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
Navigating Menopause and Empowering Women: Karen Cerezo's Journey to a Women's Midlife Coach
What if you could navigate the unpredictable waves of menopause with confidence and grace? Join Shelly as she chats with Karen Cerezo, a nationally board-certified health coach who knows a thing or two about supporting women through midlife transitions. Karen's inspiring journey from teacher to wellness advocate shines a light on her passion for empowering midlife women, a group often overlooked in conventional fitness environments. Together, they explore her holistic approach to health and wellness, emphasizing the importance of creating inclusive spaces that cater to women beyond the high-intensity realm of younger-focused fitness.
Karen and Shelly openly discuss their own experiences with symptoms of perimenopause that often catch women off guard, like joint pain weight gain and sleep disturbances. They tackle the necessity of building a supportive community where women can talk openly about their life stages. By sharing stories, the hope is that going through these life transitions can be discussed more openly and frequently, much like the conversations surrounding puberty and pregnancy.
The conversation also underscores the importance of understanding the health shifts that accompany menopause. Karen and Shelly highlight tools and techniques for tracking symptoms, such as Karen's book, "Navigating Menopause: A Comprehensive Tracking Workbook," which serves as a valuable resource for women to document and make sense of their health journeys. From the impact of hormonal changes on the microbiome to the emergence of new food intolerances, they cover a spectrum of topics vital for informed decision-making, leading to a more energetic, healthier way of life, helping more women embrace their unique paths to wellness.
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midlife_health_coach
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenCerezo
Website: www.Midlifehealthcoach.com
Amazon Link: Navigating Menopause https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DH2PWF67
Freebie: Are You in Perimenopause health quiz https://www.midlifehealthcoach.com/quiz
CONNECT WITH SHELLY:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithshellyj
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShellyNeumannJefferis
"Purge Your Pantry" Special pricing for WOW listeners:
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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
I always tell people you want to listen to your body when it's whispering, because when it starts shouting, then there's real issues there, and so being able just to be educated on what to look for is one of the best places to start.
Speaker 2:Do you get confused by all of the information that Vabar does 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 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. Now let's dive into our message for today. Message for today.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone, and welcome back to Words of Wellness. I am your host, shelly Jeffries, and I'm very excited to introduce everyone to our guest today. She is a nationally board certified health coach and she specializes in midlife and menopause for women. She's a certified personal trainer and nutritionist and a wellness advocate with a mission to empower midlife women. So, karen Cerezo, welcome to Words of Wellness. I'm so excited to have you here. I'm so excited to be here. This is going to be great. I know I'm going to learn some valuable information and you have a lot to offer to our listeners. So I guess we can start a little bit about how you got involved in this field. I mean, I think you know they always say you are best positioned to serve the person you once were, and I see that in some cases with myself. Is that how you got involved in this specialty?
Speaker 1:Yes, 100%. When I first started out about 10 years ago, I left the teaching profession and and I'm sure you can relate to this I realized it was way easier for people to show up to a workout than it was for them to do well in the kitchen, and so that kind of trickled into immersion and then I realized I really wanted to approach the whole person. So then I went into health coaching and so, as I'm working through, as I'm working with clients on the personal training and I'm working with a company, I'm realizing that my older clients are really not being served well, and I kept bringing up, you know, my older ladies are struggling. And then when I started to struggle with my own health and wellness issue again, I voiced my concern that we're not catering to our midlife clients. We're really we're really acting as if all of these people that are coming out to these bootcamp workouts are going to go do a Spartan the next day, and that wasn't the case. And so I basically decided to leave and open my own business, and so that included training, that included the coaching, and just really wanted to focus on women in midlife, and it was 100% stems from.
Speaker 1:I know I was suffering, I was doing all the right things, I was eating well, I was moving my body, but my joints hurt. My libido was terrible. My sleep was horrendous. I've always been. I always say I was like Mr Bean, I could sleep anywhere. My sleep was terrible. My workouts were suffering. I had to drop down to lighter weights training for a half marathon. My endurance was suffering. There was just so many things.
Speaker 1:And my mom said it sounds like you're going through perimenopause, which I had no idea existed. I knew menopause was there. I wasn't having hot flashes, I was still having my period. So what are we talking about? And I thought wow, if I don't know, why would I expect the average woman to know this stuff? And so I yes, like you said, I saw a void and I decided to fill it with as much knowledge and empowering of women that I could, and that's what I've been doing for the past six years workout when you were saying thinking about a workout at a gym, and I thought this through too when I was still teaching at gyms and even at the college with my students.
