Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Overcoming Disability And Transforming My Health with Aimee Montgomery - E29
30 Plays9 months ago
After a near-death experience that left her disabled and in constant pain, our guest this week decided to take ownership of her health. Through a series of dramatic lifestyle changes, she transformed herself and beat the odds – at one point, this included beating 54 million other people in a fitness contest. If you're battling physical setbacks and chronic pain yourself, then you know what an incredible feat this is. Join us for a discussion on how to overcome those initial struggles, how important your mindset is for recovery, and what you can do to supplement your health journey, offering a roadmap to not just heal, but thrive.
Aimee Montgomery is an entrepreneur and fitness advocate known for her remarkable transformation and resilience. From overcoming life-threatening injuries, including a traumatic brain injury and a shattered arm, to winning a global fitness contest, Aimee is determination and growth personified. Her journey highlights her dedication to problem-solving and personal development. Today, Aimee leverages her experiences to help others heal and thrive, making her a powerful role model in the health and wellness space.
“I'm gonna do something big because I'm gonna help somebody.” - Aimee Montgomery
In this episode you will learn:
- How Aimee's journey from a severe car accident to becoming a fitness role model showcases the power of mindset and determination in overcoming physical disabilities.
- The specific fitness routines and dietary changes Aimee adopted to transform her health, including the importance of balanced meals, high protein intake, and eliminating bread and sugar.
- The significant role of mental health and mindset in recovery, and Aimee’s approach to overcoming depression and negative labels through a positive outlook and growth-focused mentality.
- Strategies Aimee used for improving her cortisol cycle, sleep patterns, and overall energy levels by incorporating cold showers, mindfulness practices, and sleep routines.
- The supplements and nutritional strategies Aimee utilizes for maintaining gut health and addressing issues such as vitamin deficiencies, adrenal fatigue, and gluten intolerance.
- Tips on maintaining social connections and purpose, including how Aimee builds relationships through her podcast and social media, and how she integrates social support into her entrepreneurial journey.
Resources
- Connect with Aimee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acalltothrivedm/
- Follow Aimee’s TikTok for helpful tools and tips: https://www.tiktok.com/@acalltothrivedm
- Find out more about Aimee’s offerings with A Call To Thrive: https://acalltothrive.com/12-days-of-marketing/
- Shop all the products Aimee mentions in the episode: https://alively.com/products/aimee-montgomery
This podcast was produced by the team at Zapods Podcast Agency:
https://www.zapods.com
Find the products, practices, and routines discussed on the Alively website:
https://alively.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Motivation
00:00:00
Speaker
I wanted to help people to heal in life. I really felt that in some way I was going to help people heal. And I didn't know what that was going to look like, but maybe I was going through this so that I could help other people going through the same thing. So I think that was kind of my mindset. And I did, I was analyzed by all the doctors because they couldn't figure it out. So they sent me through all kinds of psychological testing to figure out why I healed because they thought it was a my mindset as well.
00:00:30
Speaker
This is the Home of Health spam podcast, where we profile health and wellness role models, sharing their stories and the tools, practices, and routines they use to live a lively life. Amy Montgomery, it is so wonderful to be with you again. I think we may touch on it later, but this is our second time doing this as the first time was during a hurricane and apparently the Backups Network. So I appreciate any time I get with you. And so thank you for coming back. Yeah, definitely.
Amy's Journey & Challenges
00:01:00
Speaker
Before we jump in, since this is our listeners for Simon hearing from you, could you tell us how you would define yourself? So I would define myself as a ah problem solver. That is something that I think it drives everything that I do and someone that loves growth.
00:01:22
Speaker
So if there's an opportunity for growth, I'm i'm all in, right? Yeah. And that that is certainly that growth focus, that growth love, that growth passion is something that I think really comes across in speaking with you, but also in understanding your journey. Because I think there are a lot of people that can look at you now, entrepreneur,
00:01:42
Speaker
like what you've won and what you've done physically and think, oh, well, easy enough for her. But it wasn't. right like there There was quite the journey to get to where you are. So maybe if you could share a little bit about that.
Overcoming Physical Limitations
00:01:57
Speaker
Yeah, and specifically around health, you know, I think I mentioned to you, both my parents were very into weightlifting and, you know, bodybuilding. My dad had me in the gym with Mr. America, age 13. I'd be crying.
00:02:14
Speaker
When can go home? Making fun of Mr. America. I had no fear as a child um in both marathon runners. So I grew up in that, but i I rebelled against it for most of my life. And it wasn't until I needed it, right? And so I was in a car accident in 2000, and i hit my head hit the windshield. um I had brain damage, ah TBI, which only 1% of the population recovers from. i had it for And that's usually within the two months. I i had it for three months. And then um that was a trip. And then my left arm was completely shattered. I had two plates, 50 pins of screws. My ulnar, funny bone nerve was cut in half. And a surgeon saw it in half. They don't they don't know how it regenerated. they they just They're like, we have no clue clue what happened. So my paperwork still says I'm disabled, even though I can use my arm perfectly fine. And um during that time though, I couldn't walk for eight years.
00:03:13
Speaker
My spine was messed up. My hips were messed up. My ligaments were stretched. They didn't know how to fix it. So I would be stuck on the floor for like a week. I'd pass out from the pain and just be stuck there. And that was like eight years.
