fine without her, right? Which is not true, but in her mind, that's what she thought. So, you know, at that time—
you bring up a really good point. Like, she probably did think that you guys were okay without her, because I've had those thoughts myself. If the first time I went to treatment in 2013, I was, I was on death's doorstep. It was a last-ditch effort. And I remember just thinking, if I can give myself 2 more years, if I can see my son graduate, right? Like, let's just extend this out a little bit. Um, but that's forward, that's forward movement. And you never know when something will change like that, you know?
Huh. Yeah, even just, I think, the way that you thought about it, just 2 more years, 2 more years, and eventually you're better, or, you know, you can get— climb out of it. But if you don't have that— and she, I think she really held it together until my younger brother was okay. You know, I think she knew she had a lot of this going on but held it together until, until he was better. And then, you know, her first manic episode happened, um, when, you know, uh, in 2007, and then she died in 2010. So Um, yeah, she held on for a while.
Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that. It's, it is. So what did you learn? We always talk about mindset. You have had, you've battled chronic illness, you've dealt with mental illness. What are those mindsets that you have come to adapt that help you fight, help you stay focused, help you keep doing all the weird protocols and stuff that you have to keep doing with a chronic illness?
You know, my experience with Lyme, which was definitely when I was doing all of those protocols and everything else, was a little bit different because when you're a kid, you— it's being done to you. You know, your mom is, or whoever is your caretaker, is really in charge. And so, I mean, I was definitely one of those fresh 12-year-olds who was like, "Mom, this is ridiculous. What are we doing here?" Like, "I just want to be done with I don't care. I'll just go on the antibiotics again. Whatever. I wanna go home. And she was really the one who had to fight in that scenario to keep us moving forward and keep us like, "No, no. You're close. You're gonna get better." All this stuff. And to keep fighting for more answers and stuff like that. But when I was in college and I had this amenorrhea issue and then similarly with being my mom's caretaker when she had a mental health issue and even now, dealing with, you know, side effects of having Hashimoto's, which is a lot of like low energy type of stuff, um, and trying to figure that out and get to the root cause of that and heal that. And so that's— health is really a journey, by the way. It's like, it just— even when you think you're better, you're— there's always something on the other side to just be ready for. Um, but I would say the, the mindset things that have helped me the most is just that the whole idea of like Rome wasn't built in a day, and I have never seen somebody really thoroughly reverse a chronic health issue or fully heal if they weren't doing something consistently for a long time. So true. There's no quick fixes, and there are no— like, there's, there's just no way to really have your immune system reboot itself and be able to then kill something off or maintain, you know, or, or regain control, um, without supporting it consistently day in and day out with, with certain, you know, healthy habits and protocols and stuff like that for, you know, minimum of 6 months, maximum of however long, you know, it takes, um, years. So knowing that, I don't get frustrated by, by the idea that I might have to do that for a while, you know. Because it's just— I think it's just a fact to me at this point. And of course, like knowing that— so I've dug into a lot of the different root causes of Hashimoto's and ways to heal it naturally, and I'm convinced I'm gonna reverse mine. And even with, you know, natural-minded doctors of mine telling me, "Oh, you'll probably just have to take thyroid medication the rest of your life," even though I take a— I take Nature-Throid which is a natural one, but And I say, no, I'm not gonna do that the rest of my life. Like, I will reverse this. And they're just like, yeah, sure. But the reason I'm so determined is because I've seen other people do it that I respect, certain doctors that I've written about and stuff. And I think if they can do it, I can do it. But it is a lot of work and it's hard. And so you have to kind of have that in mind before you say things like that, is, is that it takes a lot of work. And you've gotta get to a place where you're willing to do all of that work and for as long as it takes. And so there's certain things I've had to, you know, I've had to give up caffeine. I drink some decaf now, but that was hard, but I think worth it. And it's not like a just for a little while until I'm better. This is a forever thing and it's fine. It's just the way it goes. And same with gluten. I finally had to, you know, a couple months ago, there's a big correlation between autoimmune thyroid conditions and gluten and even though I don't have a particular sensitivity to it— Right. I just— it's now a part of my life that I really do my best to avoid it and, you know, I went to Paris for my birthday with my husband and I had some gluten there so, you know, but in my normal life, I used to just not really have strict rules for myself like that. And now it's worth it to me and I know it's forever and that's just the way it goes. So I, you know, I think that's an important mindset to have is just this is what I need to do for this and I've read enough to understand that this is really well correlated and I'm not gonna feel like a victim because I can't have the breadbasket.
