307: The Year My Body Said No: Lessons in Leadership, Health & Capacity

So you want to make an impact. You're thinking about starting a business, sharing your voice. How do women do it that handle motherhood, family, and still chase after those dreams? Listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know. This is Call Me CEO. Welcome back to Call Me CEO. This is your host, Camille Walker. And today is a solo episode. I really enjoy doing solo episodes and don't do them sometimes as often as I would like because life happens and my schedule is filled up by other people's needs. And today I had someone who had Wi-Fi connection issues, wasn't able to connect with me, but I was already sitting in my spot, ready to go. And I thought this is a great opportunity for a solo episode. Today is June 3rd. It's the beginning of summer. And I'm looking forward with what do I have coming up for the summer?

Summer Transitions With Four Kids

Camille 1:05

It's always a transition time for me. Beginning of summer, beginning of the school year, beginning of the new year. I feel like as women, especially as mothers, we have integrated new beginnings that happen all the time with the seasons, with the changing of the school year. And so for this episode, I wanted to take this opportunity about talking about my season that I've had in this last year and how it's looked a little different for me than what I thought it would a year ago. So today's episode, we're going to start about what has stretched me and also what I've learned in this year. I've had a lot of beginnings and endings for my children. I had three of my four children who are moving on to different stages of their life. My oldest just graduated high school. My next oldest is graduating junior high, going into high school this year. My next son is graduating elementary, going into junior high this year, and I'll have one in elementary school. So I have a child in each stage of life: elementary, junior high, high school, and now college age. And it's really interesting to zoom out and look at what transitions I've been helping them with, physically, emotionally,

Capacity And The People Pleaser Trap

Camille 2:26

in all of the ways. And then also what that has looked like for me. One of the things that I talk to women about a lot of times when I coach them one-on-one is we talk about capacity. Because for many of us, it's easy to say yes. Even though when we take a Zoom out, it may have been better to say no. Because in your mind, especially if you're a people pleaser like I am, I want to say yes. I want to be that person that shows up and can do the thing and be the person. But I've had to learn that by saying yes to others, it can be meaning saying no to myself or to my spouse. Sometimes it's saying no to my physical health, and sometimes it's saying no to my mental health.

The Health Scare That Stopped Me

Camille 3:12

And that is what came to a screeching halt about this time last year. I had an experience in the fall where my body was needing me to slow down in a way I had never experienced before. And I actually ended up in the emergency room and needed support. What transpired was needing emotional support on top of that and dealing with the physical support that I needed. And it was very humbling for me because intellectually I was processing this thing that had happened, but emotionally and physically, my body was responding a lot slower than I would have liked it to. And I think that's what happens in life a lot of times is things come at us and everything's going so well until it's not. And either something gets put in our way physically or emotionally, where you have to slow down and put a beat in to pause. You have to pause and really take a break from maybe the speed that you've been going and not even realizing that you're giving beyond the capacity. Perhaps the physical hours make sense that you could say yes, you could make it work, but underneath the layers of that become the place where we need to have rest, recovery, nutrition, wellness, and just simply being. I think that that's something that I have learned for myself this year. And I want to go through the steps of what that possibly could look like for you as you're thinking about your own life. So the number one thing is I was thinking, okay, physically I've really dialed back in terms of what I was demanding of myself in my business. And I was really focusing on my health. I was strength training very religiously, getting my exercise in always. I felt like I had a pretty good hold on balance. That's what I talk about all the time. That's literally what I'm coaching women about all the time. And even though mentally I felt like I had it all in control, it was when I had a physical stop point put in front of me that mentally it became too heavy of a load. So when I went in thinking more momentum, more clarity, more results, what I actually got was slower growth and deeper growth with intention and being forced to simplify. I was in a situation where physically I couldn't even drive my car for about a month. And that was challenging for my family. It was challenging for me emotionally. Like as the mom, we're supposed to be able to get up and go and get everyone where they need to be. And I had to rely on others. And it was so frustrating because I am very used to being the person that has the answers, that can get the people where they need to go, that helps people to realize, you know, what their limitations are. And so to be in that situation myself and physically, my body physically stopping me, I had to say, I need to take a break. So what I want you to think about this is that growth like this doesn't always feel like expansion. Sometimes it feels like you're being stripped down to understanding and knowing what really matters. And for me, this was a moment that I really had to take a step back and allow my body time to heal, even though in my mind it was go, go, go, go, go.

