Andrea Jones
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AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION
(00:00):
Welcome back to the Thriving Thyroid Podcast. I am so excited to be sharing with you my, one of my business besties. I would call her. We have not met in real life but she is a person that I turn to talk to all the time when I am dealing with things in my business. Her name is Andrea Jones. She has been on the podcast before and she runs a Happy Hormones program online. So, Andrea, in today's episode, we are gonna be talking with Andrea about how your hormones are playing a role in your anxiety and your depression around the holidays. And I know I loved <laugh> this conversation because Andrea's just so real in her approach with every, with everything she does, she is Christ-centered, and it's just a very refreshing conversation. You can also, if you love this episode with Andrea, you can go back to episode 25, and we talk about four steps to clearing your painful periods and mood swings.
(01:12):
But I am just so excited to have this conversation with her around the holidays, and I know you're gonna love it just as much as I'd have. Welcome back to the Thriving Thyroid Podcast, where we choose to become empowered patients and take our health into our own hands. Hi, I'm Shannon Hansen, a Christian entrepreneur, a mom of three. And after dealing with my own health mysteries, I made it my mission to learn everything I could about the thyroid. I soon became certified as a holistic wellness practitioner, a functional nutrition practitioner, and a functional diagnostic practitioner. And so much more after that, I founded the Revolutionary Thyroid Program, the Handsome Method. As a health professional and a mom, I fully understand the importance of having a fun, simple, and sustainable plan for achieving a responsive thyroid. So I share actionable and practical strategies for developing a responsive thyroid so that the ambitious moms and women can gain freedom from fatigue and lose the thyroid weight once and for all. Each week, I will be here for you, along with my guest experts. We will be sharing simple and tangible tips that work for not only your thyroid, your hormones, your family, and your mindset, so that you can get back to living the life that you envision for yourself. Welcome to the Thriving Thyroid Podcast.
(02:43):
All right, you guys. Welcome back to the Thriving Thyroid Podcast. I have the lovely Andrea Jones. She is the first person to be reappearing on the Thriving Thyroid Podcast, so we are super excited to have her. Welcome, Andrea.
(02:59):
Thank you for having me. I love getting to connect with you and just talk about all things thyroid and hormone health, so I'm excited to be back.
(03:07):
Yeah, absolutely. And if you guys don't know, Andrea runs the Happy Hormones Program. Do you call it program or method or what is the
(03:17):
Official I kind of, the, the official word is the Happy Hormones program, but sometimes I, I say method, it just kind of depends on the day and when you ask me <laugh>
(03:25):
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And so she deals all with all things hormone related. And because this is close to the holidays, I wanted to address kind of the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about, and that is anxiety, depression how that plays a role in us through the holidays and how that can be related to thyroid hormones. But also just everybody wants to be happy around the holidays, and we put on these kind of fake smiles and pretend that we're happy <laugh> unless you really are. But usually it is a fake happy Yeah. Until, until you find more happiness. So, Andrea, would you be willing to share with us about women and their hormones and their cycle and how irritability may be part of a bigger picture?
(04:20):
Absolutely. This is actually one of my favorite, favorite things to talk about because it was probably one of the biggest parts of my story. My mood was impacted so severely and nobody could really piece it together for me. And since I had, you know, a history of mental illness in my family, that was the first thing that doctors would say is, oh, you just need to be on antidepressants. And I would say, you don't understand. It's only like seven days before my period that I feel this way. Like, and they would just say, yeah, we'll just put you on mood stabilizers, you know, and I didn't, I was like, I'd rather just push through then, you know, be on a medication that makes, doesn't make me feel really any better. And so so for me, that symptom went ignored for a really long time.
(05:10):
And I will say for, you know, the majority of the women that I work with, that's the case for them as well. That it's just, you know, the doctors will talk to them about, you know, their period, how long is your period? Is it crampy? Is it heavy? But the whole mental health, emotional health aspect of it is like largely ignored. Yeah. And so, and to me that's a really big issue because I think as practitioners, we're starting to understand, and science is really starting to catch up with us, that you really cannot separate the two, not separate your physiology from your mental health and your emotional wellbeing. And so so understanding that, hey, maybe my mood and maybe my irritability and maybe my fatigue and maybe my sadness is pointing to something else going on. And so for women, this is why cycle tracking is so important.