Speaker 2:You know you teach a certain way for the entire group and it's really not. You're not catering to everyone, right? You have such different age groups and types of people and and it's wonderful that you recognize that, because I think that's a really important point that we don't think of you people at the gyms. You just go in and you take a class and as the instructor, we can't cater it to every single individual, right. I mean, we have to leave it up to them to to monitor themselves and and work out in the way that's best suited for for them, and so that's such a good point, because I just feel like that's not something I really thought of back when I was teaching.
Speaker 1:So I didn't either, until I started to struggle and I realized, you know, I've got 20 year olds and I've got 75 year olds.
Speaker 1:They don't train the same. And so I really wanted to create a space where, while, yes, there are women that are going to go a little bit harder, they're going to move a little bit faster, they're going to lift heavier weights, they're still able to do what the other ladies are doing, who might be moving a little bit slower, who might be lifting lighter weights, and it's a lot easier to modify or to change up the workouts according to individuals needs. When you have a small group of you know different abilities, so that was really nice to be able to just focus in on that. But it's also nice just to be able to go to a workout where you're surrounded with other women that are in the same boat, that you're like hey, I can't do jumping jacks because I have incontinence, I need to take a break because I'm having a hot flash in the middle of the Texas heat, you know. And so being able to share that and support each other and not feel insecure, or you know, ding towards our confidence.
Speaker 1:We all talk about, you know, gaining weight as we're going through this challenge and this new transition, and so being able to support one another was also something big as being where women felt welcomed and able to be themselves and be authentic during this and not hide it anymore.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think you bring up another really great point there, because that's that's a big reason why I have created my program for moms, and it's moms who flourish in, in in it's because of what you're saying to have this community.
Speaker 2:That's supporting moms whatever stage they might be at in their journey of motherhood and wellness, but catering more so to those that are more like in our age group or like I just we just recently became empty nesters, so creating that space and, you know, helping there be a safe space where we can share and we can communicate and feel like, have that connection with others who are going through the same experiences. And one of the amazing women and moms who spoke at my event recently, she, she was so kind and she just says thank you, shelly, for opening up these conversations that we as moms need to have and we don't have them enough. And it's just like you saying, going into perimenopause not even knowing it was a thing I mean. So, first of all, so discouraging and frustrating to go through these symptoms and go what is wrong with me, but then it's also enlightening and encouraging to find out oh this is normal and this is what many women go through, and it's not just me.
Speaker 1:We have those conversations when we're going through puberty, you know, even if we're talking to our best friend at 12, 13 years, 14 years old, you know I've had your period. Yet we have books. Are you there? God, it's me, margaret. I don't know if anybody reads that anymore I should, but. And then when you're going through pregnancy, there is, you know, everybody wants to give you advice about pregnancy and there's tons of books on that, and you know where to get started. You know, kind of what's happening. I had no idea what was happening, and so I love that.
Speaker 1:We have some of the women that are in our group are very early forties, so they're they're not there yet. They might, you know, just a little bit be there, because your hormones definitely start changing after 35 ish, but they are not recognizing it. But they will be informed now because we talk about it openly and honestly. And then we have the ladies that are in their sixties and their seventies that share the joys and the struggles of post-menopause. So that's, you know, for those of us that are still going through it now, we're learning from them just by opening up those conversations, and it's so important that we do that because we do it in so many other aspects of our lives.
Speaker 2:It's so important it just it takes me back to another topic that I talk about as well is when we first dropped our first child off at college, and that's another area that nobody talks about. Like I had no idea what I was. I was not prepared whatsoever, neither was my husband, and we always will say it's not going to make it less of a heartbreaker, less sad, but it would have been nice, kind of knowing going into it. Okay, this is what it's going to be like. We're going to cry the entire ride home from Oregon, 12 hours in the car. You know, like those are the things that we don't realize, that we're not having these conversations about, but not knowing until after the fact that, oh, it would have been really nice to have known a little bit about what to expect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and not feel guilty for having those feelings of fear or, you know, overwhelmed, or stress, or just feeling lonely that you're the only one experiencing, when you know you're not. But it feels like that sometimes, for sure, For sure.
