We haven’t done a newsletter as yet this year, so for anybody that’s been asking, “No, you haven’t missed it?” This was partly because I was trying to decide how I wanted to start the newsletters for this year, what our themes were going to be, what educational content we wanted to put out there to help you towards your health goals, and provide assistance to help you, but not overwhelm you or become just another email in your inbox. So, I decided to start this year by taking a break.
After sitting with this, I decided to start with the topic of “Adrenal Health”.
The reason for this is, a client came to me recently to go through her DUTCH test (her hormonal panel) and she said to me (as I was explaining to her) “When I was doing mine, you mentioned that you were doing yours. You don’t have to tell me the results, but what were they?”
As you all know, I’m very transparent and I will always answer any of your questions about my health journey, if it’s going to be useful for you. I’m never going to take up your time and I’m never going to bore you, but if it’s useful I’ll always share it.
So while I am going to do a whole Instagram/Facebook series on what I learned during the COVID season (which will cover some of this material, so I can help you) and some of you will resonate with it and implement it straight away; since she asked me during her session what happened with my results, I’m more than happy to share them.
I do my DUTCH test every single year, because it’s so useful for looking at my liver health, my adrenals and my hormones. I was very interested in my hormones post-Christmas and coming out of the 2020 season. What really shocked me was my adrenal patterns.
I was really surprised that despite everything I do, and despite how well I look after myself, the impact of COVID on me and on my adrenal health was real. I always said I would be in business and I would help people, only until the day that it impacted my health or my family’s health.
Christmas was a time of true reflection and a time of looking at what I needed to do differently, because my adrenals going into Christmas had been impacted. For the first time I had seen them drop, in contrast to the beginning of my health journey, where they were always trending upwards and I have always had better and better health.
I looked at my life, which I’m always rechecking. Most weeks, most months, I’m looking at my schedule. I’m looking at what I’m doing. I’m tweaking things. I did that all of 2020 as well, but there are a few things I missed.
One of those things that I missed was in 2019, when I was traveling overseas for all my conferences. It actually meant that I took quite a few breaks. It meant that I took time to myself. So, what I noticed in 2020 when I travelled domestically was, as much as I love all my clients, and I love all of you, everywhere I went I saw clients. I saw people that I knew. And so, I was forever ‘on’, because people wanted to ask me about their health. Whether I was in Queenstown or Auckland, whether I was in a clinic, whether I was public speaking, or not. Even if I was on holiday with my family, I didn’t get to fully switch off, which was a mistake on my behalf, and if I had reacted and noticed it sooner, I would have changed what I was doing. And made sure to have had more mini-breaks in 2020.
So now in 2021, You will now find my ‘out of office’ on, because I am taking more breaks. Sometimes just small breaks, but I’ve already mapped out my whole year of holidays, including mini-breaks, so I can do what I need to do to support my adrenals to reset themselves, and constantly ask “What are the things that I need to take care of myself?”
The next thing I did was realise that even though I sleep really well, doing all the overseas media, that I had the opportunity and privilege of doing in 2020, took a toll on my body. Waking up at 3:00 AM or 4:00 AM (even though I’d go back to sleep afterwards, and I did my schedule differently) played a role in upsetting my circadian rhythm..
So, I have taken the last three months off media. And while I love the impact media has on helping more people, I just reflect and remember that ‘one person’ I wanted to help at the beginning of my career.
The next thing I did was look at my team. I looked at what they needed and the support they needed from me, and how I was impacting their health. We stopped the newsletter for the first quarter, which is the first time I’ve done this. Why? So I could make sure we had systems in place so as not to over-work anyone.
The next thing I did to help my adrenals was I realised how much I hate emails!! I hate the stacks of them. It’s not useful for clients, it’s not useful for me, and it’s not useful for my team. So, we implemented our Six Month packages. We’ve basically gotten rid of emails, and now do Zoom calls to answer all your questions. They fill me with so much energy, and I absolutely love our fortnightly calls. I love educating, I love empowering. I am also now doing ‘live’ calls with the Power Foods course participants. I have changed everything that we’re doing in clinic. Of course emails are now a part of life and when I can answer them in one sentence then an email is perfect, but often there’s more that needs to be explained than an email can convey.
The key was yes, my adrenals were impacted by COVID. Yes, I didn’t react straight away, and also I had to let go of the perfectionist in me, let go of trying to control the availability of supplements when that was out of my hands. We are in a different world now, and while I love you all, and I always want to do everything I possibly can to get everything right for you, the world has changed a little bit.
Those were the key things that I did. I’ve redone my adrenal panel since, and we’re back up looking really good and positive again. That’s how much I love testing, that’s how much I love reflecting and taking the time, and that’s how I realised I needed more breaks throughout the year, so I can reflect, I can re-tune, and I can tweak things, just like you all do.
That’s a little bit of the background behind some of the changes in the clinic, and why we’ve made some of those changes. If you’ve got any questions please reach out and talk to us.
I am looking forward to the upcoming newsletters. Some of the key topics we’re going to be covering are thyroid health, lymphatic health, liver health. These are key things I’m seeing again and again in clinic.
The cool thing about the Zoom calls with the six month package clients is key themes are coming out of them. I’m going to translate that feedback into the newsletter as well. 2021 is looking really good. I’m excited for it, and in the past I would have said, “Sorry,” for having my out of office on” but now I’m like … You know what? I’m not sorry, because if I’m not taking care of me, I’m not taking care of you!
So there you go …. Welcome to 2021 the SGFN newsletter. We’re in for a blast.
