Episode 102: My Top Unconventional Health Habits SOLO EPISODE
Episode 102: My Top Unconventional Health Habits SOLO EPISODE
In this episode we sit down with....your host, Katelyn Parsons.
Katelyn Parsons is a Certified Intuitive Eating + Body Image Coach, Speaker, and host of the weekly podcast, Body Truth.
After years of struggling with bulimia and disordered eating, she not only found recovery but recognized a crucial missing link in the wellness industry- empowerment + individual sustainability around health. This inspired her entrepreneurial journey and life mission to shift the conversation toward healing our relationship with food and body.
For the past 4 years, Katelyn has helped countless creative leaders transform their relationship with food and body image through an integrative, evidence-based process so that they can move through each day feeling more present, empowered, and comfortable in their skin, without worrying about what to eat.
You’ll also find Katelyn snuggled up with her cat or strolling the beach in sunny San Diego with her husband and their pup Winnie.
In this episode I talk about:
My habits that are built into the rhythm of my life
The importance of focusing on your wants, not the shoulds, when creating your own routines
Why I feel happiness and fulfillment from all these things
Resources I mention in this episode…
Connect with me...
IG: @katelyn.parsons
Website: katelynparsons.com
Ready to heal your relationship with food + body?
Book your FREE Body Trust Breakthrough Consult
Grab your FREE Intuitive Eating Workshop
Get weekly email support from me to help you heal your relationship with food + body image
TRANSCRIPTION
Episode 102: My Top Unconventional Health Habits SOLO EPISODE
Katelyn:
Hi, welcome back to the show, I am so excited to be with you today. I have some really exciting, obvious news. If you are listening to this show, you might notice the sound is a little bit different. And it is true, I have a new microphone, I'm really excited about it, there are going to be a couple of just technical changes to the show. So I'm actually not even sure if there is an intro on this episode or not. While I'm recording this, I still haven't decided what we're doing with it yet or not.
But I just appreciate you being here and supporting all of these housekeeping changes. And isn't this cool, like just elevating and evolving together? I am very sensitive to sound myself. And I really appreciate just listening to just good-quality podcasts and audiobooks and all of these things.
And so this has been something that I've really been desiring for our little community for a long time, because it's important to me, I want to be able to share that with you. And just create a really cozy environment for you each week.
So with that being said, I also wasn't really sure what I wanted to share with you this week. And I've been craving, community and lightness, and fun. And I've also been in somewhat of a funk over the last few weeks. And this is something that I am very used to.
I have struggled on and off with depression for years. And it's something that I've, I've learned to manage, and to live with. And I have a lot of tools in my toolkit to support just these tougher times in my life. I've also been on medication for various parts of my life. So all of these things have kind of ebbed and flowed with me in my life journey.
So just to give you some perspective, if you struggle with depressive thoughts, depression, clinical depression, in general, if you feel like you have been stuck or in a funk, or in a rut lately, you're really not alone. I think so many of us are going through this right now, just entering the third year of a global pandemic, trying to kind of reckon with that individually and collectively. So just give yourself some grace, I am certainly trying to practice what I preach here and just really lean into self-compassion, as much as possible right now, and self-validation, and just letting myself know that it is okay to not be okay sometimes.
And that's a part of life. And we also get through these tough times, these are never permanent. And so some reminders, as well as some other tools that I use, and will kind of be going into today on the show.
But all that to say I was in the shower, having shower thoughts, and then decided to record a podcast on this because I've been wanting to just kind of give you a glimpse into things that make me satisfied and happy and just bring joy into my life, whether it's what I'm reading or watching or who I'm hanging out with are just a glimpse into some of these more nuanced parts of my days.
And I thought it might be fun to just share some unconventional health habits that I have adopted over the years but have really stuck with me and the ones that are feeling really good at this part in my life.
So that's what we're going to do today. I'm sharing all of this to inspire. I am not here to claim that my way is the right way by any means. I personally love to just get a glimpse into how people do life and how people use their own personal tools for happiness and success and fulfillment and satisfaction and all these things. And so that's what I hope to offer you today.
