EP 9 - Walk The Talk March Review and April Strategy
In this episode Priscilla shares tips and tricks you can implement in your own life based on her personal experience:
What's currently working for her
What's not working for her
Her path forward for health and well being
Disclaimer
The information provided on this podcast by host and guest are for educational and general wellness purposes only. The information provided is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a licensed healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding any medical concerns or conditions.
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Transcript
[00:00:20] Thank you for tuning in to this personal health episode, and I hope I can also provide some practical tips for your own journey. I want to share what's worked and also not worked in managing my health in the month of March as well as what I'm tweaking on the way forward. By the time you hear this episode I will have met with my Lyme's doctors for a follow up appointment. I'm excited to troubleshoot what's going on at that appointment and that may mean some specific tweaks I'll talk about towards the end of April in the next Walk the Talk episode.
[00:00:53] But everything I'm about to share here will likely still apply.
[00:00:57] First, what's working? My five minute journal. Every time I use this, it's an anchor to my day. I have so many blessings. It also reveals if I'm over focused on work, and if I'm setting unrealistic expectations for myself. When I reflect back on whether I was able to accomplish what I wrote or not, I love that it's a short, brief, amount of journaling so it's attainable and something I can do quickly.
[00:01:25] Perhaps my favorite thing is the collection of notes at the end of the day where I write the three best things that happened that day. Now if I flip back months later I can see all the beautiful things and the meaningful things that have happened over the past couple months. It anchors me to the fact that I have so much to celebrate.
[00:01:46] There is a marked difference in my days that I use it versus the days that I don't. I started sometime in January after picking it up at Target. It's the most consistent I've been at journaling, especially in February when I was underwater. In March, I haven't been as consistent, but I love each time that I do.
[00:02:04] I found the key to being consistent is to have it visible at the top of my book stack on my nightstand, and I will use it before I even get out of bed. If it's not at the top and other books are on top of it, I probably won't use it. If I get out of bed without using it, it's also unlikely that I'll come back after being out and about and moving.
[00:02:24] Secondly is therapy and friends. And I think these go hand in hand because and it's, they're both very conversational. I had a conversation with a friend after I had a hiccup in a therapy appointment that surprised me. And we both agreed that if we stopped, it would be really hard to restart. Also finding the right therapist and giving your therapist so much like background history is exhausting.
[00:02:48] And so it's really hard to like restart with a therapist and not that I was interested in doing that. But Just talking about that and she actually talked about when her therapist retired and that was a big transition for her. And she actually likes the person that she's seeing now better, which is a win, right?
[00:03:08] But going to therapy usually trying out a couple of therapists to get the right fit. It is not easy and therapy tends to be the thing that you go to when life is really bad. And not that it should be that way, but we are creatures of habit and it takes a lot of energy to start something new. And most people don't start until they're in crisis.
[00:03:30] And when you're in crisis, that's also a rough time to be finding the right therapist. You might just find a things and then. you might be like, yeah, this isn't working and find someone else. I've gone through multiple therapists mostly due to financial issues in the past, not being able to stay consistent with my therapist.
[00:03:55] And so when I started therapy and so when I started therapy in 2023, I think it was around 2023 and I've been with this therapist the longest. I really was at this point of I really don't, if I don't have to, I really don't want to therapist hop because it's just exhausting to get established with a therapist, but necessary, especially at the beginning, you want to make sure you find the right fit.
[00:04:23] But once you quit, it would be really hard to go back. Like you would almost have to have another crisis in your life. To be willing to go back because this is my personal thought, and my friends similar, that You go to therapy and you get the resources you get the tools you make your life better and you have these coping skills So now when life gets harder, you're still doing better than when you originally went to therapy So you would literally have to regress Probably for it to make sense For you to go back to therapy, whereas if you stay in therapy, you continue to build on the skills that you have is like staying in school.
[00:05:07] I don't know if that's a cheesy example, but that's my example. Uh, 2023 was a really weird year as I got started with my therapist with the intent to work through childhood trauma and then I got gut punched by life and had to utilize my therapist services for some of that. So like I was already in therapy and then a crisis happened and I had to work through the crisis.
[00:05:33] And I hate being derailed. So I was derailed from my goal, and it's funny that I think I can control my healing journey physically or mentally, but I think we all try to some extent. My friend reminded me of the podcast I'd recorded where I talked about this for physical health, where I asked if we knew how long it would take, would we even start?
[00:05:56] We have to be comfortable with trusting that we have to be comfortable with trusting that the work we're doing is healing, even if life's journey is painful. Looks different along the way and so thank you to my friend because this was just a beautiful conversation. It was a beautiful time And I love talking about that and I'm really grateful for any friends that listen to my podcast like that's just so sweet So I appreciate you
[00:06:24] Thirdly, I want to recommend the Complex PTSD Workbook by, I believe I'm saying this right, Arielle Schwartz. This is a very interesting book. Me and my therapist are going through this currently. I'd highly recommend this book if you've gone through trauma and want something easily laid out to explain complex PTSD or CPTSD and explore if you may have it.