(06:03):
It's a foundational piece for, you know, any woman that works with me gets the dreaded assignment of tracking their cycle. They hate it, but eventually they learn to love it because they're able to look back and see, oh, I'm only moody right around ovulation. I only feel like fighting with my husband the day before my period. So it's not me, the person Andrea, that's ripping my husband's head off. It's, there's something going on below the surface. And so and so really looking at it from that frame of mind is, yes, there absolutely can be emotional things, right, that impact our mood and irritability, but for women, we also can't neglect the fact that a, a large part of how we feel is driven by our hormones.
(06:48):
Yes, absolutely. And so I wanna touch on something because as you guys know, I feel like I'm a broken record. I had a baby <laugh> recently, and so my cycle has not, so before I was very regular. I was every 28 days, pretty much like clockwork. Sometimes give or take a day or two, you know, like a day before or day after, right? Yeah. But very, very, I would say systematized. And I could plan on ovulation, I could plan on my menstrual cycle. That wasn't the story for many, many years. And I didn't know, I wanna say it was maybe even like two years ago, like fairly recently that a heavy period was considered like, I think more than three tablespoons or two tablespoons mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. And I was like, I'm filling up like two or three cups a day. Yeah.
(07:47):
<Laugh>. Yeah. Right?
(07:51):
Yeah. That's way more than it should be. Right? And so I, I got to work doing that, but I found that information because like you said, I was tracking things. Yeah. And I started to learn, oh, maybe try this. Oh, maybe, maybe tampons aren't the best for me. Maybe switch to a cup or period panties or, you know, whatever these less toxic options are because I was collecting the information. So for you, when you're working with a client, what is one method or your favorite method for having people track their cycles?
(08:27):
Yeah, so my go-to is always what can they be compliant with <laugh>. So whichever tool they can be compliant with, that's what we usually use. Now, I will say that very similar to you, we track a lot more symptoms than the standard app. You know, we're tracking if they're pooping regularly, we're tracking how well they're sleeping throughout the month, when really most of the apps on the market are they only allow you certain, like, to track certain symptoms at certain times. Whereas we're tracking them for the entire cycle. Because it's really that whole picture that I'm able to kind of zoom out on and be like, okay, we're seeing a pattern here and this pattern of, you know, constipation anxiety, irritability, leading up to your cycle is your body's not clearing estrogen. And when it's not clearing estrogen, progesterone will constantly be hitting up against this ceiling.
(09:25):
And we need progesterone to have a balanced mood to feel like calm and stable and happy and sleep well, and feel bonded to our partner and feel connected to our children. Our hormones do drive a lot of those connections. And so we're looking at that whole pattern over the month because it, it actually is what helps us to identify not just where somebody's stuck, but like, oh, this is low progesterone, and now we need to figure out why you're having low progesterone. Right? Is it connected to a thyroid, you know, dysfunction of some kind? Or 99% of the time it's that gut brain connection that we talk about all of the time, <laugh> mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. And so if we can figure out the, what's going on at the root, then that makes the whole process so much easier for people.
(10:15):
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, and I think you brought up a good point is we don't realize that, well, I didn't realize until I came a practitioner that our hormones go up and down throughout the month mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, right? And so maybe speak into that for like the new listeners really quickly. Like what does that look like?
(10:37):
Yeah. So so that's really good because it actually kind of brings up two points with that. So your hormones do fluctuate throughout the month. You have a period of your cycle that you're gonna have higher estrogen and a period of your cycle where you're gonna have higher progesterone. This is like overly simplified, but since I don't have the map to show you all as you're listening we're just kind of, kind of very keep it very simple to that. And so some women depending on the level of deficit that's happening in their body or dysfunctioning, that's ha dysfunction that's happening in their body, they're gonna feel those dips really significantly. Women who tend to have low progesterone as a baseline throughout the month are going to feel like they're falling off a cliff three days before their cycle because there's like, the bucket's already empty.
