Manders Mindset
Are you feeling stuck or stagnant in your life? Do you envision yourself living differently but have no idea how to start? The answer might lie in a shift in your mindset.
Hosted by Amanda Russo, The Breathing Goddess, who is a former Family Law Paralegal now a Breathwork Facilitator, Sound Healer, and Transformative Mindset Coach.
Amanda's journey into mindset and empowerment began by working with children in group homes and daycares. She later transitioned to family law, helping people navigate the challenging emotions of divorce. During this time, Amanda also overcame her own weight and health challenges through strength training, meditation, yoga, reiki, and plant medicine.
Amanda interviews guests from diverse backgrounds, including entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, and wellness experts, who share their incredible journeys of conquering fears and limiting beliefs to achieve remarkable success.
Hear real people tell how shifting their mindsets and often their words, has dramatically changed their lives.
Amanda also shares her personal journey, detailing how she transformed obstacles into opportunities by adopting a healthier, holistic lifestyle.
Discover practical strategies and inspiring stories that will empower you to break free from limitations and cultivate a mindset geared towards growth and positivity.
Tune in for a fun, friendly, and empowering experience that will help you become the best version of yourself.
Manders Mindset
What if your exhaustion isn't laziness, but misalignment? | 159
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What if the path to true health and happiness wasn’t about pushing harder… but about listening to your body and choosing alignment over burnout?
In this soulful episode of Manders Mindset, host Amanda Russo is joined by Maddison Sutton, certified integrative health coach and functional nurse nutrition practitioner, to explore how high-achieving women can reclaim their energy, prevent burnout, and create sustainable wellness.
Through her journey from corporate tech to holistic health and the profound loss of her father to cancer, Maddison discovered that success without alignment comes at a steep cost. She opens up about anticipatory grief, the toll of overwork, and how women can shift from people pleasing and box checking to redefining success on their own terms.
Together, Amanda and Maddison unpack why stress and misalignment often show up as physical symptoms, the importance of slowing down, and why self-prioritization isn’t selfish, it’s necessary.
This conversation is for anyone who’s ever felt exhausted by expectations, stuck in autopilot, or ready to finally prioritize their own joy and wellness.
🎙️ In this episode, listeners will discover
🌱 How childhood dynamics and sibling roles shape leadership and caretaking
💼 Why being good at something doesn’t always mean it’s right for you
⚡ The hidden health costs of corporate success and anticipatory grief
🧘♀️ Why 5am workouts and HIIT might not serve every woman’s body
💤 How sleep, stress, and hormones impact energy and weight loss
🌸 The concept of healthy beauty and embracing aging with confidence
📝 How journaling and asking why can help uncover what’s really misaligned
⏰ Timeline Summary
[3:03] Growing up in a turbulent household and stepping into the big sister role
[7:20] Discovering nature, dyslexia struggles, and choosing geography in college
[11:03] Corporate tech career, her father’s cancer diagnosis, and the turning point
[14:15] The physical cost of anticipatory grief and overwork
[18:38] Stress, misalignment, and how they manifest as health symptoms
[25:31] The 5am fitness trap and learning to honor your own rhythm
[30:33] Perimenopause, cortisol crashes, and why more effort isn’t always better
[36:05] Redefining beauty, aging, and confidence through holistic wellness
[43:20] Journaling and the power of asking why to uncover truth
[50:35] Maddison’s vision for healthcare
To Connect with Amanda:
Schedule a 1:1 Virtual Breathwork Session HERE
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📸 Instagram: @thebreathinggoddess
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👥 Join the Manders Mindset Facebook Community HERE!
Welcome to the Manders Mindset Podcast. Here you'll find both monologue and interviews of entrepreneurs, coaches, healers and a variety of other people when your host, amanda Russo, will discuss her own mindset and perspective and her guest's mindset and perspective on the world around us.
Speaker 2:Manders and her guests will help explain to you how shifting your mindset will shift your life, will help explain to you how shifting your mindset will shift your life Amanda's Mindset, where we explore the power of shifting your mindset to shift your life. I'm your host, amanda Russo, and I'm here today with Madison Suttin, and she is a certified integrative health coach and functional nurse nutrition practitioner who helps high-achieving women break free from burnout and rebuild vibrant health, and I am so excited to speak with her. Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:So who would you say?
Speaker 3:Madison is at the core who am I at the core? I feel like I at my very core, like trying to kind of stay away from like more labels and things. I am a person that has always loved nature. I love to be outside. That is always what I'm drawn to and what makes me happy. I think I'm a pretty simple person. If you were to ask me growing up what I wanted, I'd be like I want to be outside. That's how I chose my degree in college and everything. I think I just like the simple things.
