January 20, 2024 • 48 mins
This is the first episode in a two part series on the urgently important topic of emotional wellness. In this episode of Wellness Connection MD, Dr. McMinn and Coach Lindsay Matthews discuss the importance of emotional wellness with guest Emily Hudak. Emily is a certified holistic health coach, certified dietary supplement professional, with a master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She is also the founder of Whole With Emily where she supports clients in their mental, emotional, and whole-body health with a holistic approach, utilizing lifestyle medicine to significantly improve emotional well-being. She is passionate about wellness, and has made it her life's work. Together Dr. McMinn, Lindsay, and Emily explore the impact of emotional wellness on overall health and address the alarming statistics on emotional distress in our society. Emily shares her experiences in the mental health field and the challenges of integrating holistic wellness into traditional mental health care. We hope that you enjoy the show.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, this is Dr McMinn and welcome to Wellness
Connection MD.
Have you been feeling a bitemotionally out of balance these
days?
Well, we have just the podcastfor you.
This is the first in a two-partseries on emotional wellness
with our expert guest, EmilyHuedek.
Emily is a budding youngsuperstar in the wellness space
and you're going to love her.
We'll take a deep dive into whyour emotions are so frazzled
(00:20):
these days and how we can takeback control.
By the end of this podcast,you'll have practical solutions
to help you become emotionallyoptimized.
And now on to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome to the Wellness Connection MD podcast
with Dr McMinn and Coach Lindsay, where we bring you the latest
up-to-date, evidence-basedinformation on a wide variety of
health and wellness topics,along with practical take-home
solutions.
Dr McMinn is an integrated andfunctional MD and Lindsay
Matthews is her registered nurseand IIN certified health coach.
(00:53):
Together, our goal is to helpyou optimize your health and
wellness in mind, body andspirit.
To see a list of all of ourpodcasts, visit McMinnMDcom and
to stay up-to-date on the latesttopics, be sure to subscribe to
our podcast on your favoritepodcast player so that you'll be
notified when future episodescome out.
The discussions continue.
(01:13):
These podcasts for educationalpurposes only and are not
intended to diagnose or treatany disease.
Please do not apply any of thisinformation without approval
from your personal doctor.
And now on to the show with DrMcMinn and Coach Lindsay.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Hello and welcome to the Wellness Connection MD, the
evidence-based podcast on allthings wellness.
We thank you so much forjoining us today.
I'm Dr Jim McMinn and I'm heretoday with our co-host, nurse,
bff and certified health coach,ms Lindsay Matthews.
Good morning, coach.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Good morning, Dr Mac.
It's good to be back on theshow with our listeners and
continuing on with our under ournew name.
We're excited.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, and as always, we come to you to bring you
commercial-free, honest,unbiased, up-to-date,
evidence-based,outcomes-oriented information,
along with practical solutionsin order to empower you to
overcome your health carechallenges, to optimize your
wellness and mind, body andspirit and, as Coach Lindsay
said last time, to be a greatcaptain of your ship as far as
(02:13):
wellness and health.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yes, today, listeners , we're going to be discussing a
very important but oftenoverlooked aspect of health care
, and that's emotional wellness.
We have with us today a specialguest who's going to enlighten
us on this topic, and we're justreally excited to dig into this
.
It's really a fundamentalsubject to overall wellness.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
And yes, our guest today is Ms Emily Hudeck.
Emily is a certified holistichealth coach and a certified
dietary supplement professionalwith a master's degree in
clinical mental healthcounseling.
She is the founder of Hole withEmily, where she educates and
she sees clients to supporttheir mental and whole body
health through nutrition, stressmanagement, sleep, self-care,
(03:00):
gut health, exercise and so muchmore.
I love Emily's passion andenthusiasm about our topic today
.
She once told me that wellnesssets my soul on fire.
I thought that was just so cool, so I'll just be cooking
together on the subject, Can'twe?
So anyway, we're so excited tobring her passion, her knowledge
, her experience right to you,our listeners today on the
(03:21):
Wellness Section, MD podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
But first listeners, let's just take care of those
housekeeping things.
