Speaker 1: I had a really special, heartfelt moment the other day
Speaker 1: when I bumped into one of my twenty eight ers
Speaker 1: on the street, which is something I love doing, and
Speaker 1: when I heard how getting on top of her health
Speaker 1: and fitness had changed her life. And it's not in
Speaker 1: the way that you're probably thinking, I was blown away.
Speaker 1: I'm going to share that story with you a little
Speaker 1: bit later, and we're also going to talk about the
Speaker 1: importance of celebrating the little winds.
Speaker 2: On your personal journey. This is The Wood Life. I'm
Speaker 2: Sam Wood.
Speaker 1: We're answering real questions from real people about real life.
Speaker 3: Also on the.
Speaker 1: Show, if you've been feeling pretty flat since twenty twenty, well,
Speaker 1: first of all, you're definitely not the only one. Whether
Speaker 1: it's stress or anxiety. You might be lying on the
Speaker 1: couch and feel it you just can't get up. If
Speaker 1: it's not you, it's someone in your family, perhaps even
Speaker 1: your kids. We've got someone on the show later today
Speaker 1: that is going to help someone to help you reduce
Speaker 1: that anxiety, manage that stress, improve that happiness.
Speaker 2: That's up next.
Speaker 1: So I'm very lucky to be sitting here today with
Speaker 1: doctor Jodie Richardson, who is a mum of two, a
Speaker 1: best selling author and I've got her two incredible books
Speaker 1: sitting here in front of me, A speaker and also
Speaker 1: hosts her own weekly podcast called Well Hello Anxiety and
Speaker 1: we are here.
Speaker 2: Jodie, welcome.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: I think I would be safe in saying that after
Speaker 1: the last two years that we have all endured across
Speaker 1: Australian across the world, the word anxiety is probably coming
Speaker 1: up a lot more than it used to.
Speaker 2: So, how has and.
Speaker 1: Uncertainty and all of these bad news that we've been
Speaker 1: navigating impacted anxiety and what can we do to try
Speaker 1: and reduce our worries and anxiety?
Speaker 5: Unpredictability is such a huge driver of anxiety and uncertainty
Speaker 5: because our brain registers threat and so the last two
Speaker 5: years understandably have been really stressful for families, for children,
Speaker 5: For professionals, it's been a really difficult couple of years
Speaker 5: because there's so much that we don't know, and even
Speaker 5: going into the start start of February in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 5: they're still unknowns and there's still expectations placed upon us
Speaker 5: that are more ordinary for us in terms of rapid
Speaker 5: antigen testing and masks. But kids don't know if their
Speaker 5: teachers are always going to be there in their class
Speaker 5: if they get COVID and need to take some time off.
Speaker 5: Kids don't know if they're going to be exposed to COVID.
Speaker 5: We as adults don't know if we're going to be
Speaker 5: homeschooling our kids again if they are exposed at school,
Speaker 5: and that's going to bring another interruption into our lives.
Speaker 4: It just so much that we still don't know.
Speaker 5: Life's never genuinely predictable anyway, but the last couple of
Speaker 5: years have certainly ampt that up, and I think it's
Speaker 5: good for people to know that anxiety is a really
Speaker 5: normal human emotion.
Speaker 4: We all experience it, but it's when we get stuck
Speaker 4: that it's a problem.
Speaker 2: So I'm so glad you said, first of all, it's normal.
Speaker 1: I'm really glad too that you brought up kids, because
Speaker 1: I think most of our listeners were probably nodding along
Speaker 1: thinking of their own situation over the last two years.
