EP 98: Physically & Mentally Taking Care Of Your Body As A Mom with Katie Muller | Pt 1

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Before we start today's episode, I want to give you a heads up that this is a two-parter. Tune into part one today, then come back next week for part two. Enjoy.

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Hi there. Welcome to Episode 98 of the Think Happy Podcast. If you are new around here, welcome. I am truly so, so glad that you're here. And also, if you've been hanging out with me here on the podcast or online, then I'm also so, so glad you're here. I know that every single time you click on your iTunes or Spotify app that you have hundreds of options of things that you can listen to. And from the bottom of my heart, it really does mean the world to me that you have chosen to give the Think Happy podcast some of your mental real estate. Because let me tell you, mental real estate is valuable, my friend, so darn valuable. What you allow to fill that space with has a huge influence on how you feel, how you act, how you treat yourself, how you treat others and the decisions that you're making. So keep in mind just that notion of you're in charge of what's filling your mental real estate. And that space is so valuable. Keep that in mind as you go about the rest of your day to day. So on to today's episode. It, this is such a good conversation.

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Today's episode is filled with not only loads of information surrounding women's physical and mental health and wellness, specifically moms, but it's also filled with so much light and inspiration. So between part one and part two of my conversation with our guest, Katie, we talk about the importance of replenishing yourself, leaning into your why, serving yourself first, honoring your body, and just so much more. But before we dive in to part one of my conversation with Katie, as I already mentioned, this is episode 98, which means there are only two more episodes until episode 100. And that leads me to this very important question. Have you submitted your entry for the giveaways that we're doing to celebrate? Here's how you do it. Okay, so to enter the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a rating and review on iTunes and also a rating on Spotify, screenshot both of those and then DM me the screenshot, okay? So that means you can enter up to two times, one for each platform. So the giveaways are going to be happening Monday through Friday of October second through October sixth, aka the whole week that episode 100 airs, okay?

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And I have more than $1,200 worth of giveaways waiting for you. So when I say go get your entries in now, I mean literally go get your entries in now, you're going to be seeing giveaways from various ladies and small businesses that you've heard on this show before. Let me give you a sneak peek at what the giveaways are. I'm going to be giving away a free session with Carly from Balanced Mom Nutrition. I'm going to be giving away a free consultation with Katie Hillburn Interiors, a free DIY plan from Jordan over at Wildly Organized, a free call with Stress Coach Elizabeth over at Emotionally HealthyLegacy. And the grand prize is one month free inside of Think Happy's newest program and community, MomLight, plus 64 ounces of coffee beans and coffee mugs donated by Kirby and Luke from Kirbeans. Again, you can literally start entering now. To enter, leave your rating and review on iTunes and Spotify, screenshot each of them and DM them to me on Instagram so that you can officially entered to win one of these amazing giveaways. Pro tip, be sure to screenshot before you hit publish because it might take a day or two for the review to actually be visible.

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Okay, now one more quick reminder for you before we go into today's conversation. MomLife will officially be up and running in just a few short weeks. And you can start your membership now for early access and bonus materials. MomLife is a mom-only community and program to help you optimize your time, get through your endless to-do lists and build sustainable routines all while keeping your cup full. To get all of the information on MomLife, go to thinkhappyco.com/mom-life. Pretty easy to remember. Oh, and I can't remember if I already said this, it's a monthly membership. So no need to worry about long term commitments. But I will say once you're in, I think you're totally going to love it and want to stick around. Membership includes a monthly private coaching call, daily group messaging, ongoing access to the always growing course hub. So that means you'll have educational materials surrounding optimizing your time, specifically for moms, to-do lists and task management, again, specifically for moms and building sustainable routines not only for moms but also for families. And then one of my favorite parts of the entire course hub is keeping mom's cup full because you serve others better when you serve yourself first.

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Okay, one more time for all information, head to thinkhappyco.com/momlife. Hokey-dokey, the time has come for me to introduce you to our amazing guest, Katie Muller. Katie is a boy mama to a wild 14-month-old, a holistic nutritionist and a certified personal trainer. She loves to help women understand where their true strength and true confidence comes from and bring light to what can be a very toxic world inside the fitness industry. I am so excited to share this conversation with you. So with that being said, here is part one. All right, Katie, welcome to the Think Happy podcast. I am so glad to have you here. How in the world is your day going so far?