Our podcast is commercial freeand so that you won't be
bothered by sometimes thosedisingenuous ads, so we want to
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Speaker 1 (03:36):
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Just consider making acontribution to help us keep
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Speaker 3 (03:45):
There are a couple ways that you can contribute.
First, if you buy nutritionalsupplements, then consider
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You can see a link to theFullscript in the show notes or
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(04:07):
It's really simple Just clickon the link and they'll guide
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Speaker 1 (04:19):
And, lastly, you can make a contribution directly to
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And thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
And now on to the show.
Welcome Emily.
Welcome to the WellnessConnection MD.
Thanks for being here with ustoday.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Thank you so much, lindsay and Dr McMahon.
I am very excited to be here.
Thank you for that warm welcomeand, yeah, I'm excited to
discuss this topic.
It's so important.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
We're really thrilled to chat with you today, emily,
and to pick your brain aboutthis topic on emotional wellness
, and over the years we'vetalked over and over on the show
about things like mind, body,spirit, health, and we're really
happy to finally address thishead on with this issue of
emotional wellness, with a bonafide expert in the field like
you.
One of the fundamentals to ourapproach of health care has
always been what we calloptimization, and certainly a
(05:13):
person cannot be optimized if heor she has things like profound
depression or anger or anxiety,for instance, even if she has a
perfectly normally functioningphysical body.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
So, yes, I absolutely 110% agree with how important
it is for us to optimize ourwellness, and within a culture
that places a lot of emphasis onphysical health physical
wellness it's unfortunate thatwe're not meeting that same
level of emphasis and importanceon our emotional wellness,
because it's really theintersection of both of these
(05:44):
areas that allows us to feel ourbest.
So, you know, I think,progressively removing in the
right direction.
However, there's still a lot ofwork to be done and a lot of
education to be had around thistopic, and I am hopeful to do my
part in this lifetime.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Well, that's great, that's great.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
I love that.
That's a passion that you haveand you're really bringing
awareness to this topic.
Emotional wellness encompassesso many aspects of our lives and
it affects literally all of us.
There's there's no one outthere who hasn't dealt with.
Dealt with emotions as a partof a human being.
We deal with them.
So, in a recent CDC study, theyfound that a whopping 60% of
(06:26):
teen girls experiencedpersistent sadness and even
hopelessness.
They also found in the samestudy that almost a third of
these girls had seriouslyconsidered attempting suicide,
which has a huge increase fromwhich is a huge increase from
previous studies.
It's just I say those numbersjust to kind of set the stage
for why this podcast is soimportant and why this topic and
(06:48):
why what you're you're doing isso important.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
And also about a quarter of American women over
60 are on antidepressantmedications and that's just a
sad commentary on the emotionalstate of American women.
And that's just a number whoare actually taking meds.
But if you think about all thewomen who have depression who
are not being treated withmedications, the numbers are
really truly staggering.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Another article from the same group suggested that
about a quarter of Americanwomen also suffer with anxiety
disorder, so emotional wellnessseems to be an urgently
important issue, and it seems tobe getting worse in this modern
day stress induced society.
We're so fast paced and we haveall the news cycle going
(07:28):
constantly.
It's just the world that welive in, so your appearance on
the show really is timely, emily.
I'm really excited to hear whatyou have to say about this
issue.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Absolutely, and I think those statistics really
speak for themselves.
And that's just speaking forone subset of the population.
When we really think about it,it encompasses men alike.
Maybe it's not as commonlyreported and so forth, but it's
embedded in each and every oneof us to some extent and it
(07:59):
continues to rise, which I thinkis pretty fascinating, and we
have to question why is thishappening?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Can you tell us a little bit more about how you
got like your?
I know in some of what youshared with us prior to the
podcast that you post gradschool you did some work in the
mental health field.
I think our listeners wouldlove to kind of hear your
background Like can you tell usabout your work?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
So I graduated with my master's degree in mental
health counseling and I enteredthe field immediately after my
graduation, which wasn't theplan at first.
