Words of Wellness with Shelly
Do you get confused by all of the information that is available regarding ways to improve your health and wellness? Do you often become frustrated or overwhelmed with decisions on how to be your healthiest? We all know and understand how important our health and wellness is to the vitality of our lives, however navigating the wealth of health and wellness information available can often feel overwhelming. Understanding the significance of our well-being in leading fulfilling lives is crucial, yet determining what steps to take that are essential for our health can often be confusing.
Welcome everyone to "Words of Wellness"! In this podcast, hosted by Shelly Jefferis, M.A., a seasoned health and wellness professional with over 35 years in the industry, all of your questions will be answered and clarity will be provided through personal stories, education, tips and inspiration. Throughout her profession, Shelly has always had the heart and desire to help others feel their best and live their best lives through her supportive and compassionate approach. Through engaging solo and guest episodes, several topics will be addressed, questions will be answered and clarity will be provided in an effort to lead you to a healthier, more energetic life. With a master’s degree in kinesiology, extensive experience as an educator, speaker, coach, and entrepreneur, Shelly brings a wealth of knowledge and a genuine passion for empowering others to feel their best. By featuring industry experts and relatable individuals, the podcast promises personal stories, practical advice, and inspiration. She is excited to come to you weekly sharing all she has experienced, learned and discovered through the years. Whether you're seeking to elevate your well-being, gain practical insights for personal health, or simply be inspired to live a high quality vibrant life, this is the podcast is for YOU! Be sure to tune in weekly and join us along our "Words of Wellness" journey and embark on a path toward a healthier and more fulfilling quality of life full of happiness, energy and joy!
Words of Wellness with Shelly
Embracing the Emotional Rollercoaster: Shelly Reflects on Becoming an Empty Nester and Cherishing Family Moments
Becoming an empty nester is a journey filled with a whirlwind of emotions, from pride to pain. As a mom, I've felt the deep bittersweetness of sending my children off to college. In this heartfelt episode of Words of Wellness, I share my own personal reflections and stories about this transitional phase of life. You'll hear about our recent family vacation to Hawaii, a cherished memory before my youngest son heads off to school, and the poignant moments of sending our older son and daughter to college years ago. This is a touching and heartfelt episode to all parents navigating similar paths, providing comfort, understanding, and solidarity.
Join me, as I share my personal experience into the emotional rollercoaster of becoming an empty nester. I share what has helped me along the way with an emphasis on the importance of embracing mixed emotions and finding pride and joy in our children's growth. These are moments that nobody can really prepare you for but it is part of our journey as moms & dads. My hope is that what I share will help you along your journey. With 35 years of experience as a health and wellness professional, my goal is to offer you not just my insights but also a platform where shared stories make a difference. Whether you're a mom or dad, this episode is a reminder that it's okay to feel a mix of pride and pain and that we're all in this together. Let’s cherish these moments and support each other through these significant life changes. We've got this!!!!!
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Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.
Thank you and God Bless!
And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!
In Health,
Shelly Jefferis
You know, I've had my moments when I've cried already and I get emotional now talking about it, but my point today that I want to make with everyone is that when the emotions come up, you just have to go with it. Do you get confused by all of the information that bombard us every day on ways to improve our overall health and our overall wellness? Do you often feel stuck, unmotivated or struggle to reach your wellness goals? Do you have questions as to what exercises you should be doing, what foods you should or should not be eating, how to improve your overall emotional and mental well-being? Hello everyone, I am so excited to welcome you to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries and I will be your host. My goal is to answer these questions and so much more to share tips, education and inspiration around all of the components of wellness through solo and guest episodes. With 35 plus years as a health and wellness professional, a retired college professor, a speaker and a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I certainly have lots to share. However, my biggest goal and inspiration in doing this podcast is to share the wellness stories of others with you, to bring in guests who can share their journeys so that we can all learn together while making an impact on the health, the wellness and lives of all of you, our listeners. The ultimate hope is that you leave today with even just one nugget that can enhance the quality of your life, and that you will. We all will, now and into the future, live our best quality of lives, full of energy, happiness and joy.
