E5 - The Talk’s Amanda Kloots discusses self-care and wellness, moving on with son Elvis after husband Nick’s death, and her new children’s book.

Hi, I'm Janae Luciani Senna and you are listening to Visible Panty Lines, AKA vpl, the pod Transparent conversations of inspiration, encouragement and overcoming adversity. So I guess I'll start off with. Since we make Stacy and everybody happy, I always like to help out my PR peeps and talk about like, what your, you know, you're the brand ambassador essentially for Swanson, a line of supplements. So tell me a little bit about that.

Yes, I'm honestly, I'm so excited to partner with Sponson WIO and their new line of products to, you know, really help people find something that they can just help themselves with their mental wellness. I think mental wellness is so important and it looks different for everybody and every day is different for everybody. And I just loved that we all had a product for everybody, no matter what you needed help with. And, and I also love their mission statement, which is self care is not self centered. And I think that that is, it's such a beautiful reminder because I think, you know, when we think about doing things for ourselves, it can feel like, oh, am I being selfish? But absolutely not. You know, like we have to take care of ourselves first and foremost before we can, you know, take care of our children, take care of our relationships, take care of our husbands, our wives, our friends. You know, we got to be in that good place. So I just find that, you know, whenever I'm looking to partner with a company, you know, I want to, I want to be in line with their mission statement and their product line and it just seemed like seamless to me.

Yes, exactly. Put the oxygen mask on yourself before helping others. Right. They tell you when you got in an air. That's right.

We've heard it our whole lives.

Yes, exactly. So you mentioned you touched on a little bit, like you're a busy mom. You are the co host of the Talk for like past year or so, which is amazing because. Oh, okay, awesome. I thought 2021, but maybe I misread that. So you've been on for three years.

This is my third season.

Yes. Amazing. Okay. I do a lot of the talk shows as an expert, but haven't done that one yet. So maybe someday.

I know, right? I'm like, I would love to. It's such a cool show. So obviously you're juggling a lot. You have a lot going on. You have a very demanding, busy career. You have a son, Elvis. Super cute name, by the way.

So how do you kind of like. I know with me personally, I'm barely hanging on by A thread at most points in time. Right. And especially, you know how it is in television, entertainment journalism. Like you're kind of have to be available to people at all hours. News doesn't stop, stuff doesn't stop, Emails come in, crazy times. So like, how do you balance that with being a mom?

Listen, it is hard and I'm not here to tell you that I am, you know, doing it perfect every day. It is a challenge and I'm, I mean I'm keeping it 100 over here. It is like a day by day struggle and you know, it just is. I mean you, you feel pulled in every direction. And Elvis is now at the age where he doesn't want me to go to work. No mama, stay at home. I don't know.

That's so hard me.

So you have that mom guilt of, you know, having to leave the house. But also like, you know, I love working, I love creating, I love, you know, it makes me feel good when I have a great day at work or if I'm super busy all day. So it's, it's a hard balance. And you know, I think, I think all you can try to do every day is just do your best. You know, I try to get enough sleep. That always is something that helps me. You know, I notice if I'm sleep deprived, I'm a little bit edgier the next day. If I'm, you know, if I'm eating healthy, that also helps me. If I'm getting my exercise in. That's like my number one go to, you know. Do you just try to. I think I just try to do my best and try to manage my time as best as possible because I want to try to fit everything in, you know, I mean we want to try to thing and, and you know, some days you can. Some days I have a day where I'm like, how did I get everything done? This was amazing. And then the other days, you know, my workout was five minutes and that was it. And you just have to learn to.

Be okay with that. You know, that is there were so many like little tidbits in there that I like want to expand upon. I know like looking at my desk, there's like 150 post it notes at any given time. And then I almost get anxiety because I look at like the ones that are left. I'm like, like there isn't enough hours in the day. But at the same time you have to commit time to your children, your family, yourself. Like you said to like, it's funny what you Said about, you know, the basic things. Like the basic things are sleep, the basic things are eating right, the basic things are exercising. And I know personally like this month I have not been able to have any of those basic self care things in my life. Like I had a bad bout of COVID at the beginning of the month, led to some weird insomnia. So I've basically been up to like 1am getting up at 5:30 with kids for school and then not. We have a gym in our garage that's like a few steps away from where my desk is. Haven't stepped foot in it other than to walk through there to go outside. So it's like those little acts of self care. Like how do you, when you. And I think too, like women especially, we get discouraged. Like we get like, okay, get to any of that this week, I'll just give up. Like, forget it. Like, and then you're, there's your workout routine for gone for years, you know, or there's your, you know, really trying to set a good bedtime. So like how do you, what do you say to those women that are like, listen, I just, I give up. I give up.