I wanted to give myself sometime to find the right position
and so forth, and this role wassomeone who was interested in an
individual passionate aboutnutrition and mental health, and
at the time this was totallyunheard of.
(08:44):
For me at least, I really wasnot convinced I would find a
role in in in relation to thattype of approach.
So I immediately applied, Iinterviewed and I got the job.
My supervisor and I, the ownerof the practice, she and I hit
it off pretty pretty well Overthe course of my time in the
field.
My clients were both men andwomen.
I worked with all age groups,different demographics coming to
(09:08):
me, for the most part foranxiety and depression, and what
was really fascinating waslearning more about what was
happening in our high schoolsand what was happening in our
middle schools and even in olderadults, right, and seeing that
firsthand and reallyexperiencing the wide array of
distress and suffering that doesexist within our world and
(09:31):
seeing it and then also havingthe responsibility of supporting
these individuals right.
And so these statistics, whilethey are disheartening, and
while they might be fascinatingor surprising for some, they
kind of, you know, listening tothem, it does make sense, right?
Because I saw it, I experiencedit, I worked with it and my
(09:55):
philosophy was really acombination of how can I support
these clients through the lensof holistic wellness, right?
How can I support them inrelation to nutrition and
movement and sleep and so forth?
Well, also marrying that withthe cognitive, behavioral,
dialectical, behavioral,behavioral, therapeutic
orientations that we commonlyknow in psychotherapy.
(10:16):
And it was a part of the reasonwhy I decided to leave the
field and, you know, kind ofwalking this line of I need to
support them in the way that Iknow is traditional within the
world of mental health.
But I also feel so strongly andso urgently about these
nutritional strategies and, youknow, moving your body as it
(10:36):
relates to anxiety anddepression and all of these more
behavioral changes that can bemade.
But I felt conflicted becausethis was not something that was
normal to be expected when goinginto therapy.
Right, people going intotherapy are expecting more of
those more cognitive copingmechanism type of approach,
which understandably so.
And when I would suggestnutritional changes, when I
(10:59):
would suggest sleep-relatedchanges and so forth.
It wasn't met as warmly asmaybe the other strategies and
that really became challengingfor me to be in a position of.
I know that improvements indietary choices, improvements in
, you know, their sleep hygieneand so forth would really
improve their quality of lifeand intentionally reduce their
(11:20):
symptomology, but they have tobe willing to take that
information and apply it, and alot of clients weren't able to
do that.
So it was a very difficultposition because I felt so
strongly, like I said before,about these changes that could
be made that are more holisticin comparison to traditional
mental health care, and it feltvery hard to be in that space of
(11:41):
contrast.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
I mean, I think we're in a place these days in
medicine where we've all beenbrainwashed doctors and patients
to thinking there's a pill forevery ill, you know.
So I know when I was in the ERpeople come in for some basic
common cold and they wantantibiotics, and I would get out
the CDC literature and showthem how it's not indicated.
But next thing, you know,you're getting a complaint
(12:03):
letter because Dr McMillan won'tgive me antibiotics, right?
And so I think that we've allbeen sort of I don't know the
pharmaceutical influence orwhatever it is.
We've been brainwashed asthinking that everybody's got to
get on Prozac and all this kindof stuff and so patients expect
it and doctors, it's thequickest way to get the patient
(12:23):
out of your office and get on toa new patient.
So yeah, and it's unfortunate,because I think you're exactly
right.
I mean, the science is prettyclear.
I think that things likeexercise are wonderful for
depression.
There was a study out of Duke,if I recall, that compared
Prozac to exercise and theexercise just is good, right,
yeah, just perfect Totally.
And I think one could say thesame thing about other things
(12:45):
like diet and nutrition andcertain, perhaps certain
supplements, et cetera.
So, yeah, I think you're on theright track, but we have to
just take people like you andstart to multiply and grow and
get the word out, and that'swhat this podcast is all about
really is to help spread theword, and so thank you for being
a part of it and, by the way,under our new name, you are our
(13:06):
very first guest, and so it'sreally an honor to have you as
our first guest today.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
It's an honor, Thank you yeah yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
One other thing that really caught my ear or my eyes
as I was looking into this isthe amazing and depressing
number of young women who havesuicidal ideation in their teens
.