[00:06:47] It's simple and easy to understand workbook format that still covers the condition without heavy reading that you might find in books like The Betrayal Bond or The Body Keeps the Score, though those are still on my to read list. When I asked why we were working through it, my therapist stated to learn if my PTSD was actually the complex kind, which based on my in depth research, I already know the answer because there's a ton of Google video or ton of YouTube.
[00:07:14] I probably watched a ton of YouTube videos on complex PTSD in the years between in the years between probably 2014, 2019.
[00:07:24] Priscilla: So a whole five year period where I would watch videos on trauma and complex PTSD and I would just. Caution, if you do that, you really have to guard yourself. So I could only do it in chunks of time because it really gets to be quite dark, especially if you have this. So I would just say, ingest what you can and then pull yourself out.
[00:07:46] Go do things with friends. Go do things that bring you joy. Because you're balancing the fact between like this. Oh gosh. This is really interesting. This is what I have and like Feeling seen in that way as you're doing the research but then also It can get really dark.
[00:08:03] And so you need to balance that with yeah, this is what I have this is what happened to me, but like This is the life that I currently live. I'm safe now. I'm loved I Can go do whatever I want. At least. I hope you can. I hope that your life is in a place where you can do that. And if not, I hope that it will be soon.
[00:08:21] With this book, I have been basically highlighting the whole book. A lot of it is stuff that I already know but it's just like a good refresher. And if you have no knowledge of complex PTSD, this is a great starting point. And I would say that it's less heavy than doing it the YouTube route.
[00:08:40] Priscilla: Just my personal opinion. Ahhh. I was surprised to learn that CPTSD isn't actually in the DSM 5, which is a Diagnostic Service Manual for the U. S. And only PTSD is. Complex PTSD is in the ICD, aka the International Classification for Diseases, and a lot of research and therapy options already exist, despite it not being in the DSM.
[00:09:06] And I just want to say that there are so many books out now. There's so much research out there around this issue, around trauma in the therapy world. So even though it might not be in the American Service Manual, therapists are already working on it. So there are a lot of resources out there for you.
[00:09:23] If you want to explore complex PTSD, this could be a great starter book. And lastly, I'm happy to report that weighing myself weekly on Fridays is still going well. Maybe we can call this exposure therapy. I find myself less attached, and I've been maintaining my weight relatively well. I'm not going down right now, and that's fine by me as I was struggling with a cold.
[00:09:46] And low energy most of this month, and I know my immune system still has much recovery to do. I also got some labs. This is getting into the negative, but I also got some labs that showed that I actually do have low. I think it's called IGA. And I was like, oh yeah, so my immune system actually is compromised.
[00:10:04] But yeah, so it takes me a little bit longer to recover. I'm okay with that. I understand that. And so I'm okay with where I'm at. I haven't been obsessing about my weight as much kind of knowing. Okay, we're doing it on Fridays and we're not assigning value to you through it. And also we're not going to change majorly restriction or eating habits based on the scale.
[00:10:27] So This is taking me a long time. This is years into my, this is years into my recovery. Four to five years after I quit my eating diagnosis. So I don't think that this would be something someone might be able to drop into right away. It slightly triggered me in the beginning of January.
[00:10:42] Here I am three months later having used all the resources that I have. And I hope that this is like changing my relationship with the scale. Inflammation has remained down as I occasionally eat pork, but haven't eaten beef in months because of Lyme's disease and my food sensitivity test. And dairy is a joy for me to have without any symptoms and helps me keep my daily protein up if I use Greek yogurt.
[00:11:06] So I'm doing some research on just loosely, and I'll find out more from my doctor on alpha gal syndrome, which is basically being allergic to beef or the alpha gal protein. And I ended up on this article on the web that was talking about how it can be in so many things I don't know if it's the rennett or different things in dairy, like some people with.Lymes are sensitive to dairy. I don't seem to be, but that it can just be in all sorts of things and I've avoided eggs as well because this is just a protein that the body is sensitive to, but my food sensitivity test really said that beef was like the big one. So in moderation. I have cut the other things out, but I'll still occasionally have and I just avoid beef like the plague, which is sad.
[00:11:55] I haven't had a steak in months, haven't had a hamburger, probably never. I don't know if I never will have a hamburger, but I will just say this. I don't know how people who are sensitive to dairy, maybe because they have their lactose pills, how they're able to just go ahead and eat dairy, I will say that for me, when I realized how bad I feel when I eat beef, it was just like a no brainer.