00:03:27
Speaker
S.I. side belt around my hips. And so I would go into the pool and lift weights because it it could carry me. I'm so determined, right? And I would do absolutely anything that I could. ah If I could find a way, I would do it. Right. And then I found a fitness contest and I decided to actually it was during one of the surgeries, they said I needed knee surgery. And I said, look, if I get buff,
00:03:57
Speaker
Do I have to have more surgery? And they're like, what do you mean? Like I said, if I turn myself into a bodybuilder, do I have to have more surgery? And they said, no, if you get buff, no more surgery. I'm like, okay.
00:04:08
Speaker
ah You see the right motivation. Right. So I joined a fitness challenge and, um, and, you know, with, I feel the metal moving in my arm and I'm not supposed to be be able to, because they moved my my nerves and stuff too. It was a little bit, uh, wonky. Even this day, I still have to do some things differently than other people, but I, uh, went from a size 12 to four in, uh, two months and gained 10 pounds of muscle.
00:04:35
Speaker
and completely transformed myself and then did all the professional photos and all that kind of stuff. I beat 54 million people in the contest and Yeah, so that was the beginning of of me. And I think a lot of it was just, you know, was fueled by just overcoming and, um you know, they keep, anytime someone tells me I can't do something, I'm like, oh, watch, right? Yeah. And that brings up two different things I'd love to dig on. I mean, one is people hear this and it sounds very much like a ah fitness journey and
Mindset & Healing
00:05:09
Speaker
it's about fitness. But what I heard was, hey, on my paperwork, I'm still labeled.
00:05:14
Speaker
as disabled. But that's not how I see myself. right yeah I didn't see myself even when I was lying on the floors. That's who I am. And so I think this this mindset of separating out labels from certain things we may be feeling or doing at a point in time yeah versus how we're going to label ourselves. And so when when you were in that position, what was it mindset wise that you were able to tap into to not fall into what is all too easy if the doctors are saying one thing and the paperwork saying one thing. Yeah. How did you overcome that? I mean, there were times where I was really depressed, like if I would have made been made hold, I would have gotten millions of dollars because it wasn't my fault. So I remember being in my attorney's office and they're like, we don't know what what you're going to get. And I needed money. And I was so depressed. And and they said to me, you know, other people have been
00:06:05
Speaker
ah brain dead, been brain dead and they don't get zero, they get zero dollars. So whatever you get, you're, you know, just be grateful. I remember just being so depressed. I mean, and I, all my friends, every one of them said, you're not going to get better. You're not going to overcome. And I don't know, maybe I'm a little delusional. I just believed. And I think that that is kind of been a common denominator throughout my life that yeah, things happen, life happens, but Uh, you know, I think that you are more in control if you take responsibility. And I kind of just had it in my heart that I wanted to help people to heal in life. I really felt that that was like some, in some way I was going to help people heal.
00:06:51
Speaker
And I didn't know what that was going to look like, but maybe I was going through this so that I could help other people going through the same thing.
Beyond Traditional Health
00:06:57
Speaker
So I think that was kind of my mindset, right? And I did, I was analyzed by all the doctors cause they couldn't figure it out. So they sent me through all kinds of psychological testing to figure out why I healed. Cause they thought it was a, my mindset as well. Yeah. I mean, that's so resonant because when we think about health,
00:07:18
Speaker
We typically think about four pillars mostly that are very self-referential. So fitness, my fitness, how I move my body, my nutrition, what I consume, my sleep, my recovery, my mindset, what I put into my mind. But what you're saying is what drove you through because like I've been depressed and when you're depressed, Even if you intellectually know there's another side, it's very hard to feel it and get to the other side. yeah But which what I'm hearing from you is it was this fifth pillar. It was not all the stuff inside. It was having this broader purpose for people outside myself. It was the social connection, the purpose of I'm going to use this to the benefit of others. This is a gift. I can't see it right now. But I'm going to turn it into a gift for this bigger thing outside of me. And I think that's what's missing so often. So that that that is amazing how you turn that around and and where it's been able to.
00:08:12
Speaker
take you. Yeah. Yeah. and And I think that, you know, I've always had that kind of probably a little bit too much, you know, um of just always wanting to help people to the extreme.
Fitness & Routine
00:08:23
Speaker
I've evened out a little bit more um as I've gotten older. But yeah, I think that at the same time, it can drive you to extents that other things can't.
00:08:35
Speaker
You know, cause sometimes we'll do things cause we're upset. We've gone through a hard thing and it's our, in some way like I'm going to get back at, you know, so-and-so or whatever it is. Like there's so many things that happen in our lives that we can funnel into health, into exercise and all these things. And yeah, I think that when you start to have a vision, like that this, I'm going to do something big because I'm going to help somebody.
00:09:02
Speaker
So let's let's talk about that. let's Let's go through what that journey was. So, you know, you're in a position where you're on the floor, you're in pain, you're told you can't do these things. You're told if you can go get buff, this is going to change the dynamic. What was that journey? How did you start? Like, what was day one? Because you hadn't been lifting, like you can't just show up and start deadlifting 300 pounds. You're going to have to have something like what did that routine look like from week one to week 10 to week 40?
00:09:30
Speaker
Yeah, so when I first started, you know, I didn't have any program. I didn't have any structure or anything. So I was kind of on the search for something. um And I think that this is kind of powerful because, um gosh, I got to the point where I started watching all these bodybuilders. ah Bill Phillips ah was one of my idols. And him and his brother, they did all of these videos to inspire people about fitness. And it was called Body of Work. And I was watching that and I started getting really inspired by him.
