Embracing Midlife: 1% Shifts and Empowerment with Robin Jonas

In this empowering episode, we welcome Robin, an integrative health coach and advocate for mindful living, as she shares her insights on navigating midlife, menopause, and the journey to holistic wellness. 

Drawing from her personal experiences as a mother and health enthusiast, Robin emphasizes the significance of small, actionable changes—what she calls the  1 Percent Shift Method -that can lead to transformative results.

Join us as we explore:

• Establishing a morning routine to set the tone for a productive day.
• Having a supportive community that addresses the feelings of loneliness and isolation experienced during transitional phases like menopause and empty nesting.
• Understanding food labels and the impact of harmful ingredients in food and beauty products.
• Addressing emotional health and finding validation in our experiences as we navigate this unique stage of life.

This episode is packed with practical tips and heartfelt insights to help you embrace this new chapter with confidence and clarity. 

Links and Resources:

• Connect with Robin and explore her free resources at Live Life Balanced with Robin
• Check out her podcast, Healthy Lifestyle Habits for Midlife Mamas, available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
• Check out her helpful apps on ingredient awareness so you can start creating a non-toxic home:
  • Think Dirty
  • EWG’s Healthy Living 
• Connect with Robin on  Instagram www.instagram.com/livelifebalancedwithrobin/
• Robin's recommended read: Relentless Joy (not an affilliate link)

Chapters

• 0:00 Robin Jonas 1% Shifts
• 0:52 Introduction and Welcome
• 4:23 Robin's Journey into Health and Wellness
• 6:33 The Concept of 1 Percent Shifts
• 10:26 Morning Routines and Non-Negotiables
• 15:15 The Importance of Reducing Stress
• 24:39 Embracing the Empty Nest Phase
• 31:02 Creating a Supportive Community
• 34:17 The Importance of Community and Validation
• 34:53 Addressing Emotional and Mental Health in Menopause
• 36:50 Success Story: From Overwhelmed to Empowered
• 38:46 The Power of Knowledge and Self-Discovery
• 39:51 Practical Tips for Healthy Living
• 43:22 Reframing Anxiety and Embracing Change
• 45:33 Identifying Harmful Ingredients in Everyday Products
• 49:30 Empowerment Through Informed Choices
• 52:39 Conclusion and Resources

Transcript

After talking with, a lot of empty nest women or women stepping into it and just hearing them, 

listening to them, the one thing that I kept hearing was sadness, loneliness. Not knowing who they are anymore. What am I going to do with my time? So, a lot of those things really resonated to my core and really shook me because I'm like, okay, I do see all of that.

However, this is supposed to be a new chapter. It's supposed to be one of our best chapters. Your child would not want you to be suffering, right? They're not going off to live a college life or to start a life if they are not going to college. 

They're not doing any of that in hopes that they're going to make you sad, And so when we're starting in this phase, one of the things that I really found is there's not really a group, there's no tribe. 

 Welcome to the Menopause Disruptor Podcast, formerly known as All Things Menopausal. I'm your host, Mary Lee. Menopause is often shrouded in stigma, misunderstanding, and limiting beliefs perpetuated by the medical community and the media. But here's the truth. Hormonal change is a natural part of life and it deserves to be embraced, understood, and celebrated.

Thank goodness we are witnessing a remarkable surge in attention to women's hormone health, fueled by influential celebrity figures or thinking and educated medical practitioners, politicians, so many more who are openly discussing this crucial stage of life. And I've joined the ranks to advocate for your autonomy in healthcare and ensure that we get the quality of life we deserve.

I aim to empower women who are navigating the turbulent waters of peri to post menopause with a wealth of knowledge in hormonal health, nutrition, holistic living. Each week, we'll tackle the taboo topics surrounding menopause with grit and honesty. I'll be diving deep into everything from hormone replacement therapy to nutrition.

Sleep. Libido, an often ignored aspects of heart, brain, bone, and pelvic health. And I will continue to bring on the experts in the field of women's health and wellness who share my passion of challenging the status quo. Together we are debunking the myths and empowering you to advocate for your wellbeing with confidence.

It's time to disrupt these damaging and limiting beliefs around menopause. So join me on this empowering journey where we aren't just surviving, we are thriving. 

 In this upcoming podcast. You can look forward to an enriching discussion with Robin Jonas from Live Life Balanced. We'll be diving into various topics related to health and wellness with a focus on holistic and integrative approaches And Robin champions her work as a health coach, looking at the whole person, the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual whole person that we are.

 Robin opens up our discussion with her journey into integrative health coaching and the interconnectedness of the different health aspects, we are going to discuss also the negative effects that toxins and social media have on our well beingAnd it's impact on our hormonal health.

Robin's also going to share with us her take on Emptiness Syndrome and why creating community and support networks is important. during this phase is so important for our mental and emotional well being. And then lastly, we get into the importance of being aware of ingredients, becoming your own ingredient detective, if you will, and how we can read labels, on food and healthcare products 

 Robin will share with us one of her favorite breeds and why and how it's impacted her journey into the field of integrated health coaching. 

 Robin, welcome, 

Thank you. Menopausal is definitely something I'm living and I love learning from you. And I appreciate you having me on to talk about things that I'm super passionate about, but I also want to thank you for doing your podcast and teaching everybody about the different types of things we can be doing during this phase of life 

So. Thank you. 

Well, thank you for saying that. And likewise, we're going to share some secrets that you have big secrets. 

Robin, I was I'd like to start with a little bit of backstory. What led you to this field of work? What was your journey and what have you learned from it that you could share with the world?

Yes. Well, first of all, I always wanted to be a teacher and that was my first profession was teaching and I absolutely loved it. And I also knew I wanted to be a mom. And so once we had kids, I stopped working and I was a stay at home mom for quite a For well, all of their life. Basically, I did a lot of nonprofit work.

I did things for myself during that time. But, fast forwarding through motherhood, right? You just your Children have an ailment. Your Children suffer with something it just Put me on high alert and it really I'm obviously being a teacher very into learning very into finding my own stuff and so as we kept approaching different ailments whether it was eczema or reactions from red dye or, My one daughter was diagnosed with nonallergic rhinitis, which I was like, what is that?