Speaker 1: But you are actually an expert in kids anxiety as
Speaker 1: well as adults anxiety. So the two books that I've
Speaker 1: got sitting here in front of me are Anxious Mums
Speaker 1: and your best seller, which doesn't surprise me at all,
Speaker 1: is Anxious Kids. Let's talk about the kids a little
Speaker 1: bit more, because I'm obviously a doting father of three
Speaker 1: soon to be four girls, and they're probably at either
Speaker 1: end of the spectrum, my four year old and my
Speaker 1: sixteen year old from anxiety perspective. I've got one little
Speaker 1: girl who's heading off to kindergarten and another little girl
Speaker 1: who's starting her year eleven, which tends to be a
Speaker 1: very high pressure school year, and she's become quite disconnected
Speaker 1: over the last two years from that normal flow of
Speaker 1: preparation for those two big years, and socially disconnected from
Speaker 1: all of her friends and really missing that social aspective thing.
Speaker 1: So what should we be looking for as parents when
Speaker 1: it comes to anxiety with their children.
Speaker 4: The number one thing is avoidance.
Speaker 5: That when we feel anxious and uncomfortable about something, and
Speaker 5: when our kids feel anxious and uncertain, that avoidance often
Speaker 5: becomes very clear.
Speaker 4: Very quickly.
Speaker 5: I don't want to go, I don't want to separate,
Speaker 5: I don't want to do it. Getting back into school
Speaker 5: is going to be really hard. Some kids have really
Speaker 5: enjoyed being at home and having that predictable routine at
Speaker 5: home and not having the unpredictability of being in the
Speaker 5: social setting with kids at school, which can be really
Speaker 5: challenging for some kids depending on where they are socially
Speaker 5: and how they go at school. But other kids are
Speaker 5: feeling like getting back into school is something that they
Speaker 5: know is good for them, but they're just not used
Speaker 5: to it, and it's the start of a new school
Speaker 5: year and more challenges. What's the workload going to be
Speaker 5: like in year eleven? How am I going to manage
Speaker 5: that with all the other things that I'm doing? Am
Speaker 5: I going to be able to meet the expectations that
Speaker 5: I have on myself? You know, for older kids and
Speaker 5: for little kids, it's for some of them it's their
Speaker 5: first proper time in the classroom without lockdown looming having
Speaker 5: been something they've experienced or something that they've got coming up.
Speaker 5: So when it comes to anxiety, a huge thing to
Speaker 5: look out for is that avoidance, And we know avoidance
Speaker 5: just amplifies anxiety.
Speaker 4: So it's something to help manage if you can.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So the first part is to identify these things
Speaker 1: and the second part is to how do you deal
Speaker 1: with it? So I come from a family of tough love.
Speaker 1: You know, if I went to school and had a
Speaker 1: crappy day, there would be no way. My mum was
Speaker 1: definitely more empathy sinsitive, I think. But then my mom
Speaker 1: passed away when I was fifteen, and that was a
Speaker 1: bit of a tough nut, but it was I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have had any option to not go back to school
Speaker 1: and face these things head on and now as a pair,
Speaker 1: And I wonder I think that was good for me.
Speaker 1: I mean, and maybe you tell me I'm way off
Speaker 1: track here, but I am really grateful that my dad
Speaker 1: made me go back and face those things head on
Speaker 1: and not put my head in the sand and not
Speaker 1: run away from my problems and all these kind of things.
Speaker 1: I'm being a bit dramatic, but you know that's sort
Speaker 1: of what is. So what are you suggesting we do
Speaker 1: then without you? And when it comes to anxiety and
Speaker 1: this avoidance.
Speaker 4: Issue, do you I think your dad was on the
Speaker 4: right track.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you said that because that's how I parent.
Speaker 1: And I wonder if that's a conscious decision that I've
Speaker 1: made or just the apple not very far from the tree.