[00:12:20] I had cut it out and then I ate some and felt bad for three days after. And then. that was it. Like the desire was absolutely gone. Like I have no desire to feel like that again. And so not that I don't think about Oh, it'd be nice to have, there's a place in Howard here I think that has like bacon infused hamburgers.
[00:12:44] And I'm like, Oh, that sounds really good. So yummy. But like the taste bud to the actual body feeling would not be worth it for me. So that has been. Life changing for me to just have that perspective and so I'm not bothered by any of that.
[00:13:03] Here's what's not working. Much to my dismay, my insulin resistance has skyrocketed in my latest labs, literally terrifying for me to see it. I've been feeling the effects this past month as I've missed my period and I've been experiencing intermittent hot flashes, which I hadn't experienced in so long.
[00:13:20] I'm a little confused as to why this would be the case.
[00:13:22] Yes, I allow myself to sometimes eat dessert and have occasionally forgotten to eat breakfast lately, but the number was crazy high. I don't know if it could have been affected by what I ate in the previous day, if that's how the test works, or I also don't know if it may have been affected by some of the juices that I've drank.
[00:13:40] I'll drink a lot of orange juice when I'm sick as well as I've had and they're diluted, but I will have some, what are called mineral mocktails I've done a lot. Last couple months. So those are all things I'm considering. I'm honestly shocked that I've been maintaining my weight with that type of result and I'm sure my doctor will have a lot to say about it.
[00:14:01] Also, what's not working on the mental side is excessive research. And not of the health kind for this podcast. It's related to my business and it is leading to burnout. I'm relaunching my business Prisca Elzen in 2024 and focused on media production of video and photo. There's so much that goes into running a business that I didn't learn in college from projecting income and expenses through a budget, revamping my websites, setting up an email system, which by the way, I'm still working on for the podcast.
[00:14:31] marketing, legal, et cetera. And also my podcast recording got interrupted earlier because I'm trying to figure out which route I want to go for taking credit card payments. There's just so much to learn and implement and not enough time in a day. My brain hurts.
[00:14:50] So this is my path forward and how I'm going to be addressing these issues. I'll be meeting with my doctors and figuring out a plan of attack for my insulin and Lyme's management. I anticipate this will involve some lifestyle tweaks, hopefully nothing I can't manage with the skill set I've already built.
[00:15:06] I'm hoping to finish taking my barre classes that I'd signed up for when my immune system recovers, or maybe if I get on antibiotics for the Lyme's. And I will be taking serious inventory of what I can manage for workload in the upcoming months, assessing what I can realistically launch, and hiring help as well, so I can grow at a reasonable pace.
[00:15:28] I'm going to intentionally structure my evenings by mid April when they'll be free to allow me to care for my health. I'm leaving a part time job to make this happen, and I realize that I can't be everything to everyone, and I can't do all the things. And so I've had a lot of conversations in the past couple of months setting me up for this.
[00:15:50] And when I really thought about what I really wanted, I only wanted to have busy things on my evenings. Maybe two evenings out of the week. I already have healthy meals every evening, but it's rushed. It's like a 30 minute thing or whatever, but I want to set myself up in the evenings for breakfast the next day, for lunch the next day.
[00:16:10] I want to be more strategic. I want to have time to walk my dog, take a bike ride, do different things in the evening. And so this is a conversation and decision that I've been in the process of for a while now and realizing that this is really important to me. A big part of this will be mental health and setting boundaries for myself when work is done.
[00:16:32] So I can shut off my brain as much as possible. And enjoy some of the spring and winter and enjoy some of the spring and summer in Wisconsin while it's here. I know some people pull all nighters, but I've chronically worked to 6 or 8 PM every night and then I will whether it's on my business or whether it's at my part time job and then I'll eat dinner around eight or nine and that works for me. But I'm over it. I want the mental space to be able to decompress. I'm just, I just want to work on my cortisol, honestly.
[00:17:10] For work, I'm going to be strategically using Asana to prioritize my workload and toggle to see where my time is going. Work never really stops for me. Anyway, as I'm always in ideation in my brain, but it's really hard to be in that ideation phase when you're constantly doing and I've noticed that fizzling and so I really need to protect the ideation and creativity.
[00:17:33] I need space to breathe and allow my mind to wander and then also set work time to make things happen. This is my idea of work life balance, and I think it would do wonders for my cortisol. And I just want to say when people say like work life balance some people have a really positive connotation.
[00:17:48] Some people have a negative connotation. There's so much, there's whole podcast episodes about this and whether if it even exists, but I think it's, For me, like knowing that I'm going to have days where I'm really busy and days where I'm not, although I haven't had many days where I'm not, but just strategically, slowly, little bits, like making my life more sustainable.
[00:18:09] I have been setting aside my health for my work. And Just making sure like you put gas in your car tank, just making sure that I am fueled so I can continue to do my work is my idea of work life balance, and I think this will do wonders for my cortisol, and this may also help with the high cortisol from PTSD, which may be a factor in my suppressed immune system, and I don't know yet.