Speaker 3:I like moving, slow living, being around my friends and my family. I am somebody that is very big on growth. I am always trying to learn. I have always been very interested in sort of like spirituality and the universe and like the magic there, so that is something I spend a lot of my time learning about and reading about. I am an oldest sister and I feel like that. I very much embody the older sister. You know stereotypes. In a lot of ways I feel like I'm more of a mom than a sister really, and my family is very important to me. I definitely am very fierce when it comes to my siblings and I think that's who I am. I really am just a person that loves being outside, loves learning. I love educating people. That's really what brought me to where I am today, and what I'm most passionate about is just educating people and helping people improve their lives.
Speaker 2:Can you take us down memory lane a little bit? Tell us about upbringing family dynamic, not like maybe how many siblings you have.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I have two younger siblings. We're all fairly close in age. My sister's two years younger. My brother is two years younger than her.
Speaker 3:When I started my coaching career I actually dove so deeply into my childhood and what that looked like. But for me childhood was a little bit turbulent. I have always been super independent. I remember being kind of a wild child, just a little bit hard to contain, getting into a little bit of trouble, I think when I was younger, and just very strong personality.
Speaker 3:Looking back now, I think it was probably because of my parents and their turbulent relationship. My parents definitely had turbulent is a nice way to say it turbulent relationship and I think because of that that made me and my siblings very close. We did not live in a neighborhood. We sort of lived I don't want to say out in the woods, but I don't know how else to say it Like we lived really far away from other people and so I think, being the oldest, I was very aware that my parents had a bad relationship and it was always super important to me to stay close with my siblings and I carried that through childhood and early adolescence and really to this day. So yeah, that I think that that shaped a lot of who I am today is sort of maybe taking on a little bit more of a leadership role with my siblings when I was a child.
Speaker 2:Now did that leadership role show up in like with other people, like maybe classmates or friends, and like with other people, like maybe classmates or friends.
Speaker 3:It did. I remember one of my teachers calling my mom in and she said Madison always wants to fix everything. If anybody's fighting in school, she's trying to make sure that they work it out. She's always in the middle of all the confrontations trying to fix everything. And so it definitely showed up a lot, and I think now it's probably because I was trying to also maybe fix my parents a little bit. So it definitely showed up.
Speaker 3:Did you go to college? I did. Yes, I was never academic. I'm very dyslexic and it showed up in pretty much every subject. I mean, I think some people when they have dyslexia, it shows up in like just math or just reading or just writing, and pretty much across the board bad at all, like just bad at all of them at all. I'm like just bad at all of them. And it was kind of a miracle that I even got into college. My mom knew somebody and that's sort of how I got into college, because I just was never gifted in that way.
Speaker 3:I ended up going to Appalachian State, which is in the mountains of North Carolina. It's absolutely beautiful. I was very drawn to it because of the nature being in the mountains, beautiful. I was very drawn to it because of the nature, being in the mountains, loving the outdoors. And I remember going to orientation and thinking like I don't know if this is for me, I don't really know if I want to go to college, like this is more school. I'm not good at school and I got paired with this amazing advisor and she was like what do you like? And I was like well, I like being outside. And she was like well, why don't you major in geography? I was like sounds good. And so that's what I did and that's what I ended up getting my major in.
Speaker 2:And how was that? Did you end up liking school and liking learning about geography? I did.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I loved it. Actually, I got to pick all the classes that I wanted. I definitely found things that worked for me. I found in my later years of like later in high school and college that even though I was not book smart or you know the way that they you know standard schools set it up for you today, I was adaptable and so I could figure it out. And so I found the classes that worked for me and that interested me and that spoke to my skills.
Speaker 2:Now post post-college what'd you do from that? What was your next step?
Speaker 3:I ended up going to engineering for a little while, not as an engineer, I was a cartographer. I ended up going to engineering for a little while, not as an engineer, I was a cartographer and it was super technical, which kind of appeals to me. In a way, I'm pretty introverted. I didn't want to do what everyone else was doing. I felt like everybody else in college was going into like marketing and business and I was like, well, I don't want to be in sales. So I was very proud that, like my geography major ended up leading into a decent career in the engineering space. But I wanted to be around people a little bit more. Flash forward, I ended up going and working as a solutions engineer, which is a sales role for a mapping company, and that company ended up being acquired by Salesforce, which is a large tech company.
Speaker 3:And in that time I became personally very interested in holistic health and wellness. A guy I was dating ended up getting very sick and I just really threw myself into food as medicine, how stress and lifestyle impact your health and how it can manifest in autoimmune and chronic disease, and it was a hobby of mine while I was working. And then about three I guess maybe almost four years ago, my father was diagnosed with cancer and at that time I decided to make another career shift. I decided I didn't want to be in the corporate space anymore. It started impacting me physically because I just don't think it was aligned with my belief system anymore, and that's how I got to what I'm doing today, which is coaching women in preventative and holistic wellness.