Oh my gosh, it's like a thirdof young women.
It's just starting to hear that, and I don't know if that's the
effect of maybe a perfect stormof social media and COVID or
(13:35):
whatever, but maybe you couldshed some light on that,
especially since you've workedin that field.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Sure, yeah, that is essentially what I was referring
to when I was just discussinghow being exposed to these
middle schoolers and these highschoolers right, and it made me
very aware of my age and I'm notsaying that I'm very far off
from being in high school but Icertainly did not experience
what I'm listening to from theseclients and their teens and
(14:00):
adolescents and the commonplacelanguage that they're using
around suicide and around selfharm.
It was alarming, right to hearthis and how, being in the space
of mental health care, and howcommon it is for these clients
of this age to just be socomfortable with those topics.
(14:23):
It was both, and I'll say thisit was both encouraging to hear
that the conversations are beinghad around suicide and around
the need to seek help, but itwas also very concerning to hear
that there is so much riskthat's there from hearing these
clients talk about their friendswho are just throwing around
(14:45):
terms of ending their lives andsending pictures of their self
harm to their friends.
And of course, in those momentsI'm like, oh my goodness, I
never, ever, had this experiencein high school and maybe it was
just, maybe I just wasn't awarethat this was happening.
But I think it's also justgenerationally, so much
different than what it was whenI was 10 years ago, 15 years ago
(15:06):
in high school, and so it wasdefinitely a, to some extent, a
culture shock for me toexperience that and then to also
help support them in navigatingthose friendships or those
experiences, because I don'tthink that they're equipped with
those tools and that's why wesee such an alarming rate of
suicides and attempts and selfharm and so forth, because the
(15:27):
emotional wellness area isstruggling significantly and I
think, like you said, socialmedia definitely plays a huge
role in it, for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
And yeah, you know, in my practice, of course I was
in ER for 20 years and I saw alot of those people coming in
with suicide, even young people.
But in my practice I always hadthis what I call Mother Teresa
approach, one by one, by one.
That was her one of her sayingsthat people come to see me for
their problems and wouldintently focus on that person
who was there in front of me.
But it seems like the numbersthese days, when you look at the
(15:54):
masses of people who are havingthese issues, we don't have
enough healthcare providers totake care of these folks one by
one.
And we don't have the resources.
So somehow we have to do this,things like this podcast and
these mass efforts to somehowchange the culture through
things like nutrition andexercise and other things you'll
talk about today, but anyway.
(16:15):
So let's kind of set the stageby you giving us sort of your
big picture philosophyconcerning emotional wellness.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Sure, yeah.
So I really believe, like I hadmentioned before, there's an
importance that we start to viewour health and our quality of
life through the lens of bothphysical and mental health,
right, and it's all about theintersection that's there that
determines how we feel, thatdetermines long-term health
outcomes, both mental andphysical, and so forth.
So, when we're really lookingat this intersection, we're
(16:46):
considering the mind-bodyconnection, and I'm sure many
people, especially those wholisten to this podcast, are
familiar with this concept, butI'll give a brief overview of
what that means.
It's essentially theacknowledgement that our mind
and our body are connected,right, that what happens in the
brain impacts our physiology,our thoughts, our beliefs and so
forth, and then also what'shappening within our body is
(17:09):
impacting our mental health, isimpacting our cognitive health,
is impacting our brain health,and there's a number of
different ways that thismanifests, and I could go on and
on and on about it, right, butI'll keep it simple.
When we are looking at howconnected our mind and our
bodies are in the whole body,right, looking at the whole body
, it's very different from whatwe see in Western medicine,
(17:30):
which is isolated individualparts.
Right, we're the combination ofthese individual parts.
We see different specialistsfor different health concerns
and we're not really consideringhow every single thing impacts
the next right.
It's a domino effect.
And so when I work with clientsand my philosophy is really
(17:50):
trying to put those piecestogether and understanding,
especially as it relates toemotional wellness, how are the
lifestyle practice, like I hadjust mentioned, how are those
all contributing to theiremotional distress?