Speaker 2:So I'm excited for you to share. You have a. We were talking a little bit ago about your book, which is actually more of not so much it's not so much a journal, really, or would you call it a journal?
Speaker 1:I mean, yes, because you could definitely journal in there. But yeah, I think calling it a tracker, calling it a workbook, the only thing that about that is it makes it like, oh, now I got to do work. I promise it's not really work, so journal sounds a little bit more fun with regard to what type of book it was. So, basically, I just felt a lot of my clients were coming to me. They had the symptoms you know, they had certain things that they were struggling with. They didn't even know that was a symptom that they should be addressing with their doctor. They thought, you know, it's just age, I know, for me I didn't realize I needed to tell my doctor that my eyesight was changing, that my hair was changing, that my skin was itchy, that my joints were hurting. I didn't even think about that. I just thought, okay, maybe I'm not training or I'm not recovering well enough, um, and so there's a lot in there that a lot of women don't know, and so being able to track your symptoms is one thing that's important.
Speaker 1:Um, that was one thing I noticed is my clients didn't even know that certain symptoms were related to, or possibly related to, perimenopause, not just aging, not just stress and they went into their doctor and said I'm experiencing A, b and C. They were being kind of either not heard, they were kind of being blown off. You're too young for this. Oh, there's no test for perimenopause. You just got to power through it. I can give you an antidepressant. There was just so many things, and so I was like you know what I need to create a way that women can document their journey, they can track all of these things, and then they can go in with their tracker and say okay, here's the data, health solutions for my unique journey because it is very unique.
Speaker 1:Everybody's is different, my sister's is different, my mother's was different. So my book has over 23 different trackers. You can track your sleep, you can track your cycle, your gut health, your blood sugar, medications you're taking supplements, you're taking blood tests that you've had, your nutrition, your movements. So it's just a way of really collecting information to help you get the best medical care and also to see what patterns are you seeing. Are you seeing that every night that you have a glass of wine, your sleep is off? The hot flashes intensify, the night sweats are worse than waking up in the middle of the night, whatever it is, and so we, when we look for these patterns, then we can self correct and we can find ways to make this journey a little bit easier for ourselves.
Speaker 2:I think it's so great and it's such an important point, I think, to come back to that, we all are so different in how we experience this and, to your point, the age range.
Speaker 2:Now, I don't know if it's always been this way I'm not really sure but it just seems like there's such a wide range of when women experience the perimenopause, the menopause, and I think it just is such a great reminder for you what you're sharing and the fact that you have this book.
Speaker 2:I think it's such a great reminder of the importance of tracking all these things, because how many times in our day-to-day lives will we feel a certain way and just kind of blow it off or or just, you know, chalk it up to oh, I guess I'm just going to be feeling this way, or I'm getting older, I'm you know what I mean Like instead of like really root and and realizing.
Speaker 2:No, you know, we're meant to feel good and have energy and sleep well and all of the good things that come with living a healthy day-to-day life for the most part. But when we can track what's going on, then we can maybe get to okay, what's causing it and how can we help with these symptoms. And it's so important and, like you say, going to your doctor and saying here this is what's happening and having it spelled out to them, right, even though that this is an interesting field because a lot of doctors aren't educated in hormone health, right? So you're not another challenge. You have to really find those that specialize in it or have some degree of knowledge so that they can help you.
Speaker 1:Right, and that's, and that is definitely something that I see a lot of women running into. With regards to menopause, that is a very short part of their medical training. I want to say it's like two weeks. There's not much to it. If they want to learn more about menopause and hormone health, they really have to seek it out, they have to go for additional trainings, and so one of the things I want to do is obviously empower women with the book, but I also want to give them the confidence that they are seeing something is off.
Speaker 1:I'm listening to my body. I can tell this is not the way I should be feeling, and so I think it's okay to go in with the confidence to your doctor and say these are the questions. I have, one of them being is this your wheelhouse? Do you feel like you can adequately take care of a woman in midlife, or do you feel like this would be best referred to somebody else? Love their doctors.