Speaker 2:Now I'm curious you mentioned loving the outdoors. Were you into fitness as well growing up?
Speaker 3:I actually really wasn't that into fitness. I think I am more drawn to maybe like the gardening side, like I do, like hiking and things like that. I'm not a big fitness person but I do love the idea of like having a garden, having herbs and, you know, being able to that sort of outdoor situation. And because of that, the health, like the part of health that always appealed to me was more of like healthy eating and being able to use teas and things like that for healing.
Speaker 2:I'm curious were you always into healthy eating? Like growing up, were you a healthy eater?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I you know, do you think I've always been sort of a little bit more drawn to fruits and vegetables? I don't have a sweet tooth. I definitely ate very poorly. I mean, I grew up in the South, ate a lot of my grandma's cooking, loved it. I ate very poorly until my early 20s. What I think shifted me there was my mom went through some drastic changes when I was a senior in high school, on through today really, and she became vegan and I think that was a little bit of a just sparked something in me. I was like maybe I should consider what I'm eating. I'm not a vegan, I don't need a vegan diet, but it interested me in that more and now.
Speaker 2:Had you ever previously thought about leaving the corporate world?
Speaker 3:I actually think I had. I think it was my daydream had I think it was my daydream. You know, I think it was my daydream. I remember being on a team call and we always did ice breakers at the beginning of the team call and it was probably a year before I actually really made moves to leave and my manager at the time said you know what would you do if money wasn't an object? You know you could do whatever you want and everybody was like travel and like all these things and I was like I think I'd be a health coach.
Speaker 3:So I think I've been pulled toward this for a very long time. Even when I was in the engineering space, I had like an anonymous blog that was like health-related and I was never like brave enough to like really pursue it and so that kind of fell to the wayside. So I do actually think I've been drawn to this for a long time. Thinking back to childhood, I was very interested in like Native Americans and that's on my grandma's side or my mom's side a little bit. I think that always spoke to me a little bit, my grandma's side or my mom's side a little bit. I think that always spoke to me a little bit and I was always interested in medicinal herbs and things like that.
Speaker 2:So I think that's called me for a very long time. Was it your dad's diagnosis that kind of gave you that final yes?
Speaker 3:Yeah, as soon as he was diagnosed, I was actually supporting a lot of really large pharmaceutical clients and just really big companies. I remember sitting in the hospital after one of his surgeries and I was on the phone with a big client and we were trying to figure out how to basically make them more money. And I'm like this is a company that has billions and billions of dollars and I am sitting here wasting my time trying to make them more money and I'm like this is a company that has billions and billions of dollars and I am sitting here wasting my time trying to make them more money and my dad's dying and I just I was like it was many things it was. I don't believe in that anymore and I also believe in something else.
Speaker 3:It was like pulling away from the corporate space because I just didn't align with me anymore and then watching my dad battle cancer and he eventually passed from cancer and just watching him sort of stumble through that and not know how to eat right, not know how to take care of himself, not being given the tools that he needed by our healthcare system. Really, I mean, gave him radiation, chemo surgery, but not a nutrition plan, not a therapist, not somebody to actually help him with cancer, and I was like this is unacceptable. People need to know how to take care of their bodies and they need to know what happens if they don't know how to take care of their bodies and they need to know what happens if they don't. They need to understand if they get sick, they lose literally everything, and so do their families. It really doesn't just impact that one person, it's such a ripple effect. So, yeah, that was definitely it for me.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry about your dad, Thank you. Now you mentioned that you stopped outsourcing your choices to what you thought you should be doing and began listening to your body. Can you elaborate on that?
Speaker 3:a little, but I was really good at my job. Like I was very good at my job, I was one of the only women on my team for eight years and I think because of that I really strive to be the best. There was imposter syndrome there. I pushed so, so hard to always be the best because I felt like I had to fight harder than everyone else. I felt like I had to earn my seat at the table more than the men did.
Speaker 3:And I think, you know, growing up we are taught that having a good job with a good title, with a good salary, that's the goal. You know, if you do that, you'll have absolutely everything. The goal. You know, if you do that you'll have absolutely everything. And I was doing well in my job.
