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
Balancing Business, Family, and Wellness: Dr. Patti Gonzalez's Holistic Approach to Mindfulness and Parenting
Have you ever found yourself balancing a thriving business alongside a bustling family life, and every day feels like a whirlwind? That's exactly where our inspiring guest Dr. Patti Gonzalez found herself. A retired chiropractor turned health concierge, Patti made the decision to leave her chiropractic practice to pursue entrepreneurship with the goal of being home more often while also mastering the art of being a present mom and successful entrepreneur. Patti shares changes she made through her professional career to be more present and available for her daughter, while also pursing her passion and career in wellness. She has a unique holistic approach to wellness, emphasizing gut and brain health. Together, Shelly and Patti discuss the family commitments and routines while unraveling the importance of mindfulness and the impact it has on our personal and professional lives.
The conversation touches on the critical roles that parents and entrepreneurs play, setting the stage for our children to learn by example. With heartwarming stories, Patti shares various ways she is able to run various businesses while keeping motherhood and time with her daughter a priority. how she makes her daughter a priority like my daughter motivating tales of partners adapting in their parenting roles, we explore the dynamic journey of family life. We also tackle the delicate balance of prioritizing family time and making tough career decisions that align with our values. This episode is a heartfelt celebration of growth, adaptability, and community support in the quest for a fulfilling life for ourselves and our families.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.pattigonzalez
https://www.innateroots.com/
Link for upcoming Moms Who Flourish wellness event:
https://app.cohere.live/contribution-view/673ea8be143c986b26ea7bcc/p_2d4c04bb-1e4b-49ed-bbd6-945a74b253eb/about
CONNECT WITH SHELLY:
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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 was always like, when I was in practice, I was worried about, well, what do I need to be doing at home? Or focused on like, oh, I have to do this when I get there. Or what's happening with my daughter or my husband. And then, when I was home, I was like, oh well, this patient needed this or that. And I'm like wait, stop, I have to be where I am, keep my mind where I am, be present in the moment.
Speaker 2:Do you get confused by all of the information that bombards 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 journey 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. Now let's dive into our message for today.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone, and welcome back to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries and I will be your host, and if you're tuning in for the first time today, welcome. We're so happy to have you. I want to introduce our guest for today, and this is exciting because I have had her on as a guest before, so this is kind of a part two from what we were talking about before. But she is a retired chiropractor turned health concierge, and she believes in optimal health and she believes it's not merely a destination but rather a return to our original template, which is how she came up with innate roots, which is the name of one of her businesses, and I'm so excited to have her she. She really focuses on gut and brain health and she has created a holistic approach just to restoring our overall health blueprint through focusing on gut health, parasites and other root cause issues. So, patty, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 1:Thank you, shelly. I'm so excited to be here and it's funny because after we stopped the last show, we kept talking and we're like, wait, we should still be recording this. It's a whole other show, so I'm excited to be back and continue that conversation.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent, and I want to let our listeners know as well that I am honored and excited to have Patti as a speaker at our upcoming Moms who Flourish wellness event, which will be happening in Santa Clarita, california, saturday, february 8th. So for any of you who are local, please join us. I can put the link to grab a ticket in the show notes and it's just going to be a phenomenal day and we can we can share more about that later if the time permits, but for now, I want us to focus on you, patty, and all that you are doing, because you are doing some incredible, incredible things in the holistic health and wellness field. In addition to being a mom and I think that's where we are going to go with our conversation today is just balancing being a professional and having your own businesses while having a family and what goes along with that.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, so much. And what's interesting is, when I retired from chiropractic, I was coaching and my focus was actually mom who owns, mom who owned businesses. Because I was a mom who owned a business, I sort of, to the best of my ability at that time, figured out the juggle. I don't think you ever really get it 100%. It's truly going to be a juggle forever and it's just that it's learning where your attention needs to be. And so when I was coaching these moms, I was like, okay, you have to understand where you are is where you need to be present.