Speaker 1:They delivered their babies, they went to them. You know the first time they had to get birth control, whatever it is, and they're so afraid to give up that relationship. You don't have to give up that relationship, but they might not be the best person for your journey right now. And so I think, number one, we have to be able to ask do you feel confident providing me the best service? Do you have the knowledge? And number two, if you feel like you're not getting hurt, they're not listening to you, they're just, you know, putting, like you said, putting a bandaid on it, not addressing the actual issue, Um, so that you're not feeling good for short term, but you're going to feel good longterm because you are here for the rest of your life, whether you are perimenopause or postmenopause, you are here for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1:I think it's okay for women to get a second opinion, a third opinion, a fourth opinion until they find somebody that is going to take them serious. And that's one of the things this book actually came about, because a girlfriend of mine has a tracker for her child's health and I said you know it's funny, as moms, we will do anything, we will look for patterns. Why is my kid not feeling? Well, this happens. When this happens, we will go in and say here's the help. If they don't provide us the help, we're like you know what mama bear, I'm going to go find somebody that will provide the help for my child. Why did we not do this for ourselves?
Speaker 2:So true. It's so true and just being it just reinforces the need and the importance of being an advocate for our own health. And it's so much of the time you hear instances where women or men also don't speak up. You know, advocate for how they're actually feeling. They, we, I, I've been guilty of this or you know, this is kind of a normal thing. I think we're raised in society to think, oh, my gosh, the doctor knows all and so what he or she says, then that must be what's going on and they're all human and it's like you say, what two weeks of training? It's like nutrition and it's not to their fault. It's just not what they are educated in. It. It just isn't.
Speaker 2:And I've had so many conversations now through my podcast and with other women, but a couple stand out right now as we're talking, and one of which is exactly what you're referring to. She was dealing with hormonal imbalance at a very young age and the doctor prescribed her antidepressants and she was like, no, I don't think this is what I need, and she'll, she had freaked out and that's when she started getting educated and finding out more and more information. When she started getting educated and finding out more and more information, and and now that's that's her profession is she educates others on hormone health, and that's awesome. It's awesome.
Speaker 2:And she was so young too Gosh, I think she was in her twenties and she was experiencing, so you know, extremes with her mood and just weight gain, like you were referring to, and all these different symptoms. And what do they do? They just prescribe the antidepressant without really finding out what was causing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and and I was really lucky, I, um, the doctor I went to was well-versed on menopause. She was amazing with hormone health and, um, we had long discussions and she went through all of my stuff. I ended up I ended up opting for hormone replacement therapy. It's not, you know, ideal for everybody, whether it's a moral thing, you're not comfortable with it or just it's not going to work with your body, but it was perfect for me and I felt amazing.
Speaker 1:And sometimes it's funny, we forget how we feel when we feel our best. We're so used to feeling okay or really bad, but when we feel amazing, yeah, that was eyeopening. I was like, oh, my gosh, my workouts are great. Everything is, you know, feels good. My eyesight, you know, my hair felt better, my joints were lubricated. It was amazing. My libido was. My husband was happy, you know, there was just so much.
Speaker 1:And I was like, wow, you know why I feel so bad that other women aren't giving these here's option a, b and C. What would you like to do best for you and your choice? And so, yeah, we want to make sure that we're advocating for ourselves and and and for our sisters and for, you know, our best friends and being able to talk about it. I share my experience with hormone replacement therapy. My sister opted not to do that. She'd went a different way and she felt great, and so I think the biggest thing is just having those conversations and just knowing oh, I didn't realize that that was out there. Maybe that's something I should look into myself, and so those conversations are so important.
Speaker 2:Yes, I agree, I really, really agree with you and I feel like they're happening more and more, which is really great, great thing. I just feel like this, this topic of menopause has kind of become a hot topic in a good way. I mean, it's discussed a lot more and I'm so, you know, in alignment with you saying, you know, we don't, we don't know how good we can feel and we want to be able to feel good and we want to enjoy our lives and and I and I see that a lot with what I do so many times people just kind of accept where they're at instead of realizing, no, and a lot of times we don't know. It's like you don't know what you don't know. Right, I went through this even with, I mean, I've been in the wellness and fitness and health profession for decades and I made some adjustments over a decade ago with some nutrition, and I was blown away. I mean, I came into it going, oh I'm, I feel pretty good, I'm healthy, I'm energetic, not realizing how much more energy.
Speaker 1:I have how much even better.