00:10:02
Speaker
So that helped from a mental perspective and seeing all these other people transform their lives, starting with fitness. And his philosophy was, if you just do it, the emotions will come later, right? yeah And so um so I had that, but I initially started out just, I had a pool and I just started to, I'm like, I'm going to run in the pool. If I can't hold my body up, this is what I'm going to do.
00:10:27
Speaker
I was just determined. And then once I started to, and I did that for quite a while, and then once I started to figure out this whole fitness thing that I could follow, um and you know, I didn't succeed at first. Like the first time I kind of tried to do everything, I was just, I was failing. My diet was a mess. Like I couldn't figure out like, how do you lose weight? I had no clue.
00:10:52
Speaker
yeah My diet was just, was just bread. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're two separate things. Yeah. So definitely want to dig in on the diet, but so on the fitness, so you start with loaded exercises in the pool yeah because you need to have your body held up, but then over time you're building the strength to be able to hold your body. Well, and here's the thing is I would get on the treadmill and I couldn't hold myself up if it's painful and I would hold myself up with my hands and I would just do what I what i could and I'd put the pain.
00:11:22
Speaker
yeah And I had the sciatica thing, the whole, you know, cause my hip pelvis was shifted up, my right hip shifted to up to the right and my tailbone was twisted. And so were there any specific exercises because I mean you're you're competing against millions of people in this and you you got like absolute jack. What were your go to like how many days a week for how long are you lifting to do this and what what kind of exercise? Yeah. So I sort of follow this kind of here with it's officially called like a triangle type.
00:11:52
Speaker
fitness where I would, you know, kind of do certain sets where I increase, ah increase my, my weight. And then you start with a really high weight, then you go low and then you increase, and increase, increase it. um And just, I would just do little sets and I have it written out like it's a science. And then every day Mark, you know, what I'm lifting and all of that and try to push it.
00:12:16
Speaker
And my mother's in my mind, oh, you're a wuss, put some more weight, you know? Like, you know, is it? Are these all free weights or were you doing machines? Free weights. Yeah, it's all free weights. What specific exercises? Yeah. And to this day, like I still have the free weights in my, I like, you know, got the ones that are just.
00:12:36
Speaker
all in one. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. They don't go bad. Yeah. They're not expiring inventory. Yeah. And um I have my own weight bench here. I also have a gym where I where I live. But I just like that I can walk five feet and lift weights, you know. Yeah. And calf raises on the on stairs outside, you know, that sort of thing. So, yeah, I started just doing the free weights and You know, it was just, it's just that consistency. It's just every day doing it. And I've never had a hard time with, um you know, creating the schedule that I can stick to. If there's anything that, you know, I need to work on, it's variety. But yeah, so I would just do every day, I'd either do, I'd do upper one day, lower the next day, cardio, 20, 30 minute cardio.
00:13:21
Speaker
um nothing, matt you know, massive and then back again. So for accessibility, I mean, what I'm hearing is at at a high level at a home with a bench and one of those all in one weight sets, right? Like that's your go-to and you can you can get a bunch in with just those you're saying.
00:13:37
Speaker
Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah. and And you just have to know how to use them. And I think that now and there I have some kettlebells. I love kettlebells because they I feel like they they're even better than pre-weights a lot of ways. They you know ah give you a lot more range. And yeah, no doubt like machines are great. They're they're safe.
00:13:56
Speaker
you know, if you don't really know how to balance or whatever, they're great. There are definitely definite machines that I love to this day that are still, I feel like are even better than free weights, but I absolutely just did everything with free weights. I think it's because it was it was easy. Like I didn't have to drive anywhere to go do it. It wasn't like this huge thing that I got to go do, right? That's the thing, you know, I talk about fitness all the time of, hey, is 10 minutes as good as 90 minutes?
00:14:24
Speaker
Maybe not, but it's infinitely better than zero. And so finding, hey, is just having this set of equipment as good as having the full full setup at the gym? Maybe not. But if it means you're going to actually do it, it's infinitely better. Like, it doesn't matter if you have a theoretical gym 20 minutes away if you never visit it. Yeah. and And then you get the routine down and it's not as bad. And then then you get to, you know, you're studying Arnold Schwarzenegger. I remember the first time my knees got buff.
00:14:51
Speaker
And I was like, I thought there was something medically wrong. Open up. I gotta go look at Arl. Look at his feet. I'm like, oh, it's muscle. Yeah.
00:15:03
Speaker
You know, but I feel like when someone's just brand new to it, you kind of have to just go through that journey and we make it too hard for us sometimes, you know, like, oh, I've got to just go big or, you know, I got to go to a triathlon, you know, and in reality, gosh, if you could just show up every day for five minutes, you're good.
00:15:23
Speaker
Really? i mean Literally, but say four and a half minutes of vigorous activity a day leads to it' something like 25% to 30% lower all-cause mortality. yeah just Just four and a half minutes. You tell me you don't have time. Four and a half minutes? You really don't have four and a half minutes in your day yeah to to pop out some air squats, some jumping jacks, something, get some this vigorous movement in.
