Episode #53: Celebrating Our One Year Anniversary!
Michelle Fox: Oh my goodness, I cannot believe today. We are celebrating one year of this podcast. As you may know, we started with a different name, but now I am so proud to be the host of Nourish with Michelle Fox. We have had over 40 guests. We have been consistent. Every Tuesday morning,
Come rain or shine, we have been in your ear talking nutrition mindset. Health, fitness, wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, financial wellbeing, and of course with a special heart and lean in towards women over 40 because we have unique needs. And so I am thrilled to let you know that we are just getting started.
I would sincerely be honored if you would give me feedback on topics that perhaps you wanna hear more [00:01:00] about or that you want to dig in a little bit deeper. You can call us at
7 2 0 2 5 8 6 3 7 2 and let us know. Let us know if there are items that you wanna dig deeper into or if you just wanna say hi, let me know that you are a devoted listener. I would sincerely love to celebrate with you. I can tell you we will probably highlight some of the voicemails that are left in our part two of this episode. And yes, that's a little teaser because this episode is so juicy.
Of course we're making space for more, so there will be a part two, so leave a voicemail. 7 2 0 2 5 8 6 3 7 2. And I'd love to hear from you. So before we get into this compilation, I will tell you yes, I made a compilation of our top 10 episodes.
and [00:02:00] so this part one in today's episode are the top five that you, our community, have been raving about and have been giving us amazing feedback about. And so I thought it'd be lovely to celebrate these five conversations on today's episode, and then of course,
Come back next Tuesday where you'll hear the next five top episodes and then we can continue this party. So before we absolutely jump in and I let you listen and or reminisce if you've heard these already, I just want to give a. Heartfelt thank you to you.
Whether you have been a guest on the show, whether you have been a longtime listener, or you just found us. Thank you. I wanna thank the community who has been amazingly encouraging of me and sharing my [00:03:00] voice with the community and with me leaning into help create healthier communities one person at a time.
That has been my mission from day one and this podcast has helped to amplify my voice and amplify my mission. And so for you who have been with me either from day one, Or again, just today, you are part of this mission helping me to create healthier communities, and I sincerely cannot say thank you enough.
I am so grateful. So without further ado, let's listen in. Let, let's do a little rewind action and hear some of our top conversations.
Michelle Fox: Welcome to Nourish. I am Michelle Fox Culinary Nutritionist, health coach, and your host for this podcast. I teach a busy professionals, how to get more nutrition in their bodies. And how to have more fun in their home kitchens. [00:04:00] If you struggle with consistency. Or sometimes forget to make your needs a priority.
You, my friend are in the right place. Join me each week for inspiration to increase your energy. Strengthen your mindset, manage your hormonal woes and so much more. You have a lot on your plate, but that does not mean your nutrition should suffer. You deserve to live in a body and have a life that you love.
So let's dig in!
I am excited to start off this party, a k a, our one year show episode with my dear and loving, and, whew, I can't say enough deliciousness about this woman. Her name is Jennifer Roth and she was with us for [00:05:00] episode 11, so, Of course we will hyperlink all of the episodes in show notes, but if you wanna hear the full episode, head on over to episode 11, let's listen in.
I will tell you, speaking of the morning and me waking up, I had my yogi tea and , I pulled off this, , the little tag and I wanted to read it to you because it immediately made me think of you and it made me that much more excited for our conversation.
Cuz you and I often talk about the synchronicities between the two of us and how we tend to ebb and flow with each other. Completely divine timing. Completely divine. Elements and the paths that you and I have both been on. So I wanna read this real quick before we jump into the rapid fire, but it says, Personal growth lies within the unknown.
Courage permits you to explore this space. And it made me think of you just because [00:06:00] you, my friend, and I don't even know if I've told you this before, but. One. I mean, I try to express gratitude as much as possible, but two, you encouraged me. You have been one of the bright shining lights that encouraged me to know that I could step out on my own, and I could start my own business because you actually were one of my first friends who had the courage to build her own business and to.
Yes, I stand for healing and helping women, and yes, I can do this and I might not always know how to do it, or I might not have all the pieces, but yes, I'm gonna have the courage to jump in there and try. So thank you for being such an amazing role model in my world. Heck yes.
Jennifer Roth: I am. I'm, I'm so grateful.
I love that quote because, Oftentimes I don't feel super courageous and I have the ability to be [00:07:00] courageous. Something that Kathy Heller says over and over again and that I received in one of the emails is it's 20 seconds of courage. Like, what could you do if we stepped in with 20 seconds of courage in our life and that I can do Right?
It's like,
Michelle Fox: ok, right now. So,
Jennifer Roth: and, and make it happen. And I am. Spon, more spontaneous person who loves to live in the moment and be in the present moment. And so being courageous right now instead of going for the big, big. Courageous dream is what will get us to that bigger, more courageous dream. Right. So beautiful quote on your tea this morning.
Michelle Fox: Next up we have the queen, the beauty, the woman who just lights me up, I, I turn the corner. If I see her walking down the street, immediately lit up. We're on the phone. Immediately lit up. I run into her at an event. My heart just gets so happy, and that is [00:08:00] none other than Kadija Taylor. Listen in on this replay from episode 28 where she's giving us a little taste of color psychology.