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Yeah, good. Thank you. Yeah, it's been a long time coming and our schedules have not exactly lined up with long life and work life and summer life. So I'm glad that we're here. I'm excited to dive into this.

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I know. I know. So I think that we had originally planned on recording and then I got strepthroat.

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Yeah, there was a few a few mistakes in there, I think, but we're here, we're live, we're making it happen. Everything happens in the right timing.

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So more power to us is what I have to say.

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Well, I guess let's just start with the normal question always on these shows. Tell us a little bit about you, your family, your business, what you do.

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Yeah, definitely. So my name is Katie. I have been married for just over five years now. We have one son. He's 14 months old and he is wild. Anyone who meets him for the first time for longer than half an hour or so, they're like, oh, my goodness. Wow. Yeah, you're not kidding. He's off the walls, just always non-stop. So he keeps us very busy. So I'm a full-time stay at home mom, but I'm also a full-time business owner. So I've been coaching for the last five years as well. And I specifically now that I am a mom, I coach moms who are busy typically with young children who want to basically, yes, lose some weight, but also just figure out a healthy, sustainable routine where they can feel their best for themselves. And then that in turn is going to allow them to be a better mom, a better wife, a better woman. And that's what I've been doing the last five years here now. So yeah, it's lots of fun.

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I love that. I love that so much. Just for the listeners, that's originally how Katie and I connected on Instagram. And I just feel like so much of the why behind our businesses is aligned. And that's really what we're here to talk about today. So tell me again, what's your son's name?

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Ari.

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Ari. Okay, so he's 14 months. My son, James, is 11 months. It's pretty close.

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And oh, my gosh. I just... He's wild. But when he starts walking, I'm just like, I'm done for. I'm like, game over.

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Yeah, that was like Ari too. But it was actually better because he started walking quite early. He was 10 months when he started walking, but it was actually a relief because he would get so frustrated beforehand that he couldn't move on his own. So we would just have to walk with him everywhere holding his hands. And so then when he didn't have to hold hands, it was like, okay, now you can do your own thing and I can have two hands free again.

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Oh, that's precious. I promise we'll get back on topic, but what did you do for his first birthday?

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His first birthday, we had a... His middle name is Teddy. So Ari Teddy Muller is his name. And so we had like a Teddy Bear theme.

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Stop it. Katie, that is so cute.

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It was pretty cute. Yes. That is so, so cute.

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We're going to be doing a like a football slash tailgate theme for James' first birthday. And so the theme is James' first year down instead of like first touchdown.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Nice. Yeah. It's totally more for the parents anyway. So as long as you love it.

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That's what matters. 100 %. I'm a big fan of first birthday parties. Just lots to celebrate and lots of survival from the parents. By the parents. I guess.

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Okay, so rabbit trail. Here we go. Let's start with talking about just where and how you got where you are now. How did you find yourself in a position where you're teaching women, specifically moms, about health and wellness?

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Yeah, that's a long story. If we start way, way back at the beginning. So my mom is a personal trainer to start out. So it's a little bit in my blood that this is where I always wanted to go, but I didn't have the smoothest journey to get here. So basically growing up, I was in ballet, which specifically is very competitive and very much so if you don't fit the costume, you don't get the part. So it was a pretty toxic environment in a lot of ways, but I also loved it. I wouldn't change anything about what I did, but I ended up basically going down the wrong path with fitness and with health. And I was very extreme in thinking that the way to be healthy, the way to be fit was to exercise as much as you can. I was also in soccer and I like to run and I like to work out with my mom, so super, super active. And I thought the way to be healthy was to eat chicken breast and veggies. And that was about maybe throw in an apple and some almond here and there. So that was my picture of how that took me to basically chasing a smaller and smaller and smaller number on the scale.

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And it was very, very unhealthy. And I reached a rock bottom. And at that rock bottom, I could go into a lot more detail, but I don't think that's necessary. But I basically knew I had to do something different because I was not healthy. I knew this wasn't healthy. None of my clothes fit anymore because I was too small and I've never been a big person, so even being too small for my clothes was like a very bad thing.