Right.
I'm just gonna accept that this is my new reality. Yeah. And find other things that, you know, I'm excited to, to eat or whatever.
Yeah, yeah, I like that. It really is a journey and you never know when it's going to change. And even for me, my reinfection was a good example. I was, you know, finally in a sense restored to better than I had been 18 months ago and then got reinfected and went very much downhill. So it is, it's just a journey in a sense. You have to kind of accept the longevity. And then one of the things that I have loved reading this year is Atomic Habits. When you don't have any energy, you start to develop little micro habits 'cause you can only control what you can control. And one of the things that they said in there is starting to change your language. So instead of saying, I have to juice, say, I get to juice. And for me, even like being back at work and back up and functioning, I'm like, oh, I get to go to work.
Like I get to meet with other people. Yeah, no, that's a huge one. I think that's a great one. Also, just to extrapolate a little bit more on what I was talking about with like the victim mentality thing. Yeah, like, I, I mean, I'm sure you've seen the documentary Heal, which I just loved.
By the way, go to WellBe website because she— Adrienne interviewed Kelly Noonan. That's how you say her name, right?
Kelly Noonan. Of course. Yeah, it's, it's Get WellBe actually, is the URL. I'm sorry.
Yeah, it's okay.
But you got to interview her. Yeah, she's wonderful.
The director of Heal, which is just pretty much— when I watched that, that documentary, and I was like, yes, I'm gonna make a documentary very similar to this someday because I've seen everything she was saying. She had 9 things. We actually did a podcast episode on it. She had 9 healing— 9 aspects of healing, and only 2 were about like diet and nutrition and supplements, and the others were about environment and energy and We have been on this journey really for the last 6 years, but we, because of our illness and the intensity of the number of kids we have and lots of people with Lyme and all this stuff, we had to totally recreate our whole lives. And it's been really, really hard, but the benefit of it now, 4 years down the road, is that we have far more freedom in our lives than most people we know because we have a handle on the health stuff. We have a handle on understanding our emotions and creating a good environment to live in. And it has sucked a thousand times over, but we coming out of it having learned some of those lessons, honestly, I feel like we are in a sense like given a gift that puts us ahead of where most people are at, like in, in what they expect from life and what they're willing to do to have their health and to have their freedom and all those aspects. Those are hard lessons to learn.
Yeah. Yeah. The, the, the 9 lessons I literally—
For nearly 2 decades, Invita Medical Center has been leading the way with the latest in personalized treatment options designed for patients dealing with Lyme disease complex. At Invita Medical Center, they offer a team-style approach approach and the latest technology regarding treatment and testing at an unmatched radical love and care environment for their patients. Call to speak to one of the patient care coordinators today to learn why hundreds of patients choose Invita Medical Center each year. You can find them online at invita.com. In, in what they expect from life and what they're willing to do to have their health and to have their freedom and all those aspects. Those are hard lessons to learn.
Yeah, yeah. The, the, the 9 lessons, I literally have them on like my Notes app on my phone. I look at them all the time, really. The other 7, I mean, I get the diet and supplement stuff, but, um, yeah, the other 7 mental, emotional, spiritual things just they're just amazing and I use them, you know, even when I'm feeling bad about something in a work context or, you know, relationship thing with somebody in my family. Like it's not just about healing chronic illness. I think it's coming out of anything or having a good perspective on literally anything is to, you know, cultivate happier, you know, I don't wanna list all 7 but they're— some of them I think apply to so many things, not just illness. And so I love thinking about the— especially the victim part of it, the changing your language and the like, this obviously sucks, but instead of thinking about like, why is this happening to me? And again, this applies to chronic illness, but also like something falls apart with your business, like somebody hacks your website, whatever it might be, like, "Oh my God, why did this happen to me if it didn't happen to everybody? Why me? Why me?" That will just send you into this spiral of negativity that you really— it's really hard to get out of. And the organs in your body respond to the messages they're getting sent from your brain. And so if the voices in your head are very negative, sending negative energy everywhere. And so how can you heal anything with that? You can't. And so I've realized that— and I, and I mean heal chronic illness or just heal a feeling on your business. Yeah, how can you get motivated to do something when you're sending negative energy to every part of you? Yeah, it's harder to get out of bed, it's harder to get excited about things, it's harder to be creative, it's harder to think clearly, it's harder to be rational with the people that work with you. I mean, it just— the list is endless. And then obviously the same for chronic illness. How can you, you know, get to that protocol and how can you, you know, have a good attitude about the— some, you know, if you have to do physical therapy every day or how can you have a good attitude about how many pills you have to take or whatever it might be. The answer is like you can't. The positivity has to come here and then get disseminated everywhere. And so I've really tried and it's not easy. I definitely, you know, have my moments but I've tried in every way to stop thinking like, "Oh my gosh, why do I have Hashimoto's? Not everybody does." Or, "Why do I, you know, have certain things happen to me?" Or, "Why did I have Lyme when I did?" As a kid, by the way, you're a total victim. I was like, "This is the worst," you know, 'cause I wasn't mature enough. "I can't believe this is happening," blah, blah, blah. But now that I've grown up a bit and seen that movie and using all the skills I learned from it and the lessons from it, And reading a lot, you know, of books too on this topic. I'm trying to change the language and the voices in my head to not think in a victim way about anything because it's the only way to really make progress on anything.