Kadija Taylor: So underrated decluttering is huge, and the kitchen is an area of your home that can pick up a lot of clutter really quickly.
Countertops just say, come on in. Yes, , come put the keys here. Put all the things, put your coat on, all the bar stools and just, you know, if you declutter. Immediately you'll feel like, huh, maybe I wanna be in here a little bit more because your space. I believe, is always a reflection of what's going on in your heart and your mind.
So when your spaces are cluttered, you're feeling cluttered here and here, and you're not thinking, and you definitely don't wanna be anywhere that feels cluttered. So the kitchen can be a catchall space in a home, [00:09:00] especially if you have kids, family, and it's a lot of movements. So declutter. You can start with that if you're like, I don't have any money.
Just clear things. the next thing, , that you can change, you're like, oh, I have a little bit of money. Lighting, lighting, lighting. You have poor lighting in your kitchen. You kind of don't wanna be in there cuz you can't really see the food. And since we're visual, I'm a visual person, we all are visual, but I love visual things.
And so if you're a visual person, not really being able to see how things look and. Will not make you wanna be in the kitchen. So check out your lighting, even the coloring, you know, the temperatures of your lights. Go to something cooler instead of something super warm. When I say that that was kind of yellow versus the blues, you wanna maybe do something in the middle, which is probably like a 4,000 Kelvin.
I'm kind of going in, but yes, thank no,
Michelle Fox: I'm taking notes. Please go in.
Kadija Taylor: This is,
Michelle Fox: I wanna go check my lights after we get,
Kadija Taylor: [00:10:00] um, another thing, you'll wanna take a look at is, colors. So we were talking about color psychology. , clearly what's trending. I'm not a designer who follows trends, but neutral palettes are always nice for kitchens, big or small, especially when you have a, a smaller kitchen and you're like, oh, I'm just feeling like it's too one cluttered in here.
First move out the things, but a fresh coat of. Can change a space entirely. what you choose, the color you choose is gonna be important, but just fresh, fresh paint , a fresh coat of paint space. So, oh, that sounds very doable. Yes. And the other things, pencils and get you a new. Mm. Stuff that you eat on stuff that you drink out of. I love, coffee mugs. I'm not a coffee drinker anymore. I love tea, but I love a teacup. And so find the things that you're like, oh, I love to drink out of that cup, or I love [00:11:00] to eat off of that plate. Find you something that you love to eat off of, or eat with a fancy fork or spoon or whatever.
Do those small things and you're like, I can't do the demo and do the kitchen that I want. So those are small things that you can. in your kitchen space, that'll make you want to be in there more and eat your food that you're cooking cuz Michelle gave you a recipe to do it. ,
Michelle Fox: I absolutely love that. And I'm feeling a little
Kadija Taylor: like Uhoh, husband,
Michelle Fox: Steve will be listening to this and he'll like, see, Kadija says we can get new plates.
Cause I keep saying no because the kiddos, you know, there's chips and there's cracks. I'm like, I wanna wait for the kids to get out of the house before we invest in new plates. Don't do that. As I'm looking at your face, I'm like, okay, he's right. You're right. We can talk. And I'm
Kadija Taylor: like, there's definitely room for improvement there.
don't wait. I tell people that all the time. Don't wait to use the good stuff. Don't wait to sit on the sofa and the fancy couch. You know, don't do that. You bought it to use it. So [00:12:00] use it and love it and you know, Go get you some new plates.
Michelle Fox: Michelle . Thank you. I, I have a witness. Steve has a witness. We will be getting new plates after this conversation.
Love it. . Okay, so for my people in the back, the four steps I heard is, For a happier, healthier kitchen, we're going to first declutter and get that stuff out that, especially the stats that you know that you're not gonna be using anytime soon. The lighting, we don't want the bright blue or the two dark yellow.
We want something in the middle. Looks like 4,000 kilowatts.
Kadija Taylor: Number three,
Michelle Fox: we wanna look at colors, specifically, neutral colors, especially if you have a smaller kitchen that's gonna feel warm and a place that you wanna be. . And then four, if you have the budget. And I'm actually gonna push and say, even if you don't have the budget, there's always goodwill.
There's always fun artsy places you can grab fun plates and utensils just to mix things up to make it exciting to look forward to [00:13:00] that next meal.
Kadija Taylor: Yes. I get all that right. You did. And I will, make a small little change just in the color. You can keep a neutral palette just so you. . Most people feel comfortable with Nero palettes, but there are some people who are like, I love a bold space.
So we'll, but we'll talk about what those colors are and you can have a neutral space. and I'm saying you guys, cause I know we're talking to everyone who's gonna be watching this and you can incorporate colors that actually, mean something and will influence why you wanna be in that space. So we can jump in the to that in a little bit.
Yeah.
Michelle Fox: Mm. As you say that I'm picturing my mother's kitchen and she's really good about bringing that southwestern design. So she has like pops of red and pops of yellow and people never wanna leave her kitchen. I mean, one cuz she's an amazing cook, but two, because it's just, it feels like her. Like you feel like you're sitting in her energy.
