THE ACCRESCENT™ PODCAST EPISODE 131

Well happy Friday, everyone. So good to be back for another solo episode this week. I hope you all got a chance to listen to last week’s guest interview with Katie Bramlett from we shape wellness. This was a really great interview because I have never personally had a conversation with someone in the fitness industry.

Who is approaching it from such a full being. Full body, not, you know, not from that toxic weight loss culture approach. And we had a really, really wonderful conversation about how that toxic weight-loss culture has. Affected each of us, how we’ve each come to really enjoy movement and how it’s a lot more fluid and flexible than what it used to be.

And so much more. I really hope you guys get a chance to tune into that. And there’ll be another wonderful guest interview coming your way. Next Friday as well. But today, first of all, I wanted to start off with a little bit of housekeeping, cause I have some fun announcements to share. And then we’re going to get right into today’s topic. So the first is that.

I have. Been working on a new client testimonial form. That is really, really in-depth. And so I already have a new client testimonial that’s up on the website. I’ll link it down below. What I love about this is it’s. A variety of questions that my clients are able to answer and share their experience of how EVOX therapy has helped them.

And it’s just a really in-depth look at how it has started to shift their lives for the better. And I love this because it’s more than just one paragraph. It’s honestly, you know, there’s probably six or seven different questions that clients are being asked to answer in these long form testimonials.

And I’m so excited about this for three main reasons.

The first being that it is truly just such a joy to be able to, even though of course, I work with my clients. Face-to-face remotely. So I, I already do know how it’s helping them, but it is always so fulfilling to be able to read through these again and hear how, how it’s supporting them. The second that I’m so excited about is really my hope is.

From the start of The Accrescent, I have always wanted community to become at some point a part of. The Accrescent and fostering, really supportive, uplifting. Community with other growth, growth minded individuals. But. A community that’s very safe and. As I said uplifting. And so my hope is that this will lead into more, but I think a great starting point for this is clients will be able to also go and read the testimonials of other clients and see how it’s helping them. And hopefully start to get inspired as well.

Of well, okay. Look what they’re shifting over here. All right. Maybe I can work on that too and start to foster more of that community and comradery, even amongst my own clients. You know, you read someone’s testimonial, that’s really, really inspiring to you. And maybe of course, with the individual’s permission, you can connect and reach out and, and find more community in that way. And then the third one is.

I get asked so often, how can you EVOX help me? And I’m really working on having resources and descriptions and things like these testimonials available so that. For anyone who’s interested in it. They can start to get a really clear idea of, oh, here’s how it’s helping others. Okay. I start to see how it could maybe potentially help me.

And so the way that I look at that is for every client that completes a testimonial, you are directly. Impacting, you could be directly impacting someone else’s healing journey. And that honestly gives me chills in a way, because for someone who might be interested in EVOX to be able to go and read a in-depth testimonial of how it has supported someone else.

Might be the thing they need to, for it to click and to understand. And to be able to decide, is this the tool for me? And I just get so excited about that. So thank you so much. I’ll put a link to the first long form testimonial that’s out there, but of course I’m inviting all of my current clients.

To submit their own in-depth testimony as well to continue to build this library. So that link will be down below. In the show notes. Second and last little piece of. Updates and announcements is that The Accrescent two year anniversary is coming up on June 11th, which is also my birthday. And 11 is kind of my.

Lucky number. So this is, it’s a really, really special day and a special time for me. And I am very soon over the next month going to be. Sharing about a new service offering that we’ll be launching on that two year anniversary. What I’m so excited about this is that it’s going to be a service that anyone anywhere in the world will be able to have access to.

Which is a little bit different from EVOX because there are, you know, with EVOX there is that technology component involved in terms of needing to purchase the hand cradle, needing to download the ZYTO software. Which is only compatible with windows. And so this new service offering, there won’t be any technology required from individuals. Unless of course they’re doing a remote appointment and then they just need access to.

A computer or a phone that can do a video call. That’s really all there is to it. So more will be coming soon on that stay tuned and there will probably be some other fun anniversary festivities coming up as well. Okay. So with all of that, let’s get into today’s topic. And this is a topic that I have found myself sharing about more and more, and it can almost sound mundane, but I’m going to try and explain why I think this is actually.

A really important thing for each of us to be able to develop on our own and customize for ourselves. And. What it is is it’s creating our own wellness baseline. What does that mean? And why is that important? And what does that look like? That’s what we’re going to get into today. When I talk about my wellness baseline.