Speaker 1: But I do think there's something even in my subconscious
Speaker 1: where I think. I think I'm a strong person, and
Speaker 1: I can Actually I'm quite resilient, and I can navigate
Speaker 1: problems well because my dad made me deal with them
Speaker 1: at the time, and I've learnt these skills over time,
Speaker 1: Whereas if I just continued to avoid them and run
Speaker 1: away from them, I'd probably now be a bit of
Speaker 1: a fish out of water whenever I'm facing these curve balls.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and we can work out how we manage that,
Speaker 5: whether or not it's sometimes we do what's go a
Speaker 5: step ladder approach, which is, for a child that has
Speaker 5: been refusing to go to school, sending them back to
Speaker 5: school full time is going to be too much for
Speaker 5: the score of fusals. Obviously really serious and very difficult,
Speaker 5: but it's about like dipping your toe in the water
Speaker 5: step by step by step and breaking down a big
Speaker 5: challenge into smaller parts and helping a child experience the
Speaker 5: first small step and then becoming accustomed to the discomfort
Speaker 5: that comes with maybe going and staying in the classroom
Speaker 5: for period one of the day and then coming home
Speaker 5: or spending some time in the library. So breaking it
Speaker 5: down but also really validating for kids how they feel,
Speaker 5: because when it's easy for us to say, don't worry
Speaker 5: about it, or there's nothing to stress about, or it
Speaker 5: will be okay. But when a child's feeling everything that
Speaker 5: comes with anxiety, which is all the physical sensations of
Speaker 5: racing heart, that edginess that we all know, then being
Speaker 5: able to validate that for them is really powerful to
Speaker 5: say I know that this is hard. I'm not trying
Speaker 5: to say to you that this is not hard, but
Speaker 5: I also know that you can do it, and we
Speaker 5: can work on this together, and so that gives that
Speaker 5: child that sense of hope and together with a parent
Speaker 5: working towards this big goal, so eventually, over time they
Speaker 5: can rise to that challenge and rise to other challenges
Speaker 5: that will no doubt come before them across their lives
Speaker 5: as well.
Speaker 1: I've just had an AHA moment because I do both
Speaker 1: of those things really well with my four year old.
Speaker 1: I don't do the validation very worth my sixteen year old,
Speaker 1: because I think there's something inside me that perhaps unfairly
Speaker 1: says she's old enough. I can be a bit more direct,
Speaker 1: as I'll say to her, Mavie, this is it's life.
Speaker 1: You know, like sometimetimes you have tough days at school.
Speaker 1: You like, you know, I don't feel with her. I
Speaker 1: just kind of go, you know, you're just gonna have
Speaker 1: to suck this up and kind of face it, because
Speaker 1: that's last sweeting.
Speaker 2: And you know it's if you don't face these things now,
Speaker 2: you're going to get into.
Speaker 1: The workforce, and you can't just quit your job or
Speaker 1: not go back to work if someone at work gives
Speaker 1: you a hard time. You know, like you feel like
Speaker 1: your job as a parent is of course they need
Speaker 1: to love you, but you're trying to prepare them for
Speaker 1: the big, wide, scary.
Speaker 2: World out there or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: And I'm a bit tough, and I feel like Snare's
Speaker 1: my wife is a bit the other way, and maybe
Speaker 1: I overcompensate a little bit.
Speaker 2: I think EV's going to thank you a lot chat
Speaker 2: one day. I mean, I always says, I know he
Speaker 2: might be frustrated at me. Now.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to one day wake up when she's
Speaker 1: eighteen or nineteen or twenty three or whenever it is,
Speaker 1: and say, oh, thanks for being how you were when
Speaker 1: you were And I now actually get why you were
Speaker 1: how you were, even though at the time I thought
Speaker 1: You're a bit tough on me.
Speaker 2: So that's actually really nice here. So a lot of our.
Speaker 1: Listeners won't have children, and they will have also been
Speaker 1: experiencing anxiety. And we are obviously a fitness wellness podcast,
Speaker 1: so I'd love to talk to you about the link
Speaker 1: between exercise and anxiety. I know you are a avid
Speaker 1: exerciser and a big fan of it, and I'd love
Speaker 1: to understand from you why you think exercise can be
Speaker 1: so beneficial and what your tips are around exercise and
Speaker 1: how it can help with anxiety instress management.