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But at that point, basically, again, I took into my own hands of like, okay, something clearly needs to change. And at that point, I was around 19 years old. So this was like a year after high school. I went to school for holistic nutrition. And in that year of going to school, I gained back over 30 pounds, which put me at a healthy weight. And I actually was learning not just how many calories are you eating because that's all you hear in the health world, especially if you're trying to lose weight or look a certain way as like, oh, we'll just eat less. Just count your calories. Count your calories. And yes, that's an important aspect. You do need to be in a calorie deficit. But what nobody actually expands on is, what do those calories actually do for your body? And what are those calories actually made up of? What is food? Like okay, cool, we know we need to eat protein, but what is protein? Why do we need protein? What does it do for us? So in going to school and learning about the holistic side of things, that was where I really got to dive in and understand why I can't just eat as little as possible and why my body is suffering because of that, basically.

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I went through all of that, learned a ton, became a holistic nutritionist. And then after that, started working in the gym just as a nutritionist. Realized I didn't want to just do that because I don't think it really sees the full picture. So I pursued my personal training certificate, my weight training certificate. And now I'll start working in a gym at first just to get my feet wet, learn how to actually work with people as a personal trainer, as a nutritionist together, and then started my own business a couple of years after working in the gym. And then, yeah, I mean, that's a long winded way of saying how I got to where I am now. And really my biggest goal here is like I don't... I want to bring that other side of the fitness industry that isn't quite so toxic in just trying to eat as little as possible, be as small as possible, but more so about like, hey, let's actually learn how to take care of your body in a way that actually gives it what it needs rather than just aiming for a smaller number on the scale.

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Yeah. And I think that's so important, like for me, taking this just really well-rounded approach to health and fitness and nutrition, because I think that a lot of women who are our age grew up, not that this is anyone's fault, but we grew up in an environment where it was all about eating fewer calories and low fat, low carb, 100-calorie bars, 100-calorie packs, stuff like that. And so because of that, it's so ingrained in us that it takes a lot of intentional work, physical, but also mental work to switch that narrative in our heads. And I think that taking this well-rounded approach that you have of, yes, the nutrition, but also the fitness, I like to call it intentional movement, just creates a all around healthier body and mind.

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Yeah. It's like the whole inside out thing that you hear a lot of, but I think you hear a lot of it and you don't really actually understand it until you experience it. It's the thing that people don't know what they don't have. So we're okay with eating like you said, all these 100 calories snacks or low fat, low carb or whatever, because we think that's healthy. But what you don't know is you'll feel so much better when you actually understand what your body needs rather than just, again, doing it because that's what that girl over there is doing or that's what the magazine tells me to do, that thing. Yeah, you don't know what you're missing until you have it.

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For sure. As I'm sitting here, I'm drinking the most delicious cup of Kirbeans coffee. Kirbeans is a wife and husband duo who turned their passion for coffee into a business. They are so sweet and it makes me so happy seeing their business thrive. Now, let me tell you why Kerbyn's is thriving. To put it simply, it's because their coffee is amazing. Think Happy has had the honor of getting to pick a Think Happy Signature roast. These dark, roasted, Mexico beans smell like a good day waiting to happen. When brewed, they create the smoothest cup of coffee you have ever tasted, and it is even still good after being preheated. If you're like me and frequently get pulled away from your coffee, you know that's important. And I have a special treat for you. Think Happy listeners receive 15 % off their order of Kirbeans. Head to cur beans. Coffee. Kirbeans is spelled K-I-R-B-E-A-N-S. And use code Think Happy at checkout for your 15% discount. Again, that's Kirbeans coffee code Think Happy for 15% off. And so this is going to be like super cheesy, but it sounds like when you were going to school for holistic nutrition, you were really learning the why behind the foods and stuff like that.

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And I know that I just created that smooth little segway for us because I know that having a why is something that we both have in common and feel super strongly about. So, I mean, this is a loaded question, but what would you say your why is with your business and with the work that you're doing right now?