Yeah, I agree. It's hard. It's hard not to operate in a victim mentality when it's sucking away your resources, when it's consuming decades of your life. But But it's worthy. It's a worthy endeavor for sure. So, okay, we've already walked right into all those choices— that healing consists of choices— and all the choices that people make. And you touched on it earlier, it's not about making a choice one time, it's about putting things into practice and developing them as a lifestyle. Tell us about your 100 choices you make a day as part of your overall health.
Yeah, so I say a lot as part of my work, um, with WellBe that The 100 choices you make a day are really your healthcare because I think about 10% of our health outcomes are influenced by interactions with the healthcare system, whether that's positive or negative. And I think 20% is— 10 to 20% is actually genetic and, you know, environmentally induced as far as, you know, something you can't really do that much about. And then the other 70% at least, and some will even argue 80%, is all based on the choices that you make every single day with the products you put on your skin to the kind of sleep you get to— and how much of it— to what you put in your mouth to what you put in your mind and what kind of work you do on your mind to whether or not you move frequently throughout the day. What kind of movement you do, whether, you know, access to quality herbs and supplements, if you have micronutrient deficiencies, the kinds of practitioners and doctors you choose to partner with, and, you know, all of that. Literally all of that are part of the 100 choices you make a day and that is really your healthcare. Hmm. Which is really crazy to think about.
I really like that be— when I read it on your site because I— if you've been in the chronic illness realm enough, you're gonna know that already. But I think for a lot of people, that's a huge, um, level of awareness that a lot of people don't have. If you haven't battled a chronic illness, to think that you actually are making 100 choices a day that lead to your health— I think most people don't understand that. I didn't.
I didn't understand that. I— it's funny how many people ask me about that because it's something that I just thought was pretty Elementary. Yeah, just like, of course. Yeah, but that's because I've been working in the healthcare system for a while and that I sort of was focused on, especially when I worked with hospitals, on chronic disease management programs and population health management, which is a lot to do with what's called social determinants of health. So, you know, when people are really poor, and have, you know, usually very bad health outcomes. Um, they, they look at what really causes those and why it's such a disproportionate amount of people that are poor that have had bad health outcomes. And what they've been able to see looking at this field of population health management for the last decade or so, a little under a decade, I would say, is it's not like they were born that way. You know, it's about everything that happens to them while they're here and the air they breathe and whether or not they choose to, you know, abuse alcohol or cigarettes or how much they move. Mo— you know, a lot of it has to do with the food they put in their mouth, both the nutrients they're not getting by not eating organic and high-quality, you know, local fresh produce and such, but also obviously all the additives and the bad quality I'm sorry, the bad— the bad health issues that come with eating a lot of processed foods. So all of that is really what they figured out are the main determinants of health, and they call them social determinants of health. And that includes a lot of the mental stuff too. The exposure to a lot of traumas in childhood causes a lot of stagnant inflammation in the body which takes away from your immune system's ability to fight off things like ticks if they come in or like viruses that you might be exposed to if you, you know, ate a salad in a restaurant that, you know, may— or maybe it's a bacteria or parasite or something like that. So, you know, our immune system, a lot of us can handle these little things as they come, but if you're dealing with all this other stuff that's taking away from the immune system's ability to fight off other things, that little virus can end you. [Speaker:EILEEN_LYNN] Right. Right. [Speaker:DR_LYDIA_GRAY] And become a lifetime chronic illness or even kill you. So this is