[00:18:35] I have to talk to my doctor about the Lymes and stuff as well, but if you're curious about the link between Cortisol PTSD and the immune system. I'd highly recommend checking out the complex PTSD workbook. I mentioned earlier. They talk about how our immune systems can become overreactive, creating things like lupus or under reactive so that there's 2 ways the body can react to stress and trauma.
[00:19:01] I'm having a hot flash right now, guys. That's just like a wave that's hitting me. I'm so young to be having these and it is just,
[00:19:11] I don't know, it's just a lot. I'm also going to explore digital minimalism. That sounds very much like a buzzword, but in essence, I have a ton of tabs open on my computer, two emails with way too many ads coming through, a Google drive that needs to be organized, an iPhone full of photos. And a notes tab with thousands of ideas and much more.
[00:19:36] These are the things that I need to address strategically this year by scheduling time to clear them out. I need to be more disciplined about how my time is being sucked in the digital space. So I can live more life in the real world. And if I get the chance, one of my personal goals is I want to print out personal photo albums this year too.
[00:19:57] So it's a big thing for me that I want to create photo albums for clients this year. But I also want to do it for myself whether it's professional photos that we have had done, or if it's just my cell phone photos, I want my cell phone photos to exist in a place other than my phone and this might be the like digital person for me in college we were taught if it doesn't exist in three places, it doesn't exist at all. And I know if you only had your photos in a photo album it could, your house could burn and you could lose all your photos. So you should have them in a digital space. But similarly, I want to be able to enjoy them.
[00:20:35] I want to have days where I can pull out my photo albums from. I store them in a bench. I want to be half. I store my photo albums in a bench and I want to have more days where I can pull out more recent memories and take a time and look through them. In my mind, this is like a day that I've scheduled off and I can just do whatever I want and I have a cozy tea and it's raining outside.
[00:20:58] I'm not really a rainy day kind of person, but I just envisioned that this could be beautiful or it could be like I have my windows open and a summer breeze is blowing in. And I just went for a walk and I'm having a casual just looking through memories. Like I want to be able to do that. I don't think I do a lot of that.
[00:21:16] I am very much, I am very much a future facing person. I'm always thinking about the future in terms of ideas and things I want to do. So I want to embrace a little bit of the nostalgia, a little bit of looking back on the good times, what I do in my journal. But like in photo form and just savor life because when we're done on this earth, we're done on this earth.
[00:21:41] And so I just want to appreciate some of those things that I have or past memories. And I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the past. And so I think that would be a positive experience. All right. My health and downtime are no longer going to be optional. I already talked about this besides blocking a good chunk of time in the evenings for dinners, meal prep, and hopefully more evenings walk and hopefully more evening walks and sunsets.
[00:22:07] I truly hope to spend more time in meaningful social experiences with friends and family this year. In previous years, I'd go to the farmer's market quite often. Last year, I was very rushed and only got to go once with one of my sisters. And it was not as long as I would have liked. It felt rushed. It wasn't, it just, it wasn't memorable because of the rushed feeling.
[00:22:31] And I, or maybe it is I'll always remember that. But I really want to create intentional time with the people that I love so that they can they can and I can have moments where we feel seen, heard it's really important for me that I don't only exist in that format, like in a podcast or in the digital space on my Instagram stories.
[00:22:56] It's important for me that I exist present with the people that I love. And it's also really important for my health, like it just, what are we working for? What are we doing all this stuff for if all we're doing is working? And that's what this last year has felt like. 2023 was really like a crisis year, a year of just maintaining my health, feeding myself, dealing with personal stuff and then working.
[00:23:23] And so it wasn't a good pace. And I just want to be really intentional about having spacious time.
[00:23:31] This year I'm going to prioritize life as equally as my work. I hope to bike to the farmer's market and meet friends there and get fresh produce a lot this summer, as well as fresh produce from my backyard garden beds. I used to do this last year, it didn't happen, and when I was reflecting back this winter, I was like, oh, I really miss that I didn't do that this past summer.
[00:23:52] I want to sit by the bay and watch the waves as the sun goes down. And in the midst of all this, I want to enjoy my life deeply.
[00:24:00] Thank you for your time listening, your interest in women's health, and advocating for yourself. If you like this podcast, please share with friends and family. I'd be honored if you'd take time to leave a podcast review on whatever service you listen on. It would mean so much to me and help get the word out.
[00:24:16] If you'd like to join my email list for updates and a monthly recap email, you can find the link to the show page in the show notes and sign up there.
[00:24:23] Or go to PriscaElzen. com and click on podcast. Have a question? You can email at Prisca you can email it at PriscaElzen at gmail. com and title it megaphone Q and a until next time, Priscilla.