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Yeah, that's actually a really good question because I have to constantly remind myself of that, because being a business owner is not easy as you know, and being a mom and there are so many other responsibilities that you have. But for me, it always comes back to remembering. And this is why I said I wouldn't change anything about my journey because it sucked. It did. I was not in a good place. But me being in that place and learning how to come out the other side of it and actually understand all of the things that I know now allows me to help other women avoid those same mistakes. So I know the crappiness of this situation, for lack of a better term, it just sucks. And I know that it can feel like you'll never get away from wanting to lose weight. You'll never get away from being scared to eat certain foods or that thing. But I know that you can now. And that's really what it comes back to is like I want to help people. I don't care if you lose weight or not. If you come into my program, I probably won't even look at your measurements unless you specifically ask me to.

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Or if you say like, oh, I'm not seeing progress thing. But what I will look at is the language that you're using in your check-ins of, is this changing the way you're looking at your body? Is this changing the way you're looking at food? Is this changing the way you're looking at fitness? And the impact that that overflows into every other area of your life, that's what I want to see and that's what I want for my clients is like, again, I don't care if you lose 20 pounds, what I care about is can you change your life? Feel good about yourself, feel more confident, and then that confidence, like if you feel confident in yourself, the world opens up. You can do what you want, but that nothing else can happen if you don't actually feel good about yourself.

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It's like the numbers, like the number on the scale, the number on your waistband. Those are just byproducts of the other internal work that's going on.

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Yeah. And I don't always say it's not a bad thing to want to lose weight. I'll say that right off the bat, because I think there's also the other side of social media and everything where it's like, oh, just love yourself where you're at and whatever else, like all this very positive talk. And yes, absolutely love yourself where you're at. But we also do know that you're probably going to be healthier if you eat better, if you exercise. And that's not about anything to do with what you look like or what your weight is, but it's to do with, okay, are we at a place where your body is the healthiest? Yeah, it's just taking care of yourself. Yeah, exactly. It might be the the same weight you are now. It might be the healthiest 20 pounds lighter, we don't know. But it's not a bad thing to want to lose weight. That's like it just depends on how you're going about it and why you're going about it.

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Yeah. Something else that came to my mind when you were talking about your why is I also feel like... So you have a podcast also. And just the nature of that is we talk to a lot of business owners. And something that I've been noticing lately, so many women I've been talking to and now you as well, have this story of they had a struggle. They figured it out, and they overcame it. And now they have in their heart to help others overcome it too, or not even have to go through it. And I just think that that is the most beautiful, beautiful thing in the world. So I just love what you're doing.

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I really do. Thank you. Yeah, no, it is so true. You are the most qualified to help the person you once were. So that's the biggest thing is you don't have to be perfect or it's actually better if you're not because you understand what people are actually going through and you can turn those struggles into something that can impact so many people.

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Yeah, something that I talk a lot about on my platforms is just you never have to start back at square one again. As long as you're using everything that's happened before as a learning experience or as a stepping stone just to get you to that next step. It's just we have one life, let's learn from it and then just take that next step and be stronger and smarter the next time. So something else that I was thinking of while you were talking about that, and actually this has been on my mind a lot lately, how moms are such givers. We're literally constantly giving. We give to our kids, our partners, our friends, our coworkers, our neighbors. The list goes on and on. And I also think that that is another beautiful trait that lots of moms share. But in the same breath, I also think that that high level of just giving is just not sustainable if we're not also giving back to ourselves, if we aren't also replenishing our body and our mind and our heart. So that brings me to how do you replenish your health or replenish yourself? And how would you say your why plays into replenishing yourself?

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Yeah, that's a loaded question in a way. Isn't it? Just because I know when I first became a mom, I actually had people telling me that I shouldn't be going to the gym or that I'm not giving my baby the full attention and whatever else that it needs because I am also working hard. Or if I woke up early and go to the gym before my son wakes up, well, you should just be resting. You should just be resting and you should do all these things. Sleep when the baby sleeps. Yes. And I'm like, well, actually, me doing this right now is allowing me to be a better mom for my son. Because we all know if you're a mom, you cannot be with your kids 24/7 because you will go crazy. Like nap times are there, I think, for a reason because it's breaks. So in the same way like you said, it's the classic cliché saying of you can't pour from an empty cup. And so me going to the gym, yeah, maybe I need to spend energy that I could be putting somewhere else to go to the gym. But I know that me putting the energy into going to the gym is like an investment.

