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
Shelly's Shares: Grace, Time, And Self-Care As The Bridge Through Motherhood Transitions
The quiet after a goodbye can feel deafening. When kids head back to school, jobs, or new homes, many of us are left holding a swirl of emotions—love, pride, relief, and a deep ache that shows up in the stillness of their empty rooms. We open up the discussion, we walk through it together, and share tools that genuinely help.
Shelly opens up about a decade of goodbyes and what those moments taught her about real self-care. She breaks down three practices that make a tangible difference: giving yourself grace when the house feels too quiet, normalizing sadness even when your kids are thriving, and claiming a dedicated day to feel it all instead of numbing with busyness. You’ll hear simple, doable ideas—like relaxing on the couch, taking gentle walks, and intentional pauses—that help your nervous system settle. She also talks about staying connected in various ways such as weekly family FaceTimes and family group chats.
If you’re an empty nester or approaching the first dorm drop-off, this conversation offers validation and a path forward. We explore how to align wellness habits with a new season so you can carry both the joy of your children's growth and the reality of your own transition. For deeper support, Shelly shares details on the Moms Who Flourish mentorship and limited one-on-one wellness and longevity coaching designed to help you feel strong, seen, and supported.
If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a quick review so more parents can find these tools. What’s your go-to ritual after a goodbye? Let us know and join the conversation.
CONNECT WITH SHELLY:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithshellyj https://www.instagram.com/momswhoflourish
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShellyJefferis
A few of Shelly's favorite clean products:
High quality, clean nutrition and beauty products: https://shellyjefferis.isagenix
Clean-crafted wine, free from chemicals & pesticides:
https://scoutandcellar.com/?u=healthyhappyhours
Cayla Gray- Non-toxic cologne & perfume: https://caylagray.com/wellnesswithshellyj (10% discount)
JuJu Non-toxic candles & air fresheners:
https://goodjujucandles.com/?ref=mrtgnygh
Coupon code for 10% off: ShellyJefferis
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
My mission, especially with my moms who flourish community, is to open up these conversations so that moms can feel heard and supported and know that they're not going through these experiences alone. 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 shouldn't 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 Shelley 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. Now let's dive into our message for today. Hello, my friends. Welcome back to Words of Wellness. This is our Shelley's Shares episode. Every Monday I come out with a solo episode, and I'm excited to be here with everyone. I have a topic I'm going to jump in today. I have talked about it past episodes and have shared with other moms, but this is going to be especially for all of our moms out there because you know what? I know that I have been going through it, and many of you have been going through it as well because you have been sharing it with me. And I wanted to just touch upon the topic of this time of year when our kiddos, for those of us who have older children, when our kiddos head back to school, their job, back to wherever they might be living. And for those of you who are empty nesters like myself, many of our kiddos are not living with us at the moment. And it's a really, really big transition. And I just want to reach out to everyone with this episode today. I know I've talked about this topic in the past, and I just feel like it bears repeating because I want to share three three tips with all of my moms that I think will help you through the process. Now, I know many of you have have already experienced taking your kiddos, either having them leave home, or maybe you've dropped them off at the airport, which I did just recently. And, you know, for me personally, we had all of our kids home, which was amazing. I'm so very grateful for that. And I think it the hard part is feeling sad. We don't want to, you know, we're sad, but yet we're grateful and we're happy we had the time together. I mean, there's there's definitely those mixed emotions. And I really believe that that is totally okay. I'm I make a point of sharing that I'm always so grateful for our time together. I really realize that not everyone has that time together, and I never take it for granted. So I always make a point of just sharing that I'm so grateful for the time that we had. And, you know, I think my boys were home a little bit longer than our daughter just because she had to get back to work. And so I don't know. I have such mixed emotions because I'm I was so thrilled to have them home for a good period of time. And then on the other hand, it almost makes it harder when it's time for them to leave. I don't know how many of you can relate to that, but at any rate, I take whatever I can get. You know, I know my husband and I just appreciate the time that we have together as a family, and I have shared on different occasions that it is definitely now more about the quality time than the quantity. And I want to just share and encourage my mama's out there of three things to kind of help you through this season. And let's face it, you know, it it's around the holidays after everyone goes back to school or leaves home to go back to their work. Um, it also can be in the fall when they head back to school, or maybe you're taking your son or daughter to college for the first time this upcoming fall. So it's an ongoing experience. And the crazy thing that I keep coming back to is that my husband and I are coming up on almost 10 years. 10 years ago was when we first dropped our daughter, Jessica, at college. And so we've gone through this experience multiple times of having them home and then seeing them leave, having them home, and then dropping them off at the airport, having them home, and then taking them back to school. And it's it is it's emotional. It is emotional. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it at all. But I want to just share some tips with you, especially you moms, and for dads too, especially. I want to talk with my moms right now because these are some things that have helped me through the years, and I continue to remind myself the importance of, you know, taking care of us, taking care of our self-care, and understanding that it is normal to be sad. It is okay to go through the emotions. And so I want to share three things with you to help you through these seasons when we are feeling sad or or heartbroken when our kids leave. I just I just saw another friend recently who was dropping her son off at the airport, and she just shared how it's the hardest thing she's ever had to do. And I said, I understand, I really understand. This is not something that we get prepared to experience. We we just don't. And it is something that I have wanted to share with moms, and I have shared it more than one time just to open up that conversation, because I often think that if my husband and I had some idea of what we were going to experience, some preparation for what we were going to experience when we first drop our daughter off at college, it could have helped just a little. It wouldn't have meant that it would have been less sad, but at least it