So my just initial foundation that I want to set here is to encourage you to find what works for you Whether it's something that I'm sharing today or something that's not even on this list, but really, that is what is so important to just sit with when you are creating new habits in your life, or new routines, decisions in your life, but things that really work for you and focusing on the wants, not the shoulds. Another reminder is staying flexible, this is really important to consider, as I share all these things.
I certainly don't do every single thing on this list every single day, I will say, most of the time, I probably do. 80% of these things that I'm about to share with you consistently whether it's throughout the week, or even just the entire week, weekends included. And that's really because I've won, I've built them into the rhythm of my life. And so it feels easier at this point, it feels really natural. And I also have created a lot of enjoyment for a lot of these things. When I decided to actually start implementing these habits, they really were sparked from this place of joy to quote Marie Kondo. And really, it's something that I check in with now if it doesn't feel good, I don't do it. And I really am. I try to be really mindful around that I'm also a big believer in the path of least resistance. And these two pieces, just enjoyment as well as creating a path of least resistance and also really getting some benefit out of these habits, that's essential for building any habit. So just keep that in mind as you are considering your own life right now. And what you might want to add in or take out or shift around. So oh, I'm excited. Here we go.
So I'm also gonna laugh probably through this list, because I don't know some of these are kind of silly, like the first one, I make my bed in the morning, pretty much every morning. And truthfully, this is something that I've done, probably since I was I don't know, really young, probably in elementary school, definitely in middle school, to the point where I would also go around and make everyone else's bed. And when I stayed at friend's homes growing up, I would also make their bed often, as well, too. I just love a bed that is made. I'm really sensitive to environment. And just in my mind, the bed is the focal point of a room. And it just kind of visually stimulates just peace and calmness and ease. And so I just have adopted the habit from connecting to all of that. And it just makes me feel a little bit more grounded through each day. And especially because that's what I want to create in my life, too. I want most of my days to feel really calm, and grounding and present. And my bed has become a reflection of that, like when it's unmade. I kind of attach it to like the day feels kind of unorganized and messy and chaotic in some way. And it's an easy habit for me to adopt. So that's my first one. Second thing is having a tech free slow morning. So I sleep with my phone outside of the bedroom. And I'll talk a little bit more about my habits around the phone in just a moment. But I really tried to maintain that in the morning as well too. So before I even get out of bed. Another habit that I've created kind of recently in the past couple years is I just lay in bed for at least a few moments. Sometimes it's 10 minutes, sometimes it's 30 minutes if I just feel like having an even slower morning or depending on what time it is. But one habit that I've gotten into is really just starting those first waking moments with gratitude. And I'm not a I love to journal sometimes I have a lot of thoughts around journaling, which will not be in this podcast, but I've tried gratitude journaling before. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't. And that's one of the habits that definitely ebbs and flows. But path of least resistance, something that feels really good for me and doable and easy to access is waking up in the morning and just consciously deciding to be grateful and to kind of go through what I am grateful for in my life to set the tone. And also, if I can, it feels good in that moment to really just decide a word of the day or just like a feeling that I really want to cultivate for the day. But this, this is really a long way to say I'd take a few moments and just express gratitude and intention for how I want to start my day before I get out of bed. So then I really ease into a slow morning tech free disclaimer before I move forward, I don't have kids, I am married. I do have two pets. But this is also why I wanted to set the tone at the top of this episode, I know that my life is probably gonna look different from a lot of people's lives. So again, just keep in mind what works for you. Back to my habit number two. So normally, I listen to something really calming. Some depending on what I need. So sometimes it's NPR. I love NPR. And so if I'm craving community in the morning, for some reason, NPR just really creates that for me. I will say if it's just reports that are too intense, I have to shut it off, because I just can't really listen to a lot of tough news for the first moments in my day. I'll get to that in a moment in terms of how I integrate news, but I usually listen to French music I listen to like Norah Jones radio on Spotify, jazzy music, sometimes, bossa nova, but really instrumental things, things that I can just kind of have in the background and calm me into my day, I'm really particular on lighting. So I don't turn on, I have no overhead lights in my house. So we have lots of lamps. So don't even really turn on lamps, I light some candles, I turn on like some twinkle lights that we have. I have tiny little lamps in our kitchen that I'll turn on and even like the light that's under the hood of the stove, that's a low light. So it just creates a really cozy environment. And normally this is by myself, I wake up before my husband wakes up. And this also varies in terms of time. But sometimes I go through the morning really quickly. And I'm still able to create all of this, sometimes it really is like an hour or so just depending on what time I wake up that day. I also don't wake up with an alarm clock. And that has been something that I've adopted over COVID. And it feels so good to just be able to wake up when my body wants me to, which honestly is pretty much the same time every morning. And that's that that's actually pretty natural for a lot of us as well too. So other pieces of this morning, besides my lighting, which you might be bored about hearing by now, but I always drink water before coffee.