How is it contributing toemotional wellness or detracting
from emotional wellness?
And how can we optimize some ofthese, these lifestyle
behaviors, while alsoconsidering the mindset part of
(18:13):
it too?
It's not to say that that'sexcluded by any means, but how
can we really create thistoolbox of sorts to help them
feel better and increase theirquality of life, both in a
physical and a mental way?
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Mm-hmm.
Wonderful Emily.
Can you kind of define for uswhat you consider to be
emotional wellness and alsoshare with us some common myths
and misconceptions aboutemotional wellness?
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Sure, yeah, absolutely.
So.
I would define emotionalwellness in a couple different
ways.
I think, first and foremost, itis the acceptance of both
negative right, we could thinkof stereotypical negative and
positive emotions, and I usethose words very intentionally,
because it's not good and bademotions, it is simply just some
(18:54):
are more positive and some arenegative, and I think that they
all exist on a spectrum where wecan have a multitude of
different experiences, and itdoesn't make it wrong, it
doesn't make it right, it'ssimply just the the larger ray
of experiences and emotions thatwe have as human beings.
It's developing awarenessaround our thoughts and our
(19:15):
feelings, and this is somethingthat I came head to head with
when working with clients in atherapeutic capacity, but now,
especially as a coach too, I seeit as well we don't have
awareness, we have no awarenesson our emotions, and I see this
a lot with males as well.
Right, I think that this speaksto our cultural system that
exists within our country aroundemotions and men and young boys
(19:38):
experiencing emotions and soforth, which we can talk about
later on.
But, for the sake of this fastetof emotional wellness, it's
really about the cultivation ofawareness around our thoughts
and our emotions andunderstanding how they influence
our actions, how they influenceour quality of life, and also
(20:00):
the acknowledgement that ourthoughts aren't always on our
side, right, our thoughts arejust thoughts and it's up to us
to respond to them.
It's not up to us to take themas factual and let them dictate
how we feel from day to day,because oftentimes they're
irrational thoughts.
I think the number is 80% ofour thoughts are negative and
(20:20):
90% of them are unconscious orare repetitive, right?
So when we think about that,our thoughts are, majority of
the time, not necessarilypositive and a lot of times
they're recurrent.
And so it's about identifyingthose thoughts and being willing
to reprain, respond to themdifferently, that we can
actually rewire our brain whichwe know from the field of
(20:42):
neuroplasticity and create adifferent experience for
ourselves.
And, lastly, in the realm ofemotional wellness, I think it's
a lot about understanding howto process and how to cope and
how to experience emotions.
And I want to use that wordexperience because I think, when
it comes to these negativeemotions, we're very quick to
(21:03):
quiet them, right, like I'mgoing to eat, I'm going to drink
, I'm going to, you know,distract myself or cope, and
oftentimes it's a verymaladaptive way of coping,
especially within our country.
So being willing to lean intothose uncomfortable emotions is
really where we are able to grow, we're able to better
understand ourselves and we'reable to navigate them more
(21:25):
smoothly, which then hopefullyimproves our quality of life in
an emotional way.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Okay, I just asked this, not in a way of pushing
back, but I'm just kind ofinterested.
Might there be a time when it'shelpful to not be so aware or
acutely in tune, because itseems like sometimes if you're
too emotional then you can'tnecessarily go about your day.
It can be crippling for you,right?
It seems like it's a balancingissue where you want to be aware
(21:52):
of your emotions but not letthem incapacitate you so that
you can't go about your day?
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Certainly you see what I'm saying oh, absolutely.
I think awareness is important,but not allowing them to consume
you and learning how to copewith them and be okay with them,
being as they are right,because I think we place a lot
of judgment on these emotionsand that makes matters much
worse.
But if we just say, you know,I'm just having an off day, I'm
(22:19):
not going to abandon ship, I'mnot going to go hide in my
bedroom, I'm not going to dothings that aren't going to help
the situation, I'm simply goingto allow myself to feel and to
be there and be okay with it,and otherwise we are one or the
other.