Speaker 2:And that was really eye-opening for me, especially with my profession and you know, quote unquote, knowing what to do and knowing better. And we did do well, you know, with what we're doing with our fitness and our food and that sort of thing. But it was just a huge light bulb moment for me going oh my gosh, I didn't realize I, I could even feel even better. It makes, when you go through that like you've gone through it, you definitely want others to experience it and and feel their best and live a quality and whatever way that is.
Speaker 1:And that's one of the things that so many women don't understand is is you know they think about? Okay, they hear about the, the weights gain, they hear about the hot flashes, they hear about the mood swings, they hear about the brain fog. Um, a lot of them don't understand that the changes in your estrogen also change your microbiome, so things that you used to be able to eat might not sit so well with you anymore, so you might start to feel a little more sluggish, lack of energy, bloating, and again they might just chalk it up oh, I'm stressed, or I ate pizza or whatever. But if we can patterns by tracking these different foods that are affecting you, then we can see, you know what. You might have an intolerance to something that used to sit well with you, that maybe you need to modify a little bit and have less of, or maybe swap out some ingredients or whatever it is. But being able to understand that these are the things to look for.
Speaker 2:So important. Where can people find you, Karen? Because this again is such valuable information and I feel like there's going to be listeners who will go oh my gosh, I'm not the only one. Oh my gosh, you know, I promise you're not alone.
Speaker 1:Um, I am on Instagram, um, I'm midlife underscore health underscore coach and I also am on Facebook. I think it's midlife coaching with Karen. I'll give you the link so you can um, I should have this memorized I don't I'll, I'll chalk it up to brain fog as well. And then my book, uh, navigating menopause super easy, it's on Amazon. I mean you can get it within two days.
Speaker 1:One of the things that the ladies are so sweet, Cause I had a group of my girlfriends, um, kind of be my test run through the book and I was like number one, let me see see if you find any glaring error. But number two, let me see what. Tell me what you think overall. You know, would it work with you know, within your lifestyle? And they're so funny because they're like I love that it's big and I love that the font is big Because I can't see anymore and I love that the trackers have enough space for me to write and I'm like that's so funny because I was gonna make it smaller. And then we have to remember that not so young anymore and so being able to have, you know, all of those things that really fit our new lifestyle is it's okay to embrace that as well.
Speaker 1:So that was really cute of them.
Speaker 2:I love that. I'd be right up there with those comments when what's the title again of your book?
Speaker 1:So it's Navigating Menopause a comprehensive tracking workbook designed to help you monitor your health journey.
Speaker 2:Perfect, and then I will put the link in the show notes for sure, and then I will be putting Karen's contact information in the show notes as well, yes, if you have any questions, let me know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I just I feel like this is a conversation that it's definitely this is a conversation that it's definitely ongoing. I feel like we can talk for a very long time about it, for sure, and I just appreciate what you're doing because, again, it's so, it's so individualized, right. I mean, every single person is different. What they experience is going to help them, and so it's fascinating to to know and to learn more about it, and I think that, again, most importantly, so it's fascinating to know and to learn more about it, and I think that, again, most importantly, it's that giving women the support and, you know, helping them not feel like they're the only ones going through it.
Speaker 2:You know, unfortunately, some people have more extreme symptoms, like I was telling you before we started recording, I've been very blessed that it was pretty mild for me. I mean, I did have some hot flashes and I still, once in a while, have a mild one. I mean, I had my sister not too long ago asked me and she's almost four years younger than I am and she says you know, shelly, I've been meaning to ask you what did you do for menopause, what did you take or what did you do? And I was like, um, nothing. Like I was telling my doctor and she, my daughter, was like she goes.
Speaker 2:Well, your lifestyle, you know, exercising and nutrition, and I don't know any different from what I've been doing these last few years, during this time of my life. So I'm grateful for that, but you know it doesn't mean that couldn't change. I mean I'm still, you know, going through it towards the tail end of it. I'm still, you know, going through it towards the tail end of it, I'm sure, but again, it's just a. It's just so different. Everybody has and everybody has something different that they, like you said, that they're willing to do or they want to do, or want to incorporate. That might not apply to the next person. So, yeah, very, very interesting and it is such an important topic to bring light to.
Speaker 1:So there is, and there's so much you know that you talk about. Initially we thought there was, you know, 40 symptoms. The more they look at it, it's closer to 70 symptoms that women can experience in this in this time period, and so I always tell people you want to listen to your body when it's whispering, because when it starts shouting then there's real issues there.