Speaker 1:Now let's dive into our message for today. Hello everyone, and welcome back to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries and I will be your host, and if you are tuning in for the first time, welcome. I'm so happy to have you here. I wanted to jump in today and share a few thoughts with you as far as a stage of life that I am in, especially as a mom, so this episode will be really mostly for all you moms out there, but also dads as well, and it really has to do with those of us who are empty nesters or perhaps getting ready to be empty nesters, and so I wanted to share a few thoughts, and, as I get started here, I wanted to let you know yes, my nose is a little bit nasally.
Speaker 1:We just came back from an amazing family vacation and the only two times I have been sick this past year have been right after I've been traveling, so I'm already on the mend. So I'm grateful for that. And we made a point. My husband made a point a couple, two, three months ago of saying I want us to take a family vacation and do it before we take Brayden to school and I want to go to Hawaii. And of course I said okay. And so, after weeks, weeks and hours of researching and looking for the right place for us all to go together, coordinating everyone's schedules, we made it happen. So I'm just so grateful that we did. It was just so special to be together for a full week and as this episode drops, I will be in the middle of taking our youngest son. My husband and I will be taking our youngest son to college and you know I have a lot of thoughts around it.
Speaker 1:I have a lot of mixed emotions, of course, and you know for those moms out there going through this, you completely can relate. I know it's a very emotional time and it's very bittersweet and I know everybody says this is what we prepare our children to do go out into the world and there's so much pride in that, but at the same time there's a lot of pain right. Having our children leave and be out of the house is. It's very difficult. With our daughter many years ago and we took her to Oregon and it was myself, my husband and our youngest son, brayden and we drove for like 12 hours, took her to Oregon, spent a few days, got her settled and then driving home, literally pretty much the entire drive home at least one of us was crying, and then when one would stop, another one would start, and then that would get the tears flowing again. And I just have to say you know, it makes me want to cry now when I think about it.
Speaker 1:But I also feel like what is the alternative? See, for me, the way I look at it is I'd rather it be this way. I'd rather it be that we are close and we love one another and we are sad to say goodbye, rather than it not being that way, because that just is a testament for me to the bond and the love that we share as a family and um, that just is everything to me. And you know, the same thing happened with our middle son, cody. However, the difference with him was that he was going to be closer to home, which definitely helped, but, as you know, being a mama, the pain was still there. You know he's not in our house and he's not in his room and and that's a that's a really hard pill to swallow, for sure. And you know we've gone through this. It's been a few years now that we've gone through this and now we are going through it, going to be going through it again for the third and last time. And you know I've had my moments when I've cried already and I get emotional now talking about it.
Speaker 1:But my point today that I want to make with everyone is that when the emotions come up, you just have to go with it. You just have to go with it because they're going to come up and they're going to come up when you least expect it and you know, just know that it does get easier. The goodbyes don't get easier. But then you get excited, for you know, planning the events when you're going to see each other and the trips, and then when you start to go visit your son or daughter and you see them thriving and you see what they're involved in and it's just, it's a really special time and you see what they're involved in and it's just, it's a really special time, but it doesn't negate the fact that it is heartbreaking. It is challenging, for sure, but there's a lot of joy on the other side. There really, really is.
Speaker 1:And I think that my biggest piece of advice for all of you that are going through this is to go through the emotions, just feel them as they come up, know that they will come up. And you know, I told my husband recently. I said you know, I think in some ways this will be easier for us because we've been through it, but in other ways it's going to be more difficult because he's our baby, he's our last one to go, and now we're going to be empty nesters. And you know, there's some, there's some fun and excitement that comes with that, but at the same time there's also that pain. And you know, I will say, having this family vacation just solidified the fact that you know, the time together might not be as frequent at this, these stages of our lives, but the time together is is quality and much more precious and priceless than ever, and so I'm really so grateful for my husband for being adamant about us taking this time together, and I want to just share with you all that, what has helped me through the years and what I plan on doing again this time is that you know we'll be traveling and when we come home I'm going to give myself a good day or two just to be just to.