So I think I appreciate thatbecause I think you're right,
(22:40):
it's very much a balance.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Right, right right.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I liked how you used the term cultivate in what you
were saying, emily.
That really stood out to me.
I think about some of the memesI've seen for functional
medicine and how the westernview of medicine is like pipes
and like bolts and mechanics.
So you see, this body that'smade of like pipes and circuits
(23:05):
and things like that, versus abody like in the Chinese
medicine that looks like a treeand like this cultivating idea
and I think about like a gardenand there's supposed to be weeds
in the garden and it's justpart of the natural world and so
there are weedy emotions thatwe have to cultivate and weed
(23:27):
out on a daily basis.
And I think you know, as aculture, so much of what we see
on the screen is positive.
So if I have these weeds in mylife, something's wrong with me,
you know, and I wonder ifthat's so much of what's
happening with our youth isthey're not seeing, we're just
(23:47):
seeing screen and we're notreally living in proper
community where we see that,yeah, there's weeds in other
people's lives too, and this iswhat it is to be human and to
overcome those weeds and workthrough them actually builds
that resilience of emotionalwellness that you're talking
about, but just kind ofnormalizing that.
That's part of life and, drMcMinn, like you're saying,
(24:10):
there's an acceptance level tothose negative things and
emotional wellness is about howwe buffer and balance and rise
above Sure.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Like sometimes these days.
You know, maybe young girls geton TikTok and they see all
these other young girls doingthings to say gee, why am I not,
you know, that vibrant or thatpretty or that thin?
or that whatever you know, Idon't know In the old days I
think before we had stuff likeTikTok, it was like women would
look at things like Cosmo andshe well, everybody else has
this great one full marriage.
(24:43):
It was with mine, somethingwrong with me, so we compare
ourselves with others.
But I think with social mediait's even like in your face,
like every day, all the time.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
You know so and our schedules are so busy that we're
not intersecting people on thatmore relaxed level where we
would see, yeah, that's justpart of daily life, you know so
it happens to the 30 somethingyear old moms in the realm.
I'm raising my hand, you know,looking on Pinterest and seeing
these spotless homes and theseother moms that have all these
(25:13):
beautiful ideas of how tohomeschool and make sourdough
bread and all these amazingthings are so good, but that
don't happen.
24 seven.
You know there's there's also abeauty in the weeding in your
life.
But, like just for the sake ofclarity here, Emily, let's let's
just talk about like keyelements of emotional wellness.
(25:35):
What would you say are thebuilding blocks?
Speaker 4 (25:38):
And I would say, you know, when it comes to it's, I
think it's very individual tosome extent, right, how we
experience happiness, how weexperience Anger, how we
experience anxiety.
But I think it's really aboutfamiliarizing yourself,
especially with those negativeemotions.
I think that a lot of us don'tknow what it's like or, I'm
(26:00):
sorry, not even what it's like.
I think we don't know how toidentify these emotions in
ourselves, especially on thenegative side of the emotional
spectrum, and I think we seethis a lot in Men and young boys
, where they don't know how toexpress anger and they don't
know how to express sadnessbecause maybe, emotionally,
their upbringing was lacking inthat arena, right, especially
(26:21):
based on our, our culture.
So I think it's all aboutfamiliarizing yourself with how
you experience those, so thatyou're able to put a name to
them, because I think that canbe really liberating for some
when we're able to actually justIdentify the emotion that we
have.
As opposed to, I feeluncomfortable, I'm feeling this
lethargy, I'm feeling irritableand feeling, you know, I'm
(26:43):
feeling these symptoms that Ireally I'm not familiar with and
I don't know how to handle them.
And then, once you know whatthat, what it is, you can then
say well, I know that this helpsme a lot, or I'm gonna breathe
through this, or I'm just gonnago take a walk, or and it gives
you a little bit more claritywhen you're able to actually
identify it.
So I think, when it comes tothe elements of of it, it's
(27:06):
really those specific emotionsand then really being able to
tune into them with yourspecific experience, so that you
can decide how am I gonna moveforward with with now knowing
that this is what I'mexperiencing.