(11:25):
Does that make sense? Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And so what I'm hearing doctors tell women that I personally as a practitioner would disagree with is that yeah, it's normal to feel those shifts throughout the month. And I'm like, really? You shouldn't though. Like, you, you should notice some subtle shifting of symptoms, meaning like most women notice, you know, that they are more interested in intimacy around ovulation or they might feel a little bit more fatigued a couple days before their period. But it should not be so significant that it's impacting your activities of daily living, your function, your ability to parent, your children, your ability to go to work. Like there's a difference, right? And so what I see women is saying, yeah, I'm having these shifts around my cycle, and my doctor said that's normal. And I'm like, shifts are normal. Suffering is not. So we need to like differentiate those two things because I see a lot of women normalizing symptoms that are not normal. Did that answer your question, <laugh>?
(12:31):
Yeah, I think so. I mean, and I tell women the same thing I tell people in general, just because something is common. Like you may be talking to one of your friends and they're like, oh, yeah, I have that too. Doesn't mean that that is normal. Right,
(12:44):
Exactly.
(12:45):
Right. Like, I remember growing up, me and my sister, we share a lot of information and she's like, yeah, like when I'm on my period, I poop all the time, and it's like diarrhea and, you know, whatever. Yeah. And, and I'm like, oh yeah, me too. Like <laugh>.
(13:05):
Right?
(13:06):
And that was, I don't know, like you just normalize. I
(13:11):
Think it's normal.
(13:12):
Yeah. We, we and you guys hear my baby and I remember my mom telling me that she would wear two tampons at a time and a pad and bleed through them. Yeah. Like, wow, that was her normal. And I was like, oh, mine's not that bad. So in my mind, I thought my menstrual cycle was like light, you know? Right. It wasn't until I started learning more that I was like, oh, this stuff is not normal. This is not what you should be experiencing. And I think that that is super important to experience. So let's speak into, you said before your cycle, right? Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, progesterone drops
(13:58):
Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>,
(14:00):
How does progesterone play into people being irritable?
(14:04):
Yeah. I, I love talking about this <laugh> because the science part of my brain just like explodes. So progesterone, if you think about it, is it's a hormone and hormones we know communicate with all the cells in the body. But progesterone in particular communicates pretty strongly with with our, our nervous system in our gut but also our neurotransmitters in our brain, primarily serotonin and melatonin. So if you think, you know, if somebody's coming in and they're having some low progesterone symptoms like mood swings, spotting like really, really, really short periods insomnia, anxiety, some of those type of symptoms then we're gonna wanna be looking at like, okay, what's, what's going on in the communication with the neurotransmitters specifically? Because if, again, if you're having low progesterone symptoms, there's not gonna be anything for serotonin to grab onto and make more serotonin, right? Because you need, you need progesterone to make serotonin, you need serotonin to make melatonin, and then that whole cycle gets disrupted if there's no progesterone at play to work with. Does that make sense?
(15:21):
Yeah.
(15:22):
Yep. And so a lot of times the doctor will put a woman on a an S S R I or an antidepressant and even just say, oh, just take this, you know, seven days before your period, which f y i, that does not work just for those listening, because it takes, you know, several weeks up to six weeks to get, you know, a neurotransmitter medication actually working. But it's also not addressing the root cause of why does this person have low progesterone? So I, for, in my own personal story, I actually had an undiagnosed brain injury from hitting my head. I'd fractured my skull on a emissions trip, like when I was super young. And they never investigated that. They're like, oh, you know, you know, you're functioning fine. So we're not gonna look into that. Well, where I hit my head is right at the th the h p a axis, so the thyroid adrenal pituitary axis. So it completely disrupted the communication between my, my brain and my ovaries to say, Hey, we actually need you to be making more progesterone, so no amount of progesterone supplementation is going to resolve that issue. We have to address the brain. Does that make sense?