Speaker 1:Because what I found when I was in practice and my daughter was young, I was always like when I was in practice, I was worried about, well, what do I need to be doing at home? Or focused on like, oh, I have to do this when I get there, or what's happening with my daughter or my husband. And then when I was home, I was like, oh well, this patient needed this or that, and I'm like, wait, stop, I have to be where I am, keep my mind where I am, be present in the moment. And I think that's one of the biggest things that I could advise, pieces of advice I could give to any mom who is running a business or is doing any kind of work that you have to stay focused with where you are, because otherwise it's just going to be exhausting emotionally, physically, spiritually, and we don't want any of that. We want to thrive where we are.
Speaker 2:Well, and then your mind is just never at rest, right.
Speaker 2:You're just constantly again, like they say, that hamster wheel feeling, and I know exactly what you're saying and I commend you for recognizing that at this stage, because I feel like that was something I recognized, more so later on in motherhood, and, of course, even more so now, being that our kids are all out of the house. But just those moments of being present and it just it's so important even later on because you know just speaking now from my experience and the time that we have as a family is more quality than quantity, so it's even more important, I feel like, not only at the stage you're in, but I feel like even now for me, I really focus on that, it's just being present. Like over the holidays, I'm like, okay, yes, I'll have my phone, I will take pictures, I'll do a little bit of social, but not very much, because this time is for my family and it's such a great lesson.
Speaker 1:So thank you for talking about that, because that is, I think, one of the most important things to remind moms about really truly in all phases of motherhood Right, absolutely A hundred percent, and I mean I think that's the the best that we can do for us too, because it helps to calm our nerve system. If we're focused on in the present moment and we're not spinning our wheels on like what, like the lists that need to go, or thinking about future things or past things, it really gives us, it starts to give us a calm in our own nervous system, and I think that's where we can show up as our best selves, when we tell us again how old is your daughter?
Speaker 1:She's 10 now and okay, yeah, but she went back so I had her and then six weeks later I took her to the office. So I was blessed to be able to. I had my own office, I took her in with me and then from six, six weeks did I say six months? Anyway, six weeks to a year, she was just in my office and it was my assistant and I and we juggled patients and my patients obviously knew that I was having a baby. So if my daughter needed to be nursed in the middle of patient hours, then she got nursed and people waited for 10 minutes or whatever. She got nursed and people waited for 10 minutes or whatever.
Speaker 1:But I quickly started to learn. I was like, okay, there has to be a little bit of separation. So at year one so from year one to year two I had a nanny in the office with me so she was able to tend to her. But she was still close by and I think that's actually why my daughter is really social. She was, so there were a lot of people around her all the time from a really young age, and she also got to see me in my element.
Speaker 1:I have countless videos of her adjusting her dolls. When she started to adjust her friends, I was like no, no, no, you can't do this on people. You're not trained yet. You're only two. That's adorable. It was so sweet. But I think it really helped her because now way that you can do it and incorporate your kids into what it is that you're doing, so that you're a great model for them. And I'll be honest, I haven't always been the best model. There have been times where I've got too much on my plate and things fall through the cracks and she finally will say to me hey, mom, like are you going to another event? And I was like point taken.
Speaker 1:And then we spend. I make it a point no, we're going to spend some extra time on the weekend, or I'll pick her up early from school and we'll go do a date, or something like that.
