What does "well" mean to me?
Nothing can be well unless you are well.
I understand that this is a big and bold and somewhat broad statement, but as always I will speak my truth(s). You got to read the entire thing to get the “big picture”. Spoiler alert: “finding my better” did not lead to me being “well”.
I will skip the first 35 years of my life and start this particular blog entry with when I founded the company “Find Your Better”. This was a wellness based coaching company that consisted of my services as life coach, private yoga teacher, and private barre teacher. I had recently gone through the hardest chapter of my life and once I got over a huge hurdle, I found myself getting a few certifications that helped me get back to where I am today. It was the journey of getting these certifications (countless hours of courses, study and practice) that led me to create “Find Your Better”.
After starting “Find Your Better”, I found myself on my own personal quest to find “my better”. I sought out answers about my own health in regards to fatigue, hair loss, weight loss, anxiety and depression. Now that I look back, I wish my 35 year old self knew that she did not need to “be better”. She was exactly who and what she was supposed to be. But, in her quest to be better, she became un-well.
As I look back at my health journey that started X amount of years ago, I recall getting my diagnosis with Hashimoto’s and how I thought it was a “life sentence”. I threw every supplement I was given at my body AND I eliminated so many foods I would need a book to write them all down. Little did I know, I was losing myself one pound at a time… Not only that, my bones were deteriorating and my muscles diminished. I got to a point where it was “normal” for me to ask Pete to carry a load of laundry up the stairs for me because it was “too heavy”. I won’t even go into the pandemic. OK, maybe I will…
Enter the world shutting down in 2020. I took clean eating to the extreme and was running mileage I had never seen before. These two do not go well together. But, I thought I was doing “everything right”. I prided myself on being able to do long runs fasted and fueling back up with pure fat. I was in extreme ketosis eating high fat, no-to-low carbs and my blood work proves it. My cholesterol went through the rough and my hormones were…well, I really didn’t have any. No period. Many of you have heard this story before, but I feel the need to revisit this story again as I enter peak weeks of my marathon season and am reminded that I need to learn and re-learn what it means to be a female athlete with a full time job and a family.
Over the past two years, I committed to fully healing my mind and body. I started this journey after a trip to Africa and reading Renee McGregor’s book Orthorexia. I was introduced to endocrinologist Nicky Keay and Registered Sports Dietician Lynsey Elizabeth Cortez. To say I “dove in” was an understatement. I went from running 6 days a week to doing NOTHING in 2023. YES - NOTHING…
Nothing can be well unless you are well. My real estate business was not going anywhere in the state that I was in. I made the conscious decision to continue my job as Realtor, but would make my health the priority and would not be “grinding” unless I got my period and my energy back. I read books, listened to podcasts, took group lessons, worked one on one with therapists, got the blood work done, and ate the damn carbs!!! Yes, lots and lots of carbs. And, for anyone wondering… I prayed.
Later, I met my current Sports Dietician Meghann Featherstun (more commonly known by enduranc atheletes as “feathers”) and my Coach Mary Denholm. I started going to Adapt Sports Therapy, I got my cycle back and slowly but surely I got back to the what I love doing… running and real estate. Not only that, I have made it a point to make room for the family activities like golf (and, soon it will be ski) because truly that is the end goal. To be the strongest and best version of a Mom I can be. Not only that, I am having the most fun I have ever had as a Realtor and can’t wait to toe the line of my first marathon in a healthy body in just a few short weeks. This “highlight reel” I am sharing still have flaws (they all do!). I am still working on figuring out how to eat even more now that my miles are higher and I still have days that I got to bed feeling like I am a “terrible parent”. But, deep down, I know I am well, just well. If you were able to read this entire thing and have any questions at all about anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We all have a story. We all “stuff”. I just choose to share with hopes that it might help someone out there this is struggling.