And they were like, Oh, well, you just need to get rid of all of the sense in your house. I'm like, what am I? And she always constantly had a cold. And so it was just down this, road of things happening and me scratching my head and saying this, what is happening here? And so through my Through the journey of having different kids have my kids having different things.

I just was exposed to a lot. And then I just wasn't really satisfied with a lot of the answers I was getting. They just didn't resonate with me. And so I just started looking outside of the normal bubble Western world, I guess. And that really led me to having my eyes open to how much more, how many more tools and different thought processes were out there.

And so once and even still today, we're still working. Health is a journey. It is not a start here and a stop here. So that's the one thing that I think we have to shift in our mindset is that if we have an ailment, And we work on that ailment that doesn't mean the journey stops right after. you've got to continue.

Otherwise you go backwards. 

So it's like just getting little bites. And that's where the whole 1 percent shift comes into that method of having that mindset most of us, especially in the menopausal years are in midlife. We are forties, fifties, sixties, right? So we've lived all this time. We've had certain conditions that we grew up with that.

Maybe weren't even right for us, but just that's how it goes, You just learn certain things from certain people and then you grow along your journey. And then all of a sudden you're like, well, wait, this doesn't make sense for me anymore. And so that's having kids forced me into that.

And once I started to learn different things, I just felt okay, the world needs to hear this. And so I, my kids encouraged me. They were like this is what you eat, breathe, live this is you. So I went back to school and, I became an integrative health coach because I liked the philosophy and the philosophy is wholist whole, like whole being, and so we talk about two different terms, which is called primary and secondary foods in my schooling.

And it really was a huge eye opener to me. to see the connection of all parts and pieces coming together to make a whole person. And so just to give you a little backstory, primary foods are all the things that feed your soul off your plate. And then secondary would be the things that are on your plate.

But the example I like to tell people is You could eat a really clean diet. You could, be doing the things that someone told you to do to get healthy or to lose weight or to do whatever it is your goal is. But at the same time, if you're in a toxic relationship or you're in a career where you're completely burned out.

You're never going to achieve the wellness that you think you're going to get from just doing the one part because we're a whole being. And I think Western medicine has tricked us into thinking that everything's departmentalized. You go to the heart doctor, you go to the kidney doctor, you go to the endocrinologist, but nobody talks to anybody else.

And if we really take a step back and look at our body, we're a one whole being, so if something's happening here, Something else is probably happening over here that we're just not aware of or addressing that kind of thinking in my schooling really opened my eyes to a lot of things.

And so in order to make these kinds of changes, it's not overnight, You've got to really pull back the layers. You've got to see what were you conditioned to? Does it actually serve you? What is your health story? What did you grow up with? I think so many people dismiss what has happened previous.

And it's really important to acknowledge those things because it brings up a lot of things for us to be able to sort of work through and reframe and make our own choices. And I think that's really important when you're trying to heal in this midlife era. That's what I say, I'm living my midlife era.

 that's where the whole 1 percent shift method grew from. That's where non negotiables grew from. And my morning routine is my non negotiable and we're going to talk about what those mean. And everybody's non negotiables are going to be very different. So that's how I've stepped into this, but then, I mean, my gosh, since podcasting, my whole world has changed I mean, so it's just a growth.

It's part of my journey. That is a lovely journey. Oh, 

thank you. stepping into her power and that lived experience, which is something that was, emphasized a lot when we did our, when we did our podcasting courses, Kathy Hillary kept saying your pain your, pain points, that's the transformation you want to bring other people through so that they can 

Get the results because we've been there fantastic. 

I really do want to get into the morning routine and the non negotiables because when you had me on your podcast, we had a delightful conversation. And that was one of the questions you asked me and it wasn't until it was framed. In such a way that I had to sit down and say, wait a second.

I don't want to give up that because I now know that if I don't do these things in the morning, my whole day is shot. My energy level is shifted. My focus is shifted. I'm so glad that you got 

that. 

 let's get into talking about that and why it is so vital to set a morning routine and stick with it and be apologetic if we can't.

Always. 

 So my morning routine. Stemmed selfishly from what I needed for me to be my best version during the day for other people.

And it didn't start with an elaborate, it's not a two hour process and it shifts and it changes depending on the season and where I am, vacation, not vacation, but it's a priority. It's a non negotiable that I spend time with myself. And so for me right now, currently, it looks well, and it always has looked like my quiet time.

Which my family knows when I'm doing my quiet time. It's it's like my energy bubble get away so, I I do devotionals. I journal, I might listen to a meditation. I might just sit quiet and stare out into as I have windows where I am. And so just staring out into nature, I just allow a quiet space for my mind.

I do some breath work. I mean, that kind of shifts and changes, but ultimately when I am sitting in that space, I get so many downloads. Is what I call them, but messages, right? And whatever you believe in spiritually. That's what you go with. So that's where I receive a lot. And I think because I'm sitting quietly, that is able to come through to me, whereas when I'm just rushing and I jump out of bed and I'm like it's like just not the same energy.

So I definitely take that quiet time. I will either do red light therapy. I will do some type of yoga or I'm going to walk again, things vary. I always have some type of a warm drink in the morning. Usually I start with lemon and water, and then I might go to a mushroom coffee or A juice or it just really depends on and again, like I'm not like a stickler for everything having to be the same exact every day.

It's just about giving myself the space to pour into myself so that I show up better. And so for people listening, I guess the question that I would ask to you is what is one thing that you do in the morning for yourself that then allows you to have A good day, show up in your best version and a few of the things I would like to encourage you to not do is look on your phone immediately because there is true science behind getting up, getting some sunlight in your eyes.

It balances your circadian rhythm. I mean, there is. There's tons of research on it. So please if you don't want to listen or believe, just go look because it's really important. And I think what people haven't been quite educated on yet is that sunlight sets up your melatonin for the nighttime.

So if you're waking up and you're getting blue light directly in your eyes, and you're not really taking the morning, even if it's just 20 minutes, You're just really doing a disservice for your entire day because it's going to affect you at night. It'll affect your sleep. And similarly, at nighttime, I would encourage you not to be looking at your phone as you drift off.

