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Carlee
Have you ever drank to drown out your feelings or open the pantry when you were sad? In this episode, we'll talk about how to say goodbye to those old habits that aren't serving you and say hello to the ones that do. Hi, I'm Carlee Myers, your friendly stress management expert. And this month we're talking about your physical health. And to do so, I brought on an amazing guest, Michelle, who is a speaker, a life coach, and she specializes in an amazing life in recovery, creating an amazing life and recovery, going through going from being an active alcoholic to a pro bodybuilder in just three years. Now, Michelle, I'd love it if you could tell us a little bit more about your company, maybe in a sentence or two. Yeah.
Michelle
Oh, my company is Eau Claire sober living and we are just opening our very first sober home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. And it's for transition when people are coming out of addiction recovery treatment. And then before they go home, it's like a stopover spot.
Carlee
I love it. So incredible work. And I'm curious. I'm curious, like how? I mean, I know, but I want I want everyone else to know. How did you end up here? How how did you end up creating this? This business and a life coach and a speaker and all of it.
Michelle
Absolutely. Well, I'm in recovery myself, actually. Today is my four year sober birthday. So very excited to be doing this with you today. So, yeah. So I have been in recovery for four years and these are the sober living was so integral to my recovery. It allowed me that space that I needed to be able to just heal longer. It's not something that happens overnight that you become an addict or an alcoholic. And it certainly doesn't heal that quickly either. So that sober living piece to me was a big deal. And then I have been life coaching people and speaking about sobriety and different things. The health, the pro bodybuilding has come out of my sobriety. That was another piece that the physical health helped support me immensely. And so that's been a big topic of mine. And extra fun bonus was to get to be the pro bodybuilder.
Carlee
I know it's crazy. It's such a transformation. So I feel like, you know, when we we hear the word recovery, a lot thrown around, you know, I'm recovered. I've been in recovery for, you know, X years I've just had. But like, what is that? You know, I think the word recovery doesn't just have to apply to, you know, the folks that, you know, are drinking too much or doing all the drug, you know, like the drugs and all the stuff that we think about when we think about recovery. So, like for everyone that's listening at home, I just want to point that out. And I'd be curious, Michelle, like, what is your thought on on recovering just as like as a human without the labels, without all of that?
Michelle
Yeah, absolutely. You know, for me, the recovery piece, it's it's a term, but it is really what I've learned is just how to build a life that supports the life that I want. So I built a lifestyle that supports the life that I want. So there's certain things that I do on a daily basis and weekly basis that helps me to have a life that I love. And part of those are, you know, eating healthy, getting physical exercise, my spiritual connection to meditation, connecting with others and doing some something with purpose, you know, giving back in some way. So that's what I've learned out of recovery. And I think all of us try to escape reality and the stresses of life and everything. It's just a matter of what way are we choosing and how far are we taking it. You know, our binging out on television. Are we in the pantry eating cookies and trying to, you know, numb ourselves that way? Are we on social media? Are we shopping too much or spending too much or what ways? We all have an outlet. That is a little unhealthy. And just making sure that that's staying in check or if it has gotten out of hand. How do I go get help? And how do we how do we make those changes?
Carlee
Yeah, it's funny. I for some reason, as you were talking, it was like my brain was like I'm recovering from an unhappiness or like I'm recovering from negative emotions, like doesn't matter what the what the coping mechanism, unhealthy, quote unquote coping mechanism is, it's that recovery is all about just making your like, setting yourself up for success. Finding that sense of contentment or that peace or that that connect like connection with yourself that maybe we've never had before so that we can get rid of that stuff that we don't Nessa- we're not necessarily proud of or that isn't serving us.
Michelle
Absolutely. Making room for those healthy things that do support the life that you want to have. And you're right. We are all, you know, overcoming. Really, it's you know, it's rebuilding. It's overcoming. There's ups and downs and highs and lows for all of us. And sometimes we're in a low, low trajectory. And then it's like, all right, got to get the momentum to climb back up to the next level because, you know, nobody wants to stay in a place that's uncomfortable or unhappy. So, yeah, building those things that keep you on that trajectory, that just keep you going, going upward and moving in a positive direction of growth and learning and healing and happiness.
