Ep 1: What’s Your Why?
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This is exciting. A podcast. A dream come true.
Do you have Crohn’s or colitis?
Are you a mom?
Do you want to get your IBD into remission so you can thrive in motherhood and thrive in life?
Heck yeah…
Well then, welcome to the Cheeky Podcast for Moms with IBD, a safe space where moms with IBD connect, explore powerful tools for healing, and transform our lives so we can say goodbye to the struggle of IBD and hello to symptom free living.
In this introductory episode, we explore the why behind the podcast and the why behind your healing journey. There’s many reasons why you might want to be free from the shackles of IBD and many reasons why taking your life back is your #1 priority. They’re all good reasons—no preconceived notions and no judgement. Wait until I tell you my why! Perhaps you can relate.
If you’ve been struggling to get your IBD under control, check out this episode. Be ready for a little introspection and a whole lota self love.
Episode at a Glance:
- [2:00] Learn how to carve out your own healing path, by keeping healthy by whatever means necessary, whether it’s finding a gut healing diet that works for you, making positive lifestyle changes using mindset techniques or only using medication when it’s absolutely necessary, is the key to find your health and a balance in your life.
- [5:18] The power that comes when you know your body so well that no matter what provider you allow into your sacred health space, you come to the table as partners, partners on your healing journey.
- [7:50] What’s your why? Why do you want heal your IBD? There’s no judgment here. If I can admit that my why is me, you can allow yourself a safe space to be true to your why too. And whether you get crystal clear on it today or you need some time to let it marinate, it’s all good, mama.
- [9:00] The Cheeky Podcast for Moms with IBD is your safe space to finally find a tribe of moms who are just like you. We’ll laugh, we’ll cry, we’ll be honest, raw and real, and above all, we’re going take this journey together, and we’ll explore ways we can heal, and we’ll put the power back into our hands, and we’re going do it like only a mom can.
- [10:04] One last thing, if you’re still with me, and if you are, you’re definitely my kind of girl, we have to get to know each other better. Go to karynhaley.com, and schedule your very own free 30-minute IBD root cause troubleshooting session with me where we discuss the challenges you’ve been having, we set goals to help you move forward, and we talk about how we can work together to help you get your life back. It’s a power-packed 30 minutes.
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What’s Your Why?
[music]00:05 INTRO You’re listening to The Cheeky Podcast for moms with IBD, a safe space for moms with Crohn’s and colitis connect, explore powerful tools for healing and transform our lives to thrive in motherhood and in life. I’m your host, Karyn Haley, IBD health coach, integrative wellness enthusiast and mom to three outstanding kids. After having Crohn’s disease for 30 years and working as a health advocate exclusively with IBD clients for the last 10 years, I know it’s time to bring the types of candid conversations I have with my clients out into the open. It’s our time to go on an IBD healing journey and do it like only a mom can. Let’s do this.
[music]00:51 KARYN Well, hey, hey there mom friend, and welcome to the very first episode of The Cheeky Podcast for Moms with IBD. How cool is this? I’ve been a podcast junkie for as long as I can remember, so it’s really a thrill to bring this podcast to you, especially in a topic that’s nearest and dearest to my heart. I honestly don’t know where this endeavor is gonna take us, but one thing’s certain, we’re gonna take this journey together. What could possibly be wrong with that? Now, when it comes to Inflammatory Bowel Disease, I’ve gotta tell you girlfriend, I have been through all the highs and the lows on this roller coaster of sickness and health. From my first 20 years with Crohn’s, with every anti-inflammatory and immune modulating medication you can imagine just being thrown at me to see what worked, almost like if you can imagine this, throwing cooked spaghetti on a wall to see what type of noodle sticks best. Spoiler alert, not a single one of those worked.
Carve out the healing path that works for you.
02:00: That first 20 years also left me enduring multiple surgeries to remove portions of my small intestine while I continued to do everything my doctor told me to do. Let’s contrast that with the last 12 years where I finally learned how to carve out my own healing path, where I kept healthy by whatever means necessary, whether it’s finding a gut healing diet that works for me, making positive lifestyle changes using mindset techniques or only using medication when it’s absolutely necessary, I found a healthy balance between all of these modalities that tend to work for me. And I still remember, I still remember that fateful day, that day that changed everything for me when my gastroenterologist… That’s a hard one to say. When my gastroenterologist, who I trusted with my life, when she told me, “There’s nothing else I can do for you.”
03:02: Have you had a moment like that with your doctor before where the news is just so abrupt and so decidedly negative? If you’re listening to this podcast, I’m betting you know that moment well. It’s full of feelings of being discouraged, and defeated, and dejected, and in that moment, in that moment, I felt all those things for about 30 minutes. And after 30 minutes, my vision, it all of a sudden it got clear, it was almost like a blurry camera lens you look through and it suddenly finds its focus. I know that if… I know, you know what I’m talking about there, it finds its focus instantaneously, and it was instantaneous that moment. In that moment, there was an absolute clarity, there was an absolute clarity where I decided that never again, never again would I be uneducated about my illness. I would never again work with a medical provider where they were the all knowing guru on high, the only one that had the power.