What I mean by this is what is the minimum amount of care. And concern and attention that I am going to try and give myself on a daily basis. And this could be anything from. How I’m feeding myself to how I am, how much I’m hydrating, how I’m moving my body, different, things like that. And I’m going to get into and share the specifics of what my wellness baseline looks like. But I want to talk about why this is even important in the first place, and really what led me to start to create this because.

For me, the creation of this wellness baseline idea honestly came from some limiting patterns of self neglect. Where I would not care for myself. Well, and of course there’s so many subconscious and emotional roots that go to that. What was modeled for me as a kid? What did you know, how do I think I deserve to be treated and so many other different things, but.

What I found is I would very often get into patterns of just not caring for myself. Well, even in the most basic of ways, you know, like not feeding myself three meals a day. Sometimes not brushing my teeth. And, and so I had to kind of go, all right. I need to make a commitment to myself of. At a bare bare, bare minimum.

Here’s how I am going to commit to show up and care for myself. On a daily basis.

There’s a couple other reasons why I think having a wellness baseline routine. Or just a wellness baseline, broadly speaking can be important for us. Um, and there’s a couple of layers to this. The first one is, you know, for me, it was actively helping me. Break those limiting patterns of self neglect, which as I was trying to work through the deeper subconscious roots of that.

And showing myself I deserve to be cared for. I deserve to have three meals a day. I deserve to move my body every day. And. And a big piece of this that kind of made something click in my mind for me is I. I started asking myself this question. I think this helps put it into perspective for me and for a lot of my clients, as well as to how we should be treating and caring for ourselves. So often.

If I’m having a down day or feeling low energy, and I don’t want to care for myself. I will ask myself if I was in charge of a. Three year old little kid. How would I be treating them? Would I not make them breakfast and lunch? No, absolutely not. And when I put it in that context, it makes it really easy for me to be able to go, okay.

If you would never not feed. A child. Three meals a day. Why are you not doing that for yourself? So it helps me really easily click into, okay. Yeah, no, this is something I need to do for myself. This is the baseline, but what I have found, and these are kind of the two other layers to this is. Having a very, very simple baseline of wellness that we commit to giving ourselves.

That helps us build a foundation. With which we can then start to build upon in any number of ways. And what I mean by this is. My wellness baseline, which I’ll get into involves look, you know, looking at addressing, caring for physical, emotional, and spiritual health. And I think when we are doing that on some level on a daily basis,

That allows us to create a foundation of physical wellness of emotional wellness of spiritual wellness that. Allows us to then build upon and start pursuing bigger dreams, start pursuing bigger goals, but I find really often, and this is so true for myself that all have these big lofty goals that I’m.

Pursuing. And I’m getting so frustrated. Like, why am I not getting there? Why am I not getting there? Why am I being inconsistent? It’s like. Well, you don’t have any foundation to build on. You, you start. Getting success. And then you all of your great wellness routines and, and your baseline fall away. And so all of a sudden the foundation had just completely gone. So that’s one thing, is it just, it literally allows us a.

Foundation of just health that I think allows us to move forward in a more sustainable way. It creates a baseline of energy. Of happiness. Um, of attunement that will give us the energy, the motivation, the inspiration we need to keep going and pursuing the things we want to pursue. On an emotional level. I think this can be really, really impactful. And I have found this 100% true for myself.

In the sense that. A big thing for me that I’ve been working on on this last year is reestablishing a sense of trust and safety in myself. And I don’t think I even realized that that had been broken until I was doing some deep healing work around the sexual abuse. When I was a kid and I just started to realize, whoa, because I have physically neglected myself for a while.

And because I’m so inconsistent with caring for myself and I can be inconsistent with pursuing my dreams and doing the things it takes to make my dreams come true. I, I just started to see that. There is actually a huge, deep lack of trust within me. Uh, almost like as if there was a part of me going.

You know what no, Leigh Ann , I don’t trust that you’re going to help me make these dreams come true because you, you don’t follow through or you never complete a project or. How can I expect you? How can I trust you to help me achieve these big, big dreams when you’re not even like caring for my most basic needs? Honestly, that’s what I feel like the.

The rhetoric was inside of myself. And what I found is having this wellness baseline is such a beautiful way for me. To be able to show up for myself every single day. And I have found absolutely that in doing that, even in these small ways, That trust and safety within me. Has. Has come back and I’m still working on it and it’s still growing and becoming even more, even more secure.

But. I don’t, I don’t want us to underestimate the power of that and ask that question of, oh yeah. Is there a part of me? Is there a little voice inside of me? That’s saying like, No, I don’t trust you to care for me. Well, because you haven’t, whether it’s physically, whether it’s emotionally, whether it’s relationally with other individuals.