Speaker 2:So I love that and I think what you're saying it's such. I just want to kind of really take a moment to focus on being the example, not so much to put pressure on us as moms, but, like you're saying, they're watching us. Your daughter was watching you and this applies to all aspects of our lives and to tie it into. You know the purpose of this podcast and we're talking about wellness. It's such a huge part of it. So, even in the business world and professionally, it can be such a positive and, in your case, in many cases, such a positive experience for our children to see what we are doing as moms and being that example. So, whether it's the professional or for our health or wellness, whatever it is, so that's huge, I mean. And that goes back again like they always will say they're watching us, right, they're watching what we're doing, and then they imitate, like your daughter did, which is so, so cute, and I love that she's already thinking ahead of potentially being an entrepreneur. I mean, look at that, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really great, and also helping her to see like where I've failed. What's really amazing is she wrote, now that she's 10, like she's encouraging me to, which is awesome. So on my bathroom mirror she wrote, she left me a little note, said Mom, I believe in you. You can say, succeed at anything you can put your mind to. Because at the dinner table my husband and I were discussing like a challenge that I was going through and I was like wrestling with something, and she, she took that all in and then she was like, hey, I want to encourage my mom because she's seen me do that so many times with her and so I just it's an honor to be able to help her in a way that I didn't have. Like I, both my parents, went to traditional jobs and so now it's amazing that I became an entrepreneur. But now I want to like just pour into her and let her know she can do anything she wants. If she wants to go work for someone, go work for someone. If she wants to do her own thing, perfect. But it's it's. And it also goes back to like the things that how I exercise or the foods that we eat. And it's really funny because nutrition has always played a huge role in our family, talking about wellness, and so we read labels together, and so when she goes to birthday parties it's really funny She'll get like one of the treat bags or something and there's something in it and she was like I can't have this, it has artificial colors.
Speaker 1:And I'm just like, well, that's true, it was a wrestle, it. We wrestled with it for a little bit in the beginning. She's like but, mom, they're so good and I'm like, and you can have it. But then I wanted her to see how she felt afterwards and she was like bouncing off the walls and like I said, I want you to understand that you made the choice and that's fine, and now you have to understand what that choice means. And she was like, oh, I don't like how I feel when I have that. And I said, okay, if there's other options that you can do that aren't artificial colors, like there's naturally colored foods or treats or whatever. So it's just it's teaching, I think, is one of the biggest things that we can do for our kids too, especially around wellness, because, again, they watch everything that we're doing, right, shelley?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's beautiful. Oh, I love that so much. I had a moment like that over this past summer where our youngest well, 18, was at a way at baseball, his summer league in baseball. So he was at a host family's house and he texted me and he says mom, do I need to wash strawberries? And I said, well, you probably should. And I said, you know, I took a picture, showed him what the what we use for to wash our produce with. And he says, well, I don't think they have that. I said, well, that's okay, I go, but you still might want to rinse them off. And then I go are they organic? And he says, yes. I said great, good job, because again, they've watched us and I always talk about when it comes to produce, you know, clean 15, dirty dozens, and you know, go, go figure, he ended up taking class and they talked about that as well. So I'm like sweet.
Speaker 2:So again, like you're saying earlier, how it's, it never ends, you know, even when they're young, but even later on in life, um, even with our older kids are still things that come up and then we want to still try and educate them and be the best example that we can. I mean it's, it's never going to end. I, I, I saw something recently a meme, I think, about the, the. The daughter was full grown and she was checking in with her mom and she was traveling and she was on a flight and letting her mom know that she had taken off and that she had landed. And it made me chuckle, because we all do that now, and so I'm like I could just see that I'll be in my eighties and I'll be, like you know, still checking in on my kids, and you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:It's like it's never, you never end, never ends being a mom and doing all those things so um, but I love, love hearing that your 10 year old daughter is checking and reading labels. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1:The greatest thing now is there's an app out there, Um, and now she's like mom, I need to scan the app, Like we'll go to the grocery store and it takes like twice as long, Cause she's like she just wants to scan everything, Not what we're getting, but she was she'll like spend 10 minutes like scanning it. She's like nothing in here is good, mom, and I'm like awesome.
Speaker 2:That is great.
Speaker 1:We need to start planting our own food.