Yeah, I think you have to find hacks, right? Like for me, I know that I have every day a phone call with my producer. I have figured out that I can also do that phone call, but also have headphones in and jump rope at the same time. So that meeting is always smart. No, I mean I'm serious. Like this is serious. That meeting is always 10 minutes. So I jump rope at the same time because I know that I'm either going to sit in a chair and do that meeting or I can move my body at the same time and kill two birds with one stone. If that 10 minutes is my workout for the day, that's my 10 minutes that I did. At least I got it in. But if I sit in my chair, then I still feel like I have to move my body. Whereas if I don't, I'm like, well, you know what? That's all I had time for today. But at least I did that. At least I jumped rope for 10 minutes. So I find hacks, you know, I find ways to help myself. I, I get my groceries delivered. Now I use an incredible service called Instacart. Because I love Instacart. I know that that time to go to the grocery store, I can give that job to somebody else. And then I have my groceries at my house and I'm able to do other things. Maybe that's the hour that I play with Elvis. Do you know what I mean? So I just learned to find hacks for myself throughout the day so that I don't feel like I have everything on my plate, because I already have everything on my plate. You do, too. We all do. We have the things. So you just have to find ways to minimize those things and ways to help yourself as much as possible.

Yeah, that is such good advice. Like, and I think most people don't really think of that either. Like, I know that I spend a lot of time sitting and writing, and then the rest of the time, my brain is feeling like there's a chatter in my brain, feeling guilty, like, I'm not working out. I'm not going to have time to get my workout in today. I'm not going to do this because that's very important to me, too. I went through a very. We were actually, Stacy and I, who is a publicist for Swanson, we. Oh, we were just talking about how I wrote years ago about having a pulmonary embolism and being in the hospital for eight days from my birth control pill and wrote about it for Sheet magazine. And it got, like, a million shares. And, you know, a lot of people were really, like, alarmed by that this happened to me. And so I. After that happened, I kind of went into a mode of, like, I could have not been here for my children anymore. Like, that 30 more minutes with this blood clot, and I could have been gone. And that was so scary. So I went into this mode of, like, okay, I'm really going to be as fit as I can be. I'm really going to, like, eat the best that I can do. And, you know, I really did accomplish that. But, you know, then adding, you know, I had one child at that time. Now I have four.

It's like, it's a little crazy. It's a little hectic. And I know, like, so many women can relate to that. Now, Elvis. How old is Elvis? 3. Oh, he's a little guy. Oh, okay. So that's especially hard because I know, like, our little. My little guy, our littlest is six. And I go to California, like, once a month to do one of the shows out there. And it's. It's hard for him. Like, I feel really bad, like you said, leaving him. And it's. It's hard for me, too, because, again, it's like that mom guilt.

So.

But, you know, you have help and you have people to rely on and that sort of thing. So I wanted to ask you, like, what advice can you give for a woman that is a single mom, you know, working mom, kind of, you know, powering through, and you're really his main person, you know. So what's. What's that, like, that adjustment? Like, what's that like?

I think that my biggest thing to say to single moms especially is to not be afraid to ask for help and to get help. You know, I think that there's a lot of pressure that you have to do things on your own or that, you know, that you're your own person. You know, even just like the word single mom, it's like, it makes you feel like you're alone. And I would just say that you don't have to be. I've surrounded myself with a village of people, friends and family, and help that I've hired because I can't do it all alone, even with Swansonweo products.

Find help. You know what I mean? Find help to get you to be able to have a good night's sleep. Find help to be able to have a clearer brain cognition. Find help so that you can go to the gym or, you know, find help that you can, you know, just take a walk in your neighborhood. You know, whatever you can do, but you don't have to do it alone. And the more you start to realize, you know, to ask for help and to get help, you know, people want to help each other. You know, it is. It is want to help. And it can be scary to ask for help.

It can.

It can feel like you're weak, but it's actually the exact opposite, in my opinion.