Whether it’s. Doing things that takes to pursue dreams.

And then the third piece that I’ll say to this of why I think this baseline is so important. Is. I have found that when the baseline. As we’ve said, as I’ve said, it gives us that foundation to build upon. And then, I don’t know if this happens with you guys as soon as success or our, our, um, Or opportunities start coming my way.

It’s like all the habits that got me there in the first place, I start to fall away in my mind for whatever reason. It’s like, oh, I don’t need these anymore. Whatever. Reality. It’s like, no, this is the baseline. And I use that term for a reason. But I say that because I have also found that sometimes if I start to get into an emotional LOL, or I know that I’ve got something really big, that’s going to be pretty draining or depleting, or just like.

Oh, I have a big challenge coming up. I’ve got a big event or opportunity that’s coming up soon that I know is going to make me feel nervous and shaky and stretching me out of my comfort zone. And I use this wellness baseline. To again, reaffirm that sense of safety of trust, that foundation, that anchoring.

But so often, and, and I’ll get into this more, but. So often I do deviate from that baseline. I do start to let things fall away and I have found that without a doubt for me. When things start feeling cloudy. When I start feeling like, oh, I can’t get clarity. What, what should I be doing here? Or, you know what? I’ve just had like two weeks where I felt pretty low emotionally.

The first question I ask myself is where am I at with my baseline? Am I meeting all of those areas or not. And if the answer is no for me, There’s no question. That is the starting point for me. To start to turn things around. And. What I have loved about this as number one, it makes it super crystal clear.

I’ve been having a low two weeks and it can, I think it can be so easy to just start to feel like. Oh my gosh, what am I doing? I. I think I’m doing all the right things. I thought, how can I be feeling this way when I’m doing so many things for myself? Or when life really is so good. And I think being able to check in with that baseline, first of all, it helps me get a really clear look on, okay, am I actually doing things?

Because life happens and we get caught up and I think sometimes we can. Feel like we are caring for ourselves. Well, and then when we have that check-in we go, oh shoot. Maybe I’m maybe I have let some things. Go to the wayside that really are so nourishing and restorative for me. So, but then the other thing that I found too is yeah, one, it makes it really crystal clear. It can be so easy to get caught up in it sometimes in those low moments. Oh, do I need to like sign up for a new motivational course? Do I need to go to this event? Do I need to get a new book and.

Those things might be helpful and those things might be good. But using that baseline as a starting point is. So, so easy check. I check in with that and if I’m not hitting one of those things, Boom. That’s the instant starting point for me. And piggybacking on that, what I have found is when I go back to that baseline and start to reestablish it again.

That is actually what gets the spiral moving upward again? The fastest it’s like, boom. Okay. I’m back on track. I get right back into that groove. And then I can build on that again. That’s why I’m using this word of the baseline because. Let’s say something was feeling off. I check in with myself and I notice, oh, I’m not hitting a couple of these things. Okay, great. Before I do anything else.

Let me start to integrate those again. And then if I’m still feeling like, oh, I want a little bit more great. Maybe I can go do an extra service. Maybe I can go get that book. I’ve been wanting to read and start that book. But that baseline is my foundation that gives me a sturdy ground with which to build upon.

Okay, so let’s get into it. What do I even mean by this baseline? And what does that look like for me? So for me, there’s really five. Wellness categories in my personal baseline. And by the way, I just want to say this, I think can be so unique and bio individual to each of us. So I’m sharing mine. Don’t feel like this needs to be yours, play with it. If you, if you’re kind of liking the concept in general, find what might work for you.

I have found that it’s I want to make sure that on a daily basis, I am supporting the basic.

The basic tenants of living. I think. Is maybe the best way that I can say. And actually now that I’m talking, I realized that there’s actually six categories. So. It’s right. I think I’ve always felt that in order to be our best selves, we need to support ourselves from a physical perspective. From an emotional perspective. And then maybe from that spiritual perspective as well.

Because if one of those is off, we are going to feel turbulence. I could. Have the highest streams ever. But if my physical health is, is quite poor, it’s going to be hard for me to pursue those dreams on a consistent high level. So, again, it’s kind of coming back to this foundational work and that’s what these baselines are for me. So the first one is I’ll list all six out and then I might get into them a little bit more at where I need to. So.

Hydration. Nutrition. Movement. Emotional support sunshine. And sleep. Okay. Those are the six categories that I. I am making sure that I’m hitting at some level every single day. So I’ll get into these a little bit more and some of them are really quick. So my hydration baseline is am I drinking at least half my body weight in ounces of water a day? Boom. That’s it done? Super easy.