00:15:43
Speaker
Yeah. and So that's amazing. And it's incredible what consistency is able to accomplish with simplicity. You did bring up a point on what you put on 10 pounds of muscle. Right. Here's all this work that goes into that. Putting on muscles hard. I think some especially women
Diet & Nutrition
00:16:02
Speaker
don't worry. Oh, I don't want to lift. I don't want to get bulky. Do you know how hard it is to build muscle? It takes a lot of effort. You know, people spend their full lives trying to put on this muscle. I don't think you have to worry about that. But there's a separate piece. You said you went from a size, I think it was a 14 to a 4? Yeah, it was like 12, 13 to a 4. Yeah, to 12 to a 4. And so there's there's a weight loss side. And to your point, you know you can lose ounces in the gym, but you lose pounds in the kitchen. So what was it that you learned about nutrition, and how did that change how you fueled your body as you were going forward? Yeah, and it's changed over time. But you know I've definitely learned the importance of protein, for sure.
00:16:41
Speaker
um and having balanced meals. um I learned a lot of just, you know, trying to eat fresh and and realistic too. um I had this amazing cookbook called Eating for Life that I used to eat from all the time and it was, um you know, it was this real simple bodybuilder type, you know, here's this type of salad and here's this type of, and I still create recipes from it, but really what I found the most beneficial is the fresher that I ate and getting and removing the bread the healthier I am. and i don't have to i I don't even know how much I weigh right now. I stopped weighing myself a few years ago because it's not an issue.
00:17:23
Speaker
Right. Right. And I mean, if I want to know how much weight, you know, how much like ah muscle I've gained, um but that's fine. But I now know if I stop eating bread, then I don't I don't and don't gain fat. I mean, that's the thing that people can kind of overcomplicate it and weighing and tracking calories, is all this. But if all you eat were plants and animals. Not plant-based or animal-based, but just plants and animals. Your body is going to fill up. like you're You're not going to put on weight because it's going to know because it's getting the right signals. It's when you start doing the breads or the pastas or the processed anything, even if it's plant-based, that your brain is confused and you overeat and that that's where problems occur. so that For you, it was mostly just about pulling out a single ingredient. Bread was like the real
Gut Health & Supplements
00:18:09
Speaker
culprit there. Yeah and you know I stopped eating sugar in 2015. A lot of people were like why would you do that but I needed to do it for my gut health. and ah you know Did you have a candida overgrowth? I did. Yeah and a lot of it had to do with my cortisol levels and you know I since found from hitting my head it messed up my
00:18:31
Speaker
My hope is done. and Did you take any probiotics? Did you have to repopulate after that? Yeah, so I've been on a huge journey with it. um i still continue i' i mean hi I still deal with some of it. like I'll never go back to eating sugar, I don't think, because I still on um on the regular have to deal with cortisol. I did realize that because my cortisol levels are messed up, I don't have tons of energy in the morning.
00:19:02
Speaker
And then it gets, it drops about three o'clock and then evening would be, I get this huge win. So I started to work on that and switch it around. Yeah, you need to invert that, right? You want the spike in the morning, getting you up and going. Yeah, so I have to do all these things in the morning. And so I'm getting up early now, like ah organically 6 a.m. with no alarm. And I just hop in the cold shower.
00:19:25
Speaker
and you know make sure that I go for a walk in the morning, all these things that'll naturally produce the cortisol and kind of even that stuff out. But um all of that to say is that, um yeah, I dealt with the Candida stuff and a lot of it is like, you know you have to find your underlining issues and for everyone it's different. And for me, you know like I had a lot of vitamin deficiencies and I had a lot of cortisol stuff and just you know, a perfect storm. And so um unraveling that and quitting sugar was the best thing I ever did. And I'm never going back. There's there's just no, I have no desire. There's not a big benefit, right? Like you see the downside and you're not seeing the upside. So why would you do it? Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't even taste good to me anymore. um i will ah I will take, I'll use monk fruit if I'm really dying for something.
00:20:15
Speaker
so Besides the monk fruit, i mean you talked about vitamin deficiency, some issues on the hormonal side with ah cortisol and maybe prebiotic, probiotic with the the gut health. Did you have a set that you took of, hey, I needed my omega-3s and I needed my vitamin D? like what What was it outside of just the food that you did or do supplement?
00:20:38
Speaker
Yeah, so I take, um for my adrenal fatigue, I take adaptogens in the morning that are very specific to increased cortisol, adaptogens like ashwagandha at night, um and like, um you know, yeah, just all kinds of supplements that are there are going to help me relax. um And then I do the vitamin D, B12, liquid B12, methylated.
00:21:03
Speaker
um and iodine and oh K2 and B12 and K2 I think for women especially like you can go years and years and years and it not be a detected that you have a deficiency and so I do um both of those and then yeah, and then realize I was gluten intolerant and that can last in your body for um six months or more and if you just have one bite. And that causes inflammation. And then if you've got inflammation, then your body can't heal. So yeah, it's is still of a perfect storm. And then I don't have stomach acid. So I take apple cider vinegar.
00:21:44
Speaker
And eventually my stomach acid will likely heal itself, but around you know, it's just, it's good for you anyway. So, but yeah, and then the probiotics, but you don't want to take too many at first because that'll cause inflammation if you're, if you've got lots of issues, but yeah, but it's, it's been a process and then like detoxing on the regular.
00:22:08
Speaker
making sure your liver is doing well and cleansed as well. and How do you do that? So when you talk about detoxing. Yeah, not fun. But they definitely work. Yeah, they they it's amazing how if you're doing a detox, how much energy you get. um my want my The doctor that has me do it, um he's seen people completely change their lives.