Does that make sense.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Yeah kind of sounds like what you're saying is
there's a level of emotionalintelligence, like knowing what
you're experiencing and thenhaving a toolbox to move forward
with those emotions once youknow what they are.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
Totally, absolutely, yeah, and I think that we don't
have that as much as we shouldwithin our, within our country,
and it's unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yes.
I, you know my personal theoryis we need that in preschools
and kindergarten and first gradeand second grades.
We should have that should be acore curriculum.
It really is and health justhealth, but also emotional
wellness.
As part of that, I thinkthey'll show you a core
curriculum and in colleges, too,you know they have their.
You know they're learning theirEnglish and their math, but I
(28:01):
mean you need wellness yourwhole life, from the Time before
until the time you die, and youuse it 24-7.
So why are we not putting thesetools in people's tool belts?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Well, that speaks to the biggest.
You know, how do we get thatemotional Intelligence like you
were talking about?
And I think that we, as Lindsaywas saying, we should start
young and teach it, especiallyboys and girls.
But you know, boys get nothing.
I mean to as a guy, especiallyin the old days.
I think we grew up and it was asign of weakness to be
emotional, you know you, yeah,we, I grew up in the day of, you
(28:37):
know, clint Eastwood.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
You know, john Wayne and all those guys.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
And so those, those were our, you know, football
players or athletes or whatever,and those are the guys you want
to emulate.
You didn't want to emulate.
The guys were emotional, rightfor sure, and so it is.
So we have for the guys when wehave a huge learning curve, you
know, to to transition into anemotionally competent human
being, but but anyway, I thinkthat how can we get our society
(29:02):
to a better place?
So that's what we're hoping tolearn from you today, emily.
I was kind of curious.
There's this always this debateabout nurture versus nature,
and so how do factors likegenetics, environment,
upbringing, early childhoodexperiences and lifestyle
contribute to emotional wellness?
Or I might ask them another wayis Emotional status that's been
more like by nurture or nature,or a combination of both?
Speaker 4 (29:25):
Yeah, it's the you know big debate, right?
I think nature versus nurtureis so fascinating, and I think
I'll start by saying Idefinitely think it's influenced
by both.
Right, I don't think one isSuperior to the other.
I think we could find argumentson both sides.
But I think, for the sake ofthis conversation and what I
(29:48):
have Grown to learn over thecourse of my experience as a
therapist, as a coach, throughmy schooling and my own personal
experience, nurture, I think,is one that has maybe Just the
slight upper hand as it relatesto, kind of, between the two and
, I think, upringing and howwe're taught to cope and process
(30:10):
Emotions, and what emotions,like you were saying, were
deemed acceptable and how wewitness others coping too.
I think, unfortunately, it's agenerational issue for sure, and
if my parents were raised in atime where, like you were saying
, men can't experience these,these levels of sadness and
(30:30):
anger, or maybe aggression wasthe way that they, they
demonstrated their, theirnegative emotions, and if maybe
mom would grow up in a householdthat you know they, that she
had to be happy all the time and, you know, have these kind of
more positive, more Girl-likeemotions for lack of a better
word, right, then that isinevitably going to impact how
(30:54):
I'm raised, how my siblings areraised, how anyone is raised
within that household, and wecan even expand that beyond to
school and teachers and you know, just those in our surroundings
that determine Okay, this iswhat I'm allowed to feel and
this is what I should probablyFigure out on my own or not talk
about or keep inside.
So we see that throughchildhood and adolescence and
(31:18):
then if that's all we know, thenthat's all we know.
We're not told how to cope,we're not told how to experience
them and and and you know,process them.
And then we see this manifestas mental health concerns in
high school.
We see it manifest as self-harmand then after high school, it
shows up in a multitude of ways.
And if we're suppressing theseemotions, we know it shows up in
(31:40):
the body, we know it shows upas disease.
I was working with clients,grown adults, grown men, who we
were working on the basics ofemotions Because of the fact
that they never had that.
They never had that experience.
And I don't want to single outmen, I think women too, but
obviously we know that there's adiscrepancy there.