And unfortunately, I mean, fortunately, I think we are the last era, the last generation of people that actually did have some life without phones. And so I always say to people, it's possible because we did it. We, did it. We just forget how it feels because we're, our nervous system is so dysregulated at this point from all the noise all the time.

And so it's I take them back. What was life like when you first got your job, right? You woke up and you took a shower and you got ready for work. And if there was someone else in the house, you would talk to them. You'd have breakfast and then you'd be off. And then you'd drive to work. Oblivious, right?

Of about exactly what was going to be coming at you that day. And then you'd get there and you'd handle your stuff and then you would leave. And now it's like we wake up, we immediately feel pulled to check our email, check social media, who's contacted me, who do I got to get back to before we even hit the floor.

And get moving. So by the time we're standing, our body's already vibrating Oh my God, I have a hundred things to do. So again, it's just about respecting your health. 

It's about pouring into yourself, which is self love and it's really just finding what works for you and cutting out the noise because there's a lot of noise.

There is so much noise. That is so, so wise what you just passed on. And there's a growing field of evidence that is research and evidence that's demonstrating the fact that, and of course, the report came out with the U. S. Surgeon General, I believe it was saying social media should now have warning labels on it for youth.

But I believe that should extend to everybody, And certainly for the menopausal woman who's going through high levels of cortisol already, just because. Naturally. Exactly. And then you just elevate it with that noise. As you said, you're setting yourself up for a lot of increased stress and unnecessary stress that doesn't need.

Yeah. We, especially in the midlife years, right? We really need to be looking at all things to reduce. We all have stress, right? There's no way to escape stress, but we don't have to invite stress. Unneeded stress. We don't have to invite the things into our life that are going to cause additional stress that we do have control over saying no to or not having and I think for me, at least in my fifties, which I'm 51 now, but I swear I like when I turned 50, it's I just had this big shift and I'm okay talking about things that are uncomfortable where I probably wouldn't have when I was in my forties, early forties.

And and I really protect my space. I protect my space. in my home so that when I'm here, it does not feel stressful. And if you come in my house and it is it, feels stressful, then I have to have that conversation, like not happening. So, and again, I everybody's different and everybody's level of what stress looks like is different, but I just invite you to get curious, right?

Gets curious and investigate like during the day, what felt stressful and then ask yourself, okay, so if that felt stressful, was that something that I could have handled differently? Or is it something that I really don't even need to be entertaining and then shifting away from that. And so a lot of health and wellness to me is experimentation and that's where the 1 percent shifts come in.

Because again, we cannot change everything overnight, but it is also super overwhelming to have. The mindset that you have to follow one particular thing to get a result, because your life is different than my life. Your health is very different than my health, so you might be able to handle a chaotic house and it doesn't even phase you.

Where for me, I'm more sensitive at this point in my life, where I just don't want it, so again, it's very bio individual, the 1 percent shift method, is about deciding one thing you want to work on. So we have this wheel that we call a life, lifestyle wheel. And you can point and plot.

Are you very satisfied in this area or are you not? And then you can connect the dots and you can see where there's some lack. And really that's just a way for you to pick one area to work on rather than trying to work on everything at once. And once you can pick that, so let's just say, for example, it's movement, you're not really satisfied with where you're at.

So what do you do about that? You're not going to go start running a marathon. That's crazy talk if you've not ever run a marathon. you don't have to join a gym. You don't have to do anything that feels uncomfortable. So the question would be, what do I like to do? That's going to help me to move my body.

And again, in this midlife phase, What worked for you at 20 probably is not going to work for you at 50 or 60 you've got to realign and flow with your body instead of. Forcing your body into something that it's not meant for anymore. So I always encourage people, find something you love.

If you love to play pickleball, go play pickleball. That can be exercise. It can be movement. If you, just like to walk, I'm a walker. I love walking. And nature, connecting in nature for me, is better than going to the gym and being frustrated, and so I'm going to get more out of that and I'll do.

The weight training and whatever I need in my own, on my own terms, I guess. So you've got to figure out what your terms are and then pick one thing. Let's say you were going to walk. Let's just make that as an example. Well, you're not going to say I'm going to walk every day of the week for 45 minutes when you haven't walked in two years.

You're going to say, okay, what's realistic. Let me look at my life. I can see where I could fit in twice a week right now for 30 minutes, right? That's your 1 percent shift for the week. And if you get to one and you don't get to both, you just readjust. So I think it's a level of commitment to yourself, finding what works for you and then doing it.

And so that becomes your non negotiable, whatever you pick for your 1 percent becomes your non negotiable. And then you just stack those things stack up. And that's what actually creates. A healthy lifestyle. Beautiful. In my opinion. 

Absolutely. And I like how you phrase that too, in terms of, it's experimental.

And also it's a level of getting to know what works for you and midlife really is an opportunity and for some women to discover who they are for the very first time. And sitting down and really asking yourselves those questions. What is, what do I value? What is important for me and when am I not willing to give up or what do I need to take off the proverbial plate, if you will, to move forward to make these small shifts.

So when you work with your clients, is there a process by which you sit down first and foremost and say, let's get into the discovery phase and identify really who you are at the stage in your life. 

Yes. The first thing we always start with is what is my health story? What did I grow up with? What did I take away from there?

That I've been carrying with me, does that actually serve me? And then we sort of start unlayering from there. And again, when I'm working one on one, it's very bio individual and it's really according to what you feel aligned with. So it's very different for every single client, which I love. And I think it's important.

To teach the person that you're working with, or that I'm working with, that it's okay to have your own process. It's okay to have your own journey. We're not gonna put you on a particular diet with a particular workout regimen. We're just gonna take the steps. And naturally, as you take these steps, you will leave empowered to know you can do it by yourself.

That you're on the track to create something beautiful and it's not because somebody else told you exactly what to do, but it's because you told yourself what you needed by listening to your body and to your point about midlife, when, our kids empty nest moms, when our kids fly the coop, okay, we will never be going back to the person who we were before we had kids.