I take a probiotic, I brew coffee, we have a Chemex. So that ritual feels really nice and cozy. I feed the pets give them food and water. And then I just cozy up on the couch with my cat. And I might do this for five minutes, I might do this for 15 minutes, just depending on what the morning and what the day looks like. But I get some blankets, I have a couple books and a journal if I feel inspired to journal or just write thoughts down. But we just cozy up and listen to music. And normally I pick books that inspire me in some ways. So things that make me feel good creatively or from a success standpoint, or sometimes it's just grabbing my fiction book and reading a few fiction pages in the beginning of the day, because that feels like something that I need. So I give myself some options. And then I go about my day. Normally I take a walk after that. But sometimes I have meetings right away. And so it just kind of depends what I need. So I'll just kind of go into some other habits that flow throughout the day, but certainly are not locked into a schedule by any means. A third habit that really works for me is I get dressed pretty much every day and this is something that I this is a habit that I adopted when I started my business full time at home before the pandemic when I left my corporate job and I went full time at home creating an online business seeing clients teaching workshops online. You know, having meetings, everything was online, I really didn't leave the house that much. And I, I just felt better. When I got dressed, I felt like I was getting ready for something. And it just, I noticed that I carried myself differently in my client sessions and in the content that I was creating, and just how I felt about myself. So getting dressed, everything, for me, it really makes a difference. And really getting dressed in clothes that are comfortable from a body image perspective, things that I, I don't really have to fixate on throughout the day, whether it's, you know, some pants that are perhaps too tight, or shorts that are pulling in positions, just adopting this simultaneously with a lot of body image tools that I have as well to clothes that make me feel comfortable, confident, and just get me ready for the day. Okay, next habit, I practice mindful eating, whenever I can, this is really, this has become so important to me. And it's what I preach to this community and to. So, you know, so many areas of my life. And I really try to lead by example in this way, because it's just become so important for me. So that being said, it's absolutely not perfect I pretty much have adopted a mindful eating practice for breakfast and lunch, and snacks, dinner, usually I usually have dinner with my husband, and we usually get probably, I would say like three to four nights out of the entire week where we're just completely present music on in the background, but not sitting in front of the TV. There are, you know, half of the time, we usually are watching something at night or you know, something else is happening. But this has taken a while for me to adopt a practice. And now it feels like it's easy and doesn't feel rigid, it feels really flexible, it gives me just just a place in the day to get really quiet and also just be present with my relationship with food and how it's making me feel. So that's definitely a habit that feels really good. Another one that I can share with you today is I've created a habit around my phone in silencing all the notifications. I know, it took a while and they are so sneaky to like, I had to go back and constantly, like re silence or re update this process a lot. So just know that that also took a lot of time. But now I did this because the intention was I don't want my phone to control me. I want to be really present whenever I engage on my phone, whether it's in text message conversations, phone calls, social media, email, all of the things. You know, it was just really important to me. And so that is one small habit that I've created that has really made a big difference. So now when I open my phone and unlock my phone, that's when I get to choose, okay, I want to respond to this person, or I want to spend my time on this app or this website or doing something else on the phone. But I get to choose rather than feeling like the phone is chasing me down all the time. Okay, next step, I usually have background music on during the day, if you can't tell already. I am just all about creating a very cozy grounding environment throughout the day. Oh, by the way, as we're talking about the environment, you may hear an airplane going over right now that background noise there are planes flying over constantly. Which is really funny. We live next to an airport. And it is something that we've just kind of had to live with. But it really was kind of jarring at first from an environment perspective because it was just so obvious and really loud and now it just kind of flows. So anyways, if you hear that moving forward, just know that it's not a truck driving into our house. It's an airplane flying overhead. Okay, what was I saying? Um, background music. I have a little list that I wrote for you as well too. But when I was growing up, I always had to have