So I love that note that you want us to show up in the [00:14:00] colors that
Kadija Taylor: feel good to us. Yes. And so, Let's just go that direction. Okay. Especially since you've mentioned those colors. So, red, most people associate red with like, love and passion and desire, but red is also a stimulator, an appetite stimulator.
Michelle Fox: Oh, and did not know this.
Kadija Taylor: Okay, so red is a color that, people don't generally bring in the kitchen, but it's a color that you probably should . It makes you, it makes you hungry. It's stimulator. So sometimes you go to restaurants, you're like, I have a lot of red in here. This is why they're encouraging you to eat and order more food and enjoy yourselves.
Mm-hmm. And, , yellow is, which I love yellow, but , something that people don't know. Yellow is usually associated with intelligence and a conation stimulator. Ah. So some people don't wanna probably leave her space because you're like, oh, we're in here talking and it feels good. And the red is telling me I need to eat some more and the yellow is telling me I wanna talk some more.
[00:15:00] So yeah.
Michelle Fox: Yeah. So that makes perfect sense. Why we never wanna leave her kitchen. Good to know. Oh
Kadija Taylor: wow.
Michelle Fox: Consider yourself officially invited to join us in Tamarindo Costa Rica. This coming February, February 28th through March 3rd, to be exact. And I want to ask you something. Are you ready to be completely pampered? Well, prepare to be amazed by our exquisite villa in the, charming town of Tamarindo. Which will include a massage and a private chef. All of that in the. Most important agenda, which will be for you to relax. Imagine going to sleep with the sounds of the ocean and the trickle of your private plunge pool every evening. Picture a completely supportive environment that helps you return to you. [00:16:00] Your imminent relaxation. My friend is my command. Let me pamper you. Join us, go to michellefox.com/retreat for all of the juicy details and consider joining us. I would sincerely love having you in this circle. I'll talk to you soon.Next up we have our girl Jenn Uhen who is here to talk to us about money and manifestation. Jenn recently joined us On episode 50, and this one actually was our highest downloaded episode, And I think the reason why, if you haven't already heard this episode, you'll hear in this snippet, the magnetism that Jenn brings and her passion for helping other women become wealthy is unquestionable. so I know you're gonna love this next snippet.
There's so [00:17:00] much that you just said I wanna dig into. but before I do that, I wonder if you'll indulge me just coach to coach. I know that when I am meeting with people in real life, whether it's friends or somebody I just met in a networking group, and they find out I am a nutritionist, I feel like they immediately get self-conscious like, well, I only had, you know, 500 calories today or I didn't have any sugar.
Like people seem to get very defensive around me sometimes and I'm like, I am not here to judge you. Like I promise, like I'm here showing up human to human connection. And so I'm curious with you, do people start to get maybe a little defensive? You kind of mentioned like 50% of women are this way, 50% of women are maybe a little bit more closed off, but do you notice those closed off women get a little like defensive with you around money at all?
Yeah, I think
Jenn Uhen: it's. Like both nutrition and, and finances it in. It creates this strong reaction for people. [00:18:00] So I love it when people are really proud of what they've done and they just start like word vomiting, every good thing that they've ever done in their financial journey. And I'm here for, I love when somebody just like dms me or emails me or finds me and tells me like something that they've done because I'm here to celebrate it./
Mm-hmm. And then equally, I think both food and finance, there's a lot of blame and shame around it. And there doesn't need to be, like I told you, I drink Dr. Pepper. I drink a lot of Dr. Pepper more than I should, but I, food really determines what we should do. Like this is, these are our bodies, this is our life, this is our financial journey, like, We need to take the should and the judgment out of it.
And what I want to know is, where are you at now and where do you wanna go? And that's, that's what coaches help you do. But if you don't wanna change, that's fine. You don't have to. [00:19:00] Yes, you not changing doesn't change my financial journey or my nutrition journey. Like it's, I'm here for you. And I used to tell people like, I'm here when you're ready.
And then a member of the pledges is like, no, tell them they're ready. They're ready for this. Like, don't tell 'em to wait. Like everybody is ready. To to do more, to step up as a c e O of your money to step up as a c e O of your life. Like if you're just gonna let time go and just do status quo, don't be surprised a year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, if you're in the same place, there's nothing wrong with it, don't feel blame, guilt, shame around being in the same place if you didn't pause and say, I wanna do something different.
Michelle Fox: And to your friend's point, I sincerely believe that the teacher shows up when you're ready. And so if this woman comes on your pathway or vice versa, that you're showing up on this woman's pathway, that [00:20:00] means something in her spirit is saying, yes, I am ready to look at my money. Yes, I am ready to move forward.
So I love that you're able to stand and, and hold space for women and their wealth. Yeah. Oh. I love that. Hmm. So I wanna go back to two things that you said. One, you mentioned the word house hacking, and as I mentioned, we have two 16 year old girls, and so Steve and I are absolutely planning to house hack with whatever college they decide to go to.
