As a business owner, you only can perform to the level of your maximum capacity by how you feel and your health. Not only your business, but your relationships are going to be affected by how you feel about yourself and how you physically feel as well. If you want to be really successful in your career and in your personal relationships, you’re going to have to do a little work on yourself.
Are you someone who is always chasing after the next big goal and is sometimes wearing busy as a badge of honor, meaning that you are just trucking through life, just being busy, filling up your calendar and thinking that if your schedule is always maxed the brim, then you’re always achieving, you’re always saying yes to things to get ahead?
I am guilty of that too.
I was diagnosed my junior year of college with anxiety disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, and a little bit of depression.
At that time, I had so many digestive and health issues that I didn’t want to go out in public. I was even afraid to eat when I wasn’t near home. I didn’t want people to know that food made me sick. I also did not want to say I can’t eat that. I didn’t want to inconvenience anyone by saying I couldn’t eat certain thing. I didn’t want to be a problem.
Which in return caused this cycle of intense anxiety attacks for me. It was anxiety about everything.
I went to a gastroenterologist for my IBS. I had a scope done, and found out that I had one of the worst cases of IBS that my doctor had ever seen. He put me on medication to help relax my intestines so that my food could travel through. At the same time, I went to a therapist to start working on myself and giving myself some strategies for how to cope with the intense anxiety.
I knew that there was a ‘problem’ with me. I even prior to that, the year 2019, I started working with a therapist because I cannot let my anxiety control my life. I spent a whole year in really intense therapy and spent thousands and thousands of dollars.
I was at the end of the year, and I was confused, I didn’t know what’s wrong. I am still having anxiety attacks. I don’t feel like I’m getting any better. I was spiraling.
Then that is when I was connected with Josie. We’re having a business discussion. I was hanging on to every word that she’s saying. All I could think after that whole time was I need to work with her.
She cares about women.
She cares about health and diagnoses.
She cares about getting to the root cause and treating it with food and supplements!
I started with food, and started with taking out some things in my diet in addition to getting some blood work taken.
I identified that one of my main issues was, I was irritable and chronically fatigued. I did a cortisol test to check my adrenals. Within the first three weeks of me removing gluten, dairy, sugar, and alcohol from my diet, I instantly started to feel better. I had some more sustained energy, I slept better, my brain was working better.
I learned over the course of this journey was that I am going to have to slow down. I was always operating under the preconceived notion that working out is stress relief. You work out hard, sweat hard, lift heavy, that is how you deal with stress. I was doing intense 1 hour workouts, and I couldn’t understand why I was working out, and then I was exhausted.
Second, I started to dial back the intensity and duration of my workouts.
I had to slow down to speed up, and I was not having it. I even kind of resisted it at first.
My body and health just was telling me, when I say your body gives you signs, if you wake up in the morning, you do your workout, and then you feel like you could go back to bed because you are so tired, you can’t make a thought, you can’t keep your eyes open, there is something wrong.
If you’ve gotten seven to eight hours of sleep, there are some symptoms that underlying issues that you need to address. I’m saying this because that was me. I could not, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get it together.
When I did have enough energy, I did Barre Blend. It’s low impact and not too intense. I also did a lot of yoga. I prioritized my sleep, and I started changing my nutrition.
Within 60 days, I had lost eight pounds.
My energy had come back, and I was starting to notice that I was feeling my health become a whole heck of a lot different.
My gut was so destroyed from years of taking ibuprofen, antibiotics, sugar, processed garbage and alcohol. All of those things erode the lining of your gut, which is allowing things to seep into your body that shouldn’t. My body wasn’t absorbing them properly, so I was getting sick.
Over the past few years, I have intently focused on living an anti inflammatory lifestyle. I have eliminated alcohol from my diet completely because one, it makes me extremely anxious and two I just feel so much more connected to everyone and everything without it. After working with Josie, I continued to follow the 4 Week Gut Protocol.