00:22:37
Speaker
you know, especially if they've drank a lot, but yeah, and did you just get so much more energy from it? So, um and I had ah also the benefits of it. I had a Gulf stone.
00:22:49
Speaker
that um it just flushed out of my system. oh nice okay So, you know, sometimes, you see you know, some of those things are right. You talked about the importance of protein in your diet and really learning that and getting off the bread and getting enough protein on the plate. Do you get all your protein from your meals or do you supplement at all for that? I do supplement. I drink collagen.
00:23:13
Speaker
Okay. Um, and that's been my go to cause I did, I lost, I lost just a ton of muscle because I, I went all vegetarian without really, it just cause I was trying to eat better for my gut. And then I was just like, Oh, I'm not, they said eat fish. And I was like,
00:23:32
Speaker
Just being finicky, eat fish in Turkey. I'm like, that doesn't sound very exciting. I'll just eat the vegetables. And then lo and behold, you know, where'd my muscle go? So yeah, so then I started to add more stuff back and just make sure that.
00:23:47
Speaker
I cycle through my diet and it's nice and balanced and I'm not like eating the same exact things every single day. But yeah, the collagen is great. It's also great for your gut. Yeah, gut. I mean, in nail nails and hair, that's something you take every morning with your coffee or how do you take the
Hydration & Sleep
00:24:04
Speaker
collagen? I drink it like, you know, because I try to drink a ton of water every day. So I just mix it in with my water and I can't i can't tell the difference. It doesn't, yeah you know.
00:24:13
Speaker
How about hydration? I mean, do you do electrolytes? you You mentioned you add iodine as a supplement. Do you do anything to up your electrolyte take? You know, I haven't, aside from like, you know, Himalayan salt, that sort of thing. um But yeah, you know, it might be something to think about.
00:24:30
Speaker
Yeah. And then you talked about because of your cortisol cycle, it it was kind of thrown off, which certainly is going to impact and play into your ability um for sleep and for recovery. So you talked about some things at night. Ashwagandha, do you do magnesium melatonin or do you have like a a nighttime routine to try to take it down from the day? Yeah. So that, yeah. And it's been tough, to be honest, because you know, i like to scroll on TikTok. ah But I do have to like turn off all the devices and you not do that and instead do some yoga.
00:25:11
Speaker
and start to do things that are gonna help start to relax me, meditation, read, get away from all the artificial lights. um I started to use a magnesium cream, like lotion. Actually, so a company gave me one to ask me to promote it. um And I tried it and I was like, oh, I'm gonna buy this from now on. I mean, it really helps. And it's better than like even, I'll take Epsom salt bath and it's way better than that.
00:25:39
Speaker
So um yeah, it's been phenomenal. ah But yeah, so you you kind of have to do all these sort of artificial things in a way initially to start to kind of shift how your system is and make sure that you are, you know, regulated and all that. But it's surprising that it doesn't take much because I started to to use, you know, take my score, HRT score to see when my cortisol levels were high.
00:26:07
Speaker
And took me a little while to figure out what's what things I was supposed to look like, look at it in the device. But once I figured that out, it was really amazing that just doing little simple things really does, you know, just taking a cold shower. Sometimes I'll just put my face in ice water. You know, that that works, too.
Mindfulness & Emotional Management
00:26:26
Speaker
if If you don't want to do the full on cold shower, which a lot of people don't like but just dunk your face in ice water works just as well But just doing those little things really really starts to shift your energy And just to be clear, the the cold shower or ice water you do in the morning, right? The morning, yeah. To wake up. Yeah. And then so that nighttime routine, you you named a few different things, meditation or yoga. I mean, is it based on what you feel for that day or do you have a consistent like, hey, I was just with ah Brian Johnson, right, this past weekend, and he has a very clear routine. At this time, everything turns off, and here's what I do, and here's what I do, and here's what I do.
00:27:06
Speaker
are you that consistent and regimented or you say, hey, here's kind of my toolkit. And depending what I'm, yeah, I'm so, um, I'm so scheduled that a serial serial killer, he's like, get at me. Right. You know how they read that phrase. Um, or you just do the exact same thing. And I, if anything, I have to break myself out of that, especially with eating, because I beat the same thing every day. If I could, right. I'm just, I'm a creature of habit.
00:27:34
Speaker
So once I know that something that works, I do hot baths too, because that's supposed to be really good it or hot sauna if I have access to that. So the hot is at night, cold is in the morning, and because you know, you it's easy to throw supplements at things, but there's so many things that we can do externally to um and breathing, a lot of breathing exercises, mindfulness exercises. And the mindfulness really helps shrink my amygdala. They said that that would happen. Like your amygdala, if if you're a reactive, it it tends to swell. And so the meditation shrinks it. And I did i did half hour every single day. um And it yeah, I found myself completely not reacting to things anymore.
00:28:21
Speaker
how so How long did that take? So you started to see results a week. And I quite literally just found a 30 minute mindfulness you know well type of YouTube video. I was like, OK, I'm just going to try it. And I was going to do it for 30 minutes a day. And yeah, all of a sudden I found myself just not reacting to things as much and not getting upset.