We're looking at the city's real estate already to do that for those two. But for my friends who may not know what house hacking means, will you
Jenn Uhen: break that down? Yes. So house hacking is essentially renting part of your home. So I owned a two bedroom condo. I rented out the second bedroom. It reduced my cost,/ both I was earning rent to help pay my mortgage, shared utility cost.
And I think just from like a, a sustainability perspective, like having empty [00:21:00] spaces when. We need places to live. Just doesn't seem like, I mean, how many home offices do we need? Like let's, or sew or craft rooms or just empty space? so house hacking is essentially reducing your overall expenses by renting out
Michelle Fox: of your home.
Nicely explained. Thank you. Uhhuh. Also, you mentioned that you and your hubby have a lot of side hustles. Do you want to highlight any of those or do you wanna just focus on pledges?
Jenn Uhen: It was interesting. I, when I left full-time work in 2017, I was doing some career coaching just by request. I, was doing consulting work and we were traveling in the Airstream, and, it sort of kept evolving into like 2019, I would say.
Like [00:22:00] I have a lot of side hustles that add up to a whole hell of a lot of hustle, but that, I think it's like that hustle word that I'm trying to let go of. So it, it, it has become where we're. Working on multiple revenue streams. So we have, five rental properties and we owned a restaurant for four years, which we're we sold in 2021.
And well, I know we're gonna own a restaurant again in the future. We both do consulting, I property manage our, our places and then the pledges. So, Yeah, but I'm not, I'm not looking to, I'm not looking to work full time, but I'm looking to be very intentional with how I spend my time, money, and energy.
And that's currently how I'm spending my time, money, and energy, and I really enjoy it.
Michelle Fox: Hmm. And speaking of intentional, When I read your [00:23:00] bio and you shared your time in the Airstream, I wanna lean into that story, like how did the idea come about and how long were you all living in an Airstream?
Jenn Uhen: So in 2016 we were renting a two bedroom, two bath place, and. Started watching a bunch of tiny house shows and we're like, that's all we need. Just a tiny house. Tiny houses are really tricky to build, to get permitted, to find the right land. there's a lot of barriers to it and it sort of led us into this idea of RVing and neither of us had wanted an RV prior to this, but we sort of stumbled in and just exploring like different.
Ultimately different financial goals. 'cause I believe that every goal is a financial goal. So what are people doing that is non-traditional? I think we, my husband and I have both done things that are unexpected or non-traditional. I, [00:24:00] I took a sabbatical, before and lived in Peru for six months and just, I think looking at stuff that like.
Where people ask like, or, or people always say like, oh, I wish I could do that. And I'm like, you can, like anyone can live in a trailer. Like you can do this if you get intentional on it and make it happen. And so, I still agree. Yeah. So we started watching these tiny house shows. It evolved to an Airstream.
It was lovely. We lived full-time in an Airstream for over a year. We lived in a trailer in for two winters. in Denver. We found a local off-season spot for the winter. and we tried to get in our Airstream as much as possible. So, we just came back from a three week trip. We've got another three week trip planned in October.
So, yeah, it's, it's possible. Don't, don't let anyone tell you that it's a silly goal or it's not possible because then you're just [00:25:00] going to do what you should all like, and maybe that's the, the theme of this podcast is like, just take the word should out of anything. Like it's not a good word.
Michelle Fox: Yes. And I'll also add.
Things are seasonal. So like perhaps if somebody's listening and myself included, like saying I couldn't possibly do an Airstream right now, it's like, well, that is true for the choices I'm making right now. However, my kiddos, they're growing up fast. And so when I have the time, like Steve and I absolutely have our plans of renting a, well, I say rent.
We'll see if we buy one. But the idea is, living in a Sprinter van for a summer and just traveling cross country like that has been a dream forever. And I have no doubt we'll make that dream happen, but it's just not gonna happen probably in the next year or two. And I'm okay with that 'cause, you know, it just gives me more [00:26:00] time to dream and, and make more plans.
Jenn Uhen: We can always do a version of it. Yes. So before we bought our Airstream, we rented a trailer to just be like, do we like this? Do we like hanging out in campgrounds or doing this? And the answer was yes. And what I loved too about what you said about seasons is, in the pledges community, a couple years ago, one of our members wrote a blog around going.
From freelance back to a full-time job and how she quit her business and how there was a lot of like judgment around like, oh, you failed as a business owner, right? And it was like, no, like I was a business owner for that season. This season is full-time job. Me. And like, never say never, you know, just be open to seasons and chapters and, another one of our members, Just started a new job last month and she read that blog and like that gave her the confidence to feel good about accepting a full-time job.
And not that she was failing as a business owner or a freelancer or a [00:27:00] solopreneur, but that she was making a choice for her life and for her goals. And I think that's so beautiful. So I love that like you're gonna have this nomadic sprinter van chapter in your future. I, I can't wait to see the pictures.
I'm excited
Michelle Fox: for you. Thank you for affirming that. I, I receive it.
This next clip is with my mentor, my teacher, my coach. And I love to tease my secret best friend because yes, I do tend to put her on a pedestal because of the amazing work she has done in the world and continues to do, and that is, none other than Meghan Telpner,
If you want to hear the full replay, check back to episode number 43. you're gonna love this one. As far as timing right now, like this conversation could not have come at a better time, especially as you just [00:28:00] made a huge announcement to the world that you are pausing Academy of Culinary Nutrition.