something on in the background. Because the silence just felt so tough for me, like when I, when I would stay at home by myself or even in college, you know, when I lived by myself in my apartment, I always had to have something on. And I don't want to go into too much detail about that. And I do, I am at a place now where I actually really appreciate silence, just like complete and total silence. And I'm not scared about it anymore. And I love getting quiet, to really tune into how I'm feeling and what I'm thinking and just my environment around me. That being said, having music on in the background, and also a certain type of music just helps to elevate my mood throughout the day. So I'm really considerate about this, it's not to numb out at this point in my life, it's really to enhance and it's not all the time either. But normally, there's French music in the background, because I love it so much. And it just makes me happy. And I've just noticed that it's an easy way to shift my mood throughout the day. So that's helpful. We don't really have TV on during the day. And we love TV though we love watching movies and TV shows and things. So normally we watch TV at night, when we kind of wind down and everything. Few other things that I do. I have something that smells really good in the background normally, so I love using essential oils or lighting candles. We try to open the windows whenever we can. And if we can't get fresh air in, we always have the blinds just to get natural light in just to kind of breathe that natural. What am I trying to say just like breathe in the freshness of the day and to our environment when possible, even if it's a cloudy day, just whatever light we can get. I'm really really big into natural light outside. I try to take a walk. Why are already mentioned, I try to do this in the morning, just if I can because I love a nice morning walk before the sun is really intense. But that doesn't always work out that way. And my walks vary in terms of length, I really tried to do this from a place of want at this point in my life and my healing journey.
Like this I call them soul walks. And my friend, Tyler Rolling, who has been on this podcast before, we often go on walks together. But when we don't, I take them alone. And I really just tried to use this as an outlet for me to get reinspired, get grounded, just be in nature. I love walking through the neighborhood and just kind of dreaming up what everyone is doing in our little community. Just seeing what is available for me in the world in terms of beauty. So if you've ever just engaged with my Instagram Stories, you might notice I share a lot of nature around our neighborhood. So flowers and plants are birds. Actually, not really birds, I don't really like birds, but just things that inspire me. And this is available for anybody anywhere. It's really just been a process of actively creating the intention to seek out beauty. Especially in spaces that don't always feel beautiful. So that is a big part of my walk and also just moving really slow breathing in the fresh air, I usually listen to something that is meeting a need at the time. So whether it's an audiobook or a podcast or music, but just something that's either going to inspire me or educate me, or create a sense of escape or adventure or connection in some way. But those are really important as well too. Okay, another habit that I do, not consistently but I actually do love this at this point because it's it's been built into my day from a place of one rather than should but I love to meditate and sometimes I do have to actually just sit my butt down and do it because I know I'll feel better afterwards. And I don't always that doesn't always mean like it's a very long meditation either, but I love the App Insight Timer. I often recommend this to clients, it's actually free. I think it's available on Android, I know that it is for sure on Apple. But it is fabulous. It's basically a search engine for different meditations. And you can type in keywords, you can, you can filter the meditations in by the length of time that you want, or just different specifications. So sometimes I'll sit down and do a three minute meditation, sometimes I'll do a 10, or 13, or 15 minute meditation. But that has been a really grounding part of most of my days as well, too. Okay, a couple of others that I want to share before we wrap today. I love reading. And one of the hobbies that I really picked up from the pandemic is reading fiction books. So I usually always have something that I am reading, and I read when I can normally it's before bed, even if it's a couple of pages. But the reason why I'm sharing this is because it is, it feels so satisfying, I choose books that I really love that I really look forward to that I really get inspired by whether it's fiction or a magazine, if it's a nonfiction book, I do read a lot of nonfiction books, but they're, I'm specific about when I read them in my day, too. So if I'm going to bed, I don't really want to be wound up, I want to be grounded and really kind of calmed down. And so I'm particular about what I read and when I read it, but that's just a tool and a habit that is available for me, throughout my day as well too.