Speaker 5: Oh gosh, exercise is the most unbelievable prescription for anyone
Speaker 5: with anxiety. And one of the things to note about
Speaker 5: it is that it's the natural end to the fight
Speaker 5: or flight response. So when we become anxious, there's a
Speaker 5: part of our brain that's recognized a threat, and we
Speaker 5: might not consciously detect that threat. It could just be
Speaker 5: too many emails in area, and a fight or flight
Speaker 5: response is switched on and it's preparing our body to
Speaker 5: fight the threat or to run away from it. And
Speaker 5: when we are actually just sitting at our laptops or
Speaker 5: lying in bed, then we're not putting all of those
Speaker 5: changes in our body to good use. And so exercise
Speaker 5: is the natural end to the fight or flight response.
Speaker 5: So not only does it help to dissipate the cortisol
Speaker 5: and the adrenaline, we release so many amazing neurotransmitters. There's endocannabinoids,
Speaker 5: which really give us a sense of hope and optimism.
Speaker 5: So when you exercise, you feel good, you feel uplifted.
Speaker 5: Some people get a real euphoric feeling, a real runner
Speaker 5: is high.
Speaker 4: I get that. I feel amazing when I exercise.
Speaker 5: And it keeps me coming back for more. Others don't
Speaker 5: quite get that, and so well, maybe it's not for me.
Speaker 5: But what we know is it changes the brain. It
Speaker 5: increases resilience in the brain. Our brain releases it's called
Speaker 5: brain a derived neurotropic factor BDNF, which is like a
Speaker 5: miracle grow, like a fertilizer for our brain cells, so
Speaker 5: strengthening our neurons, strengthening connections. We also have another neurotransmitter released,
Speaker 5: which is called GABBA, and that is like putting on
Speaker 5: the brakes for the stress response. So there's all these
Speaker 5: amazing things going on in our brain. Also, one of
Speaker 5: the things about exercise is that it mimics the anxiety response.
Speaker 5: So when we become anxious, our hearts rate, our breathing changes,
Speaker 5: we get tense, we perspire, and we feel those feelings
Speaker 5: and they make us feel tense and worried. We don't
Speaker 5: like it, and we want to do what we can
Speaker 5: to not feel like that because we don't like those feelings.
Speaker 5: But when we do exercise, we feel tense, our heart
Speaker 5: rate goes up, our breathing rate goes up, we perspire,
Speaker 5: And if we can reframe those sensations to be recognized
Speaker 5: as just merely feelings in the body and not have
Speaker 5: that story of anxiety around it, then exercise just develops
Speaker 5: this general resilience to that experience as well and helps
Speaker 5: us cope better.
Speaker 1: It's interesting, isn't it, Because a lot of us think
Speaker 1: we should be going through life trying to avoid stress,
Speaker 1: whereas as an exercise scientist, you know that you're actually
Speaker 1: doing yourself a favor putting your body under stress, adapting
Speaker 1: to that stress, and growing and evolving and growing and
Speaker 1: growing and then handling the stress better and handling the
Speaker 1: stress better. And stress is good, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: stress is such a dirty word and a negative word
Speaker 1: in the way it's used typically in our language, but
Speaker 1: in fitness terms, stress is good. Does all exercise have
Speaker 1: those magic powers?
Speaker 2: You know? Would a light.
Speaker 1: Walk be as beneficial as a hard run or a
Speaker 1: hit session or a circuit where you're puffing and panting
Speaker 1: or is there a level here of the more stress
Speaker 1: I put myself on with a tougher workout, the better
Speaker 1: the benefits are.
Speaker 2: Going to be.
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's certainly an element to that, And as you
Speaker 5: and I both know, it's about people working their way
Speaker 5: up towards working really hard.
Speaker 4: And so I.
Speaker 5: Would say if you can get out, because the bonus
Speaker 5: of even going for a walk is you start to
Speaker 5: get some.
Speaker 4: Of those benefits.