Speaker 2:Awesome, that is great. To start planting our own food, yes, for sure. Well, that could be a good job for her too. She could be in the garden, exactly, exactly. That's so adorable. So how much you know I'm thinking back to when you were talking about when she was first born how much is your husband able to be involved and hands on?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm actually in. When she was young, um, so for probably the first seven or so years of her life, he was um employed with like a studio, so he would leave the house and work the traditional nine to five so and my hours were not that so he would. He was, he's amazing. He would take over at the end of the day or he would come pick her up from the office on his way home, take her home so they could have some time together. So we've learned as a couple to really juggle our child, because she's not, he's not helping me, he's's his child too.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I think that's one of the biggest things. They, their relationship, is absolutely incredible. Like this evening I have an event I need to go speak at and they're out playing pickleball and then they're going to go make burgers together. So, like there's just a, there's a balance that we have learned and also just making sure that we check in, because now he's an entrepreneur, so now our schedules are really flexible and we actually have designed it that way it's. We are both pushing really hard in business right now so that, as an entrepreneur, we can like free up time later. But she's watching both of us and she's also really witnessing. Like hey, she'll check us sometimes too. She's like hey, mom, you've been to a lot of events lately. Or hey, dad, you've been to a lot of events lately. Like can we do some like family time? So we have a rule in our house that Friday night is family night, movie night. So we don't. It's very, very rare that anything comes up on a Friday night, because that's our like coveted time.
Speaker 2:I love that, and that's another going back to how we started and how you started about being present, and sometimes you have to just schedule those times and so that's so great. You just have that designated and that's. That's a comfort for all of you. I would think too right, just knowing you have that, you know that you'll. That's a comfort for all of you. I would think too right, knowing you have that, you know that you'll have that time together for sure during the week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's actually Friday afternoons are my favorite Cause I'm like I don't take any clients Friday afternoons. It's kind of my daughter has a half day of school and so we're able to like kind of wind down, figure out making dinner together, Like we'll either go out or we'll make something and then just settle in and we have a rotation of whose turn it is to pick the movie. So that's always fun. It's like, oh nope, it's my turn. But then we all end up having to agree anyway. So whose turn is it really? Oh cute, I love that.
Speaker 2:Well, you have been an entrepreneur for a while, so when you retired from being a chiropractor, that, like you're saying, gave you, and has given you, more flexibility in your schedule. How many years has it been since you made that transition? It's been about four years now.
Speaker 1:Okay, so a good amount of time. A good amount of time, yeah, and I also opened up another brick and mortar last year. So, whoops, I said I would never open another brick and mortar, but here I am and I'm here's. The cool thing too is I'm learning to do it differently. My hours are when my daughter's in school, and that has allowed because I learned. I was like oh okay, I don't want to do the same thing over where I'm working 12-hour days and it's putting a strain. And part of the reason I actually retired from chiropractic is because she started to notice I wasn't home as much and I didn't want that for our family, I didn't want that for me, I didn't want that for her, and so I made a decision there. There were other factors obviously involved, but I made a decision to sell the practice and and shift into coaching.
Speaker 2:It's interesting because I think you're the fourth person that I know, fourth friend that I know, kind of recently that they haven't done it recently but they are retired chiropractors. So I find that fascinating. I just met someone last night for the first time, retired chiropractor, and I'm like this is interesting. So you know, of course it's for different, various reasons, but makes so much sense from your standpoint and just schedule wise and family wise and just for all I mean that's so important. I know that there have been occasions when my kids were growing up where my husband, for example, could have been in management with his job but he knew it would require him to travel more for not a lot more in pay and he would always say it's just not worth me being away from home. You know, these are the times when they're young and even when they're older, especially when they're growing up. You don't get those moments back and sometimes I hesitate to say that because there are some moms and dads who you don't have. They don't have that freedom or they don't have options to be able to be home and to be with their children as much. But it's always been something.