(16:33):
Yeah. Yeah. And well, and I just to kind of stop you from there, I don't think most people realize that a head bon, you know, a bump on the head, a
(16:44):
Big
(16:44):
Deal is a big deal. Yeah. And how that can impact your hormones, how that can impact your gut brain connection. The vagus nerve, right. The vagal nerve, you know, all of those different things because society, medicine, whatever, I don't, I don't know who's to blame here. We, we've learned that you have a brain injury, you go to a neurologist, you have GI issues, you go to a gastroenterologist, okay, your thyroid, you go to an endocrinologist. Like, you know, if it's just your everyday cough and cold, you go to your general practitioner like
(17:22):
<Laugh>, right?
(17:25):
But our body is an ecosystem, like Right. Everything works together and everything is connected. Right. And it's a fallacy to think that it's not, I don't know, interconnected, I guess to
(17:44):
Absolutely.
(17:45):
It's isolated, I guess.
(17:48):
So. Exactly. And that actually I think is a really good segue because I, I got really lucky that I found the first doctor I found, well, I went to my regular gp and that was just the whole thing was a joke, which I know we talk about, like, if this is happening, don't go back, like find somebody new. And I got so fed up with that system that I was like, I have to find somebody else. Like, I don't care if it's out of pocket, whatever, like we don't have the money, but I also don't have time like at this point to continue to feel miserable. And so the doctor that I happened to find was he, he was a neurologist and a homeopath and a naturopath. So he had multiple degrees and literally put together a PowerPoint presentation after looking through my history and talking to me and saying, this is why you're suffering.
(18:40):
Like, we have to put the pieces together. You know, you had you on antibiotics for the entire duration of your childhood, and well into my early adulthood for acne and different things. You had a lot of emotional trauma as a child, and there's no way that that didn't impact your brain, you know, and how your brain processes emotions and and that gut brain connection just from stress alone is gonna be impacted. So there's multiple layers of healing that, and he was very upfront with me, like, there's multiple layers of healing that have to take place here in order for us to get you better. And, and I just remember like weeping because I felt like finally somebody had put, put it all together for me. And I wasn't just like, oh, just go to the thyroid dock, or, oh, just go to, you know, if you're having tummy issues, you go to your GI doctor. And I it's such a frustrating thing to have to walk out in the current medical system the way that it is right now.
(19:40):
Yeah. Yeah. I can't even tell you how many times I've walked out of a doctor's office, incomplete tears calling my husband, cuz I'm like, they're telling me everything is, you know, it's
(19:53):
Fine.
(19:54):
It's fine. It's, I don't feel fine. And, you know, I'm a mess <laugh> and Right. You know, thankfully my husband is very supportive, but he, I I think a lot of husbands out there are fixers and he's like, I just, yes. I don't know what to do. Like,
(20:11):
I don't know how to sit for you.
(20:13):
Yeah, yeah. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
(20:16):
Absolutely. And I think, you know, and I know, I know that you and I talk about this in our individual like communities and stuff, but it's, once you begin to recognize that feeling of like, I shouldn't leave a doctor's office empty-handed. Like, I shouldn't be leaving with less information than I came in. I shouldn't be the most educated person in the room. Like, I'm paying you to be the most educated person in the room. And once, once you recognize that feeling, it, it becomes a lot easier to advocate for yourself. And so, you know, I know that, I know that we talk about that all the time, but just for those of you listening, that if that's you and you're in that position, like pay attention because it shouldn't be that way. And as you know, I'm a nurse that was trained in conventional medicine and eventually left the medical field for that reason. So the care that is being provided I is not even like, not even in the same decade as where science is <laugh>. Does that make sense? They're a good like 20 to 30 years behind. So yeah. Pay attention to that gut, I guess is what I would say to that one.
(21:26):
Yeah. well, and obviously people who are listening to the podcast are, are seeking out answers, right? Right.
(21:34):
Like they're, yeah.
(21:35):
They're trying to, to figure out what's going on and what they can do. But what advice would you have for someone who is struggling with anxiety, depression mood around the holidays? Like
(21:51):
Yeah.