Speaker 5: But if you're going outside, you're getting all the benefits
Speaker 5: of being in nature, which is so calming for our
Speaker 5: nervous system. If you're doing it with someone else, you've
Speaker 5: got that opportunity to connect, and it gives you that
Speaker 5: accountability as well, So you've got those additional benefits. Because
Speaker 5: when when we look at happiness on the whole in
Speaker 5: our lives, it's our connections with other people and our
Speaker 5: relationships number one that bring us the most joy and
Speaker 5: meaning in our life. And so any exercise is good.
Speaker 5: And I always like to say to people, start, start small,
Speaker 5: and build up, and I used to show away a
Speaker 5: little bit from really encouraging people to increase the intensity.
Speaker 5: And you know, back when I was a PTE, I
Speaker 5: would ease people in probably a little bit over too.
Speaker 4: Long a period.
Speaker 5: Whereas if you're safe and you've got the nod from
Speaker 5: your dock and you're ready to do it, you build
Speaker 5: up under professional guidance like your twenty eight program, and
Speaker 5: don't be afraid of building up to lifting.
Speaker 4: Heavy weights and to be working hard.
Speaker 5: I mean, I finish a CrossFit and I kid you,
Speaker 5: not on my back, like just feeling like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 5: I can't believe my body just did that, and my
Speaker 5: heart is something out of my chest and I can't
Speaker 5: even speak, but I just feel such a sense of accomplishment.
Speaker 5: I feel strong and I feel empowered. And so it's
Speaker 5: finding the exercise that's the best fit for you, I
Speaker 5: think is the best advice, isn't it. And doing it
Speaker 5: as a group program connecting with other people and being
Speaker 5: a part of something also brings meaning to your life
Speaker 5: and so you're going to be more likely to continue
Speaker 5: with it. So it's just something I would love everybody
Speaker 5: to bring into part of their day. But don't give up.
Speaker 5: If you've tried one thing and it wasn't the right
Speaker 5: fit for you, You've got to keep going and finding
Speaker 5: what works.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, there's so many things there.
Speaker 1: First of all, from an exercise science perspective, I love
Speaker 1: that you've said that, because I candidly think most people
Speaker 1: don't quite understand what their bodies are capable of, you know,
Speaker 1: and they never they have gears.
Speaker 2: That they don't ever know they exist.
Speaker 1: Something I do want to talk to you about from
Speaker 1: a parenting perspective is pressure that parents put on themselves,
Speaker 1: the guilt that parents have. We've actually got a question
Speaker 1: from Sonya just about this topic, and she is asking
Speaker 1: about mum gilt.
Speaker 2: Maybe we take a question from Sonya.
Speaker 6: I've regained about seven to eight kilos and I'm trying
Speaker 6: to walk every day. I still try and eat healthy.
Speaker 6: I'm just lost. I guess how do I regain my focus?
Speaker 6: How do I, I guess, not feel guilty about putting
Speaker 6: myself first?
Speaker 2: Again, that's a big question.
Speaker 4: You must have this question all the time, Sonya.
Speaker 5: It's really it's so common for mums in particular to
Speaker 5: feel guilty, especially if we've got young children and we're
Speaker 5: starting to do the things that we might i'd have
Speaker 5: once done before we were before we were parents. And
Speaker 5: one of the things I'd like to say to you, Sonia,
Speaker 5: and anyone else who experiences this is the idea that
Speaker 5: it's really natural to feel all feelings, and that if
Speaker 5: you feeling guilty, it means that you care, means that
Speaker 5: you care about your child, It means that you care
Speaker 5: about what's important for you. And I would say to you,
Speaker 5: don't wait till you don't feel guilty to do what's
Speaker 5: really important. I remember when I was a new mum,
Speaker 5: I thought a good mum using air quotes because you
Speaker 5: can see this sort of podcast, I thought a good
Speaker 5: mum spent pretty much every waking minute with their infant.
Speaker 5: And I was just absolutely ruining myself and I wasn't
Speaker 5: back into exercise. And when I really rediscovered my values
Speaker 5: and recognized that my mental health was not good story
Speaker 5: for another time, exercise was something that was missing. I
Speaker 5: found it really hard to go back to the gym
Speaker 5: and hand over my newborn to a stranger in the
Speaker 5: gym and do my workout, and I felt terribly guilty.