And the part that I actually really wanna pick up on is, One, the fact that you made that choice and you followed through. Cause I think a lot of us do get stuck sometimes, but two kind of the fallout and how you've been handling that like. Can you speak to that a little bit? Yes, yes. Just as far as people trying to reach in and, and trying to help you with your decision, where I've been watching you, I'm like, no, she's already made her choice.
Meghan Telpner: Yeah. Yes. It's interesting. So I actually made the decision a year ago, March of 2022. I sent out a video message saying, I'm retiring. This is my final year running the Culinary Nutrition expert program. I'm done. But at that time I didn't really have a clear vision of what that meant. I just wanted a way out.
I thought that we would keep running it. I would keep operating the company, someone else would host the weekly classes. my name would disappear from the bottom of the emails and I could [00:29:00] just kind of stay behind the scenes. And what was really interesting in that process, I hired a new operator who, her name's also Michelle, who.
Didn't just become like my unicorn in the company, but she came, became one of my closest dearest friends. I love her to bits and together we had a special alchemy that translated to a powerful energy for our team, and I just didn't want anyone to quit. In the year. Michelle was hired for one year to kind of see through this final year, wrap it up.
And in the process of all of this happening of me relinquishing responsibility to my team of having craft nos, all these really fun things to keep people engaged and feeling a sense of belonging in the company, which in my opinion is what equity inclusion should really be about is belonging and engagement.
we. I didn't wanna quit. I was like, I don't, I don't wanna leave this like this is finally the company I've always wanted to have. And so that's when we launched the Clubhouse, which is our community hub. We have 2,500 members as [00:30:00] of today, and we lo, we did like massive marketing, like we went in. Instead of me scaling back, I was like, let's double down and go all in. And then just before we open registration for the Culinary Nutrition Expert Program for 2023, I spent a week, on vacation by myself. I was with my mom and dad, but if it was effectively, you know, without my child, without having to take care of anyone but me. And typically in the last 15 years, whenever I go away, I come home like raring to go like full of ideas and full of inspiration.
And I came back from this week of hiking and sun tanning and swimming and reading books and signed myself up for a full date tapestry workshop, which made me think, oh dear, this is not good. I had my team meeting the week I returned. The next day we opened registration. [00:31:00] We did not get the results we'd planned for, and we suddenly recognized, okay, we're dealing with a completely different economic climate.
And also I. Different way of thinking than we have for years before, after, you know, the trauma everyone's been through the last three years, the uncertainty we're told we're facing in the, you know, with the recessions and all of those things. And I spent 10 days spending my days. Pivoting our entire strategy and my nights chatting with friends, being like, I don't know if I wanna do this.
I don't know, like, and ultimately, it came to a 0.2 weeks ago from when you and I are chatting that I was in the bath at nine 30 in the morning on a Wednesday, which as an entrepreneur, Not a good sign. It's never good when you have a full day of work ahead in meetings and you're just like, I just need to get in the Epsom salts with some lavender.
And mm-hmm. It just came through. I was like, I, I [00:32:00] can't do this. I mean, I could do it. That's, that's not the right word. Can't. It was, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want the pressure of enrollment and the, what has happened in me scaling my company is the overhead got higher and higher. I had the.
Income of all my entire team on my shoulders, effectively. I mean, not that they weren't, you know, they were working for it, but I just wanted to be free. And ultimately what I was thinking about was my health wasn't improving. I, I have no health problems, but I wasn't on an upwards trajectory. It was starting to like stagnate and little things were starting to creep in. And I like from January 1st, I had this horrible flu as we brought in the new year. And then I got a cold and it went and I got another cold. And my son, like he's, you know, five and a half, they touch and lick everything. They're disgusting little things at that age and everything he got, I was getting [00:33:00] Mm, which is a child, just to clarify is normal.
They're educating their immune systems. You want them catching things, mounting an immune response, letting it be educated. It's important we do not sanitize our child, but I shouldn't have been getting every single thing as severely as I was. And my thought was I'm going into the next major shift in my own biology, which is menopause.
Mm-hmm. And I don't have the time in my day to do what I need to do to go into this next shift and change in my. Greatest optimal health. I was like, so what matters the most? And that one when I was like, I need the time and I don't want it to be that I'm squeezing in my workout at 5:00 AM I was like, I wanna get up and have breakfast with my child, take him to school, and then do my workout when I can enjoy it, when my body's actually a little bit more limber [00:34:00] than it is at 5:00 AM when I'm creaking outta bed after having sat on my computer the whole day.
So all of this. Was part of that decision. I was like, I want to train for menopause. I wanna do activities that take me off of this screen. I wanna do more than staring at this light box and pushing buttons all day. As much wisdom as comes through those buttons, I was like, I wanna be in my garden and I wanna do art and I wanna like, I like I made my shirt.
I like sewing clothes. There's so much that I love doing. My parents are aging. I wanna spend time with them. Have long conversations. And so the hardest, hardest thing about this decision, which I think most people did not realize with my announcement, was that I had to lay off my team. So I'm not pausing the entire school.