Carlee
OK. Yeah. So it's funny I'm thinking right now about how we're recording this. You know, at the last time I was at the grocery store, the baking aisle was empty. Every time it's trash day, like there's the glass containers and all the recycling bins and, you know, all of the things that I that were going through it just as we go through this collective trauma, if you will. And I'm curious, like for someone who's like, you know what, I'm done with that. I don't want to I don't want to eat my feelings anymore or I don't want to go online and, you know, do a little retail therapy. I want to create better habits. What do you recommend? What are the steps that we can start taking, you know, today?
Michelle
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, and don't get me wrong, but through this, I have absolutely raided the pantry and been eating cookies and trying to jack my feelings that way. And then again, you know, it's like you go back and you go, I know how to do this right. I have to start where I am. So right now, I'm like five pounds heavier and it's all a cake belly right now. It's like I'm just going back. So the first thing is start where you are, right where you are. Just start doing something. So for somebody who's not doing anything, get out and walk for 20 minutes, get outside, get in the front, fresh air and start. Just do something because we think about it and we kind of hem and haw. Oh, I should. I should. I should just go do it. Just go and say I'm going to do this for me. And it's amazing how much better you feel when you just start or if you've got somebody who's already committed to a workout routine. You know, maybe you want to take it to the next level. It's like just, you know, just go do it. Stop. Don't overthink it. Just do it. Just start.
Carlee
Yeah. It's so funny. I used to have this rule. I don't remember where I heard it, but I heard it from some influential speaker that, you know, you don't have to get up and go to the gym and go do all this. Just put your workout clothes on. Just do that. Just put on your yoga pants and your, you know, your sports bra and just see how you feel from there. And I, I use that to like meeting myself where I was. I was like, I didn't didn't want to move my body. I didn't want to do that. And all I did was put on my put on those clothes. And I was like, well, I'm already in them. Maybe I should just walk outside for a second, you know.
Michelle
Exactly.
Carlee
In them maybe I should, as you know, stretch my arm, do something. And it got me in the mindset or like set me up for more success to, like, kind of snowball, if you will.
Michelle
Absolutely. Just one little thing like that can make all the difference. And then the other thing that I found is scheduling that time, you know, just saying, OK, if my goal is to walk twice a week or three times a week that I do that and I'm going to do it Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'm going to do it at seven o'clock or whatever the time is. If you schedule it, it will be much more likely to happen rather than just, oh, I think about it and that sort of thing. And so scheduling it every week or however many days you want to do it and a certain time that you get up in the morning and that's your time, or if it's in the evening, whatever time that is, that creates the habit. And once the habit is in place, because everything we're doing, our lives are just a series of habits. So I'm either in the habit of getting up and exercising or I'm not. And either way, you know, that's a habit. So once I've created that habit of exercise or else I go a couple days without it, I am so cranky and it's like, oh, I know I've got to get back to my my schedule and start back where I am again. So.
Carlee
So it's, you know, starting where you are scheduling that time, though, creating that space for yourself, whether whatever the new habit is and showing up. Because once eventually those I always like to call them like the muscles. Right. Like our muscles or my muscle for cookie dough used to be much stronger. Thank goodness it's a little weaker now, you know, and and then I'm growing another, you know, another muscle over here and whatever that new positive habit is. And so it's all about, you know, where you where you put in the work. One hundred percent. So for those of you who are listening at home, we want to know what habits that you want to put into place or what habits have you already put into place that you're excited about serving you right? Things that are going to help you get to that life that you really want. Now, we also have some pretty big news for everybody who's listening. And this is the Stress Less Space is back now this is a self love accountability group. So just like Michelle was talking about how we need to schedule that time and every week, this can be a really great opportunity for you to have that self-love and have that space for yourself care. What we do is we meet twice a month for an hour, and it's all about what we do as we go around the room. We all share what we're gonna do for the next 40 minutes. And then we do something crazy. We turn off our videos and we mute ourselves. It's all via zoom. And then we go and we do it. We go and we do it. And then we come back. And we sure do. We do it. Did we not? So the Stress Less Space is all about self care accountability. If it's something that you're interested in, what you're gonna want to do is you're going to want to visit stress less CO dot COM slash virtual stress less space. Of course, we'll share that link in the show notes. Now, this concludes this episode of The Stress Less Show. If you've enjoyed this week's episode, let us know by giving us a big thumbs up and hitting that follow or subscribe button. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.