00:28:47
Speaker
And I think that's really important, too, you know um when you're ah an an entrepreneur, because everything can everything can set you up, right? Yeah. I mean, you're throwing triggers constantly. And so people ask and say, hey, you you don't stop the biology. that that's That's going to happen. That's happening around you. But it sounds like, I mean, you you're just a quick learner. ah What you can get better at is noticing sooner. Yeah. Oh, OK. This is what's happening. Here's how I'm reacting. Do I want to react that way? Probably not.
00:29:16
Speaker
yeah Yeah, and like I'll get triggered. yeah And I think a lot of people will talk about being triggered and what that does to you. And it's so bizarre because all of a sudden you'll get triggered by something bizarre. I mean, it could be a cat walking down the street. It doesn't have to be anything big, right? Somehow it triggers you to something in your childhood usually. And you will all of a sudden turn into a child psychologically because you're flashing back to that childhood thing.
00:29:45
Speaker
And um it's a trip when you start to realize it and you're like, okay, what am I flashing back to? And once you can figure that out, I'll go on to, so I think I mentioned this before, I'll go on to YouTube, Tony Robbins, NLP, PTSD video, that's a little instruction video, and just walk myself through whatever that is so that I process it and it doesn't happen again.
00:30:09
Speaker
um that's a nice way just to really get rid of it. So, because if you're flashing back, that means you didn't process it and it's stuck, right? But yeah, so every once in a while, I'm like, why am I doing this? Why am I acting like a child? And then it's like, oh, I had flashback. What am I flashback to? So yeah, and it's finding, figuring out that you're doing that and you're going into survival mode for whatever reason.
00:30:33
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's it's incredibly aware because so many people are ah on autopilot and they're executing those scripts for years, if not decades. And was this.
00:30:47
Speaker
kind of a byproduct or out of the accident that you got better at noticing this. Like what was your journey to be able to use those triggers? so All of this, I mean, this may be a sensitive to topic for some people, but I was, I have parents that let's just say they're not very emotional, right? So I didn't get a lot of emotional nurturing growing up. I think a lot of people can identify with that.
00:31:11
Speaker
And so when you, and I grew up, had no confidence, didn't know who I was, didn't didn't develop myself as ah as an adult, um couldn't self-regulate emotions, didn't know you're supposed to process your emotions. I mean, the guy was a hot mess. And I was really an adult child walking around for until I was about 48 years old. And i start I got this aha moment, oh, this is what the family problem is, you know? And I went through recovery program.
00:31:39
Speaker
from a lady by the name of Dr. Carol McBride. She's got a book called, Will It Ever Be Good Enough? And it is, she's a 99% recovery rate. So I went through her program. It was probably it was it was tough. it It was a tough program from a healing perspective. Most people don't go through it because they don't they don't like to go through healing. It's painful. Because it's not comfortable, right? You have to work through the discomfort. Yeah. And I had to i had to address my own toxic,
00:32:09
Speaker
you know, tendencies, because I'm very much of an empath. I love people, but a lot of people will say, oh, I'm an empath. They can do no wrong. Guess what? That's kind of toxic. Don't be an overgiver. Like, stop it, have boundaries, right? And it took me to have self-respect before I could actually stand up, because I don't like confrontation, right? I don't avoid it with a plague. So I've had to convince myself to be confrontational. And it's funny, because one of my former coworkers, she's like, you've got brass balls. She says to me one day, she says, you weren't like this when we worked together at the locker.
00:32:45
Speaker
I said, no, I've completely changed myself. So it's been a journey. And a part of that journey, back to your initial question, was I wrote read this book called Who Dies. And it helped me to start to learn to process emotions, learn to be aware, learn um to look at life as a circle versus a line, a timeline.
00:33:08
Speaker
you're growing versus, you know, start to end and expanding. And I just started to see life different. I started to see everything different. And, you know, I grew, I was, for a long time, strong Christian. I'm still have Christian, I'm still consider myself a Christian, but I'm very, very open-minded.
00:33:26
Speaker
you know, and started to to look at everybody and everything and ah going on this like full on path that everyone just thought that I had dropped off the the site, the but planet, like what? She's not one of us anymore. And, you know, like I completely changed everything. And um but it was so freeing to be able to expand my mind, expand who I was, figure out who I am, you know,
00:33:52
Speaker
and um and yeah and so and And really become an adult. And so that I went through that the last six years. And it was a lot it's been a lot of a lot of work. I think that my last thing, I still need i still have trust issues. i so I have to learn to trust people and not project my non-trust. And that's really a choice, is taking responsibility.
00:34:16
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, you talked about the the Tony Robbins video, you'll go back to when you have something specific, the and NLP program, I think you mentioned. ah But back to you have this consistent routine where you would eat the same food, you have the same night routine, and you take the same things. Do you have And maybe it is the yoga or it is the meditation, journaling or anything, anything that you consistently do, saying, Hey, I know where my mindset got, got me at one point, I know where it's taking me now. And this is what I use as my kind of tune up daily or weekly or month. Yeah, so the program that I had gone through with with Dr. Cara McBride, it was a, it you know, it's kind of a set of things you go through, I continue to go through it every six months. I assess where I'm at, ah psychologically,
00:35:04
Speaker
Where are my growth what do i really need to work on what what's my you know what's my deal so for a while i was like i don't feel safe. I don't feel safe i was always you know as an entrepreneur i was gonna be homeless.
00:35:17
Speaker
just go right there. it what is It just, you know, to the the worst extreme it could possibly be. I'm just thinking, oh my gosh. So just consistently feeling like I'm not safe. And so I actually went into into chat GPT and I was like, okay, be my psychologist, write me some exercises that I can do that's going to cause me to feel more safe.