We're pausing our flagship program, but that flagship program generates what 90% of the revenue for the school and most everyone's jobs are based [00:35:00] around selling and delivering. And supporting this program. So that was hard. I hadn't known or anticipated how much these beautiful people love me, love the company, love their jobs, and love the community. That's what has been heartbreaking, is that I care so deeply about them. They care so deeply about me and. You know, I had to break up with them. It's like the end of a relationship and we're all breaking up with what our purpose has been in the work that we do in delivering this program. And so I went through the stages of grief where like, you know, I broke the news to them on a Wednesday, Wednesday night.
I was literally up in bed at one 30 in the morning like. Having sweating and writing notes and trying to figure out in my mind how I could take it back and make it work. How could we still deliver [00:36:00] this? And ultimately, the next day, I was like, this doesn't solve the root of it. And I kept being like, well, we could do this, or we could do that, or we could try this.
And then I just. Like just accepted it. I was like, no, I can stay in this tunnel of uncertainty and indecision as long as I choose to. Or I say, this is the decision. What are the decisions that now need to be made based on it? And so that's the way I went forward. I also called a death doula, who I know from a mastermind group that I'm in. And we talked about grief and we talked about how I can help my team through this because that's what it is. It's like you feel great about it and then you know, grief sneaks up on you when you least expect it. And I, what I do is part of my identity and it's like, who am I without this? So there was all of those questions, but ultimately the [00:37:00] overwhelming feeling.
Was, I'm free and you should never. Feel like you are in a cage of your own creation, which 99% of us are, we cage ourselves with the jobs we choose. I caged myself with a company I created. We take away and steal our time freedom by being on social media all the time, or binge watching television shows or eating food we know doesn't serve us.
There's so many ways we build these confinements and I'm just, you know, clipping the wires. And I'm like, alright, I don't have to censor what I wanna say, what I wanna share. I don't have to do anything. I don't need approval on or for anything, and not everyone's gonna come on this journey with me. I fully recognize that.
And that's great. That's just fine cuz I am not here to please people. That's [00:38:00] not my job. My job is to inspire and guide those that seek my guidance. And that's where it begins and that's where it ends. And the ultimate, ultimate decision maker was the fact that. I was trying to personify who I was 10, 12 years ago when I wrote UnDiet, when I wrote the UnDiet Cookbook, when I created the Culinary Nutrition expert program.
And I just didn't wanna do that anymore. Like Michelle, you, you've posted a video of you teaching a room full of people on healthy snack ideas. And I wa I was like, I loved how excited you were about it and I loved that you were fully qualified and confident and empowered to do it. And I also knew that no amount of money could get me in that room doing the same thing cuz I've been doing it for 15 years and I wanna do something else.
I would love to be in that room, but there's other [00:39:00] things I'd love to share and I, there's 3000 people empowered to do that work if that's what they choose to do.
Michelle Fox: And I'm so glad you mentioned the 3000 plus number because you just spoke about your process and the process you're walking your team through.
And I really wanna reflect back to you as a student and as a follower of your work, that what I'm truly hearing is permission. And by you standing in your truth and listening to what your heart's desire is, That gives the rest of us permission to do the same. Yeah. And I wanna read a quote that you made public recently.
You said this decision had nothing to do with a personal or health crisis and everything to do with wanting life to be a little different right now. And Megan, I have to tell you, I literally started crying when I read that because I'm like, oh, like [00:40:00] again, this is your journey. But I actually felt seen as I was reading that.
Mm-hmm. I'm This gives me more permission to hit the pause button and just to ask like, what do I truly want to do right now? Yeah. And at the time of this recording, there are a few transitions I'm going through. Not quite ready to, share them yet, but when I do, please know, Megan, that your voice has helped me to kind of.
Just give myself a little bit more confidence to even just look at the desires of my heart. So
Meghan Telpner: thank you. Thank you.
Michelle Fox: So from one queen of boundaries, yes. We just heard from Meghan Telpner to another is my good friend Brenda Rigney. Fun fact, both these ladies are Canadians. So Brenda Rigney she was with me in episode 20. You are gonna love this episode as well. So sit back, listen to this last clip.
But then of course, don't forget to come back next week where you get to [00:41:00] hear five more amazing conversations.
Brenda Rigney: Boundaries don't restrict us. They just help us get in more into choice around the things that we want.
Michelle Fox: Yes. As soon as you said that a certain client came to mind, who is?
I would say, The stereotypical mom in that she is putting her two children ahead of her. She's putting her husband's needs ahead of her. And so what, she comes back to me often saying, Michelle, I understand what you're saying about the gluten and the dairy and the sugar. She's like, I just don't have time after I've made their meals.
And I'm always like, no, but, but, but stop like . And of course I won't go into detail about what I share with her. Mm-hmm. I'll. I guess use that as an example to ask you when you, cause I imagine you probably hear it frequently with your clients as well, of reasons which I lovingly call excuses for not putting ourselves [00:42:00] first.