really what has made me think about it a lot and then as I've researched and learned about the statistics around it and because I'm very, very interested and kind of obsessed with reducing your toxic burden to then empower your immune system to do what it's meant to do, I think a lot about all the consumer product regulations, you know, all the nonsense they put in skin products and we put them, you know, in toothpaste and in all this stuff and especially in food with, you know, what the FDA allows. It's insane. But also with all of the over-the-counter drugs that people use. Like so many things in the drugstore have so many poor health outcomes, side effects related to them and they're not reaching for natural things first. They're using these things that have a lot of adverse you know, side effects. So all of that to me, I mean, if you think about it, I've counted about 40 choices most people make before they even get out the door to work in the morning. Wow. And so when you think about it, you can either come at it from a negative perspective, like, that is so many things to keep track of, like, it's overwhelming, I'm just gonna— I can't deal. But if you think about it from a positive perspective, the body is so resilient. And so responsive to change. Yeah. And so if you start to make even 50 out of the 100 choices you make a day differently or even 30 and you're doing this 7 days a week, you know, 52 weeks a year, 365 days, within a couple weeks even of making very, you know, a large percentage of your choices, you know, more— more on the encouraging health rather than encouraging disease side, your body can change and respond and I've seen people that end up going on, you know, certain elimination diets or certain, you know, kind of strict lifestyle change. Within 3 weeks they're feeling better or something and, you know, depending on what you're dealing with, it could take, you know, more like a couple months but that's incredible and that's just because you make so many choices that if you change a certain amount, you're— You're like, you have such a leg up on what's happening in your body. It's like, oh, thank God. Thank you. These chains, get these off. Like, thank you so much. We feel so much better. We can, you know, do what we've been trying to do instead of being weighed down by all these poor choices that, you know, you've been making. And most of us didn't even know that we were making.
No. You know, Atomic Habits talks about that. Like, you're influenced when you start to do your day-to-day routine, you haven't learned it, you're just copying what you've seen. So based on your home environment, based on the things that were important in your home at that time, shape those activities and patterns. And one of the things that has come from this whole second reinfection in the last year for us personally has just been, you know, those, you said social determinants of health, I think one of the things I see, um, in this chronic illness community is that there's a lot of worthiness issues that come up. And I feel like for my husband, he grew up in a pretty poor family, and so for him, he had to give himself permission to, um, have good food, to take good supplements, to prioritize health and mental well-being because those things were not important in, in the environment he grew up in. So when he, you know, I'm going through this journey of self, of healing and self-exploration and all this stuff, and he's like supportive, kind of along for the ride but not in it with me, or like, okay, you can do your thing. Whereas now, like, and you wouldn't think it was a worthiness issue, but I think it is, especially when you grow up. We did not have a lot of money growing up at all. My, both our dads were ministers of small churches, and so you just know you're just not going to have a lot of money, but it's okay because you're like, oh, um, they're doing good work, right? Like, that's how I would think of it as a kid. Like, oh, I know we don't have a ton of money, but they're doing good work. But I— we both had to go through this process of like, no, you know what, we have nothing without our health. And like, that is in and of itself a worthy goal. And it's that simple. But I feel like especially when you're surrounded by lack which you tend to be if you're battling a chronic illness for 5, 10, 15 years, you have multiple people— it's that victim mentality, whether you have it or not, starts to sink in because you're questioning your worthiness.
