WELLBEING - What Kayla Itsines, Dr. Libby, Emma Isaacs & Emmy Lou taught me!

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Summary - 

When you find yourself sitting in a room with some of Australia’s most influential women, magic is bound to happen. In this episode, I’m sharing some of the unforgettable wisdom bombs that these absolute super-humans dropped when I met them for the very first time. 

Things I Mention - 

  • How Emmy Lou knows that no one cares as much as we think

  • What Global CEO & Mum of soon-to-be 6 thinks of work/ life balance

  • Dr. Libby explains how our emotions play a big role in us doing what we do, when we know what we know

  • The one thing Kayla Itsines thinks we should all do to boost our confidence 

PLUS, how I went from a networking novice to a networking enthusiast after my first women’s only event. 

Links & Helpful Resources - 

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss out on any of my practical tips & tricks and if you enjoyed this episode, please leave me a rating and a review? Thanks! 

A couple of years back, I attended my first Business Chicks event. If you’re not familiar with Business Chicks, it is Australia’s largest and most influential community for women and they host these incredible events all over Australia where they invite some of the most inspiring women in business to just sit & chat with the audience. Honestly, I’m an introvert at heart and networking of any kind usually makes me cringe but this event was epic. After two days of listening to 50 or so women speak, I left feeling more empowered than I've ever felt before so if attending one of these events is on your to-do list, definitely do it, you won’t regret it!  

Anyway, the line-up of speakers for the event that I attended was off the charts. Think Sarah Wilson, Emma Carey, Karina Irby, Eleanor Pendleton, Jasmine Dowling, Elyse Knowles, Justine Cullen, just to name a few! It was 4 women in particular though that really left an impression on me - Kayla Itsines, Dr Libby, Emma Isaacs and Emmy Lou. They shared stories, insights, struggles and truths that have stuck with me ever since. Truth be told, I wasn’t even familiar with who Emmy Lou was before this event but her ability to capture my attention was obviously very successful.  

Now I’m a big believer in that the more you give, the more you receive which is why I’m so passionate about helping other women, supporting them, cheering them on and sharing any resources or valuable tid bits where I can so in this episode, I plan to do exactly that. I’m going to let you in on some of the wisdom bombs that came out of the mouths of these 4 women that I constantly think about more than 2 years later …

Let’s start with Emmy Lou and her advice was this - No One Cares As Much As You Think.

Women care too much about what other people (particularly, what other women) think and as a result, it stops us from being true to ourselves and often we pretend to be someone we're not because of this. Now more than ever though is it important to just be you. Everyone is too consumed by their own lives and their own shit to care - no one cares what you look like at the beach, no one cares how your skin looks today, no one cares that you have stretch marks. Dance like no one is watching because they're not, they're all on their phones. 

How good is that. So damn true!

Let’s move on to Emma Isaacs. Emma is the founder and Global CEO of Business Chicks, she also has five children and is pregnant with her 6th and spends most of her time flying back and forth from LA to Sydney, so it’s safe to say she is one busy woman. Her advice was this - You Can Have It All, Just Not At Once.

Emma believes that the key to juggling it all is to realise that you can have everything you want in life, just not at once. Emma has 2 buckets, her business bucket and her family bucket and this is where she puts all of her time and energy. She rarely sees with her friends, she doesn't exercise as much as she'd like too and she doesn't cook - she simply doesn't have the time and energy to do all of those things at once so she decides what is important to her at this stage of her life and she focuses on those 2x things only!

OK, Dr. Libby - I developed the biggest girl crush on Dr. Libby after this event. She is a Biochemist and a Holistic Nutritionist and an absolute wealth of knowledge when it comes to women's health. She took to the stage to chat about women's hormones and the negative effect that they can have on our health when they become imbalanced. There were countless aha moments listening to her speak, but her explanation about 'Why we do what we do, When we know what we know' really hit home.

There are almost always emotional reasons behind why we often do things to our mind and body when we know that the outcome of doing these things is a negative one. So to prove this,, Dr. Libby shared one of her clients stories. She said that during one of her health events, a woman in her 60's sat down in front of her and confessed that she wanted to lose weight and that she was sick and tired of binge eating chocolate cake after dinner each night. From the get go, Dr. Libby knew that the woman was doing this for emotional reasons and that those emotions were far too strong to disregard on her own, so Dr. Libby started digging for more information. The woman went on to tell Dr. Libby that she grew up in Ireland with her father and her 4 brothers. Her mother had passed away when she was young. At 14yrs of age, her father shipped her off to N.Z. to live with her Aunt and after having no contact since she left, had no idea why her father wanted to care for brothers, but not her.

Dr. Libby could see that the woman had been living with this emotional burden for her entire adult life and suggested that instead of looking at her situation through a negative lense, that perhaps she might like to consider that her father shipped her off because he wanted her to receive a better education in a less remote part of the world or perhaps he wanted her to grow up with the influence of a woman in her life given that she was approaching adulthood. Dr. Libby then asked if it were possible for her to get in contact with her father after all these years and ask him why he made that decision all those years ago ... the woman eventually got in contact with her father and so it turns out, his reasons for sending her away were exactly as Dr. Libby prescribed and it was in fact, his love for her that led to that decision. Her father had loved her so much that he wanted her to experience a better and more fulfilling life - one that he knew he could never provide.

It was from this one conversation, that the woman went on to lose a staggering amount of weight and not once did she turn to cake again as a way of suppressing her emotions, she learnt instead to enjoy it for what it was, a treat whenever the occasion arised.

For 50+ years, that woman held onto a heavy amount of emotional baggage and every night after dinner, those emotions came floating to the surface. As a form of self-sabotage and a lack of self-worth, those emotions showed up in what is commonly known as 'emotional eating'. So if you're listening to this and know that you are constantly doing something or consuming something that you know has a negative impact on your health and wellbeing goals, perhaps there's more to it. Could there be an emotional reason behind why you are doing what you are doing, when you know what you know? 

Powerful stuff! 

Argh Kayla Itsines, what an inspiration she is! Her advice was this - say ‘Thank You So Much'.

As women we are very quick to turn down a compliment. If someone says 'I love your top', it's very normal for us to turn around and say something along the lines of 'oh this old thing, it was only a few dollars’. Kayla believes that the single best thing we can do for our confidence, our mindset and our self love is to truly accept and own a compliment. So next time a compliment is sent your way, smile and say 'thank you so much'.

And to finish this episode, I want to share the one thing that I learnt from every woman who spoke at this event and that was to say 'YES' … Stop limiting yourself to opportunity. Say 'YES' more and make a conscious effort to put yourself in situations where an opportunity could present itself. Every woman up on that stage contributed their success and where they are today to doing this exact thing! So until next week, remember this - no one cares, you only have 2 buckets, there’s usually more to what you’re doing if you know you shouldn’t be doing it and don’t forget to say ‘thank you so much”

Elisha CasagrandeFEEL BE LOOK, Brisbane Health Coach, Brisbane Personal Trainer, Business Chicks, Kayla Itsines, Emmy Lou, Emma Isaacs, Dr. Libby Weaver