Speaker 1: Get everyone safe to say, it's been the week of weeks,
Speaker 1: absolutely hectic on all fronts, and I'm actually down in
Speaker 1: Tasmania at the moment filming a wellness TV show, Plass.
Speaker 1: I've spent a little bit of time in hospital, which
Speaker 1: I'll give you a bit more context around when we
Speaker 1: all catch up next week. But this week I just
Speaker 1: wanted to reshare one of my favorite episodes with doctor
Speaker 1: Jodie Richardson, all about anxiety and our children. I think
Speaker 1: it's one of those things that was really top of
Speaker 1: mind coming out of COVID, but it's something we always
Speaker 1: need to keep tup of mind. I love this episode,
Speaker 1: so I thought i'd reshare it with you this week.
Speaker 1: Enjoy it if you haven't heard it. I'll be back
Speaker 1: next week in the studio to fill you in on
Speaker 1: everything that's been going on and have a great week.
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 Jodie, welcome.
Speaker 2: 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 3: So how has.
Speaker 1: Lockdowns and uncertainty and all of this bad news that
Speaker 1: we've been navigating impact anxiety and what can we do
Speaker 1: to try and reduce our worries and anxiety?
Speaker 4: Unpredictability is such a huge driver of anxiety and uncertainty
Speaker 4: because our brain registers threat and so the last two
Speaker 4: years understandably have been really stressful for families, for children,
Speaker 4: for professionals, it's been a really.
Speaker 2: Difficult couple of years because there's so much that.
Speaker 4: We don't know, And even going into the start of
Speaker 4: well start of February in twenty twenty two, they're still
Speaker 4: unknowns and there's still expectations placed upon us that are
Speaker 4: more ordinary for us in terms of rapid antigen testing
Speaker 4: and masks. But kids don't know if their teachers are
Speaker 4: always going to be there in their class if they
Speaker 4: get COVID and need to take some time off. Kids
Speaker 4: don't know if they're going to be exposed to COVID.
Speaker 4: We as adults don't know if we're going to be
Speaker 4: homeschooling our kids again, if they are exposed at school,
Speaker 4: and that's going to bring another interruption into our lives.
Speaker 2: It's just so much that we still don't know.
Speaker 4: And lives never genuinely predictable anyway, But the last couple
Speaker 4: of years have certainly up and I think it's good
Speaker 4: for people to know that anxiety is a really normal
Speaker 4: human emotion. We all experience it, but it's when we
Speaker 4: get stuck that it's a problem.
Speaker 3: 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.
Speaker 3: 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 probably at either end
Speaker 1: of the spectrum, my four year old and my sixteen
Speaker 1: year old. From anxiety perspective, I've got one little girl
Speaker 1: who's heading off to kindergarten and another little girl who's
Speaker 1: starting her year eleven, which tends to be a very
Speaker 1: high pressure school year, and she's become quite disconnected over
Speaker 1: the last two years from that normal flow of prep
Speaker 1: for those two big years, and socially disconnected from all
Speaker 1: of our 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 2: The number one thing is avoidance.
Speaker 4: That when we feel anxious and uncomfortable about something, and
Speaker 4: when our kids feel anxious and uncertain, that avoidance often
Speaker 4: becomes very clear.
Speaker 2: Very quickly.
Speaker 4: I don't want to go, I don't want to separate,
Speaker 4: I don't want to do it. Getting back into school
Speaker 4: is going to be really hard. Some kids have really
Speaker 4: enjoyed being at home and having that predictable routine at
Speaker 4: home and not having the unpredictability of being in the
Speaker 4: social setting with kids at school, which can be really
Speaker 4: challenging for some kids, depending on where they are socially
Speaker 4: and how they go at school. But other kids are
Speaker 4: feeling like getting back into school is something that they
Speaker 4: know is good for them, but they're just not used
Speaker 4: to it and it's the start of a new school
Speaker 4: year and more challenges. What's the workload going to be
Speaker 4: like in year eleven? How am I going to manage
Speaker 4: that with all of the other things that I'm doing?