would have been nice to know what to expect. We had no idea what we were in for at all. And so, my mission, especially with my moms who flourish community, is to open up these conversations so that moms can feel heard and supported and know that they're not going through these experiences alone. So here goes three things. Number one, be kind to yourself and give yourself grace. This is really important. I don't know that we always do this. You know, give yourself just that grace and be patient with yourself and be kind to yourself. It is so, so important, especially through these seasons when we experience the experience of sadness that accompanies our our babies not being home. You know, it's definitely, it's definitely challenging. And I know the hardest part is is coming home after like going to the airport or what have you, and and when they're not home and they're not in their room. And so get be kind to yourself, give yourself grace through through these stages. And then I want to just share with you that it's so normal, like I mentioned a little while ago, it is so normal to have the sadness. And I think that sometimes in society nowadays, we don't give ourselves the I don't know if permission is the right word, but sometimes I feel like we might feel like, oh, we shouldn't be sad, or um, you know, my kids and they're doing so well and they're thriving, and I should I should be happy and I shouldn't be sad. Well, all of that is actually part of that's true, and part of that's not true. Yes, they could be thriving and happy and be excelling in their young adulthood life, and that is phenomenal, and we can be so happy for them for that, and we can be so proud, and yet we can also feel sadness. It is so normal. And I know that sometimes that is kind of an internal um tug of war, if you will, where you you're happy for them on one set on one sense, but you're sad for yourself on the other, and it's not selfish, it's not selfish. I mean, these are our babies, you know, and we've had them in our in our I don't know, everyday life for I don't know, 18 years, and all of a sudden that changes. It's a huge, huge transition. So again, you know, be kind to yourself, give yourself that that moment where you go through the emotions. Sadness is normal. Please don't beat yourself up over it. Please don't feel bad and just know that it's okay and it's normal. And then the last one I want to share with you is to give yourself time. Give yourself time to just be. And I have shared this with friends. I have shared this in speaking opportunities, I've shared this on my podcast before, but I learned many years ago, and you know, it was an experience for me personally when we came back from not just when we dropped our daughter off at college, but when we dropped our son Cody off, and then to come home each time. And our youngest Braden was just so sad. And I remember both times we initially dropped um the old our older kids off. I came home and I just one of the days what I think we were gonna bring Braden back to school like the next day, or or we got home in time for him to go to school or something. I think it was the next day he was gonna go to school. And and it just he, you know, he was struggling, I was struggling, and I just said, bud, you you know what, you you want to stay home today? And he said, Yeah. And so I let him stay home. And you know, I learned from that point on the importance of giving ourselves the time to just be, to go through the emotions and to just take that time. And I always give myself a day, a day to do that. Um, I'll never forget that one time with with our youngest, and I came when we stayed home together and we we just sat on the couch and watched movies and just kind of just hung out. And you know, it's gonna look different for everyone, but I want to encourage you to do something like that, to give yourself just that that day, 24 hours to just, you know, go go and be with your thoughts and your emotions and experience them, sit on the couch, watch some funny shows, uh, take a nap, go for a walk, take a bath, just whatever it looks like to you. I think it is so critical to do that rather than jumping back into our routine, rather than jumping back into work and a busy schedule. And I know because I've heard people say this, that they they get busy, you know, they just they just get busy and and occupy themselves so that they they don't feel sad, so they don't miss your kids. And and you know, I'm not a therapist, but I do know that if we don't experience those emotions, they will come back, they will, they will still be there and they will come back and sometimes when we least expect it. And I know for me personally that when I take that time and I give myself that day, then I just really I feel like I I feel a little bit more energized and positive and ready to carry on um the next day or two. And sometimes it takes more than a day, and of course the sadness is still there, it doesn't just go away overnight, but giving giving yourself that a good 24 hours to just experience it and be kind to yourself and give yourself that time and give yourself that grace and be patient with you, I think all of that is so so critical to going through these phases of motherhood and experiencing these transitions and and being able to go through these emotions and then also being able to experience so much joy in addition to the sadness, but so much joy when we do have that next visit with our kids, that next time they come home, or the next time we go see them and see what they're doing and what's happening with their school or their sports or their job or their life. And obviously, we stay in touch with them. I would, I mean, I shouldn't say obviously, but many of us moms and dads, we stay in contact and we talk. And I know for us personally as a family, we have a family group chat and we try and regularly do a family um Face time, and and it, you know, whatever it looks like, you know, for you to stay in contact and and stay up with what's going on in their lives is so important as well. Um, but I hope that you take this to heart for all my moms out there. I I hope I certainly hope that you find some value in what I'm sharing with you today. And I also want to share that we have a moms who flourish mentorship coming up very soon. If you are seeking a community that will support you and provide you with accountability and a community where you will gain clarity on your wellness and your longevity and just your overall health, and also have the support through all the different phases of motherhood, then this is the place for you. So please reach out to me on Instagram, whether it be at Wellness with Shelly J or at Moms Who Flourish, and I will be sure and get you some information and find out if this is a good fit for you. I am also opening up some exclusive one-on-one coaching sessions in the area of wellness and longevity. So if this is something that you would like to pursue and learn more about and gain ways that you can be healthier at this stage of your life and well into the future, that's what this is going to be about. And we are going to cover all areas of longevity. So again, feel free to reach out to me on Instagram if you have questions or you would like more information. And with that, take some time for you on this day. Take some time for your overall wellness. And until next time, have a beautiful, blessed rest of your week. And we will see you next time on Words of Wellness. 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 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.