Speaker 5: But what I realized was that the way that I
Speaker 5: felt after doing the exercise was preparing me and building
Speaker 5: my resilience and filling my cup to be a better parent,
Speaker 5: to be more present when I was back with him.
Speaker 5: And also what I found over the years is me
Speaker 5: filling my own cup and still being an individual as
Speaker 5: well as a parent, has role modeled for my kids
Speaker 5: in the most extraordinary ways. And whilst I did a
Speaker 5: crossfeit work out on Monday, our son who's thirteen, went
Speaker 5: for his run and then he joined me at the
Speaker 5: CrossFit box and just sort of cheered everyone on and
Speaker 5: hung out with us. And I can see that my
Speaker 5: doing the things that have been important to me have
Speaker 5: really role modeled healthy behaviors and self care for my kids.
Speaker 5: And so, Sonia, i'd encourage you to think about when
Speaker 5: you are taking care of yourself, you're showing your kids
Speaker 5: also what it is that they can do to look
Speaker 5: after themselves, because if you give everything away to everyone else,
Speaker 5: then that's what you're teaching them as well. So all
Speaker 5: feelings are okay. Acknowledge that you feel guilty, think about
Speaker 5: what's important to you, and take steps to do that,
Speaker 5: and know that in doing that you're actually setting a
Speaker 5: fine example for your children.
Speaker 2: As well.
Speaker 1: I love that role modeling bit. That's something I hadn't
Speaker 1: thought of before. That's the icing on the cake, isn't it.
Speaker 1: I can't add anything else to that. I think that's
Speaker 1: absolutely spot on and I hope that helped Sonya. We
Speaker 1: talk about anxiety and we talk about reducing stress. What
Speaker 1: it really comes down to is how do we find happiness?
Speaker 1: You know, that's really what you help people do a
Speaker 1: bit of a question without notice and quite a general question,
Speaker 1: but what are your top three or top five? You
Speaker 1: can have as many as you like GIFs on finding
Speaker 1: happiness that you can kind of leave.
Speaker 2: Our listeners with.
Speaker 4: Well, what I would say first and foremost is to
Speaker 4: know that it's not actually natural to be happy all
Speaker 4: the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's good, and.
Speaker 5: That, like you say, we do the things that we do,
Speaker 5: we do the work we do, we like to look
Speaker 5: the way we do, we dress the way we do,
Speaker 5: we do the exercise we do because we're always looking
Speaker 5: to feel good. And I think we were raised I
Speaker 5: know certainly was as a gen X, A raised to
Speaker 5: sort of think that, well, if you're not happy, there
Speaker 5: must be something wrong because everyone else looks happy. And
Speaker 5: you mentioned Instagram before and we know that we look
Speaker 5: at the highlights of people's lives and we certainly don't
Speaker 5: want people to be processing really raw emotions in front
Speaker 5: of us, either on Instagram. But we do look around
Speaker 5: and we think other people have got it figured out
Speaker 5: better than we have, or got their ducks in a
Speaker 5: row more than we have.
Speaker 4: And one of the really powerful.
Speaker 5: Things I think with regards to happiness is to know
Speaker 5: that yes, it's beautiful to feel happy and it's amazing,
Speaker 5: but it's not natural to feel happy all the time,
Speaker 5: and that if you don't feel happy, there's absolutely nothing
Speaker 5: wrong with you.
Speaker 4: One of the things.
Speaker 5: That we know contributes greatly to happiness, as I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 5: are our connections.
Speaker 4: And so you know, there's a.