Speaker 4: Am I going to be able to meet the expectations
Speaker 4: that I have on myself? You know, for older kids
Speaker 4: and for little kids, it's for some of them it's
Speaker 4: their first proper time in the classroom without lockdown looming
Speaker 4: having been something they've experienced or something that they've got
Speaker 4: coming up. So when it comes to anxiety, a huge
Speaker 4: thing to look out for is that avoidance. And we
Speaker 4: know avoidance just amplifies anxiety. So it's something to help
Speaker 4: manage if you can.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, So the first part is to identify these
Speaker 1: things and the second part is to how do you
Speaker 1: deal with it?
Speaker 3: 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 and sensitive, I think, But then my
Speaker 1: mom passed away when I was fifteen, and that was
Speaker 1: a bit of a tough nut, but it was I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have had any option to not go back to
Speaker 1: school and face these things head on and now as
Speaker 1: a pair, And I wonder I think that was good
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 3: I mean, and maybe you tell me I'm way off
Speaker 3: track here, but.
Speaker 1: I am really grateful that my dad made me go
Speaker 1: back and face those things head on and not put
Speaker 1: my head in the sand and not run away from
Speaker 1: my problems and all these kind of things. I'm being
Speaker 1: a bit dramatic, but you know that's sort of what is.
Speaker 1: So what are you suggesting we do then without you?
Speaker 1: And when it comes to anxiety and this avoidance issue,
Speaker 1: do you.
Speaker 2: I think your dad was on the right track.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. I'm glad you said that, because I'm that's how
Speaker 3: 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 4: Yeah, and we can work out how we manage that,
Speaker 4: whether or not it's sometimes we do what's called it
Speaker 4: a step ladder approach, which is, for a child that
Speaker 4: has been refusing to go to school, sending them back
Speaker 4: to school full time is going to be too much
Speaker 4: for the score of diusals.
Speaker 2: Obviously really serious and very.
Speaker 4: Difficult, but it's about like dipping your toe in the water,
Speaker 4: step by step by step and breaking down a big
Speaker 4: challenge into smaller parts and helping a child experience the
Speaker 4: first small step and then becoming accustomed to the discomfort
Speaker 4: that comes with maybe going and staying in the classroom
Speaker 4: for period one of the day and then coming home
Speaker 4: or spending some time in the library. So breaking it
Speaker 4: down but also really validating for kids how they feel.
Speaker 4: Because when it's easier for us to say, don't worry
Speaker 4: about it, or there's nothing to stress about, or it
Speaker 4: will be okay, but when a child's feeling everything that
Speaker 4: comes with anxiety, which is all the physical sensations of
Speaker 4: racing heart, that edginess that we all know. Then being
Speaker 4: able to validate that for them is really powerful to
Speaker 4: say I know that this is hard. I'm not trying
Speaker 4: to say to you that this is not hard, but
Speaker 4: I also know that you can do it, and we
Speaker 4: can work on this together. And so that gives that
Speaker 4: child that sense of hope and together with a pair
Speaker 4: working towards this big goal, so eventually, over time they
Speaker 4: can rise to that challenge and rise to other challenges
Speaker 4: that will no doubt come before them across their lives
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 1: I've just had an a hum 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
Speaker 1: old because I think there's something inside me that perhaps
Speaker 1: unfairly says she's old enough. I can be a bit
Speaker 1: more direct, as in, I'll say to her, Mavie, this
Speaker 1: is it's life, you know, like sometimetimes you have tough
Speaker 1: days at school, you like, you know, I don't feel
Speaker 1: with her, I just kind of go, you know, you're
Speaker 1: just gonna have to suck this up and kind of
Speaker 1: face it, because that's that's las sweating and you know,
Speaker 1: it's if you don't face these things now, you're going
Speaker 1: to get into the workforce, and you can't just quit
Speaker 1: your job or not go back to work if someone
Speaker 1: at work gives you a hard time, you know, like
Speaker 1: you feel like your job as a parent is of
Speaker 1: course they need to love you, but you're trying to
Speaker 1: prepare them for the big, wide, scary world out there
Speaker 1: once they leave home or whatever it is. And I'm
Speaker 1: a bit tough, and I feel like Snare's my wife
Speaker 1: is a bit the other way, and maybe I overcompensate
Speaker 1: a little bit.
Speaker 3: I think Evy's going to thank you a lot chat
Speaker 3: one day.