That nutrition baseline. I’m asking myself, am I feeding myself at least three? Nutritionally dense meals per day.

So, let me talk about that movement. For me, I keep it super, super broad on purpose. And I use that word movement on purpose because it’s not necessarily about killing myself with a really hard workout or a really difficult exercise routine. And again, this is why it’s a baseline because I, there might be weeks where I’m like, great, I’m doing.

Well, right now I’m particularly, uh, in an intense period of physical training. So I’m doing a lot more than 20 minutes a day. But knowing that this is the minimum. And, and I, again, I keep that term really broad because. Every single day. I like to check in with myself and go. Okay. How is my body feeling today?

And based on that, what kind of movement am I going to give myself today? If I’m feeling particularly depleted, maybe a little inflamed, just fatigued. My movement might look like a 20 minute walk around the block. It might look like a, you know, 20 minute bar routine. That’s just super gentle. It might look like yoga. It might look like stretching. If I’m feeling more energized and like ready to go, it might look like, you know, a, a 40 minute weightlifting session.

So that’s kind of how I check in with that each and every day. And, and I’m just giving myself what I think will be the most supportive for me each day. Sunshine again is just such a basic tenant of living. We need sunshine. For me, oftentimes this gets paired in with my exercise because I like to exercise and do my movement outside anyways.

But. If not, you know, if I maybe did my, my movement inside that day, I’ll make sure that I’m doing a couple of walks around the block or a couple of walks around my office and in different increments, just to make sure I’m getting that minimum baseline of that 20 minutes of sunshine a day. And sometimes it’s one 20 minute long walks. Sometimes it’s.

To 10 minute walks or four or five minute walks, whatever it might be.

So now I’ll chat about sleep a little bit again. It’s super basic. Foundational area of wellness and I’m sure there are many others. Again, this is just where I’m at right now. This, this baseline definitely might deviate and change and be fluid over the years, but this is where it’s at right now. But am I.

Am I getting in bed before 11:00 PM every night consistently. Am I getting, you know, six to eight hours of sleep each night. And how am I feeling when I wake up and in my sleeping? Well, because sometimes I can be doing these things, but, um, I’m not sleeping well or I’m tossing and turning. And so being able to check in with that helps me go.

Oh, you know what? Maybe I have been staying up a little bit later. Okay. I’m going to, I’m going to try and start getting in bed earlier again, or maybe I’m doing those things well, but I’m tossing and turning a lot. This actually has kind of been the recent thing for me that I’m tossing and turning a lot at night.

And I know it has to do with screen time before bed and having all of this blue light exposure for before bed. And so going okay. I’ve been tossing and turning at night. What do I need to do to check in with this baseline? Do I need to, you know, re up my routine of wearing my nighttime blue light blocking glasses, or do I need to be more intentional about putting the screens away an hour before bed?

Those kinds of things. These are the things I’m checking in with, just to make sure that I am supporting a strong physical wellness baseline so that I can wake up and have the energy and the motivation. And the. Physical resources. I need to pursue the things I want to pursue every day. And then the emotional piece.

Again, this can be super, super broad. And I think in my own mind, there’s a lot of things that are built into this, but. Am I supporting my emotional wellness. For at least 20 minutes a day. And this is so broad and this can look like so many things. I have. A few things that I do daily for my emotional wellness.

Meditation lately I’ve been doing brain tapping. Which I’ll put a link to that below. I’m actually going to have the founder on the podcast to talk all about brain tap and the benefits. Um, And then journaling. And on a weekly basis, as you guys know, I do my EVOX. But. Am I getting, giving myself at least 20 minutes of emotional support each day. I’m.

Again, when it’s a broad category like that, I can check in of. Ah, what is going to be most supportive for me today? Do I need. Do I just need a 20 minute phone call and maybe it spills into, maybe it becomes an hour long phone call with my best friend or my mom. Maybe I start out with 20 minutes of meditation that spills into 30. So it’s not like, oh, I can’t go more than 20 minutes.

But am I giving myself 20 minutes of emotional support? Every single day. No. So that’s kind of, those are my, that is my wellness baseline. Those six categories, hydration. Nutrition. Movement sunshine, sleep and emotional wellness. Do I meet these every single day on a consistent basis? Not, not usually. Okay.

And if I’m being totally honest recently, I think I’ve been really, really good with. The movement, the hydration, the sunshine, the sleep, and the emotional support, not so much. I’ve kind of, I’m trying to reestablish some of those baseline routines again. Just because you get busy and then maybe it becomes like, oh, I’m only supporting myself five minutes a day.