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So I can't just expect to make a return on my investment financially, let's say, if I'm expecting like, oh, I want to earn 5% back this year or something. Well, I'm not not ever going to get 5% back if I don't ever put money in in the first place.

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Oh, I love that analogy.

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And the exact same thing with your energy wise. Like so many moms are saying, well, I just don't have the energy to wake up. I don't know how you do it because I wake up at... I usually wake up around 5:00 A.M. And the reason that I can do that, number one, is because I go to bed early. So I know the importance of sleep. I'm in bed by 8:45. I still get about eight hours of sleep. But the reason that I can do that and I can still have the energy to show up for my business, show up for my clients, show up for my family, is because I put the energy in to going to the gym. I put the energy into making sure my body is fueled well, so that I can again show up better in all of these other areas.

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Yes. And it all just goes back to that why also. So we're pretty similar. I go to bed really early and I like to wake up really early also. But I know that those two go hand in hand. And I can't remember if I was writing a podcast episode or if I was writing something else for work, but I was talking about the importance of having the why behind your what and how when the shininess and the newness and the excitement of whatever goal it is or whatever habit it is that you're trying to start, when that shininess wears off and it will, your why is really what's going to keep you moving forward. When your alarm goes off at five o'clock in the morning, there is no one cheering for you saying, Go, Kaitlin. Go, Katie. Yes, you're doing such a great job. No, that's an internal driver that comes from being really clear and resonating just so deeply with why you're doing it.

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No, yeah, but I did. Absolutely. People talk about losing their motivation too. And I typically find like... And this is a statistic as well, around the four to five week mark of getting started on specifically in fitness. I'm sure this is very similar in a lot of areas if you set a new goal, but that's when your initial motivation is going to disappear or start to decrease. And in that time, I specifically make sure that I'm sending my clients trainings on motivation around that time so that like, hey, remember this? But motivation stems from the word motive, which is your why. So if I don't have a motive, how in the world can I expect myself to have motivation?

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Yeah.

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Like, if motivation comes from nothing. That's good. It comes from your motives. So that's why writing it down, understanding like, okay, losing 20 pounds is not enough of a motive.

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No.

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You're fine how you are now. Why do you want to lose 20 pounds. And then why is that important? Why is that important? And often time for moms, it does come down to I want to have energy to be able to play with my kids. I want to have energy to be able to feel good. There's so much more. It's not about losing or gaining weight.

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The scale or the pair of jeans or whatever it might be.

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There's so much more behind it because, yeah, wanting to lose 20 pounds is not going to be enough of a motive for you to keep going on the tough days. That's just not the way.

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Your brain works. And I think that's something else. So knowing that you are going to hit that speed bump, like around four or five weeks, I think knowing that ahead of time also gives you time to set yourself up for success when you do inevitably hit that point. And that's something that I try to teach my clients is just this notion of building flexibility and accountability and sustainability and just really setting yourself up for when that hits because it is going to hit. That's one thing that we know for sure. So just let's start preparing now for when it does.

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Yeah, having that plan. I could literally say to you today, I don't really feel like going to the gym today, but I'm going to because it's part of my plan and I know exactly what my workout is. And I know once I get there, I'm going to have fun, I'm going to enjoy it and I'm going to come back home and feel better. But it's not always like even as a coach, I'm not always super excited to go to the gym, but I am super excited to feel better afterwards.

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Yeah. Yeah. To reap the benefits of that. And it just goes it also pours out not just into how you're feeling, but how you're showing up for your clients, for your son. Just the whole notion of we serve others better when we first serve ourselves. It gives us the energy. It gives us the momentum just to continue. As I was saying earlier, just giving, giving, giving to continue serving. But we have to have the energy and the capacity and the bandwidth to be able to do that.

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Thank you for joining me for this week's episode of The Think Happy Podcast. I would so appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review. And if you just can't get enough, find me on Instagram @thinkhappy_co. That's co and online at thinkhappyco.com. I'll be back in your ears next week with another episode of The Think Happy Podcast.