Speaker 1:And so being able just to be educated on what to look for is one of the best places to start. What are the symptoms? What are you experiencing? It could be that you're starting that perimenopause journey and so, yeah, that's why I tell people, you know, start right there, just get educated on the symptoms and see what you're experiencing.
Speaker 2:I love that and the other part of it, like you mentioned too, is I mean, my heart goes out to, to anyone, any females in their thirties young where they would not even think right, like I don't.
Speaker 2:If I was in my ths or younger and and started having symptoms that were menopause, I wouldn't need a perimenopause. I would not even think that that would be happening. So that's a whole other yeah, I think, is helping these young women understand and and hopefully they are able to, you know, get whatever help that they need so that they can can take care of some of the symptoms. But I just it's such a wide range, like we were saying, of when this can be happening and and the best way is to really live your healthiest lifestyle.
Speaker 2:I mean ultimately yeah.
Speaker 1:And, like I said, I was and I still had issues, but I think I got through them quicker than had I not been living a healthy lifestyle and, you know, as I'm still progressing through it, I still feel really good, starting with your nutrition, starting with moving your body the way it blesses it and doesn't stress it out, and just enjoying your life, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I know I've gotten more in tune with that and better, and my age is. I've been a runner for decades, I love to walk and now there are days where I'm like you know what. I just want to walk today and just being in tune with your body and how you're feeling and going with that and following that is so important. You have children, right, I do. I have three. Three, that's right. We were talking before about sports, so you have three. And what are their ages?
Speaker 1:Uh, my oldest is 28 and she just got married. Um, and I tell her all the time you know about menopause and things to look for. Um, obviously she's got some time fingers crossed, lots of time before it hits, but she's, she knows plenty about it. My son is 21. He is in the Marines. He's stationed in Japan. He too is well versed on menopause. So he I told him you know what. Someday you're going to have spouse or a best friend or even a co worker that's going through this, and you can be that sympathetic person, providing that empathy, providing that support or that support for them.
Speaker 1:And then my youngest is 17. Wow, we have a very we are. We are close to being empty nesters. Yeah, We'll be right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you are, it's right around the corner. Yeah, that's, you know, our 26, 25 and 18. So very, very similar, oh yeah, right there. Similar in the ages, so that's wonderful. And then the fact you can educate all of them is fantastic, so I love it. What are some last minute words of inspiration or advice you'd like to leave with our audience?
Speaker 1:Karen, I think the biggest thing is just number one get educated. I really think that that's such a huge component. We do it with everything else in our lives, so that's where I would start figure out you know, what is it that you want to know about? What are you experiencing? There's so many books out there now. Number two is just have those conversations. Have those conversations with your best friends, your female family members. You know the ones that have already gone through it. How was their experience? The ones that haven't gone through it? And the other thing is is open communication with your partner, your spouse, whoever it is that you're sharing this life with, because it's important that they also are aware.
Speaker 1:Like I said, when I was struggling with you know, fatigue and low libido, the last thing I wanted was to be intimate. It had nothing to do with him. I love my partner and so being able to let him know this is how I'm feeling. I promise you, it's not you, it's me. You know that made a big difference of being being honest. So communication, I think, is key. And number three, don't feel guilty like get the help that you deserve. Demand the help, the help you deserve through you know, whatever it is, whatever medical help that you need or support that you need, and give yourself that opportunity to get it yeah, so important.
Speaker 2:Well, I really appreciate you being here today. I'm excited.
Speaker 1:I appreciate being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much so excited we were able to. We we were able to get this scheduled pretty quickly, which is wonderful.
Speaker 1:We were. Yes, I mean, I could talk about this stuff forever.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it's such an important topic and we'll have to you know I'll have to have you on again at some point in the future and just continue the conversation.
Speaker 1:I would love that yes.
Speaker 2:You know again, I'll I'll put all of all of Karen's information in the show notes and thank you again so much for being here.
Speaker 2:Awesome, thank you, so happy we connected and to all of our listeners. Take time for yourself and your own personal wellness on this day and, until next time, have a blessed rest of your week. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you gained value and enjoyed our time together as much as I did, and if you know someone who could benefit from today's episode, 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.
Speaker 2: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 the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly 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. You.