I'm so glad you brought that up because I feel very strongly that the feeling worthy of good health is like a foundation for healing anything, anything. Or even like you said, giving yourself permission to do the things that prevent chronic health issues too. Same thing, I think, you know, and this is actually not just people that didn't grow up with a lot of money. Like, you know, I know people that have plenty of means whose families just didn't prioritize it. And so they think it's— it's a sign of weakness to be, you know, buying organic or like That's silly. I don't need that. I, you know, Oscar Mayer, that's an American brand. Like I can handle that, you know, as if they have some sort of different constitution and gut bacteria than the rest of us or, you know, that it's so indulgent to buy grass-fed organic meat but yet they drive, you know, an Audi and I'm like, "What?" You know, I don't understand. So to me, I don't understand anything more important than spending money on your health and buying high-quality things, and also rewarding those that are doing the right thing about how they, how they raise animals and how they grow food. Because we all have a responsibility to the land that we live on, and if you're using farming practices that destroy the land, not only is it terrible for our health, but it also literally leaves our whole country barren and in need of all these, you know, pesticides and fertilizers, etc. So I think it's a responsibility to our own health but also to the land that we live on. To grow food appropriately and to raise animals appropriately. So the worthiness is such a big issue. And when I think about my mom's health issues that all contributed to her eventual mental illness, I think back to the fact that, you know, her mother cut her down a lot when she was little, and she had such low self-esteem. And she just didn't think she, at the end of the day, that she was worthy of love, of good health, of anything else. It was all about taking care of other people and not, you know, doing anything for herself or, you know, she didn't really wear makeup or, you know, she wouldn't wear any clothes that were expensive or whatever and it was— she was very charitable so I knew that was a part of it but I think there's also part of it which is like, "I'm not worth spending that time on." I'm not worth trying to make look attractive because I'm just not attractive, or I'm not worth the effort of going to a nice hair salon, you know, even though we could afford for her to go to get, you know, proper hair done, you know, cut or whatever it is. And so I saw the root cause of that as being this real lack of feeling worthy, and that cycled through her whole life. It's very unusual for people to, you know, become schizophrenic or have schizoaffective disorder come on that late in life and so that's why I'm really convinced that it was just this, you know, bucket. You know, they talk about this a lot in functional medicine. This bucket of toxic burden which eventually it just overflows and the whole thing floods and breaks down and that was definitely what I saw with her and I think one of the foundations of that was this not feeling worthy of doing the things that you're really meant to do and then, you know, not only with maybe resolving— spending money on therapy to resolve some of her emotional traumas but also the simple things like we talked about with the 100 choices, the buying the grass-fed beef for herself, the, you know, going to the practitioner. She was always taking us, you know, but for herself and always making sure we had these amazingly healthy meals, but she wasn't really eating them, you know? She had this whole other idea for herself about what she deserved and, you know, she— she was a bit overweight so she always thought, "Oh, you know, I can't eat," or this or that, and then would end up binge eating, you know, like not— not understanding that there was a foundation of health that she had to apply to herself as well as us even though she knew all of this research. And it just goes to show you can know everything, but the emotions are really what, what drive the car.
Yeah, you're so right. Well, and it's not about even knowing. It's not about knowledge. She had the knowledge. My husband had the knowledge to take care of himself. He had seen me walking it out. But you have to— then it's not about having the knowledge, it's about practicing. And you got to practice having good health.
Yeah, yeah. And seeing those behaviors that you don't even know are part of your lack of feeling worthy and being able to have the consciousness to see that that's a really bad pattern that you have to somehow unravel and redo because I don't even think she realized that, you know, she— oh, in restricting what she was eating and then eventually getting very hungry and having bad gut bacteria so having sugar cravings and all of that, reaching for the ice ice cream, whatever, and not seeing that these patterns were all part of not feeling worthy and sitting down and having a proper meal and nourishing her body and not feeling that she didn't deserve food but rather that she deserved high-quality food and that would actually eventually help her heal in the long run from, you know, the different chronic health issues and weight things that she had dealt with. Yeah.
I know for Aaron, he really struggled with just feeling selfish. Like if he took time for himself because we were in crisis because we had 5 little kids, like if he took time for himself or anything. He just felt guilty, and it's completely changed who he is. For him, in the last 18 months, to, I feel like, uh, discover his own worthiness has empowered him to start completely changing his mindsets and his emotions and how he reacts to things. And it's empowered us as a whole family. But, and that's kind of self-care.
I mean, it's— oh, completely. Yeah, I don't I don't think my mom did 1 ounce of self-care in the 25 years that I spent with her and— Wow. Wow. Yeah. I mean, maybe she got a couple pedicures. Okay. That's about all I remember. But yeah, I never saw her do anything else and she— I think when you start to develop that, it's a— it has like a trickle-down effect because if, you know, he's a parent in your household and your 5 kids are looking up to him and now he's finally feeling he's worthy enough to take time for exercise or meditation or cooking a proper healthy meal for himself, then when your kids grow up and have their own patterns of behavior with their own kids, they're gonna maybe do it differently because they've seen their parents do it differently too.