Speaker 5: Great article called scratch a Happy Adult and find a
Speaker 5: socially Connected Child. And what that means is, you know,
Speaker 5: for our kids to have lots of friends, for us
Speaker 5: to have friends in different domains of our life as well,
Speaker 5: and to have rich relationships time into those being mindful
Speaker 5: when we can, because our brains very naturally go to
Speaker 5: the past and also to the future, and of course,
Speaker 5: really we only have this moment, and so much of
Speaker 5: what we worry about when we have future thinking detracts
Speaker 5: from what we can experience, and amazing research shows us
Speaker 5: that even if we're looking forward to something fun and exciting,
Speaker 5: we are less happy doing that than we are when
Speaker 5: we're focused in the present moment. So if I was
Speaker 5: to number my tips, I would say no, that it's
Speaker 5: not natural to be happy all the time. Know that
Speaker 5: everyone around you has the ups and downs in life
Speaker 5: that you do as well.
Speaker 4: It's really normal.
Speaker 5: Know that if you can experience whatever you feel when
Speaker 5: it comes up and have compassion for yourself, feelings have
Speaker 5: to flow through us. That connections are the number one
Speaker 5: contributed to our happiness, and exercise has got to be
Speaker 5: in their mindfulness is really powerful as well.
Speaker 4: And living a life.
Speaker 5: With a sense of meaning and purpose, which may be
Speaker 5: a conversation for another day, but living with your values,
Speaker 5: knowing what's important and then taking steps in that direction.
Speaker 5: And I know that your twenty eight is really value
Speaker 5: their health and their fitness and the mental health and
Speaker 5: their physiological health, and knowing that if you value that,
Speaker 5: and that if there's a day where you might have
Speaker 5: taken action that's against that value, that that's okay. Because
Speaker 5: we're all human and knowing that that's your value. You
Speaker 5: pick up where you left off and you revisit that
Speaker 5: value of health and fitness in the future, decisions that
Speaker 5: you make over the day, and being kind to yourself
Speaker 5: if you do find that you fall off the wagon,
Speaker 5: so to speak, so lots of self compassion.
Speaker 1: There are so many wonderful tips right there, and we
Speaker 1: will absolutely get you back on to talk about finding
Speaker 1: your purpose and following your purpose.
Speaker 2: Jodie, thank you so so.
Speaker 1: Much, and I can't wait to hear what our listeners
Speaker 1: have to say about the tips that you've given, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure they will come back to us with a
Speaker 1: myriad of questions based on the tips that you've given.
Speaker 1: Anyone out there that would like to get the hands
Speaker 1: one of your books, I'm going to give you a plug.
Speaker 1: You haven't asked me to, but they're sitting right in
Speaker 1: front of me and they look absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2: They are called.
Speaker 1: Anxious Mums and funnily enough, anxious kids, and it is
Speaker 1: doctor Jody Richardson. Check them out if you or your
Speaker 1: children could benefit from any of these wonderful tips, and
Speaker 1: we'll see you again soon.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much.
Speaker 4: Thanks having me, Sam.
Speaker 1: If you're listening at home and any of this is
Speaker 1: resonating with you. I want you to try these tips
Speaker 1: that Jody suggested. Don't just listen to Jodi, sit there
Speaker 1: and nod. It's about practically applying these things and feeling
Speaker 1: the benefits, because I promise you they will help. Next,
Speaker 1: I'm going to share some of our health of fitness
Speaker 1: wins and something positive that happened to me recently. The
Speaker 1: most rewarding part of what I do, always has been,
Speaker 1: always will be, is hearing people's little wins. And it's
Speaker 1: not just the things that perhaps jump into your mind
Speaker 1: straight away, of course, it's that I ran my first
Speaker 1: five k or even ran my first five one hundred meters,
Speaker 1: or I'd dropped the dress size or lost five kilos,
Speaker 1: or for the first time ever, I was able to
Speaker 1: say no to my friends at a Friday night and
Speaker 1: have an alcohol free weekend. All of this stuff is
Speaker 1: absolutely incredible and should always be celebrated. But every now
Speaker 1: and then you get someone come up to you and
Speaker 1: they share their story and it really touches me. And
Speaker 1: I was lucky enough last week to meet a lady
Speaker 1: who has been on my program for a little while,
Speaker 1: and she came up to me, and her story was
Speaker 1: a little bit different, and she said, Tim, I've been
Speaker 1: on your program for four months now, and for the
Speaker 1: first time in fifteen years, I have stopped taking my
Speaker 1: anxiety medication. And that was advised by her doctor. Her
Speaker 1: doctor had said to her, I think you're in the
Speaker 1: best place you've been that I've ever seen you for
Speaker 1: as long as we've been working together, and I want
Speaker 1: you to try and wean yourself off the medicaid to
Speaker 1: the point that you no longer take it, and we're
Speaker 1: just going to see what happens. Is She's now been
Speaker 1: doing that for a few weeks, and she says she
Speaker 1: still feels fantastic now. I'm not advocating that a little
Speaker 1: walk on the treadmill and a healthy sandwich is a
Speaker 1: solution to all mental illness.