Speaker 1: I mean, I always says, I know he might be
Speaker 1: frustrated at me. Now, I just wanted to one day
Speaker 1: wake up when she's eighteen or nineteen or twenty three
Speaker 1: or whenever it is, and say, oh, thanks for being
Speaker 1: how you were when you were And I now actually
Speaker 1: get why you were how you were, even though at
Speaker 1: the time I thought you're a bit tough on me.
Speaker 3: So that's actually really nice here.
Speaker 1: So a lot of our listeners won't have children, and
Speaker 1: they will have also been experiencing anxiety, and we are
Speaker 1: obviously a fitness Wellness podcast, So I'd love to talk
Speaker 1: to you about the link between exercise and anxiety. I
Speaker 1: know you are a avid exerciser and a big fan
Speaker 1: of it, and I'd love to understand from you why
Speaker 1: you think exercise can be so beneficial and what your
Speaker 1: tips are around exercise and how it can help with
Speaker 1: anxiety instrest management.
Speaker 4: Oh gosh, exercise is the most unbelievable prescription for anyone
Speaker 4: with anxiety. And one of the things to note about
Speaker 4: it is that it's the natural end to the fight
Speaker 4: or flight response. So when we become anxious, there's a
Speaker 4: part of our brain that's recognized a threat, and we
Speaker 4: might not consciously.
Speaker 2: Detect that threat.
Speaker 4: It could just be too many emails in area, and
Speaker 4: a fight or flight response is switched on and it's
Speaker 4: preparing our body to fight the threat or to run
Speaker 4: away from it. And when we are actually just sitting
Speaker 4: at our laptops or lying in bed, then we're not
Speaker 4: putting all of those changes in our body to good use.
Speaker 4: And so exercise is the natural end to the fight
Speaker 4: or flight response. So not only does it help to
Speaker 4: dissipate the cortisol and the adrenaline we release, so many
Speaker 4: amazing neurotransmitters. There's endocannabinoids, which really give us a sense
Speaker 4: of hope and optimism. So when you exercise, you feel good,
Speaker 4: you feel uplifted. Some people get a real euphoric feeling,
Speaker 4: a real run is high.
Speaker 2: I get that.
Speaker 4: I feel amazing when I exercise, and it keeps me
Speaker 4: coming back for more. Others don't quite get that and say, well,
Speaker 4: maybe it's not for me. But what we know is
Speaker 4: it changes the brain. It increases resilience in the brain.
Speaker 4: Our brain releases it's called brain a derived neurotropic factor BDNF,
Speaker 4: which is like a miracle grow like a fertilizer for
Speaker 4: our brain cells, so strengthening our neurons, strengthening connections. We
Speaker 4: also have another neurotransmitter released, which is called GABBA, and
Speaker 4: that is like putting on the brakes for the stress response.
Speaker 4: So there's all these amazing things going on in our brain. Also,
Speaker 4: one of the things about exercise is that it mimics
Speaker 4: the anxiety response. So when we become anxious, our hearts rate,
Speaker 4: our breathing changes, we get tense, we perspire, and we
Speaker 4: feel those feelings and they make us feel tense and worried.
Speaker 4: We don't like it, and we want to do what
Speaker 4: we can to not feel like that because we don't
Speaker 4: like those feelings.
Speaker 2: But when we do.
Speaker 4: Exercise, we feel tense, our heart rate goes up, our
Speaker 4: breathing rate goes up, we perspire. And if we can
Speaker 4: reframe those sensations to be recognized as just merely feelings
Speaker 4: in the body and not have that story of anxiety
Speaker 4: around it, then exercise just develops this general resilience to
Speaker 4: that experience as well and helps 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 faibor 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. Yeah, I mean, stress
Speaker 1: is such a dirty word and a negative word in
Speaker 1: the way it's used typically in our language, but in
Speaker 1: fitness terms, stress is good. Does all exercise have those
Speaker 1: magic powers?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: Would a light walk be as beneficial as a hard
Speaker 1: run or a hit session or a circuit where you're
Speaker 1: puffing and panting or is there a level here of
Speaker 1: the more stress I put myself under with a tougher workout,
Speaker 1: the better the benefits are.