And I think that's really hard for some people to wrap their mind around before we had kids. We were this. Different person. And then we had kids and we shift into momming and wearing the mom hat along with a career hat, along with social hat and CEO of home and all the things we get all these different hats, but we forget a lot of times in those momming years, what we need.

And we might work out right. We might do a few things here or there, but there's not the intention around like I'm pouring into myself because I value myself. I value my health. It makes me show up better. If you're doing that in the 20s, 30s and 40s, you're amazing. And this is what my prayer is.

And my hope for the generations is to teach the moms and then the moms teach. The younger kids and the kids start to come up with some of these tools and practices and really just acknowledging, but for moms who have gone through it and are now sitting in this new phase, you are different. You're not that same person.

You've evolved. You're either. Potentially in a marriage or maybe not but you are not the same human being and so you have all these new factors that you get. It's a beautiful thing. You just have to reframe it. It's a beautiful thing. How powerful you've been for 20 years.

You've kept humans alive. You've you've done the thing. You've also really managed your home well and so it's about reflection. I think fifties and this midlife and menopause really And I, quote you all the time, I quote you. When you said on my podcast, menopause is the great reveal, I'm like, gosh, that was so freaking true.

And I mean, anybody I tell, I'm like, no guys she's, she knows it is the great reveal. You are gonna come into stuff that you didn't even know was gonna be possible. Cause it's just Stuff's coming back up stuff that you've suppressed it comes and it needs to come. And that is when you allow that to happen and then to work through it.

You just, you do step into your best version, right? 

Absolutely. Oh gosh, Robin, this is so good. 

I could take this in a million different directions, but I'm glad you talked about the empty nester. I'll soon be one of those empty nester moms. And coupled with the fact that we're going We're facing this time of great reveal and realizing that there was stuff that was not ever properly dealt with.

It was buried, it was suppressed, it was ignored, it was denied, it was avoided. If you're going to rise to your higher level of wisdom and move out of that sacred chakra to the instinct, the third eye chakra, you've got to deal with some, baggage and deal with it. That's right. It's liberating. It is liberating, but like a birthing.

And, we've, I've shared this with another one of my podcast guests who explained it. It's a birthing into our second spring. And as we see a birthing is, such a challenging, beautiful, but tumultuous. It's the powerful, it's the dark, it's the light, it's everything. 

where I want to go with this is as we're entering into the emptiness phase. And yes, normally it's aligned with the menopausal transition. There are, there's a tendency to be wanting to fill that void with busyness. I'm just going to make myself busy, which again is another act of avoiding and denying, 

So how do you work with your clients when they just keep filling themselves up with this busyness and feeling, Oh, I don't have time to do a shift. I can't, I don't have time to do that. I'm so overwhelmed and challenged. And then you unpack this, well, what are you doing to fill your time? 

Exactly. first and foremost,after talking with, A lot of empty nest women or women stepping into it and just hearing them, 

Listening to them, the one thing that I kept hearing was sadness, loneliness. Not knowing who they are anymore. What am I going to do with my time? So a lot of those things really resonated to my core and really shook me because I'm like, okay, I do see all of that.

However, this is supposed to be a new chapter. It's supposed to be one of our best chapters. your child would not want you to be suffering, right? They're not going off to live a college life or to start a life if they are not going to college They're not doing any of that in hopes that they're going to make you sad, And so when we're starting in this phase, one of the things that I really found is there's not really a group, there's no tribe. And what I mean by that is when, you're first getting married, all your friends are getting married, you start to have babies, all your friends are having babies, you find those baby groups, right?

You go to these. Mommy and me playgroups, not because your baby can play, but it is for survival of self, right? It is you go to these places and you have somebody there who's going through the same thing, who you can vent to, they can give you ideas, they become your sounding board and your tribe. And then you move from them and you go to the school, right?

So then the kids are in school, whether you homeschool, regular school, private school. You come into a tribe, and so you're given this tribe, whether it's through sports, classroom, PTA, whatever it looks like for you, and you then grow this other tribe that happens around your kids friends. Parents, if they're in sports, the sports parents and so you grow a different tribe, but you're still being surrounded with people who are living similarly, right?

And so you have that. And what I felt was when you get to this empty nest, there is no tribe, like at least here where we live, there really isn't a tribe. And so that was my goal is to create this tribe for people because we deserve it. We need it. You And why shouldn't we, right? Because if I'm in a tribe with, I'm in a community of people who get it, whether you have one child out the door, both children out the door, whether you're just coming into your senior year, there's so much emotions and shifting of changing that happens.

It is really nice to be in community with people who feel it, but also people that have walked ahead of you because, and that's why I like all the different. I guess steps within empty nesting, like whether you have one or because you got to surround yourself with people that have been there and then you're that person for them.

And so it's a helpful situation basically. I think with empty nesting, we tend to keep ourselves busy because for 20 plus years, we've been just keeping ourselves busy with all the kids things. And it is uncomfortable. But very necessary to start doing that inner work.

Because if you don't do the inner work and you keep suppressing the things, you're gonna invite disease. You're gonna invite sadness moreso And who wants to do that? you've done your momming, and let me explain, people that maybe haven't actually stepped into empty nesting, your kids still need you They're not going anywhere.

They might not physically be present, but I think depending on the relationship you have with your children, they really value you differently. Because now they see, Oh, my mom actually does know a thing or two it's like my mom, I'm going to call her because I know she will be able to help me walk through this.

I know that she will have some type of ear to listen or advice to give or whatnot. And so that's as a mom, that's what I try to do with my kids is just invite conversation. Because they still need us. They're not really, I don't, whoever made up 18 is an adult. I would like to meet them because, that's so not true.

Especially in this day and age where our children are having a hard time to find a place to live that is affordable so that they can actually leave the nest and go spread their wings. That's a 

whole other dynamic, right? But you have to help them, support them, not help them financially, but support them in understanding these steps are real.

And they are adulting and this is how you do it. So you've got these choices to make. And so just laying out things for them is sometimes all they need. And sometimes they need a little more and sometimes they need a little less. I think it just depends on your child and, yeah. 

I'm curious.

Let's talk about the, structure of your empty nest community. So this is a virtual community or do you, is it a physical? It is. So we've done 

one live event and I will continue. It's still being structured. So I'm planning on launching it full force in the fall. Nice. So we've done one in person, which was so much fun.