Speaker 3:But I was really suffering pretty aggressively from anticipatory grief, knowing that my father was going to pass, and that wasn't even a thing that I didn't even know what anticipatory grief was until my friends gave me a book after my dad passed. So like I wasn't even knowledgeable that really you grieve before that person passes, you know, knowing that they're going to pass. And so while I'm excelling in my career, I am suffering the physical consequences of this grief and I think it was just a really bad combination. We were releasing a new product and I was doing these presentations on this new product. That was half-baked and it was really stressful and it caused me to get very sick. I mean, still to this day I feel some of the side effects of that sickness and I still have to be very gentle with myself and I'm just honestly, more fragile than I used to be Because of that time period.
Speaker 3:It completely knocked me down. So something that I started thinking about is like what is good, what does well actually look like for me? What does happiness look like for me? I just no longer believed in what I was doing for my job. It wasn't making me successful in other areas of my life, it wasn't making me happy, it wasn't leaving me in a good place and I think really from that point and through the process of creating my business, I mean I've had some really bad financial times when I started my business, but they've actually still been much happier times than when I was dealing with that. So it's been a big mindset shift for me about what does success actually look like? What does happiness actually look like? And for me it's no longer the sexy job and the stable income.
Speaker 2:It's freedom, it's health, it's being able to have flexibility in my day and do something that I feel good about you mentioned in the forum about just because you're good at something doesn't mean you're meant to keep doing it. I think that's a very powerful statement, but I think it's so true. You know, I think, even like you mentioned, you were really good at your job and I'm sure you were. But I think so many people get caught up in the fact that they're good at something that means they're meant to keep doing. But I don't think that's necessarily the case either.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think there's also like the aspect of that you have to keep growing Like there's no growth if you just not to say that you just need to change for the sake of change. But I think I probably started not being quite as good at my job because it didn't excite me anymore, it didn't light me up anymore, it wasn't challenging me in the ways that I needed it to. I think that, like I needed something else.
Speaker 2:It was almost too familiar or maybe too comfortable.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it kind of felt like I was doing the same thing over and over again.
Speaker 2:Now you've mentioned that health issues you think often are because of out of alignment.
Speaker 3:I do think that I agree. When I started on my coaching journey, I always thought that I would focus on gut health, because that's sort of what sparked my interest when I was younger. I started interviewing a bunch of different women and just listening to their stories, and they would all have a variety of different symptoms. It seemed like the constant was stress and unhappiness with their current situation, or this mindset of, oh, I'll support myself or work on myself, or work on my health or try to lose the weight or deal with this autoimmune condition. When x happens, it was just I don't know if out of alignment is the best way to say it, but just like pushing yourself to the side. I see that so many women just pushing themselves to the side, not having space for themselves in their own life. Women create space for everyone else, everyone else, and then they just have no space for themselves, and I think it's why 80% of autoimmune conditions are women.
Speaker 2:I've spoken to a few women on the show that have autoimmune issues and they told me like it's mostly women, like the percentage is like really high and it's mostly caused from stress, majority of them. It makes so much sense that we don't prioritize ourselves as women because whether we have kids, whether we just take on this role, even like you mentioned our younger siblings, we just feel this responsibility for you know, and I feel like and I don't mean to like target men, but I feel like that shows up more so as the older sister than even if you are the older brother. You know, like I have cousins who that's the older sister and the older brother like in different sets of my cousins, and I see it, who that's the older sister and the older brother like in different sets of my cousins, and I see it more so in my older female cousins than I do the male cousins Like not that they don't take on that protective role, but it's different, it's not that same like level of like responsibility per se.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean my brother and I have our birthdays are a day apart and we went on a family trip this year because he turned 30 and we were all in the kitchen one morning and it was like me and my sister and my sister has two children and my sister is sitting there trying to cook breakfast for everybody, even though she's got two children running around. Like, leave that to us, leave that to the people that are not chasing after toddlers. And it's me and her in the kitchen and my boyfriend's like Madison, why are you eating? I'm like no, it's fine. Like y'all eat, we'll do everything, we'll cook, we'll clean, we'll do everything. And same with my little sister and, of course, like nothing bad against my little brother, but he's just sitting there and he's like, yeah, y'all got it, and just, I mean he doesn't even mean it, but it's like we've done that for him his whole life and it's not really. I mean maybe it's his fault, but I mean it's not completely his fault, it's just it's, it is so hardwired, it really is.
Speaker 2:I'm curious.
Speaker 3:I know it's probably a very difficult question, but like a suggestion for women to stop prioritizing themselves even slightly hardwired, like it is so deeply ingrained, and sometimes I'm like you know, sometimes it does take something major to really open up a woman's eyes to the fact that she needs to prioritize herself. I would say start getting curious about what brings you joy. Every time I talk to women, it's I don't have time and I don't have energy. Like those are the things I don't have time and I don't have energy, and I would almost argue that it's really the lack of energy, more than it's the lack of time, that stops many women from doing the things that actually fill their cup. So I think, maybe getting honest with yourself and maybe even making a list like these are all the things that I am doing today and these are the ones that are not for me, or these are the ones that are draining my energy and not giving me energy, it's kind of like you might have to do a bit of an evaluation of like, where are you actually spending your time? A way to think about this.