Speaker 3: Going to be.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's certainly an element to that, and as you
Speaker 4: and I both know, it's about people working their way
Speaker 4: up towards working really hard. And so I would say
Speaker 4: if you can get out, because the bonus of even
Speaker 4: going for a walk is you start to get some
Speaker 4: of those benefits. But if you're going outside, you're getting
Speaker 4: all the benefits of being in nature, which is so
Speaker 4: calming for our nervous system. If you're doing it with
Speaker 4: someone else, you've got that opportunity to connect, and it
Speaker 4: gives you that accountability as well, So you've got those
Speaker 4: additional benefits. Because when when we look at happiness on
Speaker 4: the whole in our lives, it's our connections with other
Speaker 4: people and our relationships number one that bring us the
Speaker 4: most joy and meaning in our life. And so any
Speaker 4: exercise is good. And I always like to say to people, start,
Speaker 4: start small, and build up. And I used to shy
Speaker 4: away a little bit from really encouraging people to increase
Speaker 4: the intensity. And you know, back when I was a PTE,
Speaker 4: I would ease people in probably a little bit over
Speaker 4: too long a period, Whereas, if you're safe and you've
Speaker 4: got the nod from your dock and you're ready to
Speaker 4: do it, build up under professional guidance like your twenty
Speaker 4: eight program, and don't be afraid of building up to
Speaker 4: lifting heavy weights and to be working hard. I mean,
Speaker 4: I finish a cross fit and I kid you, not
Speaker 4: on my back, like just feeling like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 4: I can't believe my body just did that, and my
Speaker 4: heart is thumping out of my chest and I can't
Speaker 4: even speak, but I just feel such a sense of accomplishment.
Speaker 4: I feel strong, and I feel empowered. And so it's
Speaker 4: finding the exercise that's the best fit for you, I
Speaker 4: think is the best advice, isn't it. And doing it
Speaker 4: as a group program connecting with other people and being
Speaker 4: a part of something also brings meaning to your life,
Speaker 4: and so you're going to be.
Speaker 2: More likely to continue with it.
Speaker 4: So it's just something I would love everybody to bring
Speaker 4: into part of their day.
Speaker 2: But don't give up. If you've tried one thing and
Speaker 2: it wasn't.
Speaker 4: The right fit for you, You've got to keep going
Speaker 4: and finding what works.
Speaker 3: 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 their bodies are capable of, you know,
Speaker 1: and they never they have gears that they don't even
Speaker 1: know they exist. Something I do want to talk to
Speaker 1: you about from a parenting perspective is pressure that parents
Speaker 1: put on themselves, the guilt that parents have. We've actually
Speaker 1: got a question from Sonya just about this topic, and
Speaker 1: she is asking about mum guilt.
Speaker 3: Maybe we take a question from Sonya.
Speaker 5: I've regained about seven to eight kilos and I'm trying
Speaker 5: to walk every day. I still try and eat healthy.
Speaker 5: I'm just lost. I guess how do I regain my focus?
Speaker 5: How do I, I guess, not feel guilty about putting
Speaker 5: myself first?
Speaker 3: Again, that's a big question. I must have this question
Speaker 3: all the time.
Speaker 4: Yes, Sonya, it's really it's so common for mums in
Speaker 4: particular to feel guilty, especially if we've got young children
Speaker 4: and we're starting to do the things that we might
Speaker 4: have once done before we were before we were parents.