Speaker 2: I would never suggest that.
Speaker 1: I know there are occasions where medication is the right
Speaker 1: and the only solution for people. But when someone comes
Speaker 1: up to me and shares a story like this, and
Speaker 1: you can see that they've taken control of their physical
Speaker 1: health and their diet and their sleep and their mindfulness,
Speaker 1: and it is having such a positive impact not just
Speaker 1: on their physical health, but on their mental health and
Speaker 1: their life. That's what makes this job so worthwhile. It's
Speaker 1: really important to celebrate the little winds because getting in
Speaker 1: shape can be a long, lonely slow process at times.
Speaker 1: If you celebrate the little winds along the way, and
Speaker 1: that might be a pat on the it might be
Speaker 1: just a little moment where you reflected back on how
Speaker 1: fay you've already come, and it encourages you to keep going.
Speaker 1: It might be you buy yourself a little gift or
Speaker 1: reward yourself in some way to keep you going and
Speaker 1: make that journey more enjoyable. Really, you're just more likely
Speaker 1: to get there because you've broken that big win into
Speaker 1: a whole little little wins and it's just going to
Speaker 1: help propel you along. And this is why we like
Speaker 1: it when our Woodlife listeners share their little wins along
Speaker 1: the journey. My fitness win for the week would definitely
Speaker 1: be finally beating my mate Tom in tennis.
Speaker 2: We play every week. I've played in for the past
Speaker 2: three months or so. He's beaten me every time. Finally
Speaker 2: got him seven five six to.
Speaker 6: Cop that had a pretty bad back injury for two years.
Speaker 1: It regreted me from Walkee and today was the past
Speaker 1: time that I was.
Speaker 4: Able to go on a.
Speaker 2: Half an hour walk and not have to sit down
Speaker 2: or take a break.
Speaker 4: Today, I actually went for a run for the first
Speaker 4: time in over a year.
Speaker 3: Every year, I tell myself I'm going to put a
Speaker 3: side time to start going to the gym. Of course,
Speaker 3: when it gets down to the nitty gritty the kids
Speaker 3: go back to school, it is nearly impossible to stick to.
Speaker 3: But this year I have so far gone three and
Speaker 3: a half weeks consistently going, and I feel like I'm
Speaker 3: going to keep it up.
Speaker 2: So isn't that interesting.
Speaker 1: Some of them are emotional, some of them are psychological,
Speaker 1: some of them are just physical. But it's powerful to
Speaker 1: first all reflect and identify those little wins along the journey,
Speaker 1: and then it's just as powerful to share them. So
Speaker 1: if you're listening and you're on your own journey, make
Speaker 1: sure you don't compare yourself to others, because remember, it's
Speaker 1: you versus you, and it doesn't matter if someone's out
Speaker 1: there running a marathon. If your goal is to get
Speaker 1: around the block, that is your little win, make sure
Speaker 1: you recognize it, make sure you share it, and of course,
Speaker 1: if you want to share it with us, there's always
Speaker 1: a link in the show notes, and we'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you