“So, Leslie, by when are you going to take some time for self-care.”

Ouch!

I could SEE the incredulous look on her face, despite the fact that she was actually on the telephone!

Two things were immediately obvious:

• She was right. I need to get back to my self-care routines.
• How her friend felt and what was going on for her were more important than making that next sale soon.
  Thanks, Jen.

I knew full well that I wasn’t going to get out for a bicycle ride, my #1 go-to for exercise (it was too late in the day), so I replied,

“Well, I could go for a short hike up Broderson before I go pick up my Talley Farms veggie box this afternoon.”

So I did.

Truth be told, my personal life has been fraught with a ton of changes and turmoil lately.
We recently sold the house that I my X and I shared for nearly 30 years and I’ve been looking for housing in the current environment, amidst clearing out 30 years’ worth of stuff.
That’s stressful enough on its own.
And I recently moved into a shared living situation tentatively. But I only planned to be here for a few months.

Now, because of the current market, I will likely be here longer than I originally anticipated. While the place isn’t terrible, it’s far from ideal for me.

I have had some other changes going on in my life and relationships as well.

Of course, when you’re self-employed there are always changes in business.

In short, It’s been a lot.

Suffice it to say that so much has been going on and I’ve gotten out of many of my routines.

Yes, even me.

The “in your face” reminder was exactly what I needed.

And I’m grateful.

So, I hung up the phone and completed a couple of other quick tasks. Then I got in the car and drove up to the Broderson trailhead. I was about 2 minutes into the walk when I realized I had left my phone in the car. Knowing full well I’d be tempted to just get back in the car if I returned to it, I just kept walking. So I can’t even tell you how far or how long I hiked.

All I know is it was short enough that it wasn’t dark when I got done and long enough that I felt about 50% better. The exercise had helped.

And the veggies also led me to have a decent meal for dinner. I did a quick stir fry of shishito peppers, broccoli & garlic, made a simple salad & added a little leftover braised tofu. I had a plate filled with delicious greens; another thing that hadn’t happened in several days.

Now, I know both from science and from my experience that greens really help clear your head. And I know the power of self-care. But I was too “in my head” to be present to that recently. Well, it did its magic.

I woke up this morning feeling significantly better.

I still don’t have all “the answers” to all the various dilemmas in my life.

But today I’m grateful for the opportunity to be in the learning & discovery stages about all of it.

And oh yeah, and I’m also grateful for the opportunity to show you that as a coach, I’m not very different from you.

Only that, I am usually more able to pick myself up quickly & get back on my feet (till the next time). And I usually know what to do to bring about the change in what I want to see & feel in both my mind and body. But I still do stumble and fall and I always will. It’s part of the human experience.

My self-care routines leave me feeling at peace in spite of life swirling around me. That can happen for you too.

I’d love to hear how you resonate with this little authenticity reveal.

And, if you mention my name when signing up for a Talley Farms veggie box, we each get $5 off our box. https://talleyfarmsfreshharvest.com/

The post Grudgingly Accepting My Own Medicine appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.

I was at my wit’s end!

Just being present to “How do I take care of myself & stay mentally & physically healthy through all this?” was a challenge.

Over a period of several weeks this spring and summer a series of calamities, both major and minor stopped me in my tracks & forced me to evaluate what I could control and choose how to move forward most effectively.

And I got to practice a lot!

I practiced taking care of the most important things and let everything else just be. For me, practicing authenticity and being ok with where I was during all this was incredibly challenging.

I’m not one to complain. One lesson my mother instilled in me from an early age was that tomorrow will always be a better day. But I couldn’t just ignore everything and have a Pollyanna attitude while my world seemed to be collapsing around me. Still, I just didn’t have the physical or emotional bandwidth to try to grow my business during all this.

I felt utterly incapable of reaching out to be of service to others (any more than I absolutely had to for already established clients).

So, you stopped seeing my Facebook Lives about health & wellness. You stopped seeing all the posts about the bike rides & the healthy food. Not that I gave up doing those things; just that posting about them amid all the chaos, felt inauthentic and the additional activity (yes, just creating a post!) was more than I could handle.

Most of all, I stopped trying to live up to my own overzealous expectations of myself.

I knew I had to just pull back and concentrate on first things first; keeping a roof over my head & keeping myself physically & somewhat emotionally well.

I had lost my housing (I had a month-to-month lease) and was unable to find a new place to live. So I was temporarily living in an Airbnb; which means I had basically almost none of my things with me.

The stress of that instability was WAY more than I had anticipated; not to mention the times that were already booked to other Airbnb guests when I had to move out and into a hotel for 3 days to 2 weeks at a time!

It was a couple of months into the whole CoVid thing and it also now became apparent that I would have to indefinitely postpone the European bicycle tour I planned for the summer. So I wouldn’t get to see my son & daughter-in-law, who live in Finland (where I planned to begin my tour), for the foreseeable future. -Have you ever been told you may NEVER see your kid again? (When I will get to see him again still remains unknown.)