(21:53):
How does that flare up and are there some things that they can do to help prepare for that or not allow those things to get worse?
(22:02):
Absolutely. This is such a good question because I, I think that, you know, the first thing that I would say is get your expectations in check, right? Because a lot of us have some unresolved pain, like when it comes to the holidays, emotional pain, not necessarily physical pain. And, you know, we're feeling the pain of disconnection from our families or certain family members or, you know, we're like, I wanna give my children the thing that I didn't have. And maybe we're not able to do that for numerous reasons. And so my thing has always, has always been like, check my expectations and do my expectations line up with what's currently going on in my family and what can I do to find joy, even if those things are unresolved. So that's the first one. And this is a big one that I see. Because those expectations of having a perfect house or the perfect family get together when your relationship with your in-laws is dysfunctional or toxic you're not gonna have the magical family get together without some serious work.
(23:10):
And so letting go of that expectation and creating ways to find joy with some really healthy boundaries is one thing that I would look at from like an emotional, psychological standpoint. The second thing is, what you do for your body to nourish your body in the first half of your cycle will impact the second half of your cycle. So for most women, where we see mood issues the most is that like seven to 10 days, sometimes 14 days before their period where progesterone should be spiking, but it's not for numerous reasons. And so supporting your body with, you know, proper nutrition, making sure that you're getting lots of vegetables, like at least a handful with every meal making sure you're getting good fats and good proteins and eliminating those things that are really inflammatory. So I feel like there could be a really long list here.
(24:05):
I know you've got really good resources on this, so I'm gonna let them lean into your resources on this one. But avoiding the things like sugar and those things that really do inflame our nervous system, they inflame our digestive tract, that that will exacerbate mood issues if you have them. I mean, we see it in our children, right? Like, my kids hardly ever have candy. If they do, it's like they turn into different people, you know, and our bodies are just maybe a little bit more dysfunctional in that they're used to compensating for some of that stuff. So that would be the other thing. If you know that the wintertime around the holidays tends to be really stressful emotionally then look at the areas that you can give yourself support. Do I need to be in counseling? Do I need to be working with a coach? Do I need to process some stuff? Like those are real valid things. And not addressing our emotional health will also impact our hormones. So it's like we gotta support the physiology, right? By making sure we're eating proper nutrition, supporting, supporting our body, reducing inflammation, but then we also need to make sure, like, am I ignoring real emotional stressors that are going to throw my hormones out of whack if I don't keep 'em in check? Those are kind of the two avenues that I look at.
(25:26):
Yeah, no, it's so good. And I, like, one of the things that I learned about myself, I ki thankfully early on in my marriage, is that like I had a lot of unresolved, like tr I, I don't even know, negative feelings and experiences around the holidays. Not because the holidays were necessarily bad, but because my parents had financial issues, right? Yeah. And I, it didn't impact me because I, I mean, they, I guess I kind of knew there wasn't money, but I thought I believed in Santa, so <laugh> Yeah. <Laugh>, you know, and my parents were always able to pull off some magical, you know,
(26:14):
Right.
(26:15):
Holiday, Christmas, whatever. But for them it was stressful. So there was more fighting and there was more. Yeah. And I was like, I got married and I was like, I hate Christmas, Christmas sucks, you know? And my husband's really talking about it. It's like magical and amazing and, and <laugh>. And I was like, no, it's not. And so leading up to, so between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it took me a long time to realize that the reason I'm feeling down in a slump is, is because I had this pre thought that you're supposed to fight or that it, like the holidays had to be stressful.
(26:55):
Yeah.
(26:56):
That wasn't part of my husband and my story Right. Thankfully, you know, and it was, I don't know, it was a different experience. And now I'm like, I freaking love Christmas <laugh>.