Speaker 3:I actually did a finance class and they suggested doing sort of a finance audit and looking at your receipts and looking at the things that you're spending money on that don't bring you joy, don't bring you money, like the things that you're spending money on that you really shouldn't be.
Speaker 3:They bring you nothing positive. Do the same thing with your activities and the people you spend your time with. If you go to a networking event once a month and it does nothing for you and you're just going because it looks good or because you think you're supposed to go, don't go Like that is something that sucks your time, that doesn't bring you anything, that you think you have to do but you probably really don't. So doing that evaluation, I think, is super helpful. And then, on the flip side, helpful. And then, on the flip side, what are the situations that leave you feeling better and more energized? Is there a group of friends that fills you up, or a certain friend that fills you up? Is there a certain activity that leaves you feeling rejuvenated? You need to start incorporating some of that into your life and really being intentional about doing that.
Speaker 2:I love that suggestion. I think that's really good, even making the list. I've heard about something called a time audit and I've done that before myself to figure out where my time is going, but I really like the example of the list and what is draining our energy versus what is bringing us energy. You know and I might butcher how you voted this, but I looked at your Instagram a little bit and I saw that you mentioned about women checking these boxes, even like for fitness, like they're waking up at 5 am to go to the gym. Like maybe that's not serving them, Maybe it is depending on the schedule, but maybe it's not.
Speaker 2:And I'm not saying don't go to the gym because I'm a big gym person myself, but I didn't notice this until I did a time audit myself. But I was waking up and this was a wild bath, but I was waking up at three o'clock in the morning to go to the gym for stupid early and then I was exhausted by like noon time because I have been up for half a day already and it's like it wasn't serving what I was meaning for it to serve. You know what I'm saying. So it's like I and I feel like even some of the women that think they are quote unquote prioritizing themselves might not be doing it the right way. So you're checking the box of going to the gym at 5am, but is it draining you, or could you do it in a slightly different way?
Speaker 3:no-transcript, and so that was really like having to wake up at 430 in the morning was fueling this anxiety that I already had about insomnia, and so for me there are so many people that will argue and argue, and there's numbers associated with people having more success working out in the morning. It's typically the best thing to do. A lot of people, if they wait till the afternoon, they won't do it. So there's such a good argument for that and it works for a lot of people, but I know it doesn't work for me. It just doesn't work for me, and I think a lot of women are taking health advice and just blindly accepting it as truth and then getting frustrated when it doesn't work for them. But it's just not for you.
Speaker 3:Or you need to do it slightly differently, or maybe you need to work out at lunch, or maybe you need to do a 20-minute yoga instead of a 45-minute HIIT. It's just you really, I think, have to listen to yourself, and you know that's why I stopped doing HIIT. I stopped probably four years ago, and I remember calling the gym and saying I'm going to cancel my membership. I talked to one of the coaches that I had worked with and he was like why You've been coming here for so long. And I was like I just I was like it feels so aggressive. I was like it feels so aggressive. I was like I just need something softer, I need something slower. And I've stuck with that and I think maybe actually now I'm probably ready for something a little bit more intense. But you know, you have these ups and flows and I think you got to just learn to kind of flow with it and be honest with yourself.
Speaker 2:No, I think that's so true and I agree with you on we hear a lot about people saying that it's best in the morning. And you know, even with that, I think it's like paying attention to your own schedule. There was a while I was working as a paralegal, I was in the corporate space. Then, even shortly after I left that I still found myself. I'm running my own business and I'm going to the gym ridiculously early when I could still be doing a morning workout if that morning was 9am and not 5am. You know what I mean Like having the slower paced morning, because I have the ability to, and I love how you mentioned knowing yourself and just seeing what works, seeing what works for your body. And do you feel drained with this or do you feel more energized with this? It's because society says it's best to work out in the morning. Maybe it's not best for you. Like everybody's body is different, everybody's mind is different, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I talk to a lot of women that are going through perimenopause and menopause and they're kind of a little bit frantic right now because they're like I've never had to worry about my weight and now I have to worry about my weight and I'm going to the gym and I'm they're like upping their exercise, upping all these things you know, fasting, cutting out a bunch of stuff in their diet and it's not working. And again, that's them listening to other people and what they think they need to do to lose weight, when really it's more of a stress and hormone situation than it is. How often you're hitting the gym?
Speaker 2:So what do you say to those women? What's a general piece of advice, if you have one.