I snuggle a lot, this might seem like a silly habit. But there has been so much research around the benefits of physical touch, and community in general, but just physical touch in particular. And so for me whenever I can, I will give my husband a hug. Throughout the day, I'll cuddle with our pets throughout the day, sometimes I'll just wrap my arms around myself and give myself a hug at this point. Like I'm, I love doing that, like I love just loving on myself and everyone around me when I can. And that also is something that is medicine for my soul. And sometimes I just need to take it. So sometimes I don't really want to hug something like I don't want to hug my husband. But I know I'll feel better afterwards. And so I do. And that is a tool and a habit that has just kind of been built into the rhythm of the day as well, too. I mentioned the news before a habit that I've created around the news is to set really strong boundaries around that. So I don't have it just ruminating in the background, whether it's the TV or even NPR, like I said, I usually have it on at some point in the morning just to kind of listen to what is going on in the world or feel that connection in the community. But I'm specific about when I read the news and where I read the news from and so I have a few different news channels that I subscribe to in terms of newsletters, and just daily news things that I get in my inbox. And so when I am ready, usually in the middle or towards the second part of my day, then I will carve out 1015 minutes and scroll through the news outlets that I subscribed to and just get a glimpse of what's going on in the world and all the things which as I'm saying out loud, like it I know that sounds like Oh, I'm such a baby. I'm so sensitive to just hearing things. And it really, really just is something I'm very particular about. And I also am very, I think it's really important to be aware. So I have found a way to make it work for me and I really encourage everybody to find a way to make it work for you. Um, on that note, I also carry that into what I am watching and what I'm listening to. So I don't tend to watch a lot of violent things. Especially in the evenings and if we are watching a show and there's a lot of just violence and aggression or just things that are kind of putting us in a really bad state, I'll just look away, sometimes I'll just walk away. But that's something that's important to me. And I know how it kind of screws with my energy sometimes. And so I am particular about that. And then winding into the second part of the day. I brush my teeth, I wash my face, I don't have a skincare routine or anything like that. But I do things that work for me. And so I carve out at least 10 minutes to just do the bare basics around, brushing, teeth, washing face, putting on face cream. And then I really wind down into a tech free evening. So like I said, I love watching TV. I love watching movies, cozying up on the couch with our fur babies and my husband, it's like one of my favorite parts of the day. We usually do that for 30 minutes to two hours, just depending on like, what we're feeling what we're watching all the things. But then after that, I walk away from it. So like I said, I don't take my phone to the bedroom, I don't, we don't have a TV in the bedroom. And so when I walk away from the TV, I leave my phone in the kitchen, actually. And I read my book. So that's, that's really like the break that I get from the stimulation, and also just an opportunity for me to really get into a calm space before going to sleep. And shifting into that I know there's a lot of different opinions and research on just your bedroom environments. And a lot of people say, Well, if you're going to read, read outside of your bedroom, because your bedroom should really be for sleeping and sex. And if that works for you, great. I've like I'm trying to make my point in sharing all of this, I think that it's about finding what works for you on an individual level. And this could even flow for me in the future. That's just where I'm at right now it feels really good. That being said, My sleep hygiene is really specific. It's also really easy because it feels really good. And I get a really good night's sleep from, from doing all of these things. So I read before bed, I have a fabulous eyemask that I use that I will link in the show notes. If you're interested, I got it on Amazon. And it is I mean, I have slept with an eye mask for years. And this is my favorite one, by far. But I have an eye mask I have earplugs, we have a noise canceling machine. So I really can't hear a lot of things I I mean, if I haven't made my point clear enough