(27:10):
Right? Like, yeah,
(27:11):
Christmas is amazing. And, and now it's more of like, how are we gonna top next year? You know, how are we gonna, how are we gonna do what we need to do or want to do every single year Right. Year after year? And, you know, that's, that's more where the stress comes from. But I've, I've also learned for me, Santa brings one gift and stockings and everything else comes from mom and dad. And I can explain to my kids like, Hey, we don't have, you know, enough money or whatever. Right. Like, so I've set my family up in a different way to also reduce the amount of stress instead of making it so that my kids expect Santa to do certain things.
(27:59):
Right. Right.
(28:01):
So that's
(28:02):
Really good
(28:03):
Inventory on that. H so speaking of like mood stuff around, so we're kind of Christmas holidays, we're going into that like dark time of the year mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. So does sunlight impact mood and emotion? And if so, how?
(28:23):
Really good question. Yes, it does. For some people more than others, I will say that my clients that either formally or informally have a diagnosis of, you know, seasonal effective disorder, which is very common in the Pacific Northwest just because we get a lot of rain and dark, dark months whether they think they have it or they've actually been diagnosed with it we see a tremendous improvement in their symptoms because we're addressing those root causes, you know, primarily of the gut-brain connection. But also because we spend a fair amount of time working on the liver. So the liver actually plays a huge role in synthesizing vitamin D. So what you or your body absorbs from the sunlight or from supplementation, your liver then has to take that and actually make it into a usable form. And so for women, when we're seeing like heavy periods, really painful periods, endometriosis menstrual migraines, breast tenderness, that all points to the liver is struggling.
(29:28):
Number one, it's not metabolizing estrogen number two. So as a byproduct of just addressing the liver, we're getting this increase in vitamin D synthesis, right? So we're now getting that nice robust immune supporting hormone that plays a big role, not only in like reducing inflammation to the brain, but how it interacts with all of the other neurotransmitters. So that's one thing. We can support that by, especially if you live in a, like a dark, darker area. So those that are in the Pacific Northwest that don't get a lot of sunlight in the winter a sun lamp is amazing. There are alarm clocks that you can get that actually act like the sun. And they have the same like UV type I don't wanna call it a ray cuz that's not really what it is, but maybe that is what they call it, UV light that hits your pineal gland and your pituitary gland and it actually creates that neurotransmitter synthesis. So there are things that you can do, you know, to make sure that you're getting the nutrients your body needs, even if it's not getting it directly from sunlight, that can have a huge impact.
(30:40):
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And I, when we lived in Idaho, that was one of the things a lot of the women did is they bought lights. And I was like, I don't know if at the time I was like, I don't know if I believe in that <laugh>. Yeah,
(30:53):
<Laugh>. Yeah. There's quite a few studies on it, but yeah, if you Yeah, it's, it's, you kind of have to try it out for yourself and see if that's the the thing. But especially for people with severe seasonal depression or seasonal anxiety even, it can be just enough to kind of pop 'em up, if that makes sense.
(31:15):
Yeah. Just to bring you over that threshold mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. okay. Well it, let's, let's wrap this up. Is there anything people need to know about the holidays or do you have any tips or just anything that you've learned along your journey dealing with irritability and hormonal stuff that would benefit the listeners?
(31:45):
Yeah, so I would say the biggest piece, which is probably the harder piece because we want, you know, we all want the magic bullet. We all want the magic pill that like, hey, just hit the magic button and everything will work out perfectly. Is actually really paying attention to your stress. That's the biggest one. Because I will say, you know, even the women that I work with in the Happy Hormones program, when we get to like November, December, I see them, you know, o overloading their schedule, not prioritizing sleep. And then, and then they get frustrated, which is totally valid, but they get frustrated cuz they're like, ah, I had one sweet thing and then I was just a rage monster for the whole day. Well, it wasn't probably the one sweet thing you had that was the issue. It was the fact that there's all this compiled stress and there's not enough sleep that just kind of set your body up for being easily tipped over.