Clarity, Values, And Asking For Help

Camille 6:48

Number two, is I want to emphasize that clarity creates the momentum that you need to go forward. So at if you are at a place in your life, a juncture where perhaps it's a time that your business is more demanding of you or your or your kids are needing you more emotionally, I know that's a place where I've been, is that when you're unclear about where your energy needs to be going, that's where it can feel confusing, your intentions can feel muddled, or perhaps that's when you're feeling pulled in one way of like the mom guilt and the work guilt or the obligation guilt, whatever that thing is. That's a lot of times where if our values aren't aligned, aligning with the way we're using our time, we can feel defeated. And so for me, clarity of having that time of knowing, okay, I need to dial it back. And that is a luxury that I was able to do. I have a spouse and people around me that could support. It was necessary for me to do that and very humbling for me to do that. So if you're in a spot where you think, I really am feeling the nudge to slow down, perhaps it is a good time to take a beat and evaluate, find that clarity of what things could you give to your support system around you to help rally and bring you back up to where you can be more at your full functioning effort. That is definitely something that I had to go through in terms of allowing other people to step in and help me because I was at a point where I physically couldn't operate at the same speed that I was used to. So if you're prioritizing that energy, that will help you with creating strategy for moving forward. One thing that's been really interesting for me this year is taking a look at questions that are brought to me when I am doing coaching with people one-on-one. And many times the number one thing that has been helpful for myself when I've had coaching or for me coaching someone else is kind of getting a zoomed-out perspective of processing not only the funnels and the systems and the things that you need to get done, but also processing emotions and stress. And where does that need to go? And how are you allowing stress to move through your body? How are you allowing yourself to feel and process emotion? Because if we do not express or allow ourselves to go through that process, it will manifest physically, which is what I experienced. And what I've learned a lot about this year is the power of breath work. I've done, I'm part of a

Stress, Emotions, And Breathwork Practice

Camille 9:40

group if you're interested in breath work that you can access actually through Zoom. Um, that has been so powerful, the power of breath work. In fact, I've I've considered integrating it into my CEO mastermind because it has been so wonderful and monumental for me in processing with breath work. And if there is anything that I've learned in my years, it's the power that lies within us of processing emotion, allowing yourself to feel, and then knowing that that power is within you and that you have that support around you. So, how do I say this more tangibly? For me, that looks like a weekly breathwork. For me, that looks like going to the gym, processing, lifting heavy weights. For me, that looks like journaling. I've done a lot of journaling and walking. Those are like top top. Okay, so here's a key takeaway that is something that I've been doing

Bloodwork, Iron, And The Tiffany Plate

Camille 10:40

a lot more of. And it's kind of a trend that's been going on the internet lately, the late internet lately, but it's called the Tiffany plate. This is where we go into nutrition. So I recently had a blood draw done, found out that I was low in iron, which happens to a lot of women. Check your iron because if you're feeling dizziness, lethargy, um, any kind of, I don't even know how to explain it because obviously I was living with it for a while before I even realized. But low iron, low vitamin D. And for me, I actually have a genetic trait where I need my B vitam, my B vitamins, and my other vitamins to be methylated. So I have to get specific methylated vitamins, otherwise, my body does not process them or keep them in my system. So I would encourage you to get blood work done, see what you're low in in terms of um perhaps your hormone replacement therapy if you need to be looking at that, or your nutrition in turn in terms of supplements. So I've gone through phases actually where I'm now 42 and I have supplemented with hormones in the past, in the past six years, but I'm actually at a place right now where my natural hormones are better with than they were six years ago, which is kind of wild. And I think what has actually helped that is integrating better nutrition and movement and sleep into my system. Okay, so back to Tiffany plates. I'm kind of ping-ponging. So a Tiffany plate is this viral thing that happened where a girl named Tiffany put together a plate to reduce inflammation and to bring in key ingredients, not specifically with the focus of keto, but it just so happens that it is keto-friendly and um I guess also grain-free, which if if that's if you're gluten-free, this you could eat this too. But essentially what it is is she eats a sausage every day. She air fries a sausage 400 degrees for 10 minutes, give or take. And then she dips that in cottage cheese with mustard. If this is sounding familiar to you, maybe you've seen it online. But she'll go through the plate and eat all these different things. And then the way you build the rest of your plate is with three vegetables, three fruits, and fermented items as well as a cheese and something crunchy. That's like the main uh like focus of what it looks like. I can share some pictures on social if you want to see that. But it has become, oh, I forgot, and a boiled egg. It has become such a fun way for me to eat, and I look forward to it every day. And my plate is just full of vegetables and fruits, and you get to go through different like textures and varieties of sweet and savory, as well as um good sources of fats and vitamins and minerals. So nutrition has been a huge way of unlocking that fulfilling that those cravings that I've had and different things like that. So nutrition for me is huge. Movement, taking care of my nervous system, which is through that breath work,