Then, I got a call from my brother.

“Do you want the bad news first or the worst news first?” Leave it to my brother to not mince words!

The bad news, my 90-year-old aunt had fallen & broken her hip. The worse news, my cousin, her daughter, was just diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer! Fast forward: My cousin was dead from a very aggressive cancer two weeks later. And, delays & changes in protocols due to CoVid, likely negatively impacted her. (My aunt, as I write this, is recovering well).

Then, because of CoVid, I was unable to attend the funeral.

Feeling distraught about all this; there was one thing I could control: I organized a family Zoom call that brought a little bit of solace and the opportunity to share some family time (my entire family is out of state).

Meanwhile, trying to find a new place to live proved more challenging than anticipated. I had at least 3 likely fraudulent “owners” on Craig’s List, who told me they would rent to me and requested that I send them money for a home that I could drive by but couldn’t get inside to see!  -No thanks.

And then there were the income issues. CoVid 19 had negatively impacted my business but I had difficulty collecting pandemic unemployment. It took months (till mid-July) before I actually saw (temporary) funds. . .

. . .more basic survival threats.

Meanwhile, I had enrolled a few people into “Journey to Wellness,” my group health coaching program. So this was one of the few places, outside of survival, where I put my efforts; concentrating on delivering value to my clients.

Then, after much persistence, I finally found a new place to live. But we still had some interesting twists and turns until I got in! Delays in construction meant my lease was supposed to begin August 1^st but I didn’t actually get in until August 14^th! Worse. . .I had given up the Airbnb on August 1^st.

Meanwhile, I had accepted an invitation to be the guest presenter on a webinar on August 11^th figuring that I’d be settled and have time to perfect my presentation by then. Ha! I ended up delivering that presentation from my temporary residence (My X’s!). More stress but actually the turning point, in retrospect.

Through it all, I continued to fuel my body with foods that nourish it and make me feel good. This has resulted in me being at my lowest weight since before my daughter was born 24 years ago! And I also continued to ride; though not 5-7 days a week, like I was doing at the beginning of the pandemic.  I continued to meditate regularly to help keep my stress in check. I also consciously chose to not engage in politically motivated conversations and stopped following most of that stuff online.

What I’ve learned:

It’s ok to pull back and pay attention to your most basic needs.

There’s a fine line between sharing what’s going on and complaining or allowing yourself to be the victim. “What do I need now to be able to consciously move forward effectively?” and “What can I control?” became the constant questions. And one or two people who were privy to the details that I could confide in were all I really needed.

Feed yourself foods that make you feel good, physically and stay away from stuff that you know will negatively impact you. There was always the temptation to just stuff my face and forget everything!

I made a conscious effort to concentrate on the basics: going to the store when I was least stressed and not hungry. Buying only stuff that’s healthy. Allowing myself limited ‘munch’ foods but not anything that could be considered junk. For me, this was Trader Joe’s multigrain rice crackers & guacamole or their eggplant hummus (it’s the only one without added oil). . . and occasional chocolate (but in limited quantities and only the really good stuff!)

Most of all eating consciously!

I didn’t allow myself to sit in front of the TV or computer and eat. I stopped buying alcohol completely (who needs to drink alone anyway?); especially since I love to stuff my face when I drink.

I let go of perfectionism. I let go of the idea of doing it all.

I realized that people are ok with me being real; even if that meant being (mostly) absent. And if they weren’t, they were likely not ‘my people’ anyway and that’s ok.

Now, as I look at reinvigorating my social media and beginning to grow my business again, I’m seeing you CAN pick up the pieces and begin again; picking up where you left off; though it will take time.

More than anything, in talking to others about this, I realized that people respect when you share where you are without apologizing for it. And it validates what they are going through as well.

I’d love to hear about your “imperfection without apology” story! Comment below!

The post Choosing Imperfection Without Apology appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.

I think much of the fear has moved beyond healthy respect, normal avoidance and prevention all the way into a full panic mode.

A couple of things about panic:

1. We don’t make good decisions when we are operating out of panic. This is how our brains are wired. When we go into ‘fight or flight’ response, our frontal cortex is essentially shut down & overpowered by the more primitive part of our brain that can’t see anything more than the two options of either running away or fighting back. Since we are being told there IS no ammunition to fight back, we’re all in fear mode dutifully panicking inside the 4 walls of our homes. I’m not necessarily saying this is wrong, but I AM saying it’s very difficult for us to look at the problem and bring sane science to bear here. (more on what some experts are saying next time).
2. The hormones racing through your system when you’re in ‘fight or flight’ are damaging to your body in multiple ways.
   • These hormones adversely affect the very immune system you want and need to be strong to fight this invader.
   • These hormones also adversely affect multiple other systems in our bodies, most notably our cardiovascular system and our digestive system.

How your body behaves differently in “Fight or Flight” response:

We all have heard about highly stressed executives and how much more prone they are to a heart attack.