Speaker 2:I've been so grateful that we have had that and hearing you talk about bringing your daughter to your office I it just caused me to think back when, when we had our first baby and she was our daughter she's our only girl. I remember at the six week point, going back to teaching college, and I'll never forget my husband was home with her but I still left in tears Like the fact that I had to leave her was so hard and I was leaving her with her dad, leaving her with a stranger. But when you talk about learning how to do things differently when we had our third, so our second baby, Cody, came like springtime, so I had spring summer off. And then our third baby, raiden, was in February and I was like he's my last baby, I don't want to go back yet. And I was just like so distraught and I ended up calling the district and talking to HR and finding out that I actually had like three or four months of leave time, paid leave that I could still take. I didn't know until I researched it close to when I was supposed to go back and it was just, oh, praise the Lord.
Speaker 2:I was like, yes, so I ended up having the whole rest of that spring and that summer home, and so I think it's just kind of to your point too, like you starting another brick and mortar, like you're doing it differently. You've just you've learned from what you've done before and you know, I just was so grateful that I pursued that and looked into it being different, and I mean I was preparing myself to just not going back, you know, not knowing what that looked like, but you do what you can with the type of work you're doing and the schedule you have, and you just, you, just you know, spend as much time as you can with them, and I think the biggest thing, too, is communication.
Speaker 1:Like I think our kids are a lot, a lot smarter than sometimes we give them credit for. So I would commute, I would talk to my daughter like she would get upset when she was little and she's like, well, I don't want to go be with a nanny to the park while you're in. And I'm like, well, I'm going to focus here, you're going to go play and then we're going to go to this. So, and even now, like communicating hey, here's what's coming up and being transparent and honest and and and also like giving receiving feedback from our kids, I think is really important, um, because that's how they learn. Like her, she knows that her opinion is important to both my husband and I. Does she have the final say, no, but her opinion is important, and I think that, for me, was is so vital in giving her a great skill and a great opportunity to be feel seen and heard and and give her those, those tools for when she's older.
Speaker 2:It's so wonderful, it's so important. The communication and then their respect, even though they might be little, respecting what they have to say and you know their thoughts and what they're feeling at that point in time is so important. I think also, what I learned through the years too is and I'm sure you and many of the moms out there know this already but there are so many things that we as moms take on and take to heart that maybe won't even affect them. I just remember, like when I was working at my at the elementary school, I was in charge of the physical education program and and it got to a point where I'm like I just this isn't working, I just can't do this anymore. And I just I grieved because of my goal was to stay there till our youngest was done and he it was third grade, he was in third grade and I finally sat down with him one day and I said look, brayden, I go.
Speaker 2:You know, after Christmas, like I go, I'm not going to be there anymore, I'm not teaching PE anymore. And he said, okay, well, who's going to, who's going to do it? And I said I don't know yet. And he's like all right, you know, it's just like, and here I was like torturing myself for months and just feeling so sad, you know, and so like, this isn't what I had planned, but this is just not working and not benefiting anyone, and so anyway, it's just, it's cute how they respond sometimes. You just never know. You know they're so adaptable.
Speaker 1:It's so crazy.
Speaker 2:They really are. It's really exciting.
Speaker 1:And I'm really grateful to be connected with you and to be able to pour into your community. I'm so excited for the event that's coming up. I can't wait to see you in person this time, versus virtually and just this. Your podcast is amazing, so thank you for doing what you do and pouring into women and all of their wellness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you, and yes, we can't wait to hopefully see some of you on Saturday, February 8th. Again, I will put the link for registration in the show notes, so check it out. And if you're local, well gosh, even if you're not local to Santa Clarita, I mean Patty's traveling quite a little ways.
Speaker 1:I'm coming in.
Speaker 2:So it's definitely driving distance, flying distance, for sure. You know anywhere is flying distance, but please check it out. Please join us if you are able. It'll be Saturday, february 8th and we have some amazing speakers and you'll get to see, meet and hear Patty in person, which I cannot wait for that. So thank you again, patty, so much. Really appreciate you being here. Absolutely, it's my pleasure. Yeah, I can't wait. We'll have to do it again, for sure, and till next time, thank you everyone for listening. Take time for yourself and your wellness on this day and have a beautiful, blessed rest of your week. We'll see you next time.
Speaker 2: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. 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 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.