The feedback was great. Everybody felt seen and heard and we did some journal, I don't even know if we actually got to journaling because I had all these things planned and then you know how we get. And so, but I paired people up and people that wouldn't have known each other and I, and it was randomly, but they got paired up and so they got to share and I think so much of my group is going to be about having the space And ability to share and feel safe and then be able to be seen and heard in a way that's going to help them to move forward in their journey.

So it will be here where I live. We will have some definite outings, like tomorrow night we're going to line dancing. So we're going to do some things like that, but then ultimately it will become virtual because we're Not everybody's going to be able to come from all over and I want it to grow to a space where you're, you can meet your new best friend that lives in Colorado it's there's no reason.

I mean, we need to utilize the goodness of social media, the goodness of technology where it's can cause a ripple effect of goodness. So that is what's coming in fall. We're going to do I don't know what you guys do where you live, but when we go into kindergarten here in our elementary school, they do a boohoo breakfast.

So like kindergarten moms can go in and they can boohoo together or whatever. So I'm just rippling, I'm just going off of that. And so we're just going to have a half day of just like a gathering. But I don't know if I'll call it boohoo, but something like that, where once the kids are off to college, we can come together.

And and I want the community to be what they need. So it's going to be a lot of Kind of trial as we go, if you will, because I don't want it to be so structured that if it's not working for somebody that they feel disconnected from it, so that's going to be what the group is. That is fantastic. In that, we're going to talk about health and wellness, of course, because that's what I live, eat, breathe, and love.

You could 

literally call it the boohoo woo club when, I'm mean the Boohoo Club. I love that because we cried when they went off to kindergarten. That's right. We'll cry when they go off to college, university. 

That's right. 

And but we wanna bring in all the woo which goes right back to what you said at the beginning is we are the whole person.

We are, the physical, the mentally emotional, the spiritual, and I, yes. I love woo My listeners know that. There she goes again. And 

I think just by saying those four components, that is really all things I create. Those are my pillars because. If we don't create something within all of them, there's again, that going to be that lack somewhere.

And so it's about really focusing on those particular areas and how we can help people grow in each of the areas. 

Oh, good. And I'm hoping now by now the listeners are saying, okay, that's great. 

There's some really good advice here, but when it comes to connecting with women, and I've spoken about this before the community, just having community alone to validate your symptoms and make you feel I'm not alone.

I'm not crazy. Other people are going through this. Yes, it's individualized and unique. We're all little snowflakes. Our symptoms show up. But that validation is that reassurance takes such a pressure, a stressful sensation off of our, mindset. But I'm also hoping the listeners, cause this is what I gravitated to the sadness and the lonely, loneliness and the isolation.

Now, of course, there's a lot of information and data out there that says that menopause is met with depression and anxiety, panic even, and that stems from a lot of the, those past unresolved issues. They do tend to come up, but dealing with those areas alone. And I'm hoping that they'll start to Listeners will start to realize one again, they're not alone, but that it's really important to address the sadness, aloneness, and the isolation that comes from this.

I have seen women suffer in the menopause in the midlife phases, and it's, it is a stressor on marriages and relationships be it with a significant other, a partner, our children even with our friends. But if it's not properly addressed and it's allowed to fester like a bad wound, if you will, suicidal tendencies in women in their late forties is a very high percentage.

I learned that from Dr. Fiona Lovely of the host of Not Your Mother's Menopause. Alarming, shocking, and I can't stress enough. And what you're doing, Robin, with this Empty Nest community, I can't stress enough, find a community, whether it's virtual, whether it's in a physical space, find that community, find your people, find your support network.

And I applaud you for launching this perfect timing, the fall when the kids are going off to school, great time to address it right away. Don't let that fester because cascading effect on how we eat and how we sleep, our stress management, and then we land ourselves right back in this situation. I can't figure why I can't lose this extra 20 pounds.

That extra 20 pounds is that a stress that, you have put on yourself. We can get into that and I do a great length and other with other topics in my blog, but. I'm, really impressed about the direction you've taken this in, but of course we always want the proof is in the pudding. 

So share with us a success story maybe of one of your clients and where she went from A to Z and what has what has she discovered in that journey working with you?

So, one particular person pops into mind. And when she first came to me, she had been diagnosed with several things. She even went to the functional. Went functional and integrative and she got her labs and she came to me as a referral and she came with a lot of diagnoses and a ginormous plan of attack and it was quite overwhelming for her.

And so we started I said, let's put all that aside first. So again, we started with the health story. We started with her story of life, right? And we started to break down some of that. And we eventually did get to addressing all the other things, but I really feel in my heart of hearts when you address The emotional component, when you address the underlying things, when you can get in touch with yourself, that is where you see the greatest transformation.

And so we did address all the things that the doctor asked, we looked at lifestyle, we looked at food factors. She learned how to be an ingredient detective, which is my favorite thing to teach everybody and anybody because. You cannot make good decisions unless you understand how to read your ingredients because labels lie and there's a lot of greenwashing.

So we, we attack food, we attack, products, which cleaning and personal care those are very big, full of toxins, full of things that are endocrine disruptors, wreck our hormones, you name it, there's a lot going on there. So. 

We really work to get some knowledge because I feel like knowledge is power.

And so as we worked through and she got to just really get a glimpse and understanding in each of those areas, and then some self areas, right? Like movement, spirituality emotions. Again, it's just about, it's getting people to recognize that it's the coolest thing when you can bring something up.

That was an old something. And you're in a place where you can then look at it and say, Oh, now I understand. Now I can see why I have this particular trait, and why this triggers me, because now I know where it comes from. But, how is that serving me? If it is not, what can I do about it? So we go, we have lots of tools and lots of tips that we go through.

And again, it's very bio individual, because everybody's life has been so different over these years. But as she walked through and she found tools and put them in her tool belt and it's again, not a one stop shop. She's still living the same way. She had great success. 

She got off a ton of medication.

She found worthiness in herself. She's lost 40 pounds and that was a by product because there was no diet. There was no restriction. It was just about learning how to build a plate and learning why these foods and are important and what they, the value and the fuel they can add to your back to your body.