Speaker 4: And one of the things I like to say to
Speaker 4: you Sonia and anyone else who experiences this is the
Speaker 4: idea that it's really natural to feel all feelings, and
Speaker 4: that if you feeling guilty, it means that you care,
Speaker 4: means that you care about your child. It means that
Speaker 4: you care about what's important for you. And I would
Speaker 4: say to you, don't wait till you don't feel guilty
Speaker 4: to do what's really important. I remember when I was
Speaker 4: a new mum, I thought a good mum using air
Speaker 4: quotes because you can see this sort of podcast, I
Speaker 4: thought a good mum spent pretty much every waking minute
Speaker 4: with their infant. And I was just absolutely ruining myself
Speaker 4: and I wasn't back into exercise. And when I really
Speaker 4: rediscovered my values and recognized that my mental health was
Speaker 4: not good story for another time, exercise was something that
Speaker 4: was missing. I found it really hard to go back
Speaker 4: to the gym and hand over my newborn to a
Speaker 4: stranger in the gym and do my workout, and I
Speaker 4: felt terribly guilty. But what I realized was that the
Speaker 4: way that I felt after doing the exercise was preparing
Speaker 4: me and building my resilience and filling my cup to
Speaker 4: be a better parent, to be more present when I
Speaker 4: was back with him. And also what I found over
Speaker 4: the years is me filling my own cup and still
Speaker 4: being an individual as well as a parent, has role
Speaker 4: modeled for my kids in the most extraordinary ways. And
Speaker 4: whilst I did a crossfeit work out on Monday, our
Speaker 4: son who's thirteen, went for his run and then he
Speaker 4: joined me at the CrossFit box and just sort of
Speaker 4: cheered everyone on and hung out with us. And I
Speaker 4: can see that my doing the things that have been
Speaker 4: important to me have really role modeled healthy behaviors and
Speaker 4: self care for my kids. And so, Sonia, i'd encourage
Speaker 4: you to think about when you are taking care of yourself,
Speaker 4: you're showing your kids also what it is that they
Speaker 4: can do to look after themselves, because if you give
Speaker 4: everything away to everyone else, then that's what you're teaching
Speaker 4: them as well. So all feelings are okay. Acknowledge that
Speaker 4: you feel guilty, but think about what's important to you
Speaker 4: and take steps to do that. Know that in doing
Speaker 4: that you're actually setting a fine example for your children
Speaker 4: 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 gifts on finding
Speaker 1: happiness that you can kind of leave 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.
Speaker 2: Happy all the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's good, and.
Speaker 4: That, like you say, we do the things that we do,
Speaker 4: we do the work we do, we like to look
Speaker 4: the way we do, we dress the way we do,
Speaker 4: we do the exercise we do, because we're always looking
Speaker 4: to feel good. And I think we were raised. I
Speaker 4: know I certainly was as a gen X, a raised
Speaker 4: to sort of think that, well, if you're not happy,
Speaker 4: there must be something wrong because everyone else looks happy.
Speaker 4: And you mentioned Instagram before, and we know that we
Speaker 4: look at the highlights of people's lives and we certainly
Speaker 4: don't want people to be processing really raw emotions in
Speaker 4: front of us, either on Instagram, but we do look
Speaker 4: around and we think other people have got it figured
Speaker 4: out better than we have, or got their ducks in
Speaker 4: a row more than we have. And one of the
Speaker 4: really powerful things I think with regards to happiness is
Speaker 4: to know that yes, it's beautiful to feel happy and
Speaker 4: it's amazing, but it's not natural to feel happy all
Speaker 4: the time, and that if you don't feel happy, there's
Speaker 4: absolutely nothing wrong with you. One of the things that
Speaker 4: we know contributes great bit of happiness, as I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 4: are our connections and so you know, there's a great
Speaker 4: article called scratch a Happy Adult and find a socially
Speaker 4: Connected Child. And what that means is, you know, for
Speaker 4: our kids to have lots of friends, for us to
Speaker 4: have friends in different domains of our life as well,
Speaker 4: and to have rich relationships and put time into those,
Speaker 4: being mindful when we can, because our brain very naturally
Speaker 4: go to the past and also to the future, and
Speaker 4: of course, really we only have this moment, and so
Speaker 4: much of what we worry about when we have future
Speaker 4: thinking detracts from what we can experience, and amazing research
Speaker 4: shows us that even if we're looking forward to something
Speaker 4: fun and exciting. We are less happy doing that than
Speaker 4: we are when we're focused in the present moment. So
Speaker 4: if I was to number my tips, I would say no,
Speaker 4: that it's not natural to be happy all the time.
Speaker 4: Know that everyone around you has the ups and downs
Speaker 4: in life that you do as well.
Speaker 2: It's really normal.
Speaker 4: Know that if you can experience whatever you feel when
Speaker 4: it comes up and have compassion for yourself, feelings have
Speaker 4: to flow through us. That connections are the number one
Speaker 4: contributed to our happiness, and exercise has got to be
Speaker 4: in their mindfulness is really powerful as well.
Speaker 2: And living a life with a.
