Are you defined by how busy you are?

Do you think to yourself every day, man, I'm badass, look at what I did today.

I went to work, I took care of projects, I got my kid's lunch and school stuff ready, I helped them with their homework, I made dinner, I even managed to vacuum the floors, on top of that, I responded to three personal texts and 5 emails and I worked out.

Is your entire identity wrapped up in all the things that you were able to do?

So, can I ask, how many of those were activities of meaning?

How many of those were means to express your soul's call in this life?  Or things you can confidently proclaim done to feed your deep purpose?

How many of them were part of this conglomeration of activities and ideas that we've all agreed to based on societal constructs of what it means to be a productive, successful woman?

Statistically American women are more exhausted than any other women on the planet.

Why are we so exhausted?

Because we've linked our identity and value...

Do you ever think of your health and energy situation and think “I can do this on my own”

Now, I’ve been there, I get it, I love to figure things out, I love to research.

But, sometimes, we need help, and sometimes, the things we are trying to solve are too precious to play with...like our LIVES, like our FUTURE, like our LONGEVITY.

In fact, I gander that the people in our lives, our kids, parents, spouses, friends, and our furry friends would rather we dug in with an expert than danced around in the dark hoping to “figure it out on our own” or “learn to live with it”.

Can I ask, if this were cancer, would you try to figure it out on your own?

Nope.

Now, if you are thinking, but this is exhaustion, this is inflammation, this is Thyroid, this is Adrenal issues, this is not serious like cancer.

But it is, and let me tell you why:

Exhaustion is cell aging and wear down, which if left unaddressed leads to cell confusion and dysfunction, which if...

Do you know that feeling when your beloved caresses you - and your skin lights up, you get goose bumps, you feel that lovely warm rush and tingling throughout your body and you just want more. 

How long has it been since you felt that? 

I ask because I talk to women all the time who haven’t felt that in years...that rush of anticipation, those goosebumps, that excitement, that sense of desire - and they miss it.

Sadly, the longer it's been gone, the further away from it we are, the more distant it seems and the less we relate to it.

You probably know that feeling, where that look of desire from your partner, prompts frustration, sometimes even anger - “just get away from me”  “Oh No, not now”  “I'm busy”  “I'm tired.”

That something that used to make you giggle now makes you cringe and even sometimes makes you want to lash out because it feels more like control an obligation.

Some women come to accept...

It seems like a lot of people are on the search for the “perfect” Doctor.

Sorry to say, that just isn’t the answer to your health journey.

Truth is, if you have exhaustion, hormonal issues, inflammation, autoimmune issues, weight issues, and pain - you have patterns you will need to manage and deal with the rest of your life.

So, what if you find that perfect person and they retire? Or worse yet...die?

Then What?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to learn to adopt habits which can always work? To access skills that are specific to your system and how you operate?  To know how to recognize what your body does under stress and how to change those patterns no matter what happens?

If you know this - you won’t ever have to search out that “perfect” practitioner ever again!

It is time we cultivated our own knowledge and skill and took responsibility and ownership of our personal healing.  Now, you DO need someone to show you what steps you...

I know you want this exhaustion thing to just be hormones, but it's not.

Many women find they pass over 40 and start wondering what happened, they are tired, feel frumpy, inflamed, are angry way too often, they begin to lose interest in life, don’t find joy like they used to, can’t sleep and feel old.

The lie surrounding this is that it is hormones…

Now, I will say, hormones play a role here, but it isn’t a hormonal problem, they aren’t balanced because your body can’t balance them, and it can’t do that because your cells have been running on stress so long, you burned up all available resources.

Remember in your 30’s when you never stopped? Remember when you were supermom and PTA president, and worked full time and still had an immaculate house?

Yes, that phase of life, where you saw stopping as weakness, and taking a day to lie around as indulgent??

Do you remember when you took the birth control pill for years and years to deal...

The health world has gone mad, all the focus is on nutrients, but not on impact, on the small bits but not the big picture.  We are assessing people to death, running crazy in depth blood panels, saliva test, stool tests, toxicity assessments and all manner of micro evaluations, meanwhile, people are still suffering.

We are seeing more and more “alternative” docs just collecting data, as if they will somehow find the needle in the haystack if they just put enough little pieces of data on the board, and yet, too many have had all those evaluations and still are sick.

This is the crisis.  One might expect if everyone just said yes to every pharmaceutical offered that illness and chronic illness might be common.  But, I am seeing chronic illness perpetuate in those who have been diligently taking those vitamins and swallowing the herbs, eating “clean” and “keto” and “plant based” for years...and they aren’t growing in...

Wondering….

Will I have energy for that?

Can I eat that now or will it make me feel terrible?

Will I be up for that walk or hike

Will my pain get in the way

Will I sleep tonight?

Can I tell my friends I will be there for sure?

Reading blogs and books on supplements and what mitochondria do and on how to take care of your liver, becoming familiar with milk thistle and adaptogens, buying the stuff the biohacking guys swear by, cutting out dairy and wondering if you also need to cut out sugar and wheat and nightshades too...wondering “do I have candida” or “maybe it is a genetic mutation” or “maybe I need enzymes”....

The never ending list of possible causes occupying time and space in your head and your body until you honestly orient every activity in some way around what your body can do, will do or may do…

Then, the more you research, the bigger it gets, on top of all that, it is special meditations for fear, the mantra work...

Are you in an abusive relationship with your body? Or maybe perhaps it is in one with you?

Ever considered the tone of your relationship with your body? It is just as key as the relationship with your kids, your spouse, your friends, family and more, yet, we rarely evaluate it, have hardly ever seen someone go to a therapist because of it, and yet, if we examine what that relationship really consists of, in many cases, it is classic abuse.

Do you ignore when your body tells you it is done and push past it every time? 

Do you tell yourself things like Why are you so fat? Why can’t you just get it done? What’s wrong with you? 

Do you say mean things to your body parts...I hate my belly, thighs, arms, hips?

Do you restrict food and do it because you know you will lose control, or eat the wrong things or make bad choices or need to lose weight?

Do you numb out any pain you have with OTC meds, alcohol, and more instead of paying attention to it and trying to...

Are you going beyond exhausted?

A few weeks ago after a massive project and tons of family obligations, I found myself beyond exhausted.  As I tried to rest, finding that even laying down felt like it took effort, I reflected on how I used to live in that place.

Where everything made me feel guilty…

My kids wanting to do a museum day and all I could think of was how will I make it through..maybe they have benches

My husband wanting a date night and I couldn’t imagine holding my attention long enough to pretend to take part in a conversation

My friends wanting to meet for coffee and I was wondering if I could bow out easily

So tired that I wanted to cry and yet, not having words to explain to everyone just how tired I was, and feeling like they wouldn’t get it anyway, after all, what did I have to show for just how exhausted I was.

Sure, like everyone, I worked, and shopped, cooked food and did household things, but it's not like I moved...