So it was a, it's a lot more like that. So we added a bunch of stuff in, which just then weeds the stuff out because you're satiated, you don't really go to the snack it's so you, just start building, you start building the good habits. And the bad ones just sort of, not even bad, but the ones that are not serving just sort of fall to the wayside.

And when she went to the doctor and she got off medication, because her lab showed that she had healed in some areas, so she was able to get off. She was more excited about that than the 40 pounds, even though that's why she came to me in the first place. So I just think, Everybody's journey is different.

And depending on your commitment level, no, one's going to motivate you. You have got to motivate yourself. And Mel Robbins has this amazing thing where she does five, four, three, two, one go and it's gold. It's nothing, but it's pure gold. It's no, one's coming to save you. You have got to save yourself.

a little tough love here and there when it's needed, but also just. Being there for people and understanding where they're coming from and what they've been through, and I think a lot of that is just validation. We're just seeking validation. We think we're seeking validation from other people, but then when we get down to it, it's really validating ourselves and loving ourselves.

Adding what the body needs, the whole body, the spiritual self, the emotional, energetic, physical, mental. I love how you put that and the rest of the stuff just falls off because there's no room for it because you just filled it with goodness. 

Gosh. 

 the thing I will say is. If you're motivated, if you're ready, if you've hit a frustration point of, I'm ready to do the work, then having a coach, having a doula, having somebody is the person you would want to have by your side because we're cheerleader, right?

We're going to push you where you need. We're going to listen. We're going to implement things that you're not going to get someplace else. And I'm not saying that someplace else doesn't have some of the right answers also, but I think it's just needs to be a meshing of things. One of the things that I did discover even through functional and integrative is that you leave there with a ginormous list of supplements, usually, sometimes mostly, and this protocol that is way overwhelming and they're not going to be able to implement it.

And therefore the success rate isn't going to be as good. And not because it shouldn't, it's just that it's too much and they, even though they spend a ton, they spend an hour ish with you, which is amazing, they need more, people need more than that when they're first starting out, they need a guide, they need a cheerleader on the side, they need someone to be able to say, hey, I've got this going on 

 So that's what I'm for. I'm for like support, like supporting people through their journey and then just sort of like pointing them and what, having them take the, whatever roads they decide.

Cause it's truly up to us. It is. you're in the driver's seat.

You're in control. You make those decisions. And one 

of the things I really want to say, and you can agree or not, cause you are the menopause doula, but I feel like in this phase. 

Because of the shifting in hormones, some tend to be more anxious, some tend to have a lot of fear, doubt, just ruminating thoughts, if you will, and one of the things that I think, again, in our society, we're looking for the answer to get rid of, and I think if we could flip that script a little bit and recognize that it's showing up, But it doesn't have to drive and that when you said driving that's what made me think it doesn't have to be the driver of your life.

It's there for a reason, right? It could be a warning. You don't want to like totally get rid of anxiety because it does put you on alert, right? When you need to be on alert. So just reframing again, I know I talk a lot about reframing, but I think reframing how you're looking at the things that are popping up.

What is it you're trying to tell me? How can I use it for my benefit, but then you need to be quiet. And get out of here. Like you can sit to the side, you can have another seat on the bus, you can go to the mall, whatever, but you're not going to be the one that's telling me where to actually go in my life.

Absolutely. 

Two words that come up Don't absorb, observe. Ooh, I love that. I've noticed that there's, there tends to be an analysis paralysis. Analyzing. Well, okay, if you want me to do this, let's, and they analyze and analyze, and then they're literally paralyzed on the spot.

They can't move forward because they allowed their, thinking mind to take over and analyze. And I say, no. Don't that's your amygdala, 

right? 

Yeah, that's the amygdala because it's the brain's job to keep you safe 

Exactly. 

And also like when you're saying that, the overwhelm the, thoughts and all of that's where that 1 percent shift comes in.

 what's one tiny step that you feel comfortable doing after you do it and do it and do it and be consistent with it. Eventually your body will get used to the new feeling.

So we could spend a whole topic, the whole podcast episode, just talking about ingredient detecting. Yes. Yes. 

But if we were to leave our listeners with one key thing to look for when they're going out for ingredients, be it food, their healthcare products. Okay. 

Two things for food, natural flavors.

Okay. 

And hydrogenated oils. 

Oof, 

yes. So those two, if you see either one of them, to me, it's a hard no. And let me explain why. Okay. Kinds of oils are inflammatory and the last thing that we need, especially in this midlife, but anybody is adding more inflammation to our body because our body can only handle so much inflammation and it's going to become overwhelmed.

And then that's again where things start to go haywire. The second one is natural flavor. And I have a podcast episode. I think it's don't quote me, but I think it's season two episode one. It is with lovebird cereal, the owner of it. And he worked, first of all, I've known about natural flavors for a long time, just due to my kid's health, but getting him on the podcast and actually speaking to him, he's worked.

He worked in a different cereal company. Prior to getting out and starting his own thing to make safer cereal for his child, I picked his brain about natural flavors and so there's nothing natural about it. There might be a hint of natural, but if it was actually just natural, they would just list it.

So, for example, if it says. something like a lemon lime flavor, let's just say, and it says natural flavors. But when you're looking at the ingredients, there's no lemon and there's no lime.

So where's that coming from? So it's gotta be in the natural flavors. And what that means is there might be like a hint of it, but they're going to do it in a, it's going to come from a laboratory situation because how he explained it, which I encourage everybody to listen to it and don't just take my word for it, but is that.

They make it so that it's so palatable you want to come back for more this when he was like, why can't we just use strawberries and they're like, because it's The taste is not strong enough because we've conditioned through junky processed foods to expect these ginormous flavors. And also it's a moneymaker when you keep craving that flavor, right?