Speaker 3:Well, oftentimes so. I actually do lab testing with my clients and I found with women you know where we're hardwired to push and be perfect, and it's kind of helpful for me to be able to show on a lab test like let's look at where your hormones are Like. Let's look specifically at where your cortisol, your stress hormone, is. Let's look at where your DHEA, which is supposed to counterbalance your cortisol, let's see where that's at. For a lot of them it's either really high Most of them it's actually really low. We hear about high cortisol a lot, but really when they get to me like they've already had the high peak and now it's on the floor because their body can't create it anymore, it's just they're tired. I'm like this means that you need to stop with the HIIT. Maybe you can do some light training. Go on a walk, sit in the bubble bath, do some stretching Like this is where we need to start incorporating the more like yin activities, and I find that a lot of women actually they really do find more success in that?
Speaker 2:Do you notice? They find success even in weight loss with vegan activities.
Speaker 3:They do. I will say exercise is in the body, that I'm not super focused on diet and exercise Because I do feel like most weight loss programs are focused so heavily on diet and exercise but at the same time, like that is still important. So there is a lot of re-educating women on what they should be putting in their body and removing stress of all kinds. So that means, like the negative processed foods, stress from a poor circadian rhythm or poor sleep habits. So I feel that those things, paired with being gentler or more gentle with yourself, do help.
Speaker 2:That makes a lot of sense. Especially sleep, I think, is a really big one. Like, even if you are hitting all the macros, doing the great exercises, if your sleep is off, that's going to affect stress whether you realize it or not, and if you're not getting the proper sleep you're not going to lose the weight. I was just curious because I don't coach women myself or even work like that, but I just know from so many friends and acquaintances that I have that are women that have worked with any sort of coach. Even if their goal is not weight loss, it's something they are thinking about almost all the time. As women we have that mindset of looking a little slimmer or like I'm gaining a little bit of weight or almost like. That Is anything you have found to help shift women's mindset in general with that.
Speaker 3:I wish, I wish and really like I did not get in this space specifically for weight loss, like I was actually anti working with women about weight loss, like I had this, like I don't know. I just was like I don't want to do it, but cause I really wanted to be in more of like preventative wellness and I just liked that perspective a little bit better. But you're completely right, if you are working with women, that is like the top priority. They can have a horrible chronic health condition and they're worried about weight loss and I hate that for us. Like I hate that for us.
Speaker 3:And you know, I talked to so many women again that are in perimenopause and menopause and they're like, well, you won't understand until you're in menopause and I'm like, actually women beat themselves up their entire life. It doesn't start when you're in menopause and I'm like, actually women beat themselves up their entire life. It doesn't start when you're in perimenopause and menopause, it doesn't start after menopause. We are so horrible to ourselves and I also think that's one of the reasons that we deal with chronic health issues so much more than men and burnout and autoimmunity and I'm really trying to encourage this like shift towards like healthy beauty and clean products.
Speaker 3:And you know, I definitely, when I was in my 20s, got disport a few times and now I'm like no, like I'm not going to do that. I'm going to let myself get old and I'm going to feel beautiful as I age. I'm going going to do that. I'm going to let myself get old and I'm going to feel beautiful as I age. I'm going to really lean into trying to feel beautiful as I age, trying to not beat myself up for getting older and trying to not dread things like menopause and perimenopause and honestly think if we took less stress off of ourselves needing to be physically perfect, we would find ourselves much more beautiful and we would be less concerned about weight loss and more concerned about, like, just general health.
Speaker 2:I love that term healthy beauty, you know, I think that's a really great way to look at it and just embracing the changes that our bodies are going to go through as women, or even as men, as people get older. You know, like nobody really likes aging, even like you mentioned, growth looks a different aspect before, but it's just part of the evolution of the cycle of life.
Speaker 3:And it's. I mean, it is something to be embraced Like. I'm really. I do feel like like clean beauty and like the no talk stuff is like kind of showing up a little bit more, and so I'm hoping that's a transition towards women maybe being okay with those things. And there's so much more education and like an emphasis on preparing for perimenopause and menopause, so I hope that's a shift in the right direction. I will say a way that I want to combat this with women is through preventative health. If a woman is taking care of her body physically, it kind of bleeds over into other aspects of her life.
Speaker 3:If you feel good in your body, it makes it easier to feel confident. I think if you're taking care of your mental and emotional health, you're going to have a more positive outlook on these things. So that's really what I want with my clients Like obviously I'm not coming in saying like I'm going to, you know, make sure that you're not worried about aging, but like it kind of is that you know. I mean, I think, taking control of your health now and making sure that you feel beautiful and happy and healthy. Now. The goal is to educate women so that they continue that through each phase of their life.