00:35:40
Speaker
And so it would give me these journal entries and things I had to do every single day. And so I would, and I have a journal, well, I burned most of them, but I had a journal for every single day of my life. So that that's something I do often. And and and why why? So that that's extraordinary. yeah Every single day of your life you journal, what is it that you see? This is the benefit. This is why I journal.
00:36:05
Speaker
interesting you know it's funny because i was born dyslexic and i think it turned it turned me into a genius reader and writer well and also like i'm addicted to books but um i think a lot of it was because i struggled i saw
Resilience & Entrepreneurship
00:36:19
Speaker
i saw my mother and my sister doing it and they're cool to me and so i think when i was five i started and it was more like my gerbil this my my cat this type of a thing and then a journal journal yeah about you know little five-year-old things right um and it's interesting because
00:36:42
Speaker
ah My journaling has shifted over the years, you know, where it used to be, this is just my day, um then it was, you know, how I'm feeling. Now it's ah more like a check-in, okay, with myself.
00:36:59
Speaker
with different things because it's interesting because you can almost step outside of yourself and say, okay, I'm reacting because of this, this, and this, and this is my default. And so I kind of like to step out of that and kind of analyze myself. And if this this might be too deep, but then analyze myself analyzing.
00:37:19
Speaker
Oh, You know, and see really try to step out and see, you know, what else, you know, what else could this mean, right? And, ah you know, I had that situation last, the last couple of days, I was freaking out, I had this nightmare. And for, you know, I just kept thinking something bad's going to happen because I had this nightmare. It's usually like if I have a night a nightmare, my subconscious picks up on something and something does happen. But then I was like, you know what, like it doesn't really matter. You're going to be fine. Right. So, you know, whatever happens happens, right? You've always gotten through everything. You just got to believe. I love that because maybe it's confirmation bias, but the people that catastrophize, whether it's an airplane or whatever it is,
00:38:07
Speaker
and say, OK, let's go through all your life until now. And every piece of evidence is shown that you've made it through. You got through it. And so, yes, these things could go wrong. But to have that self-confidence, all the evidence points to having the self-confidence. Like, you've done it. You've got to hear it. You can work it out. Yeah. Yeah. And you know and and a lot of times, it's ah you need a full-out miracle. But guess what? They always happen.
00:38:35
Speaker
Somehow, you're always, you're just okay. And you know, I think too, like you kind of build up this resilience, especially if you're bru bootstrap a business. And you know, I mean, there were times I lived below poverty level, I didn't care.
00:38:49
Speaker
you know And I remember my first I said this to somebody else this week where when I first started, I was so panicked because one day my bank account was negative 300 and I was talking to this other entrepreneur and he's like, mine's negative 2000, what's your problem? I was like, oh, this is supposed to happen, right? He's like, you're rich, you're only 300 in life. And um I think just changing your perspective on what you expect and just not letting, you know, and he's like, yeah, like after a while you just,
00:39:20
Speaker
and ah You know, the whole world could be on fire and you just are not affected because you get used to it after a while. And I thought, you know, that is pretty powerful. So once I shifted and stopped caring as much, not that you don't work hard, not that you don't do everything, all the right things, not that you don't, you know, keep pushing forward, but you're less affected by circumstances with your own expectations and just letting go. I think that helps too.
00:39:49
Speaker
Yeah, it and was having this conversation with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon about the process, not the results. So if you get so hung up on the results, the outcome, everything, that that's not in your control. He's very sorry. yeah You can't control it. But you can just keep going back to your process. yeah And you focus on that and you work on that. The results will take care of themselves one way or the other. But focus on what's in your control.
00:40:14
Speaker
and you're going to be way less stressed and more way more effective. Yeah, yeah, definitely. You mentioned connecting with another entrepreneur. So, you know, entrepreneurship can be incredibly kind of lonely venture. And you talked about the gym, like you have the access to the gym, but you also five feet, 20 feet away, have your own personal gym at home that you can just do the stuff. So with everything that you're working on and doing, how do you make space for that social connection, realizing when you were coming out of the depression, everything, what was pulling you out was that bigger purpose, that social purpose outside and beyond yourself. How are you able to do that today? Yeah, so interesting because I'm such a hermit.
00:40:56
Speaker
I'm such an introvert by by choice. um And, you know, I find that, you know, for me to like just go out to an event, you know, if if there's like a random, I'm not going. I'll go out and do a class. i'll do out I'll go out and do something productive, but, you know, I'll go to a festival once in a while. But, ah yeah, like I'm, I just, it's the group of people I'm like, eh, I'll pass.
00:41:22
Speaker
And so one thing that I did early on in my business was I started with my podcast, and I would interview a person every day. I did the first year I did over i did a podcast every single day, and because I didn't have any work to do. I didn't i didn't have anyone paying me. At that time, I i didn't know and any personal processes back then. I didn't know you know what people wanted.
00:41:50
Speaker
And um I didn't charge enough, but i got I got a lot of clients from my podcast just because people are being, I think, supportive, to be honest. and um And I made a lot of friends. And so there's still people that are around me that, you know, like maybe we didn't, we never worked together, but we still send each other messages every single day, like we're on LinkedIn. and We're talking about the entrepreneurial journey and oh my gosh has something she's like I'm $6,000 short every month and I'm just like we're gonna do this you know and we're always trying to come up with ideas and and encourage each other and I think it's helped my mental health a lot just to connect with other business owners that are
00:42:34
Speaker
you know i especially going through the five what I call the five year suck, you know which is the first five years of your business. And um that's kept me sane. and then um yeah And then I have like on TikTok, now I have 107,000 people that follow me.