Yeah, it was funny. Our 19-year-old is here living with us for the summer. He just finished his first year of college, and so he's been here for 10 weeks, and, um, he's going back home soon. But we were talking about some of this worthiness and stuff because we made these choices, you know, 4 years ago and started recreating our lives because of chronic illness and because of emotional issues. And I have 2 kids with reactive attachment disorder, and so it's very similar. It's like living with someone with a mental illness. It's hard. They have to be micromanaged and cared for, and it's a huge um, it can be very taxing if we are not taking care of ourselves. Um, but I was just kind of explaining some of these because he hasn't lived with us in 2 years, and so he hasn't seen— he didn't grow up with Aaron making breakfast for everyone every morning. Like, he— Aaron was always gone before he woke up when he was little. And he was just saying, like, you know, I just can't wait. He's like on this whole different journey entrepreneurially, and he said, you know, I just— I— that's one's gonna be one of my goals. Like, I want to make breakfast for my kids every morning. I just wanna be there. Like, that's one of those things that we never even thought of as being an option until a few years ago when we were like, oh, okay, we have to change our lives to accommodate the crazy. But you're right, as you start to find worthiness and start to practice self-care in one area, it will expand and grow to the next. And that's where that reward comes from, even though you don't see it sometimes for a few years.
Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's an amazing exercise to think about how many times you get down on yourself like in a week and just write them down. I did it just this week actually and the number of times that I was angry at myself or saying I didn't deserve something or beating myself up for, you know, getting out of bed half an hour later than I wanted or missing yoga class I was planning to go to because work ran over or food going bad, you know, in my fridge, and I'm so mad at myself that I let that happen because I hate wasting food. Or, you know, like all these things, they really add up to basically this kind of like naughty child thing all the time instead of like a happy, loving, you know, how you might want your— you want to be treated by your spouse kind of a thing, you know. So it's wild. You really— I think those sorts of exercises help you see that what you think of as just a normal person's brain is actually quite a negative environment, and there's no way out of that except first consciousness and acceptance of it, and then trying to rewire that and also understand why you feel that way, right? Why are you always angry at yourself? Why are you always thinking you don't deserve things? Like, where does that come from? Did somebody tell you that? Are you trying to live up to an expectation that's not right for you? Um, there's like so many root causes, but the root cause always helps to get to before you can really heal anything.
Yeah, yeah. You know, because when Derek and I were talking about this this week, he— I said, he goes, I keep hearing you say you had to give yourself permission. He goes, I don't understand what that means. Like, how do you have to give yourself permission to go on a run? How do you have to give yourself permission to buy the right food or swallow the right supplements? And I said, Derek, I said, it's easy at 19. You're not only taking care of yourself So you just do whatever you have to do when you're making hundreds of decisions on how to provide for everyone physically, emotionally, and financially over all these different spectrums. You do tend to— okay. And then whatever environment you grew up in or whatever shame is attached goes back to worthiness of like, oh, do I deserve blank? Do I? And it goes back to permission, goes back to worthiness. And it's just, it's deep. It's deep. You don't see this stuff on the surface, but that is what you're wrestling with, with a chronic illness, is the severity and deepness and like all-consumingness of life having to change.
Yeah, yeah. I think it comes with any responsibility. So if you have a responsibility to get better from an illness or to run a business or to run a household, um, or even just if you feel responsible for your spouse you know, like you don't have very equal partnership and they, you know, whatever it is, um, or an elderly parent or whatever, any responsibility, you start to, you know, an unhealthy relationship with yourself. You start to put yourself second or third or fourth or seventh or whatever the things you have to deal with are. Um, and so yeah, I totally saw his point. Like I didn't have to give myself permission to do anything when I was in college. I just did whatever I wanted because it was just about me. Right. Um, And then it was, you know, only when I had a business to run or also had a spouse or also had, you know, a brother I was worried about for whatever reason, or taking care of my mom when she— before her death. Like, that's when it's harder to actually do the things that you need to do for yourself. Um, but acknowledging and being aware of that, I think, is, is a big step towards actually undoing that.
Yeah, I think That's huge.
Like, yes, I have a responsibility to this business, but this business is nothing if it's not part of a full life. And a full life involves making time for a yoga class. So I'm getting there, you know, just that like step-by-step process, saying it out loud, I think can change the, you know, probability that I do some self-care, like pretty drastically.