(32:37):
So and I also tell them, you know, we can do all the things. I can teach you all the right things to eat, but if we're not constantly learning how to build stress, resilience, it's gonna be a problem. So that would be the biggest thing I would say is, you know, manage your expectations, deal with that, like the emotional internal world. And you know, and plan for the Christmas that you want because, you know, that might mean setting some really good boundaries with people, but I guarantee you that it's gonna, it's gonna pay off to have a reduced stress and then not having to feel like, okay, in January I'll get back on track. Not getting off track is the goal. <Laugh>
(33:22):
That one. Yeah, I love that. And I remember I have a friend and a couple years ago she told me, she's like, I love my family, but I'm not going over there for the holidays. And I was like,
(33:35):
How dare you. Yeah,
(33:37):
Yeah, yeah. And she's like, we just had a really nice relaxing time at the house with the kids instead of trying to, you know, rush Christmas morning and then drive 45 minutes across the town and then, you know, try to go to the next in-laws and then, you know,
(33:56):
Yeah,
(33:57):
Whatever, whatever, whatever. And I was like, wow. You know, like <laugh>, uhhuh, <affirmative>. It was so eye-opening and I'm like, it really makes sense. Like you have your own family, you can, you don't have to be there on Christmas. Like you can set your own traditions and, and if you want to, like, great. My husband, my mom. So the way that it works, I live 15 minutes from my mom and maybe even 10, it's like between 10 and 15 minutes it's, we live pretty close and then we live like three minutes away from my husband's family.
(34:32):
Awesome.
(34:33):
And my mom, because they don't have kids, they make the rounds to all of our houses. Wow. And I'm the closest she comes to our house and I typically, depending on when they have a relaxing morning, they just come whenever. Right. <Laugh>, you know, they're they're up and ready. Exactly. And I'm like, you can eat breakfast here. And they have breakfast and you know, they go to the next person's house and then whenever we feel like it, we head over to my in-laws. And thankfully theirs is super relaxing too. They're like, yeah, whenever we'll have leftovers, I, I mean, yeah, usually it's not leftovers, but it's, it's something super easy that nobody has to tend to or, you know, and we just get a be together as a family and I Amazing. I think that's so important for people to realize. Yes. Like
(35:31):
You can,
(35:32):
You can, you know, a big ham dinner with mashed potatoes, like of course we do that, but we don't do it on Christmas day <laugh>. Yeah,
(35:40):
Yeah.
(35:41):
You
(35:41):
Know. Exactly. So make it what you want it to be and then, you know, and then create the parameters around that, you know, communicate about what that needs to look like. And you know, for some people, just depending on where they're coming from, that means there's some work that needs to happen as far as like, I could never say no to them. That's probably a sign that there's some stuff <laugh> that needs to be taken care of there. But it's, it's a game changer. And we start working with our clients around like the end of October to really start, you know, talking about what are your plans for the holidays? Like, how can we help you manage your stress so that you know that this gets to look the way that brings peace to your family and isn't a huge, you know, external stressor. So I love that you shared that.
(36:28):
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. so good, I have enjoyed this conversation. And so for our listeners, do you have maybe a guide or some kind of support with for them? Yeah,
(36:42):
Yeah.
(36:43):
Tell us about that.
(36:44):
Yeah, so I would say probably one of my most popular guides is, it's my freebie, but it's actually, it's the, your free guide to getting rid of p m s and mood swings. So our mood swings related to P pmms, so I'm sure that we can find a way to drop that in the show notes for people to grab if that's easy or email it out. But that's probably the best place to start because we actually help you to identify like what's going on underneath the surface that's causing your symptoms. And that's a little bit different for everyone. So identifying that is a, is a great foundational place to start.
(37:19):
Yeah. Perfect. All right. We will link that up in the show notes for you guys. And if you wanna connect with Andrea on social media, where can they find you?
(37:28):
Yeah, so it's just at Abundant Wellness with Andrea on Instagram. That's probably the best place to find me.
(37:35):
Awesome. Well thank you so much.
(37:37):
Yeah. Thanks for having me, Shannon.
(37:39):
We'll see you guys on the next
(37:45):
Wait. Before, before you go, please subscribe if you found value in today's episode. Leave us a review and share on Instagram and please tag us. We love your please.