And I love the way that you use the word boundaries, cuz I feel like the more boundaries we can have to protect. Our highest and best, then we're gonna be that much better for our families and for our friends, and for our partners, for those of us who have partners. But what, in like, in practical terms, what, what would a, a healthy boundary look like to you?
Brenda Rigney: Hmm. well, a healthy boundary, first of all is number one, knowing who you are. Mm-hmm. . So I, when I talk about boundaries, I think of boundaries as in rings, right? And so, in the center of all those rings, and just so people from a vigil standpoint, if they're listing. Imagine yourself in the middle. And then there's all these rings of connections of people that you know, people like, again, obviously family, friends, neighbors, colleagues at work.
Could be a vendor, a supplier, someone that you know, you do business with. You know, there's all these people. that you're connected to. And you know, sometimes people talk about it like degrees of separation, like Kevin Bacon, right. Six degrees of separation, but Kevin Bacon, it's like that. And [00:43:00] so you're at the center.
So the first thing around boundaries that I think is absolutely critical that I always go to people about is when you wanna set a boundary with, I don't know, your neighbor or your Aunt Gladys, who likes to talk about your weight with you at, you know, a holiday dinner. Oh wow, you've lost weight. Oh wow, you've gained weight this year.
Thank you. I'll let you know , you know, I'll, I'll let you know when I need your advice, but to be able to even have those conversations with those people that you need to set some boundaries with. You first need to take stock of who you are. Mm-hmm. So I always go back to my clients and like, you know, who are you?
Like, define yourself, right? And. And knowing like what's important to you? what are your values? What are your beliefs? What are your experiences? What are your skills, your talents, your abilities? Knowing those things is absolutely critical because then when something doesn't feel right, you know exactly what doesn't feel right, and you know what you need to do next.
Right, because sometimes I think these messages that sometimes we hear these sort of boundary infractions or these violators when they say sometimes these things to us and they're, they could [00:44:00] be people that like love us, they're family. It's not like this is like some nasty like hater on Facebook or something.
I'm just talking about like again, they may say something to you not knowing that it affects you, but also you not knowing it affects you because you don't take stock of who you. So when you know who you are, you can then declare it to people and then people might say, Hmm, I maybe not say that to you because that might offend you, that might, you know, make you upset about something.
So that's where I think a lot of times boundaries get frayed, is that when we don't know who we are and then we don't know what we're saying yes to, what we should be saying no to. And neither does anybody else that's around us. So they may say some things or do some things that impact your boundaries, but they didn't know because you never told.
Michelle Fox: And I'm also hearing the word accountability. Comment up in that Oh, description as well. Because we have to be accountable for doing the work to find out who we are. And I believe, and correct [00:45:00] me if I'm wrong, but the name of your business, three unique, so sounds like that is. In the name of what you do, you help us define our unique qualities.
And before I mess that up, tell us, tell us more about the three uniques. Yeah.
Brenda Rigney: Well, the whole point of three uniques is that I do believe that people have these strengths. So, I mean, I follow like the same sort of doctrines of teaching of like Marcus Buckingham or a strengths finder, where it's like, you know, go after and discover your strengths.
I think a lot of times in organizations too, they look after, the employee in their development. But not necessarily in, , in, in heightening their strengths. Like, you know, if, if we go back to sort of performance review cultures or, , strategy planning, it's always about what we didn't do and what we could do better versus what we're already doing really well and how do we maximize that.
So the whole idea behind three uniques is that we first identify the sort of like this like sort of sweet spot in the middle that makes us like, like sort of pops off the page as far as what our uniques are. But the first thing we wanna do is identify our skills, talents, and abilities. So all those things that we know we're good at.
Like I play the flute, I'm really good at making blueberry muffins. [00:46:00] I'm really good at strategy planning. Like all the things in our life, not just work, but also in our relationships with people. I'm really good at managing the household, you know, finances. Awesome. like put all those strength, like those strengths down as far as your skills, your talents, your abilities.
Then you look at your values, beliefs, and passions. Like I believe in you know, raising, or elevating, the lives of indigenous people in Canada. I believe in, that my daughter should have full access to education and whatever means it is to, for them to be successful. Like whatever those things are, like what do you stand for?
And then the third area is your experiences, right? So our past, our present, and soon to be future experiences, things that we've gone through in our life. Mm-hmm. , daughter of like single, you know, of a single mom. , parents divorced when I was two. Like those are experiences that I either fell into or created for myself, but they've brought me to where I am today and they've enabled me to become strong in some things.
What are those things when I know about those different areas and then kind of what makes 'em up in the middle? It. [00:47:00] So this is where I go align to your purpose. It's like if I know what I'm uniquely gifted at doing, then how about I just do that all the time? And I do it in everything I do because I'll talk to some people and they'll be like, oh yeah, I'm really strong at doing this.
And I'm like, great. How's that show up in work? Oh, it doesn't. I just kind of, I don't, like nobody at work knows that I know how to do that, and I'm like, huh, okay. And then what about this strength over here? Oh yeah, I'm really good at that and that shows up in work, but I don't bring that home. I'm like, Hmm, interesting.