Yeah. Yeah. So let's talk about living because we say, we used to say that living is the outcome. We used to say fighting is a mindset, healing is a choice, and living is the outcome. And we're switching things up a little bit because I have a different voice and different thoughts, and I've grown in the last few years. And I'm like, it's fighting is a mindset, healing consists of choices, and living is just because you freaking can. Like, dude, whatever. If you have fought for years, you know, like you even referenced, you've dealt with chronic Lyme for like 2 and a half years as a kid, and like in the scope of Lyme, that's hardly anything. That's what's so bizarre about this illness. So how do you, how do you live? How do you choose to live? Like in the sense of incorporating, because that's what I feel like we've done. We've incorporated, oh, all of our life has to work towards our health, our careers, our family environment, where we live. So we made the decision to move up to Colorado, and we were just on our walk this morning, and Aaron goes, there's not been one time— we walk almost every day— he goes, there's not been one time in the last 2 years that I haven't been so thankful when I walk outside that we're in this environment. And I would not have given that credit before my illness. I would have just been like, oh, life is about just connecting with people and being around your family and different things. And I'm like, oh no, you know what? This environment here has like healed my heart to be out in nature and to be, be around it. And so in that sense, I'm like, living just takes on a totally different tone after you have battled something really hard.
Yeah.
So what do you do to live? I mean, you've already said so many things to truly live a meaningful life?
You know, when you're running a small business, you're not doing— I'm not doing as good a job as I could be, I think, right now to truly be living. Um, and it's something I'm like actively trying to like turn the ship on before the fall, you know, comes. And, and I, and I, you know, all— I have a very academic— like, the start of the year is not January to me, it's really, it's really September. And so I'm I'm gearing up for it and want to be different about how I actually live and fit the business into a happy, full life and not let it run everything. But one of the— couple of the changes I've made in the last couple of years to really be living is one, doing something that you really, really care about for work because you work the majority of your life either way. And so if you're spending those 40, 50, however many hours that you work doing something that's not meaningful at all to you and you don't feel purposeful, like, that really eats away at you. And that's— purpose is a foundation of, of feeling, you know, happy and, and, and for health as well. So, um, that is, you know, super important. But then I think additionally, you're right, nature, access to nature has been— has become so much more important to me. And I can tell It's like the second I see— like, for me, I live near the ocean, so I see like the open ocean, or if I get out to the mountains or something like that, or just see like a big vista and I see green, it's like my entire body chemistry just changes. And I didn't realize this was so important before, but it is crucially important for me. So I'm making a lot more time for that. So that's, that's really living. I've also realized how important travel and adventures are. Obviously, when you're starting a business, money, you can't be spending it too much. It's not even about ones that cost a lot. It's just having adventures and having them to look forward to. Whether it's camping or going somewhere overseas or just a road trip or whatever it is, I know that that's something I need to try to work in every few months and just I just get excited for, and seeing the world makes me feel alive. And it wasn't until I kind of wasn't doing that as much that I realized how much, how important that was to me. And so that's, that's really living for me. And then, you know, I mean, of course, friends and family, and that's, you know, a huge part of living too, and making time for that and the people that you care about. But I'm sure that's, that's a more obvious one. So I guess I'll mention a few others. Purposeful work, access to nature, making time for adventures, big or small. And then also for me, the arts. Like hearing beautiful music, whether it's live or playing it in my home or being excited about some sort of a concert or since I live in New York, seeing some kind of a play or theater or cool art exhibition. There's so many things like that here that are free and in public works and, you know, making the time for that, it just, it makes me smile and it makes me so happy. And it's so easy to forget about those things. They don't seem like you can fit them in all that much, or it seems like you don't deserve that, right? Like this whole mindset of like, am I worthy of just like an afternoon at the museum? Like I have so much to do, you know, but that really has affected me a lot. And so I think that's really part of my living too.
Wow. Awesome. Okay. Are you ready for the rapid fire round? Yes.
Okay.
Where are you getting your inspiration from lately?
I just read the book. Can I curse on this or no? Yeah, go for it. Okay.
It's, well, it's not even— Oh, I know what you're gonna say.
I bet you say it. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Yeah. I just finished it. And was so blown away by it. And it was so funny, but it just made me think so differently. He talked a lot about that victim mindset. So when I was talking about that earlier, that's really, you know, one of the, the books that changed my perspective. Um, and just about the negativity that we all have and that it's not going anywhere. There's something wrong with you for having it. It's part of the human condition, especially the human condition that's not starving. So if you're not starving and your basic needs are taken care of, the negativity just kicks in because you're so, you know, you don't— you're not worried about just, just making it through the day. Um, there's all these other things. And so that has really— I love that book. I thought it was really terrific, and it's changed a lot about how I think about everything.
It's, um, it's interesting because like 3 people have sent me a screenshot of that book. Like when you were about to say it, I was like, I already know what she's gonna say. Like I just got one yesterday. Someone's like, oh my gosh, this book is so— I'm a total book junkie, so people are always sending me their book recommendations, but I keep getting that one.