Speaker 4: Sense of meaning and purpose, which may be a conversation
Speaker 4: for another day, but living with your values, knowing what's
Speaker 4: important and then taking steps in that direction. And I
Speaker 4: know that your twenty eight is really value their health
Speaker 4: and their fitness and the mental health and their physiological health,
Speaker 4: and knowing that if you value that, and that if
Speaker 4: there's a day where you might have taken action that's
Speaker 4: against that value, that that's okay because we're all human.
Speaker 4: And knowing that that's your value, you pick up where
Speaker 4: you left off and you revisit that value of health
Speaker 4: and fitness in the future.
Speaker 2: Decisions that you.
Speaker 4: Make over the day, and being kind to yourself if
Speaker 4: you do find that you fall off the wagon, so
Speaker 4: 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 3: 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 their hands
Speaker 1: on one of your books, I'm going to give you
Speaker 1: a plug. You haven't asked me too, But they're sitting
Speaker 1: right in front of me and they look absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1: They are old, anxious mums and funnily enough, anxious kids
Speaker 1: and it is doctor Jody Richardson. Check them out if
Speaker 1: you or your children could benefit from any of these
Speaker 1: wonderful tips, and we'll see you again soon.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much.
Speaker 2: 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 Jodi 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.
Speaker 3: And it's not just the.
Speaker 1: Things that perhaps jump into your mind straight away. Of course,
Speaker 1: it's I ran my first five k or even ran
Speaker 1: my first five hundred meters, or I'd drop the dress
Speaker 1: size or lost five kilos, or for the first time ever,
Speaker 1: I was able to say no to my friends at
Speaker 1: a Friday night and have an.
Speaker 3: Alcohol free weekend.
Speaker 1: All of this stuff is absolutely incredible and should always
Speaker 1: be celebrated. But every now and then you get someone
Speaker 1: come up to you and they share their story and
Speaker 1: it really touches me. And I was lucky enough last
Speaker 1: week to meet a lady who has been on my
Speaker 1: program for a little while, and she came up to
Speaker 1: me and her story was a little bit different, and
Speaker 1: she said, Sam, I've been on your program for four
Speaker 1: months now and for the first time in fifteen years,
Speaker 1: I have stopped taking my anxiety medication, and.
Speaker 3: That was advised by her doctor.
Speaker 1: Her doctor had said to her, I think you're in
Speaker 1: the best place you've been that I've ever seen you
Speaker 1: for as long as we've been working together, and I
Speaker 1: want you to try and wean yourself off the medication
Speaker 1: to the point that you no longer take it, and
Speaker 1: we're just going to see what happens. Is She's now
Speaker 1: been doing that for a few weeks, and she says
Speaker 1: she still feels fantastic now.
Speaker 3: 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. 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 back, It might
Speaker 1: be just a little moment where you reflect back on
Speaker 1: how fa you've already come and encourag did you 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.
Speaker 6: My fitness win for the week would definitely be finally
Speaker 6: beating my mate Tom in tennis. We play every week.
Speaker 6: I've played him for the past three months or so,
Speaker 6: He's beaten me every time. Finally got him seven five
Speaker 6: six to top that back injury for two years which
Speaker 6: prevented me from walkee And today was the fast time
Speaker 6: that I was able to go on a half.
Speaker 2: An hour walk and not have to sit down. I
Speaker 2: will take a break. Today I actually went for a
Speaker 2: run for the first time in over a year.
Speaker 7: Every year, I tell myself, I'm going to put a
Speaker 7: side time to start going to the gym. Of course,
Speaker 7: when it gets down to the nitty gritty the kids
Speaker 7: go back to school, it is nearly impossible to stick to.
Speaker 7: But this year I have so far gone three and
Speaker 7: a half weeks consistently going, and I feel like I'm going.
Speaker 3: To keep it up. 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 or reflect and identify those little wins along the journey,
Speaker 1: and then it's just as.
Speaker 3: Powerful to share them.
Speaker 1: So if you're listening and you're on your own journey,
Speaker 1: make sure you don't compare yourself to others, because remember,
Speaker 1: it's you versus you, and it doesn't matter if someone's
Speaker 1: out there running a marathon. If your goal is to
Speaker 1: get around the block, that is your little win, make
Speaker 1: sure you recognize it, make sure you share it, and
Speaker 1: of course, if you want to share it with us,
Speaker 1: there's always a link in the show notes, and we'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you.
Speaker 3: You murder