What if you just stopped being different things to different people and just uniquely showed up as your. In everything that you did, in everything that you spoke about, in every interaction that you had with people in every work or personal relationship, you were just Brenda. You were just Michelle. And I don't say just as in like that's just not enough.
It's more like you can just be Michelle anywhere you wanna be and. Then when you're saying yes to things, it's like a heck yes. Because it's like, it's a universal Yes. In [00:48:00] all areas of your life, your health, your wealth, your community impact, your work or your business and your relationships. It's not a maybe over here or no there or a yes, and you gotta juggle all of that.
Michelle Fox: You are speaking my language. I love that. So, so far we've talked about being clear or at. Exploring your passion. We've talked about having the boundaries. We've talked about being uniquely you, so how can we put all that together to help people who are listening to really take massive action on their goals?
I know this time of year a lot of us are looking at improving our health. And or just doing things better than we did in 2022. So do you have some tools for us that we could take away as far as taking massive action towards, yeah, making new choices?
Brenda Rigney: Well, first of all, when I say massive action, massive action to me is even just like one.
Degree different or one percentage, [00:49:00] one step different than what you did yesterday. Mm-hmm. Mathematically that is massive action. Right? Like, you know, it's like, it's like if I did two things yesterday and I do one more thing today, that's massive action. , and I think sometimes people get tripped up in the word massive and think, oh my gosh, I have to be doing something at the Mother Teresa level of massive action.
It's just like, no, whatever you do today that's different than what you did yesterday is massive action. The second thing is you take massive action from the future, so you need to define what your vision is before you start taking action on anything. What's my vision as far as my health? So like five years from now, 10 years from now, how does my body feel?
how does my mind feel? What am I thinking? , how do I navigate through tough situations and good situations? Mm-hmm. What does pleasure feel like? What does like intimacy feel like? What does like feeling great in my dreams feel like? Like whatever those things are right? Like, declare those things for yourself and see yourself in that future.
Mm-hmm. . Because oftentimes what happens is people take action from the past. [00:50:00] Well, I'm feeling sluggish. Oh, I'm overweight. I don't feel good in my jeans. My husband doesn't look at me, you know, the way that he used to do in my twenties, like whatever those things are. But we're looking towards the past and we're taking some type of action from a past result.
And while that is informative, and yes, it's data, but that's all it is, it's just data. If we had something that we can be inspired by, which is like this vision of where we're going, like, then it's more like, okay, why am I doing. Mm. I'm not just losing weight or eating better or whatever it is that our goal is because of something that I did wrong in the past, but it's like there's a why behind why I wanna do this for the future.
I want to feel, I want to, you know, eat more greens and ancient grains and whatever it is so that I can keep up with my kids when we're walking around the lake this summer. Hmm, great. Awesome. Because I wanna spend more time with my kids in the outdoors, and it makes me feel really good when we're [00:51:00] doing those things together, like, great, that's a great why.
And now when you're thinking about this versus that, or doing this activity or that activity, now you can be in choice around it. Versus begrudgingly doing it because it's something from the past. So I think those are two things really around massive action is one is one thing that you do today will be different than what you did yesterday.
Michelle Fox: That's massive action. Ah. That was so amazing to reminisce. I feel like I'm reconnecting with these speakers and these guests. Thank you, community. Again, I cannot say thank you enough for helping us to keep this show going. It only gets better. Richer conversations continue to get deeper. So thank you for listening. Thank you for giving me your feedback, whether that's in the reviews, which wink, wink, I would absolutely be so grateful.
If you could just take literally just two minutes, give us an Apple Podcast review [00:52:00] because when you do that, it helps us go higher in the rankings, which means more. Can hear these conversations. So Apple Podcasts go find us Nourish with Michelle Fox. I would be entirely grateful and of course that means you're helping us.
You're being part of our mission to help heal and create healthier communities one person at a time. And then last but not least, it's not too late to leave us a voicemail. If you perhaps want to have your voice on next week's episode and or maybe you don't want your voice on, just let us know in the voicemail, but feel free to give us feedback that way as well.
And that phone number again is 7 2 0 2 5 8 6 3 7 2. All right. I cannot wait to keep this party going next week. Let us know what you thought about this week's episode by calling, by leaving [00:53:00] comments on social media, or of course, by leaving a review on Apple Podcast.
So please stay tuned for future episodes. Let's just give a nice big cheers. I've got my water sitting here. A nice cheers to another year of growing together, of being more curious, asking the right questions, and being open to receiving our answers. Thank you for walking this path with me. Thank you.
Michelle Fox: Thanks so much for listening to Nourish. Have you been driving, doing laundry or walking around the neighborhood? Sweet. I've got show notes for you. Hop on over to michellefox.com/podcast. When you are ready. I will let you know that on the page, you will find resources to support what you just learned on today's show. And then of course you can grab some health supportive freebies [00:54:00] as well.
If you enjoyed this episode, I would be honored. If you would leave a review on whichever podcast platform you are listening on. It will help me with my mission to build healthier communities. One person at a time and it will help you because you will be part of that mission.
I'll be back next week and I encourage you to keep showing up for yourself and know that you and your health matter. Big love!