And as I’ve said, my sleep’s been a bit off and I need to re. Reestablish some of those supportive. Routines again to support that sleep. But I say this because this isn’t a pass or fail thing for me. This isn’t. I think sometimes we were trying to get away from strict workout culture and strict this, but we just are recreating that rigidity in our own lives. And in other ways, and for me, that’s absolutely not what this is. This isn’t something where if I don’t meet those six baseline each day, I’m beating myself up or berating myself for not having done it.

I, and honestly, I’m. I’m not even necessarily checking in with these every single day. I think. Probably yeah, four out of the six have actually just become so routine for me that I don’t even need to check in with them anymore. And that’s a huge, that’s one of the benefits I think of having a wellness baseline. Like this is you just get so accustomed to doing these things and supporting yourself in this way that it just does become habit.

For me, it tends to be maybe more on like a bi-weekly basis. I kind of read, check in with where am I at? Okay. How am I doing with these things? And, and then if I’m off anywhere, just all right. Yeah. You know what? I haven’t been supporting my sleep well. And if it’s not affecting me yet, I know it probably will start to affect me soon. So can I be preventative with that? Can I get back into that?

Wellness baseline with my sleep. Oh, you know what? It’s been three weeks that I’ve been sort of touch and go with my emotional support. Again. Maybe it’s maybe I’m not physically feeling it yet. Maybe I’m not even emotionally feeling it yet, but. Now that I’m checking in with that. Can I re establish that baseline again?

Rather than, and it’s kind of this concept that we talk about. I think a lot in more like holistic alternative medicine. I don’t want to wait for the house to burn down, to do something. When I start seeing little sparks, I want to jump on it instantly. I want to be. Preventative and progressive with the support that I give myself, rather than waiting till I’m in a pit of despair to check in with this baseline.

Although look and in full disclosure, sometimes that is what happens sometimes. I start having, you know, it’s two weeks where I’ve been really low emotionally and just not motivated, kind of lethargic. And I’ll sit in that place for two weeks before I’m like, oh, dang. Yeah. Let me check in with that baseline again.

So I say that because this is so, so, so fluid for me, this is not a strict set of quote unquote rules that I’m forcing myself to follow every day. No, this is a way and kind of like a commitment to myself of. I’m worthy of this level of care. I deserve this level of care, this level of care. Is going to help me achieve my dreams and be energized and motivated and full of joy.

And I deserve all of those things. And. And I have found at least on a personal level that. Establishing what my wellness baseline looks like has just been such an amazing roadmap. And anchor for me to lean on and go back to when I start to deviate in any way. And what’s so great about it is absolutely. We can build on this.

You know, there’s been times where my emotional wellness routine was probably close to an hour a day. Where my, as I said before, my movement is over an hour a day. So many different things, so it can absolutely be really fluid for me. And I’m sure as I go through seasons in life, this baseline will shift and rotate, but it’s just the way that I have been able to.

Make sure that I’m. Caring for myself, the way I deserve to be cared for. And when I do get off track, I can get back on track really quickly when I can just check in with these six things and get those going right away. And then if I do need additional resources, I can reach out for those and bring those in where needed.

But I just think so often, and I’m just so guilty of this. When I am in a bit of a rut or just kind of a down phase. I tend to go like super external and to really big things. Oh, I just need to like find a motivational speaker to pick me up. And again, those can be really supportive, but. I think having that baseline really, that’s what it is. It’s my mind, body spirit is starting to cry out and say like, I’m feeling neglected.

I don’t have energy because you’re not feeding me. Well, I don’t have motivation because I’m not sleeping well because you’re not attuning to my emotions. And so I think. What I love about this baseline concept is.

If we don’t have the baseline and we’re going to all of these external things, like the books and the online courses and the motivational speakers and events and things like that. I think we’re going to find ourselves caught in that. Yo-yoing where we are. We’re motivated and we’re back on track for a little bit, and then we’re falling back off again, or we’re back down in that low or that row again, because.

That foundation isn’t there. So. Hopefully that made sense.

Um, Of course, if questions, comments, anything is coming up. I’d love, love, love to hear them reach out to me. In any way, Instagram email. But play with it. I would love to hear if you guys have your own wellness baseline that you’ve established. Or if you don’t what you think about this, and if you think this could be something that’s supportive for you, or if you start to try something like this, I’d love to hear about it and how it is supporting you.

So I think I’ll rein it in there. Because I could ramble on for, you know, who knows how much longer. Again, as always. Thank you so much for tuning in. I have an amazing guest interview coming your way next week that I am ecstatic to share. But until then everyone have an amazing weekend.