Yeah, that's so true. Like, I think everybody can literally relate to that, like, especially as women. Like, we feel like this is our job and we're the go to, you know, it's like my husband will be laying on the couch sleeping, which, granted, he's a professional firefighter, so he works, like, all night long. He's tired, like, the next day, but he'll be laying on the couch sleeping or something or, like, looking at his phone and, like, my son will completely bypass him and come up the stairs and whatever I'm doing, like, I'm in the shower finally for the day or whatever's happening and ask me for something, like, downstairs, and I'm like, dad is right there. Like, why are you asking me? You know, so it's like, we're the go to always, no matter what your situation is. And then you learn to, like, just kind of do it all till you're like this on your shoulders. Like, you know, the weight is just constantly. The bricks are piling on and you're like, basically what ends up happening in my case is I like, explode on everybody when I get to the point where I'm like, I can't do it anymore. Just explode. But I think being able to ask for help is super important also. So I know you're on the talk, but you do a lot of other things too. So what do you have coming up that you're excited about we can look out for?

Yeah, I'm super excited. I created an executive produced and starred in my first movie.

Movie that'll be coming out on CBS in December. It's a holiday movie. So amazing they keep that on, on the radar because that'll be the next really exciting big thing. I loved being an executive producer and creating this movie and. And starring in my first kind of big acting role. So it was really exciting and a huge new challenge. And CBS was so wonderful and cheering me on and supporting me in it. So I'm really excited about it.

That is so cool. I'm excited to see that too, because who doesn't love a Christmas movie? It's like a feel good thing, you know, it's. I'm assuming it's family friendly because it's on cbs. Right. And then I also have in my notes that you wrote or are writing a children's book.

I wrote one, yes. And.

Oh, awesome.

Got to share the COVID last week and it's available for pre orders now and it will be available in April of 2023.

Okay, and what's the name of that?

It's called Tell Me youe Dreams, and it's a little story that I created from something that I do with Elvis every night during bedtime and lucky enough to turn it into a children's book.

That's so cute. I love that. I actually kind of did something similar with. I wrote about my daughter having the experience of her first bra, and it's called Gigi Gets a Bra.

So I.

Right. And like, so many people don't talk about that, but it's like, especially you have moms, you have dads, you know, who have daughters who are like trying to navigate that whole time period. So I love that. I think, like, as a mom, you know, it's so important, like not just helping others like you said, but sharing with others. And people can learn so much from your own experiences that we forget, you know, that, like, that. That's part of the reason why I wanted to start this podcast because I just felt like sharing all different stories would really just help. If it touches one person out there, you know, then that's like a great thing to do and just makes you feel good.

Warms the heart.

Yeah. So is there anything else that we missed or didn't talk about or anything that you want to add? I mean, I feel like we covered a lot of ground.

Yeah, I think you nailed it.

And how easy are the. Because I haven't seen. I know Stacy is going to send me some, but are the supplements just like a one a day type thing or.

Yeah. Yes, they are. And they have delicious gummies, which I love.

Oh yeah, I love gummies.

Or gummy. You know, anything to take in that form. It makes you feel like having candy or something.

It's like, it's like a tree. I do that for dessert sometimes. Like, if I really feel like I want dessert after dinner, like something sweet, I do my vitamin gummies or whatever. A guilty pleasure.

So true. It's so nice. No, there really is something for everyone. And yeah, they're really easy to take and just really easy to incorporate in. In throughout your day. So.

Yes. And they're specifically geared towards brain, like, instead of. As opposed to like a vitamin. That's for physical health. It's more for brain.

For mental wellness. Yeah, mental wellness.

All.

All parts of it. Yeah.

That's really interesting. And I definitely feel like, especially these days lately, I need that because my. I've been in a brain fog this whole month.

As I said, I think we all do. You know, they're like the everyday stresses of life. You know, we're all just trying to do everything, especially, you know, at the end of the pandemic and getting back into like real world and real life. You know, there's a lot of stress, there's a lot of anxiety, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of brain fog, you know, even just like needing detox, you know, but that's what I like. Swanson Wheel products really have something for everyone. So, yes, I highly encourage checking out. Checking out their line because it's also like what you need on a daily basis. You know, what I need today might not be what I need tomorrow or I'm for a week and then, you know, I might need help with something else, you know, the next day. I mean, it's. It's such a variety of. Of needs that we, that we need.

On a daily basis, so. So true. Get covered. So true. Well, thank you so much for chatting with me. It was great to meet. Meet you. I don't know if you like you can qualify it as meeting on the video calls. It's such a strange, like, world we live in now. It's like I feel like I know you now.

But we can.

We know exactly. Yes, exactly. All right, well, thank you. And thank you so much. Good luck with everything. And, Stacy, I guess we'll be in touch, Right? I'll connect with you in a little while. Amanda, thank you so much for your time. Yeah, appreciate it.

It was great interview so much, guys.

Thank you, Amanda.

Bye.

And you've been listening to visible panty lines, aka VPL the Pod. And a new episode drops every Sunday at 8am.