But did you know that the same hormones that are active in fight or flight also cause digestive issues and a tendency to lay down extra fat!? Yup! It’s true; when Cortisol levels are high, we gain weight easier, our blood sugar levels are adversely affected and our hormones that regulate hunger and appetite are impacted as well. In addition to all that, the digestive system basically shunts everything you take in either for immediate use, raising your blood sugar levels or for immediate storage, laying down extra fat. Yeah, so basically, forget intermediate functions like glycogen storage, general repair, growth, immune function and more. By evolutionary standards, this makes sense; get through the crisis and then worry about repair. But when stress is chronic, it has devastating results.

So what are some basic mechanisms to get us out of the loop?

1. Limit your exposure to amped-up coverage. Do you really need to listen to the news, the President or local news conferences daily? Be selective.
2. Get some aerobic exercise. The hormones our body secretes in fight or flight are designed for us to have the capacity to run or fight back. Aerobic exercise mimics that; thus using up the hormones. This gets us back into a healthier state.
3. Meditate, do yoga, self-hypnosis, EFT tapping or use other methods. Most are working via video call) to bring your brain and nervous system back into alignment. (Contact me for a referral to a practitioner if needed)
4. Get a chiropractic adjustment. It also helps normalize nervous system function & helps the connection between your Nervous System and your Immune System
5. Eat your fruits & veggies: Keeping your diet balanced positively impacts all your systems. Just start here.
6. Breathe: If you’re not someone who has ever adopted meditation, yoga or other things, just the simple act of taking 10 long slow deep breaths several times daily can be a big help. Try it before you sit down to eat a meal. It will bring the hormone levels down a little and will help your digestive system do a better job of processing your food properly.

So, what this about CoVid 19 and it being an ‘equal opportunity invader?’

We’ve heard some amazing things over the past month: over a million cases of the infection, 100,000 deaths world-wide and tragic stories.

We’ve heard that most cases of death are in older people with weakened immune systems, but we’ve also heard of the tragic cases of healthcare providers and younger people dying. Let’s look a little closer: Much of the data is still being calculated and interpreted. However, a study undertaken by the Kaiser Foundation has concluded the following:

1. About 4 in 10 of ALL adults over 18 are at risk for more serious infection.
2. Just over ½ of those in #1 above are age 65 and older. (Therefore, a little less than 2 in 10 under 65 are at increased risk)
3. The adults between 18 and 64 that are most at risk have these co-morbidities: heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), uncontrolled asthma, diabetes, or a BMI greater than 40.

Note: They did not track cancer or immune system compromise as a co-morbidity (they chose to not track that so that it wouldn’t falsely elevate the stats).

Further research on the rates of the above conditions in the US indicates that in adults 18-64, about 9.4% have diabetes, about 8.2% of those living in rural areas have COPD and about 4.7% of those in metro areas have COPD. About 7.1% of adults in the U.S. have asthma and about 60% of that is uncontrolled. I was unable to find data that distinguished adults 18-64 from the rest of the population regarding morbid obesity but 18% of the general public is considered morbidly obese. (All found by simple google search)

Given all these factors together, a picture emerges of the ‘at risk’ adult under 65 which basically suggests that while there could be a very rare exception, almost all the people developing serious disease have one or more conditions that pre-disposes them to the disease.

Here’s the thing that most others won’t say: too many people with the conditions listed above (and other diagnosed health conditions as well) don’t really think of themselves as being chronically ill and so don’t want to recognize that they are more susceptible than others to this and other infections.

Add this to the fact that the media reports deaths by age and generally doesn’t mention mitigating factors and we can begin to see some of the reasons the public is so spun up about this infection.

Yes, it is theoretically possible for an otherwise healthy person to get Covid 19 and die of it, just as it’s theoretically possible for them to get some other infection they could die of. There are no guarantees in life.

Part of what I’m attempting to distinguish here is that too many of us who have chronic conditions and take medication to mitigate symptoms ignore our problems and consider ourselves ‘healthy’ or fool ourselves into believing we are invincible when the data clearly shows otherwise. These health conditions make people more susceptible to death from ALL causes. Considering that and in light of these stats, I’d like to suggest that it’s time that if you have any health condition, you take an honest look at it and make a choice to do something about it. Most chronic conditions can essentially be reversed with the right diet and lifestyle.

So while you’re stuck at home, you might give some thought to some questions like:

1. Am I going to use this time to begin to address some of my health issues that may make me more susceptible to other problems (including CoVid19)?
2. Are the health conditions I have amenable to being resolved with diet and lifestyle?  (the answer is likely ‘yes’ but you may need assistance)
3. Am I willing to put a plan in place that can help me reverse these conditions?
4. If you’re on any medication: Do I understand the long-term effects of the drugs and other conditions they are likely to cause?

And perhaps most importantly: Am I willing to accept the consequences of my inaction?

I’m happy to offer a Free Consultation about your condition.

The post CoVid 19-An Equal Opportunity Invader? appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.