Oura Ring Data And Better Decisions

Camille 14:00

journaling, getting good sleep. And then my aura ring is something that I swear and live by. I'm a data girl. I love to see statistics of what is going on in my body. And the aura ring helps me to track my cycle, my sleep. And when I say cycle, I mean my period, my uh stress as well as my movement. So, what's really fun is that I love to track initially when I got the ring for my husband and myself at the same time, I was really concerned about his oxygen at night because he was kind of doing some weird breathing patterns, but wasn't in full sleep apnea. But I thought, man, this is a good way of like ensuring that we kind of see what's happening if it ever becomes an issue. And he didn't think he would like it at first. And spoiler alert, we both love it. So now we have an aura ring. Another really neat thing about it too is it will show trends of your average heart rate during the day, your average heart rate at night. And when I had my health situation last fall, I was able to go to the doctor and say, hey, my average heart rate is 10 beats higher than normal, even when I'm sleeping. And I think it's something's going on. And so I was able to really take a deeper look at um my own statistics and what was normal for me. And by that point, I had already been wearing the ring for two years. So when I got there and knew all this information, they asked me if I was medical, like if I had a medical background. And I was like, no, actually, I just have this ring and Google and Chat GPT. And it's really cool to put all my data in there and say, hey, this is how I'm feeling. This is my activity score, my stress score, my sleep. What would you suggest? What would you evaluate for me? How am I doing? And that on top of getting my blood work done has been life-changing. So anytime I'm coaching someone, I will actually ask those very basic indicators, how are you eating? How are you sleeping? What does your movement look like? Are you allowing yourself to process emotion? And it's shocking. I for all of us, I think we're so busy. And those are key indicators of health that I think sometimes can easily get left behind because kids, family, work, whatever, relationships, but it is so essential for our health in the long term. And what I'm doing now in my 40s will give me longevity into my 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond who knows what. God willing, whatever it is that He wants for me. But I this year, I think it's really taking a step back and honing in on

Coaching Lens, Doing Less, Growing Deeper

Camille 16:40

what that looks like for me. And I hope as you're listening to this for you, it's not about figuring everything out all at once, but perhaps finding someone that can help you look at your life, your situation from a perspective that you don't have because you're so up close to your questions, your situation, your relationships, your whatever it is, that if you can get an outside mentor, business coach, I would love to talk to you, you can have a little extra help zooming out and seeing what it is that you can do to make things easier and better moving forward. The life and business you want perhaps requires something or a different way of you looking at it differently. So sometimes I think so often we think we need more, we need more content, more offers, more of anything. And sometimes it's about introducing less. Sometimes it's about slowing down, sometimes it's about thinking deeply about what we need in terms of creating better sleep patterns. And I think it's important for us to know that we can outgrow old goal goals, we can shift, we can create new patterns. That if you are living, that your brain has elasticity, that you can continue to grow and change, and that's what life is all about. So that is my message to you is you are amazing, and that you are showing up, you are taking the time to learn about yourself and what your mind and your body needs. And that takes work and it also takes love. And what I've learned about this, especially this last year, of as I've had to slow down and pump the brakes a little bit, is that I've been really vulnerable about it with my kids for the mental side of things, the physical side of things. And I've really opened up to them in a way that said, Hey, you know, I'm struggling with this thing right now, and it's okay. And I know that I can get better even if it's slow, or I can get better even though it's hard. And I think showing that vulnerability is only going to make my relationship with them better because when they have times that they need to take it slow, they need to take a step back, they need to reevaluate, they know that they have a safe place they can come and talk to me, which is my ultimate goal is to keep that relationship with my kids strong

Stay Connected And Closing Notes

Camille 19:15

and my partner. So happy summer to you. This is a solo episode, and I am bulk recording today and tomorrow in hopes that I won't have to record any through July and August. Isn't that great? So I'm giving myself some time to just really enjoy those moments, and I hope that you are as well. I would love to hear from you. Sometimes it feels like you're speaking into the void here on the podcast. If you want to reach out to me, you can find me on Instagram at CamilleWalker.co or call me CEO Podcast, or you can email me at callmeceopodcast at gmail.com. I am rooting for you. This show is all about giving you ideas and inspiration of how your voice, your individual dreams matter. And they're placed there for a reason. That does not mean that you should not take time for you to slow down, heal your mind, take care of your body, enjoy this life that you've built. And if you have any desire to talk about potential coaching with me, I would love to talk to you. I can do a free discovery call with you. The link is below. So have a wonderful day, and I will see you next time here on Call Me CEO Podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Bye. Hey CEOs, thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you found this episode inspiring or helpful, please let me know in a comment in a five star review. You could have the chance of being a featured review on an upcoming episode. Continue the conversation on Instagram at Call Me CEO Podcast. And remember, you are the boss.