04:11: I would never again be little Miss, “do whatever you’re told.” And if I’m being totally honest with you… Totally honest here, the truth is that it really wasn’t the doctor’s fault, not really. They were just following their own Hippocratic Oath as a doctor, they were trying to help me in the best way that they knew how, but in that moment, I realized that this model, it would no longer work for me, the doctor on high and the patient is the royal subject, I knew that if I was gonna claw and crawl my way out of this illness and be able to thrive in life, in life, I was gonna thrive in life, I would have to take the control back, I’d have to take control of the wheel, I would have to put myself in charge of my own fate, I would have to flip the switch and come to my doctor’s appointments with knowledge about IBD, with a deeper understanding of how healing actually works, not sickness, but healing, how healing works.
Becoming partners with your health care provider, instead of giving away your power, will set you free.
05:18: And most importantly, with power, the power that comes when you know your body so well that no matter what provider you allow into your sacred health space, you come to the table as partners, partners on your healing journey. Even in the last 12 years that have mostly been positive for me in terms of IBD remission, there have been some challenging times as well. I’ve heard of people who heal their Crohn’s or their colitis and never looked back, for better or worse, that’s not me. Getting my IBD in check is a 24/7 job, and most of the time, I thrive, and sometimes I falter. Through it all though, I never give up, never, because 12 years ago, I got clear on my why and my why was me, my future, and the life vision I had for myself, and it didn’t include me being at the mercy of this invisible illness.
06:24: Now, as a mom, I know you might think that my why is selfish, having a why that’s me, especially when we’re moms, we’re taught that everyone comes before us and oh, the guilt that we feel when we put ourselves first, but when I finally realized my why was me, my health and my life, I realized that when I took the time to empower myself, educate myself, support myself with the rest I needed when I needed it, and change… Pretty much changed the trajectory of my healing journey, when I did that, then I could give my best self to those around me, taking the power back, empowering myself, choosing me as my why on this healing journey, it gave me the strength to be the best version that I could be, the best me that I could be, and by being the best me, it makes me a better mom and a better wife, sister, daughter, friend, worker, advocate, human, on this journey of life. So while you’re listening to my story and this introductory episode of The Cheeky Podcast for Moms, my hope is that my why plants a seed for you to start thinking about your why.
Be honest with yourself– what’s your why?
07:50: What’s your why? Why do you wanna heal your IBD? There’s no judgment here. If I did admit that my why is me, you can allow yourself a safe space to be true to your why too. And whether you get crystal clear on it today or you need some time to let it marinate, it’s all good, mama. It’s all good. It took me 20 years literally, to finally figure out my why, and I know that it won’t take you that long. If what I’ve been talking about today resonates with you, you’re gonna love this podcast, it’s all about helping you find the power, the knowledge and the support that only a mom can give. As we go on this IBD healing journey together. We’ll dive deep into the pros and the cons of all the gut healing diets, we’re gonna get real on lifestyle changes that actually work to calm your symptoms, we’ll explore our mindset and our beliefs and how they impact our illness, and we’re gonna do it all through the lens of a mom. The Cheeky Podcast for Moms with IBD is your safe space to finally find a tribe of moms who are just like you. We’ll laugh, we’ll cry, we’ll be honest, raw and real, and above all, we’re gonna take this journey together, and we’ll explore ways we can heal, and we’ll put the power back into our hands, and we’re gonna do it like only a mom can.
09:26: Thank you so much for joining me today and for listening to today’s episode, when it comes to IBD, I know there’s a lot of resources out there, and I’m truly honored that you chose the The Cheeky Podcast to get your IBD information today. If you found this information helpful, please give us a rating and review, it helps other moms find the podcast and see what we’re doing over here to help IBD moms everywhere. And if you feel called to do it, share this podcast with an IBD mom who you know could really use an uplifting message today, ’cause that’s what we’re all about over here at the The Cheeky Podcast.
Are you ready to take your healing journey to the next level?
[music]10:04: One last thing, if you’re still with me, and if you are, you’re definitely my kinda girl, we have to get to know each other better. If you’re tired of living on the hamster wheel of IBD with all the ups and downs between players and remission, if you’re struggling to get control of your abdominal pain, gas, bloating, diarrhea, and other troubling IBD symptoms, go to the website, it’s karynhaley.com, and my mom had to be just a little bit different, spelled my name with a Y, so it’s K-A-R-Y-N-H-A-L-E-Y.com, and schedule your very own free 30-minute IBD root cause troubleshooting session with me where we discuss the challenges you’ve been having, we set goals to help you move forward, and we talk about how we can work together to help you get your life back. It’s a power-packed 30 minutes. You don’t have to live in IBD status quo, there’s so much that can be done to transform your life so you can thrive in motherhood and thrive with IBD. I’ve seen my clients walk this path and it gives me so much joy to take that journey with them.
11:11: My entire coaching practice is run online, so you never have to leave your house and you never have to get out of your jam and your yoga pants for us to work together. You know I’m wearing them too. If you’re ready to take your first amazing step towards healing, I’m ready to chat with you. Schedule your free 30-minute IBD root cause troubleshooting sesh today at karynhaley.com. Click on the Work With Me tab, and I’ll see you soon. It’s important to note that the information in this podcast and in this episode is for general information purposes only and not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The statements made in the The Cheeky Podcast for moms with IBD, either by me or my guests, is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Before implementing any new treatment protocols, do yourself a favor and consult your physician first. Thank you so much for listening, for being here, for saving this space for us to spend some time together until we chat again, I’m wishing you a cheeky and healthy IBD journey.