I care so much about feeling good. I care so much about my ability to show up and mentally serve the people that I want to serve. I care so much about having the energy to play golf with my kids and pickleball in the driveway at night. I care so much about that, that I am willing to make the choices about what I eat and drink so that I can show up as my best self.
It wasn’t after years and years and years of feeling awful that I finally said, there has to be another way.
I firmly believe that the reason I am able to produce at the high level in all the places that I’m producing is because of the way that I have taken care of myself. So, if you’re going to start on this journey, what are the things that you need to know?
Number 1️⃣ you need to know that changing your diet and nutrition is something that you have to take with a grain of salt. You have to understand that you’re not going to be perfect – health is a journey worth learning.
Number 2️⃣ is prioritize sleep. Sleep is so important. Since we are all different, you need to figure out how many hours of sleep you need to be able to function. Some people need 6, I personally need 8 hours. That is something so important about your journey and growing a business – it is on YOUR schedule and body, no one else’s.
Number 3️⃣ is your water intake. If you drink water more than anything else, cutting out sugar, cutting out alcohol, you’re going to notice that your body instantly feels more awake, more alive. You are way more rejuvenated when you get enough water. Our bodies are made up of 50-70% of water, so naturally hydration is key.
Number 4️⃣ is learning and holding true to setting healthy boundaries for me. I do struggle with boundaries. It is not an easy thing for me.
That really comes from the area of my personal makeup, unfortunately I am a people pleaser. I want to be a yes girl. I want to say yes to everybody. I also know that that comes always at a toll on my own personal self. This is something I do address in therapy, as well as, reading personal development books to help keep me in line.
Three amazing resources include:
1️⃣ Boundary Boss by Terri Cole
2️⃣ Winning The War In Your Mind by Craig Groeschel
3️⃣ Get Out Of Your Own Head by Jenny Allen
Over the course of 13 years in the business, I’ve built a morning routine that keeps me wanting to wake up in the morning. I wake up and practice gratitude through Growthday. I set my intentions. I review my goals for the day. I read my personal development and I move my body.
Now, when it comes to setting healthy boundaries, another thing that I like to do is I like to ask myself:
“What is acceptable behavior and what is not acceptable behavior?”
If somebody comes to me because they have a problem, I need you to help me. They’re text messaging you, and you are thinking to yourself, this person always has a problem. This person always has a catastrophe.
I want you to ask yourself, is this something that needs to be my problem and priority right now, or is this something I can do later? Now, for those of us that really struggle with this, this is a hard one. You have to learn to not respond. You have to learn to say, it’s okay if I do not answer the phone right away. It is okay if I do not respond for a few hours unless it is a true emergency. Learn to create your own boundary and stick with it.
Why does this all really matter when it comes to your health?
Because all of those changes, shifts, and spikes in your cortisol are things that begin to burn you out, the things that begin to steal your joy, the things that begin to make you resent your business, and ultimately are the things that make people decide to step away because they don’t love it anymore.
I don’t want us to get to that point. We can have the choice to take care of our health; our mind, body, and soul.
Many of us right now are operating from a space of keep up with the Joneses as fast as I can, burn myself out, work twenty four seven, and you might be achieving something, but do you really feel successful?
Are you just rebuilding all the time? Are you plugging these holes? I think the answer is yes, you’re just plugging a bunch of holes.
I may not be the most successful woman in the room, but I will tell you the quality of life that I live and the paycheck I earn is amazing. I feel fulfilled in this season of my life because my health is so aligned to who I want to be. My boundaries, even though they’re not perfect, they are improving.
I have become so aware of how I want to feel and how I don’t want to feel and creating space for me to truly feel the way that I want to feel.
I want you to know, you can have wealth, you can have health, you can have great relationships, but it starts with you.
Are you ready to change the way you feel to feel your best self?
Let’s work together. Fill out my fit club application below to start working on your health and wellness journey with me as your mentor today! https://www.melaniemitrostrainingacademy.com/monthly-Fit-Club-with-Melanie-Mitro