Speaker 1:You know, go for walks, relax on the couch, you know, maybe hang out in bed I don't even know what I'm going to want to do, but I always make a point to give myself a good, solid day to just deal with the emotions and experience the emotions, and you know, just to go through it and to give myself grace. So I want to say that to all of you moms out there give yourself grace, give yourself time. I would highly recommend not making any plans yourself time. I would highly recommend not making any plans. I would highly recommend not jumping into any events or gatherings or and maybe you're different, maybe you're, maybe you're fine with that Personally, I find taking at least one full day to just be, to go through it, to experience emotions, really, really helps. And that's my word of advice for all of you is to take the time, and maybe more than one day is needed. Maybe you need more time, maybe you need less time. Only you will be able to determine that. But I want to just encourage you all to give yourself time, give yourself grace, and I just want to say I love you all moms out there.
Speaker 1:I feel you, I know wholeheartedly what it is like to have our babies go away, what it is like to have our babies go away, and it's part of this journey, this crazy journey, journey of motherhood right, and it's not something anyone can prepare you for. But if I can help alleviate a little bit of the apprehension or not knowing what it will be like or how to deal with it, that's really kind of my goal today is just to share a little bit of my experience, just a little bit, and to share with you what has helped me and to share with you that there's no easy way around it. And I will never forget when we first took our daughter to school, to college, after we dropped her off, I wish I would have known before, but after the fact I had a friend tell me it's heartbreaking. She says it's heartbreaking, there's no way around it, and I feel like if I had known that before, I don't think it would have been necessarily easier, but I could have been a little bit more prepared, if that makes sense, because, yes, it was heartbreaking. I didn't realize how difficult it would be.
Speaker 1:And then also, at that time, for those of you who have younger children, younger siblings, that was one of the most difficult moments for me was to see our youngest. He was so sad and he was crying so much, and they get through it, they get through it. And the same thing happened when we took our older son to college. Our youngest was so sad and it's just part of it. So we have to be really, really, I think, conscientious of each other, of each other's feelings, and just know that it affects the family dynamics and the best thing I think that we can all do is to go through it and go through the emotions together.
Speaker 1:And I will also share one last thing that with our youngest Braydenden, and how ironic now he's the one going away, but I also let him just relax and hang home like I remember coming home, I think, after we took I can't remember it might have been my son Cody, but you know he was going to leave for school that day and I and I and I could tell he was still feeling emotional and I let him stay home. You know, I let him stay home and I think that's really important to just really be conscientious and and be flexible and whatever anyone's needing at that point in time to just let it be, and I find that that really helped. I mean, it's helped me to take a day or two to just be, and then I let our younger son do the same, and I think that's really, really important. It's really important not to just jump right back into a routine, because this is a major, a major change in our lives, and so I just wanted to share with you my experiences and share with you. You know how I have handled it, how I will do the same coming home After we take our youngest.
Speaker 1:I will give myself a day or two to just be, and I want to encourage you all to do the same. I hope this is helpful, I hope you find value in this and I want to just give a shout out to all of the kids, young and old, starting school, starting a new school year, praying that everyone has a wonderful year, and I'm just sending out much love to all of you mamas out there. We've got this, you've got this. We are in this together and I just want to encourage you, if you, if you feel like you need to talk or you need to reach out to someone, I just want you to know you can. You can message me.
Speaker 1:My information is in the show notes. Please feel free to shoot me a message and I'm always here. I'm always here for you and, on that note, always continue to take care of you, take care of your wellness and do something for your wellness on this day. Have a blessed week, everyone, and I will see you real soon on the next episode of Words of Wellness. I would love and appreciate it if you could share with a friend or rate and review Words of Wellness so that more can hear this message. I love and appreciate you all. Thank you for listening and if you have any questions or topics you would like me to share in future episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through my contact information that is shared in the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries and I encourage you to do something for you, for your wellness, on this day. Until next time, I hope you all have a healthy, happy and blessed week. Thank you you.