by now, I'm very sensitive to environment. And so I'm really sensitive to just any type of light that's coming in anything that I can hear I wake up really easily and so I know that about myself, I have to take care of myself in that way. So that's what that's what happens. We also sleep in a smaller bedroom, we don't sleep in the master bedroom because it is just where our second bedroom is, it's located in a quieter part of the house, it's just a little bit more cozy and intimate. And so that's just a decision that we made that might seem a little strange, but it works for us. I try not to eat or drink alcohol close to bed. This is not from a rule it is really from a place of knowing my body and knowing how how food and and alcohol affects me close to bed. That being said, it is by far far from perfect. Like I just mentioned, I really tried to do this whenever I can. Sometimes I am hungry and it's close to bed and I need to nourish myself and I might not get the best sleep that night. Sometimes I do and it doesn't really make a difference. That being said, when I can I try to eat at least an hour before getting into bed. That way I can digest and really get a good night's sleep and let my body just focus on sleep versus digesting and alcohol is a totally different story. I do have a good cocktail and I'm also really sensitive to alcohol as it relates to my sleep so I try not to drink on the weekdays. And I really try not to drink close to my bedtime on the weekends either. Again, far from perfect, but that's where we're at. Um, I think that's just some other things that I can share that might be helpful that aren't necessarily habits, but really impact my days, just checking in with my thoughts throughout the day, and how I'm feeling throughout the day. Really, really important. I teach a lot of thought work. When I work with clients, I practice a lot of thought work myself, but our thoughts create our feelings, we have the power to reframe our thoughts. So that's something that's really important to me. Connecting with people when I want to versus a should, for me, this is been a major exercise in breaking up with people pleasing. And I will just say that my relationships and how I engage in my relationships have become so much more just connected and present. And just how do you say like robot? How do you say, like, I'm speaking a different language, just more robust. And, and that really is something that I try to practice on a daily basis. So if somebody calls me and I'm just not in the mood to talk, or I've got something going on, I don't pick up the phone, if somebody texts me, and I've just can't gather my thoughts to be present in the text message. Or I don't know what to say, I'll wait to text back, you know, it really is connecting from that place of intention. And also being mindful of where perfection might be getting in. Because it's not about having the perfect conversation. It's not about connecting at the perfect time. It's lowering the expectations. And also checking in, you know, for myself checking in with, Okay, can I give myself some space to just take a moment and connect with this person when I have more space, and I'm more excited to engage and become more intentional in the conversation.
That's all, I hope this was helpful. I actually would love to hear your thoughts on this. If you think I'm crazy, like highly sensitive person. If this, if any of this resonated with you, if any tip stood out to you, and it's something that you're excited to just start integrating if you had any lightbulb moments, if there's anything on here that you feel like it's bullshit, or if there's anything on here that you do, too, that you got really excited about, please come tell me you can slide into my DMs on Instagram, you can also just send me an email hello@katelynparsons.com. And I can't wait to hear how this lands with you. If you love this episode, or even like this episode, and feel like it might help somebody else out, please share this with a friend. And if you haven't already, one request that I have is to please leave a review and, and a rating for the show. And I know I don't ask that often it might be in the outro for the previous episodes. I honestly can't remember at this point. But I am so appreciative when you do that. And honestly, I know it's a request that most podcasters make and that's because it really does help to expose the show in our community to more people and if you believe in this message, if you believe in the content. That is a really, really powerful way to be able to contribute. Okay, that's all for now. I love you and I am so grateful for you. Go out and have a fabulous week. Bye.