Speaker 2:I like that. It's so true about if you feel good, you will feel more confident. It is like you'll show up differently in the world if you feel good. And I think it all comes back to even, like you mentioned, what's draining you in your life and what is not draining you, and, like, what is helping you, what is fueling you, whether it's food, whether food, whether it's movement, whether it's I even want to say people in your life. Like, yeah, you know, I feel like, even as women, not even just like romantic relationships, but I feel like as women, we have a more difficult time, generally speaking, but getting rid of even like toxic friendships, and that adds stress to the body and it all ties in to not draining us not serving us?
Speaker 3:yeah, it very much does. I think people in general have such a hard time letting go of bad relationships like bad marriages but, you know, bad friendships. That's maybe one of the hardest things for us to let go of. I think something that I have been decent at embracing is not being as scared of change, and thinking back to my job in the corporate space. So many people stay in jobs they're unhappy with because they're so terrified of change and so terrified of the unknown, and they get weighed down in life because they are so scared of that change or so scared to move to a new location if they're not happy with their current location, so scared to leave a bad relationship, and these are all things that weigh on our body and manifest physically yeah, you know, it's like the disease is showing up, like I've heard it said, like it's dis-ease because you're not at ease.
Speaker 2:Like in some area, even like you mentioned, a lot of people I even want to say men are affected by not wanting to change, whether it's the change of the job, whether it's the change of the job, whether it's the change of location, because again people get so comfortable and even society contributes to that. You have a successful job, you have a decent place, like you're checking the boxes and you should be happy. Quote unquote Even like you mentioned, you had a successful job. You were just not feeling the joy from it and so many people don't want to make that change. And now this is probably a very difficult question. So if you don't have any answer for it, it's okay. But do you have any suggestions? Even if it's just women or people in general, like if they know maybe it's the job, maybe it's the location, like isn't right for them, but they are scared to make that change, anything that might encourage them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that one is a hard one and you know, sometimes when I'm working with women, it's so apparent that the issue is actually their partner and you can't say that Not really. You know, I can't say, well, it's your husband. You know, like it's so clear that what is keeping you unhappy and unhealthy and just unwell is your husband. That goes for men as well. It's not just women, but I think it's giving them the space to open up that dialogue with themselves. I think, as a friend, as a therapist, as a coach, it's really just asking those questions and digging a little bit deeper. And I don't think this is really answering your question. I'm just saying this is how I try to surface that for a woman it's more of the well. What do you think is causing that? What do you think got you feeling stuck? What do you think would make you feel better? You know it's sort of just like you have to sit there and ask yourself these questions and be very honest with your answers.
Speaker 3:I do this with myself, with journaling, I think, if you are trying to noodle on something and you don't know the right answer. I do this almost every time when I get aggravated with my partner. For some reason, it's always in the morning and I'll be annoyed about something and I'll go upstairs and journal journal and I'm like, why am I really mad about this? And I'll get it out on paper or something and then I can come downstairs with a clear head and say, all right, this is why I'm upset about this and you know, obviously that's like a sort of a small example, but I think journaling is such a safe space for somebody Like. It's a way where you can be honest and get your thoughts out of your mind and nobody's going to read it Not a therapist, nobody's going to see that but you. I think it's giving people the tools and asking them the right questions to get the internal dialogue flowing.
Speaker 2:I like how you mentioned why am I mad about this or asking ourselves a question, and journaling about that. A lot of people mention journaling and I'm a big proponent for it as well, but I think it's really good that you mentioned like asking ourselves that question and then journaling on that, even if it is about change. Why do you feel this job isn't right for you? Why are you seeking the change, even if it's something as basic as that? Because I feel like journaling is kind of vague and you can just get off in a tangent, almost journaling about even things that are not what you originally meant to journal on. So I think that's a really great tip, even something that's simple as why are you feeling this way, why are you upset about this and seeing what comes up. That's a really great tip, even something that's simple as why are you feeling this way? Why are you upset about this and seeing what comes up? Sit with yourself and just we flow right with that. But like having a starting point, I think is helpful.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I do think, asking the why and then being like well, why, so like, keep being like why, and you can get there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, almost like that, like toddler that just keeps asking you that exact why, like we've all been around a toddler, even if you don't have kids that just keeps asking you why are you doing this, why are we going there? And they just want, and at some point you're eventually one out of answers to the why. But, like he reiterated that, I think that makes so, so much sense. Thank you so much for speaking with me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:This has been a really fun conversation have you heard of a man named Jay Shetty? Yes, so I'm a big fan of him and he has a podcast called On Purpose and he ends the podcast with two segments and I'd stolen the two segments and I end my podcast with the two segments. The first segment is the many signs to us, and there's five questions and they need to be answered in one word each. Okay.