So I'm always just a little bit skeptical. I've actually reached out to a few companies that I, That are otherwise very clean companies, and I'm like, Hey, could you tell me what the natural flavors are and why you chose natural flavors versus just using lemon oil or lemon peel or whatever. And unfortunately, even some of the clean companies just are not as educated or it's just.

cheaper but after talking to him, just solidifying that, and I mean, I could go on dyes, just ditch the guys immediately. Dyes are unnatural. They're not in other countries. Our FDA does not ban them, but Europe does. And from personal experience with one of my daughters, red dye, if you have children that are quote unquote acting, having like hyperactivity characteristics, red dye manifests that.

 there's a whole TED talk. This lady does. if you just Google TED talk dyes, she tells her story and it's amazing. And I, can attest to it just because. My daughter would turn into the Tasmanian devil when, I mean, she was like just nonstop out of control and once I could boil it down to that, I was like, okay.

 And we have a whole generation of children being put on ADHD medication because they feel that the children are somehow it's a neurological issue. 

It's 

probably 

on their plate. 

A lot of it's on 

their plate for sure. There's everybody's made up differently.

So yes, there are some people that are have more of tendencies like that, but I just think you got to exhaust all the natural things before just hopping on medicine. That's my belief. Take it for what it is. 

As far as personal care products, I'm just going to name one. Okay. I could have a whole list of 20, but the first thing that pops in my mind is fragrance.

If you pick up a product and it has fragrance. That is an FDA loophole that was given to companies a long time ago when the whole fragrance when they started banning things. And so the loophole is the word fragrance can carry thousands of chemicals and you have no idea. They do not have to disclose it.

It's never natural. fragrance is an endocrine disruptor. It's a hormone disruptor. In general, if you put that under your armpits, it's going directly into your bloodstream that way. Your skin is your largest organ for those who might not be aware of that. And so anything you put on your skin, scalp where you shave all that, it's going directly in.

So your body when you eat food has some time to process it and get rid of the garbage if you have a healthy systems inside. But you've got no chance on the outside. It's going directly in. two apps, one is called Think Dirty and one is the EWG and you can put your products in and you can see what they rate one to 10.

If you have fragrance, they're going to be eight to 10 always. You should always try to stay one to three is what I suggest all in moderation. If you have one product, that's a five and you can't live without it. It's just about not overloading your body with so many toxins that you cannot recover on your own. 

And that's sort of what happens before disease. It's I think a good visualization is think of a bucket. And we all have different size buckets, depending on our genetic makeup, our constitution, our environment, all the things. And as we keep piling these chemicals on it just your, thing, your bucket fills up.

And so everybody's tipping point is different. But when you're diagnosed with a disease, you have tipped your bucket. So that's a fantastic analogy. Yes. So again, just visuals. I could go on and on about products non toxic and all the things cleaning products is the other thing. 

Fragrance, all of that.

But it's come a long way. You just have to be a detective is, the best way I can put it. You've got to understand what it is you're buying, because again, we can't really rely on the government to make good choices for us. We really need to put that on ourselves.

And the only way that we can vote is with our dollars. And so when we vote with our dollars and people stop buying certain things, then they will have to shift. Because there will not be a choice for them, because there will not be the same funds coming in for those foods. 

So, going back to that wise women philosophy, again, another Ayurvedic principle that we are entering into the age of wisdom.

Women get wise, by getting to know who you are, and really detect. Investigate the environment around you in the environment within you. That is the philosophy right there. All right. 

Share with our listeners where they can find you. I'm sure there's so many out there that would be excited to learn more, even your podcast or work with you, Robin.

This is fantastic. So where can we find you? 

So my company is live life balanced with Robin. I have a website. Those are my social media handles. I'm more active on Instagram. But I'm an old lady, so it's taking me a little bit of time to figure out all of that, and I rely on my children but I'm still trying, I'm still shifting and growing in that area and then my podcast has had a name update, and it is Healthy Lifestyle Habits for Midlife Mamas.

I love it. Beautiful. 

that felt more in line aligned with where I'm going, or I think I'm going right now.

We'll see how it goes. But yeah, so that's where you can find me on Apple and Spotify and on my website. Also, I have several freebies. Please go pick them up. One is an ingredient list. One's non toxic home. So there's different freebies just to start learning. That's what I encourage everybody leaving today.

Just do one thing to start learning something because it's better than learning nothing. Absolutely. 

We'll get all those links in the show notes, including those two apps that you recommended as well. Fantastic. Just a wealth of information, Robin. We really thoroughly have enjoyed our time together. I normally ask my guests what their favorite book is.

So if. You want to share? I would love to also include that because sometimes the book that we're reading or the one that really resonates us most has had some kind of influence on our journey. So what is your all 

time favorite read or what are you currently reading? Gosh, well, I've read a lot and it's funny because I was not a child who read growing up.

I would like really despised reading but I'd like to read things that resonate with me. And My brain is having a menopause moment, something joy. What did I tell you? Oh, let's just relentless joy. Sorry. So this book is written by a gal named Rachel joy Barbeau. And she came into my life through my brother.

She wrote this book and she's a national speaker. She goes around, she talks about the mental health battle plan and all this, but anyways, her book is called relentless joy. It's not just a book. It is like a book, a workbook, a life changing experience altogether. And I would recommend that to anybody and everybody that.

Is even not understanding, understanding, wanting more joy, just really wanting to do some soul searching and digging. It's just such a, it's beautifully written. It is a memoir about some of her life, but always shifted to how you can apply it to your own life. And it's a, it's beautifully written.

So it's been my favorite and I've been recommending it, but I like all sorts of anything, health, wellness, menopause, Alzheimer's dementia, my mom has. So I'm like learning all about that. So I'll get off your acid. That was the very first one. book I ever read blew my mind. Great. 

We'll get those in the show notes as well.

Sorry, 

I can't just pick one. I mean, it's too many. I know we can't miss just 

exactly. Well, thank you so much for being here, Rob. And I thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with you. Yes. Podcast community. It's been wonderful. 

I want to say, Thank you for the work you do again because I, wouldn't be where I am without being able to listen to you and getting wisdom from you.

So I appreciate you making me feel like in this menopause of hormones that cause hormones is not my thing. And it's really confusing to me and it's causing me a lot in this midlife chapter, but Being able to listen to somebody like you and that's level headed, that gets it, that helps people really, even though I don't tell you every day, I just want you to know how impactful your work is, at least for me, and I'm sure many others.