Yeah, if you haven't read it, first of all, he's really funny, so you'll enjoy it.
Awesome.
Yeah, I thought it was— I thought it was a terrific book, and I also thought, um, that the message was something I really hadn't heard before. And the fact that he kind of went through a lot to get there, as far as feeling and being entitled, and, you know, through a lot of traumas and stuff like that, it's very relatable. So that's really inspiring me and the whole concept of feeling worthy I think is something I really hadn't thought about in several years since my mom passed away and it's just kind of come back around for me and my own issues of not feeling worthy for totally different reasons than hers literally in the last week and so when you said that, it was really pretty amazing to me because I I'm now actively thinking about, you know, the times of the day or the times in my life where I make decisions because out of this feeling of not being worthy of whatever the outcome is or whatever it is that, you know, I don't deserve the time to go exercise because I haven't worked enough today or I don't deserve this self-care because, you know, I haven't achieved this particular goal with my business and this and that and it's so unhealthy and it doesn't help your business. You know, to feel that way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What have you gained from this journey?
Oh my gosh, it's been 3 hours on that. I know. Um, I have learned so much. Um, I have gained relationships with, at this point, I think hundreds of people who reach out to our website and to me through our podcast and also on Instagram and Facebook talking about how a particular story that we told or expert that we interviewed or research piece that we covered or something that I shared about my own life related to them or touched them or something they had gone through and needed help with. And also a lot of the amazing changemakers and experts who are doing amazing work out there that we've been able to tell the story of and interview. So I think that all the relationships have really been what I've gained, and also just a perspective that, you know, there's always going to be things that are going wrong. You just have to have a good sense of humor about it, have more, you know, control over the amount of time you spend on your device, and kind of deal with things when you can deal with things, and then put it away when you're just not up for it.
Awesome. What's one thing that empowers you to overcome feelings of hopelessness?
Oh man, so overcome feelings of hopelessness. People. When you feel hopeless and go to somebody that you love and care about, not somebody that's gonna, you know, lecture you. Yeah, somebody else that just is supportive and whatever. And go to them and say you're struggling or you're feeling hopeless, it's almost impossible to still feel hopeless after just a few minutes of talking to them. So I think that's a big one is other people. I think also a good night's sleep. When you feel really hopeless and you get a good night's sleep, it's very hard to wake up feeling just as hopeless. You know, it's a new day. You know, the sun went around or the moon around, whatever it was. And here you are with a new opportunity to turn some of that hopelessness into progress or hope. It doesn't always, you know, sometimes it takes a couple of days to get out of it, but I think those two things are, are when I've seen hopelessness turn around for me. Awesome.
Adrienne, thank you so much for being here with us today. How do people get in touch with you?
Well, thank you so much for having me. You can find my website, which is getwellbe.com. So G-E-T-W-E-L-L-B-E. We have a weekly newsletter where we share all of our latest content, big announcements about, you know, new offerings and also special offers from some of our, you know, partners as well, and any events we might be throwing or whatever else, and all of our new content, as I mentioned. We also have a podcast, the WellBe Podcast. And Instagram is probably the most active channel that we are on as far as social media. So you can just search Get WellBe in any of those places, and I think you'd find that we're actively sharing a lot of information, inspiration, and, you know, helpful tools to empower people to, you know, prevent and reverse chronic health issues naturally.
Awesome.
Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me.
Again, have a great day. We know that you guys love what we are doing here at LionVoice, and so many of you have reached out and want to help and support what we are doing.
Yeah, we would love your help and support, and we have a way for you to do that at lionvoice.com. If you look on the right-hand side, you'll see a little, a little part where you can put in your donation of one time, or if you want to sign up and become one of our monthly partners, go to lionvoice.com and help support us.
Disease is contrary to life. Therefore, wherever disease exists, life must also fight to exist.
Good job fighting, Lyme fighters. Keep it up. We'll see you next time. Lion Voice contains general information about medical conditions and treatment. The information is not advice and should not be treated as such. Okay, Lincoln? Okay. The medical information on LionVoice is provided as is without any representations, warranties, expressed or implied. Okay? Okay. LionVoice makes no representations or warranties in relation to the medical information on this podcast. You must not rely on the information on this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional. Healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about your medical matter, you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. And for you, you consult your parents, okay? Okay. If you think you may be suffering from, from any medical condition, you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this podcast.
Got it, Lincoln? Got it.
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