Speaker 3:I'm nervous.
Speaker 2:It gets questions about you, so there's no better or wrong answer. What is one word someone who is meeting you for the first time would choose to describe you as Calm? What is one word someone that knows you extremely well would use to describe you as Stubborn? What is one word you'd use to describe yourself?
Speaker 3:Free-spirited Two words five.
Speaker 2:What is one word that if someone didn't like you would be with your mindset? Would you describe you as no at all? What is one word you're trying to embody right now? I'm sorry, I didn't hear that last one. What is one word you're trying to embody right now? Hello. You're trying to embody right now Hello. The second segment is the final five, and these can be answered in a sentence. What is the best advice you've heard or received? Follow your heart.
Speaker 3:Why is that the best? Because I think there is nobody on this earth that is on the same journey that you are, and so I am a big believer. And I think maybe this is a little bit because I didn't necessarily have parents that I felt like knew what they were doing. I think that created this very independent nature in me and maybe because of that I don't necessarily trust others to be mentors. It's maybe made me a little bit too independent, but I think there's been some positives to that also, and I just think there's no two people that are on the same journey and so you know when you're in doubt, follow your heart and you don't need to listen to outside influence.
Speaker 2:What is the worst advice you probably received?
Speaker 3:probably this one's coming to my mind probably to go to college. Honestly, I loved college and it had such a positive impact on my life. But I'm thinking more and more it's just it's not super relevant.
Speaker 2:What is something that you used to value that you no longer value?
Speaker 3:The approval of men that I used to work with men that I used to work with.
Speaker 2:If you could describe what you would want your legacy to be, as if someone was reading it what would you want it to say?
Speaker 3:that I changed the mindset from money and success and business to happiness, fulfillment and wellness.
Speaker 2:If you could create one law in the world that everyone had to follow, what would it be? And I want to know why that everyone had to follow. What would it be?
Speaker 3:Amanda, I want to know why this one might be controversial. I think it would be. You are not allowed a like prescription for an illness unless you have tried or well. Let me say this my law would be if you are sick, you have to hire somebody to support you in your health as well as your regular doctor. I think that would be my law. I was going to go like kind of down the prescription route because I think there's way too much dependence on prescriptions but at the same time that is sometimes, you know, it's something people need, need sometimes.
Speaker 2:So I think that would be too harsh of a law so why would this be a law that they have to hire someone besides the doctor?
Speaker 3:because I don't think doctors, at least in the us, are generally trying to make somebody more well. I think they are trying to solve the issue, yes, but it is typically through a pill, and I would like people to work on rebuilding their health so that they don't need the pill. It's like, maybe you need the pill for a little while, maybe you need the doctor for a little while, but let's also work with somebody who is more functionally and holistically and health based so that we can get you to a place where you maybe don't need the doctor anymore.
Speaker 2:I think that makes a lot of sense. You know, I think that makes a lot of sense. You know not to go on a full-off tangent, but my mom has fibromyalgia and I spoke to a woman who's actually a fibromyalgia coach on the podcast and before meeting her I didn't even realize that was a thing. I think that's so beneficial and she even mentioned you know we're not going to replace your doctor, but we should work with your doctor and it could really change the outcome of how you will experience hyperneurosis and I think that ties into that so much.
Speaker 3:I agree, and you know, I think that's something that so many people don't know there's a coach for everything, every illness, every issue that you could have. There's somebody out there that is willing to help you, that has experience, that wants to help you and support you, and their goal is to pull you out of that place so that you don't have to be dependent on a solution that you're not happy with.
Speaker 2:It's so true. Thank you so much for speaking with me, Madison. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Thank you, I really enjoyed this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I do. Just like to give it back to the guests. No pressure, but any final words that you want to share with the listeners.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I think we covered so much during this conversation. I think maybe the final thing to leave everybody with is just, I think it comes to that change conversation that we had. No matter what it is, if it's feeling like you're out of alignment, feeling like you're stuck with your health, the catalyst really to getting out of that rut is you can't be scared of change. You can't be scared to bet on yourself and do something positive for yourself, invest in yourself, invest in your life. So, yeah, I think that's probably what I want to leave everybody with is don't be scared to do something that is a little bit scary, because it is oftentimes super beneficial.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much and thank you, guys for tuning in to the Ambiguous Mindset In case, no one told you today.
Speaker 4:I'm proud of you, I'm booting for you and you got this as always. If you enjoyed the show, I would really appreciate it if you would leave me a five-star rating, leave a review and share it with anyone you think would benefit from this. And don't forget you are only one mindset. Shift away from shifting your life. Thanks guys, until next time.