That 

is so wonderful. Thank you so much. Well, that's what we do as Wise Women. We raise each other up and support each other on their journey. 

Yes. Always learning. 

I love it. Okay. Love it.

The universe always has your back. I say that often. Sometimes I don't believe it, but this time I kind of do. The funny thing is Robin and I recorded this interview back in the summer knowing I was going to be an empty nester within just a few months of my daughter moving out to go to school in Victoria here in Vancouver Island. But wow, here we are a couple months after she's moved out. I've been feeling Emptiness Syndrome big time and you can even go back and listen to one of my episodes a few episodes ago in which I talk about Emptiness Syndrome and why it's so important to address it, certainly with community and support.

And I really felt like I had the community and support just by sitting down. to edit this podcast. It's like, Oh my goodness, Robin has said so many great things for me, reminding me that it's really important as we enter into the space of life to give ourselves gratitude and not look at it as such a, a sad phase, but a new chapter.

Here are my other key takeaways from today's episode. The first is the concept of 1 percent shifts. Again, funny thing, after a few months of recording our episode, I find myself even using that. What's 1 percent shift that you can make in your day to help manage your menopause strategies?

Her message really resonated with me. So that's why it's my first key takeaway. The importance of making small, manageable lifestyle changes, And this will help foster long term improvements in health and well being, particularly during your menopause phase. You know, we can't go at it all at once.

One of the best protocols when you're managing your menopause symptoms is to address lifestyle changes. But that doesn't mean picking up a gym membership, eliminating sugar altogether and ditching the coffee. I mean, that is just too enormous and it's going to set you up for failure.

So those little 1 percent shifts, small manageable goals, smart goals that you can make for a long term change, a long term improvement. And the second takeaway. Importance of morning routines. I love that the non negotiables and why establishing a morning routine is so vital because it sets us up for success giving us a positive tone for the day. And Robin encourages us to identify those non negotiable practices to help us feel energized and focused, for me, my non negotiables, starting my day off with meditation and some breathing exercise. And I have a cup of warm water with my probiotic.

 It's taken all of a few minutes and I feel like I've grounded myself and I'm ready to take on the day. Third takeaway, community and support. Our discussion highlights the necessity of having a supportive community. This has been repeated many times often in this podcast, and it bears repeating.

Women during the transitional phase of menopause and even empty nesting need each other to combat those feelings of loneliness and to validate our experiences. My fourth key takeaway was mindful eating and product awareness. And Robin really addressed the importance of being informed consumers by understanding food labels and potential harmful ingredients like natural flavors and fragrances and also for advocating for ingredient conscious lifestyle to reduce the harms.

This, this can do to our bodies from both the internal and external toxins around us. take a look at a couple of apps that she mentioned. The first being Think Dirty, and the other is the EWG's Healthy Living app. Both apps will help you monitor the toxin levels, the toxic loads in foods and products.

As Robin said, aim to keep that number on the low side, but remember, As it adds up from one product to another, so does their toxic load. So it's all about being mindful, but also being diligent and doing your own detective work.

 my last key takeaway, is so important that we address our emotional health during the menopause transition. And I speak to this on several episodes, particularly when it comes to the episode on cognitive behavior therapy and PTSD, because it's very nuanced and complex.

And those things that we've never dealt with before will rear their ugly head I mean, you can think of estrogen as a veil of protection, but when that veil is lifted, surprise, those things that were left undealt with, past traumas, illnesses, injuries, they'll come to the forefront, and now's our time to really address them.

But in our conversation, Robin stresses the importance of addressing the emotional mental health challenges that will come up and encouraging us women to seek validation. Again, it goes back to having community and support, because this helps us understand our experiences. making us feel less isolated and that we're not alone.

And it's important to do that inner work to navigate these feelings of sadness and isolation. That inner work can take on many different forms. Anything that helps you connect to self, be it a walk in nature. meditation, breathing exercises, yoga, do whatever you can at this stage in your life to really reconnect with who you are.

And that is really, for me, one of the first steps on the healing journey and a beautiful opportunity in our midlife to address these things so we can step into our better, greater selves, the self that we're going to have for the rest of our lives. And as Ayurveda always says, the age of wisdom.

Robin's podcast is now called Healthy Habits for Midlife Mamas, the 1 percent shifts empowering you to thrive. And you can find Robin at livelifebalancedwithrobin.com I'll put that in the show notes. She has so much to offer on this website, including several free resources, like how to stock up your pantry safely with products that are low in toxic load and safe for our body and our home environment.

And tips and tricks on how to read food labels, and so much more. So go have a look. Robin is on Instagram at live life balanced with Robin. And our podcast is streaming on Apple and Spotify.

Wait one second. Before you go, there's one last thing I want to share. I don't want your menopause to limit who you are at this pivotal stage in life. I also don't want you to feel stuck in your transition with no clue where to begin. So I developed a program to help you on the journey. It's called none other than the menopause intelligence course.

I'd love for you to join me on an enriching, transformative experience designed exclusively for individuals ready to take agency of their menopause and not be slowed down in their experience. This eight module course is fully self directed, specifically crafted to explore essential aspects of the menopausal experience, blending scientific insights with practical strategies to empower your decision making.

We explore the science of hormones and the resulting mental, emotional, and physical changes associated with hormonal fluctuations. We also cover a range of holistic strategies and practices, inviting you to tap into your inner wisdom for symptom management. You'll be empowered to make important healthcare decisions.

Experience the power of shared decision making. Together with your healthcare team, you'll craft a personalized management plan that respects your unique needs and values. You deserve to have your voice heard and to participate actively in your health journey. Say goodbye to feelings of shame, embarrassment, or isolation.

Own your journey. Gain mastery over your menopause experience. Face symptoms with confidence at work, at home, transforming what can be a challenging time into an opportunity for growth and celebration. This course is about enhancing your overall quality of life with knowledge and purpose and a fresh new perspective on your menopausal transition.

There's a reason why Ayurvedic philosophy recognizes menopause as the age of wisdom. You're a wise woman, so let's get wise together. Head on over to the link in my show notes to learn more and enrol today. I can't wait to have you be a part of this community.