00:42:48
Speaker
And so I can easily just get on a live and start talking to people. So that helps. I do see that i I do need to build out my personal life more and like go out more and be more intentional. And it just depends on what ah what I got going on. If I've, you know, like right now I'm scaling my business. So I'm taking on as many clients as I possibly can at the same time as trying to figure out when I'm gonna hire somebody.
00:43:15
Speaker
and have that job listing out. And for that, it's like, I work so much that it's like, I don't want to go anywhere, right? I just want to work. And and that's not sustainable long term, right? i have to have like my So January is my cutoff. So January, like there's a lot of bills would be paid off, I'll be in a better place financially, all that.
Balancing Priorities & Financial Freedom
00:43:38
Speaker
So January will be my and you know my my where i'm I'll invest in that a little bit more. as you may know i'm I'm big on calendaring, right like the zero-based calendar approach and and really structuring it. in
00:43:52
Speaker
ah couple things on it of It's not a one-and-done exercise. right You have these seasons, seasons of the year, seasons of life, where it's not about balance, it's about equilibrium. and what social should fit in with professional, with fitness, with sleep. and These are all dials you dial in right on the right level, depending on the season. so I think that consciousness of, hey, here's where I am through the end of the year, and then here's where I need to be. and the The balance needs to be over the course of a life.
00:44:27
Speaker
ah not necessarily just an individual day or individual week, yeah but also understanding that a life is just the sum of your days. So you can't just keep kicking the can. You you do have to think, okay, now these blocks of time and I'm going to hold myself to account that I am going to over-invest in X for this time and then under-invest in X but over-invest in Y for this other time.
00:44:47
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah, and having a plan to do that. and and And I think that it's, you know, I finally got to a point in my business where I've got a couple of deals where I know I'm just going to get to consistent revenue. And then also I paid off a lot of stuff. So that's, you know, then I can live off of really anything. nothing I got rid of my car. i'm I'm such a minimalist now. Like, I don't need a car. Why do I need a car?
00:45:13
Speaker
It gives you a massive amount of freedom. great but People say, I can't do this because of X. right I have this payment. I have that payment. What you're really saying is, I prioritize this thing, right this material item that I need to pay for more than what I'm saying I care about. And that may be true if you say, yep actually, I do value the car more, or my kid's private school more than this other thing. That can be a financer, but own it. The agency is yours. You decide. And you decided, no, i I value my financial freedom more than having the car. So I'm going to get rid of that because that gives me more freedom and flexibility here. Yeah and I mean I don't go anywhere like I order groceries and unless I want to I want to drive across town and do something like it's a luxury really I could get an uber I could rent a car you know so I think that it's just for cheaper you know because by the time you're paying for insurance and all this kind of stuff and I don't know I just I just kind of just felt like it's sometimes less is more
00:46:13
Speaker
And you get, you know, things are just less complicated. And um it's not that I don't value things or I don't value any of that kind of stuff. But I think, you know, especially with my business, I just got my mind of like the vision I wanted to create for myself. And that was more important. And, you know, just having your priorities straight, right?
Conclusion & Call to Action
00:46:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, speaking of priorities, Amy, this has been amazing. i Like I always say, catching up with you, whether it's online, commenting on each other's stuff on social or in person via podcast, it's an absolute pleasure.
00:46:50
Speaker
you live such an inspiring life and and led such an incredible journey. And I think there are a lot of people that can come in at this stage and see where you are and feel overwhelmed great of, OK, all of this is all together. But it it didn't start with that. And so for people who say, look, i I know where I am. It's not where I want to be. I want to get started. I'm inspired. I want to go forward. What is the one thing you would suggest people start with?
00:47:21
Speaker
There's really two philosophies that I absolutely agree with is one is your mind and the other was is take massive action, right? Cause your, your physiology really controls your emotions. So you can definitely just push yourself to go jump on a trampoline and your body will change your body language and you're going to change your mindset. But I've, I always called it a kind of, um, brainwashing myself to do what I want to do.
00:47:48
Speaker
So one of the free things you can do, which changed my life, was going through Tony Robbins Get the Edge, which is free on YouTube. He's got all of them free out there. People have just posted them. When I did that, it transformed my life. And I started actually getting a vision, you know, and started just to believe that it was gonna happen. I mean, even with having a large social media and having my own business every single day, I'm thankful that I have this. Even when it was, I hated my job and I was not,
00:48:16
Speaker
I didn't have anyone follow me on social media, all right? So you just have to have a vision and just believe it. And if you can do that and tell yourself and just be grateful for it as if it already exists, it'll happen.
00:48:29
Speaker
Amazing. Well, thank you so much. you You are a true role model overcoming everything you already have and building what you are building. And can't thank you enough for coming back for round two and can't wait to share this one with the audience at large. So thank you so much, Amy. Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me.
00:48:49
Speaker
Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Home with HealthSpan podcast. And remember, you can always find the products, practices, and routines mentioned by today's guests, as well as many other HealthSpan role models on the lively.com. Enjoy a lively day.