(32:00):
So I definitely think, for thesake of this argument if I were
to lead one way or the other, Iwill say that I think nurture
and our emotional environmentand upbringing especially just
from you know the basics ofemotions and coping is
completely contingent upon whatwe're exposed to as children and
(32:20):
the education that we're giving, or lack thereof.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Now, looking back on my upbringing and thinking about
you know things that haveaffected me emotionally.
One thing I think about isplaying sports, and that can be
recreational sports or schoolsports or whatever, but I think
that it really had an impact onme.
As far as emotional resilience,for instance, you're playing on
a team, you're socializing,you're building serious
(32:45):
relationships with teammates.
You have to learn how to getalong with your teammates, even
if you like them or you don't,and Similarly, what you might
find in the workplace later onor society at large.
You know those, those skillsthat you learn there can, can,
can help you also in sports.
Sometimes you win, sometimesyou lose, so you have to learn
that things don't always go yourway and you have to learn to
deal with losses and over timeyou figure out coping mechanisms
(33:07):
I'll call resilience, which Ithink is an important trait to
carry with you throughout life.
You also have to learn topersevere and to develop some
toughness in order to overcomeobstacles and achieve your goals
.
And you have to learn to becoachable, which later in life,
in a job or marriage, can be ahandy school to have, although
my wife, cheryl would probablysay I'm minimally coachable at
(33:29):
best, and you know, I realizethat sports are not for
everybody, but for those who areinterested, I think that they
can have a positive impact onemotional wellness.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
I Certainly agree.
I'd love to hear what Emily hasto say.
But you know, as as I'mreflecting on just the that
aspect of the physical Exertion,even just from like an energy
in, energy out point of view,you know, as a parent right now
I have a two-year-old toddlerand our worst days, when I have
the most behavioral problemsbetween him and me, are when we
(34:04):
haven't gotten our energy out,you know, and it's like there's
that energy level that has to bereleased and it will be
released some way.
We can release it in thatpositive way of like jumping on
the trampoline, which you dowhen you're two years old.
Or you know you can really sitin the negative way, which is a
temper, anger, tantrum at mommywhen you can't have this Nacky
(34:26):
one, and I think we also do thatas adults.
You know there's there's a needto Release energy and create
energy and and move things, andthere's that.
I think I see that connectionBetween the physical and the
emotional just right there inthat.
What do you think, emily?
How is sports or physicalactivity or an influence to your
practice or you personally inemotional wellness?
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Yeah, I think that this is such a good analogy to,
like what you're saying abouthaving a toddler, because in
reality, we're all just grown uptoddlers, right, and so being
willing to, like you're saying,release that energy or just let
it out, right, it's so important.
And I think, when it comes tosports, you know, not only is
(35:10):
there this social aspect whichwe were referencing for being on
a team, right, you have tolearn how to work together.
It's all about team buildingand I think that can be really
valuable in understanding otherpeople's emotions and understand
and I say people.
But I think, you know, for thesake of this example, we can say
other kids, right, other peersand your teammates,
understanding how they processemotions and watching them
(35:33):
process emotions and learninghow to communicate effectively.
I think, like you're saying,you know sometimes you lose.
So, learning how to process andnavigate those hard emotions at
a young age, I think you know,you hear the term sore loser,
right, and I think that that isa perfect opportunity to educate
these kids on all right, whatis it that you're feeling?
(35:56):
It does, it does suck to lose,right?
Like, how can we work throughthis?
How can we, you know, you know,improve and what is it?
What is it, you know, tellingyou and what's coming up for you
right, and having thoseconversations.
And I think what's unfortunateis, you know, for example, a lot
of kids are met with, you know,maybe the coach or the parents
(36:17):
or whomever you know, maybe in amore negative way, as opposed
to empathizing and helping them.
You know, be constructive withthose emotions.
It's do better or it's, youknow.
You know, next time try doingthis Right, right, exactly.
And I think that these are primeopportunities and I can't speak
(36:40):
for myself.
I didn't do sports growing up,so I can't really see, you know,
on a personal level, but I doknow that these are prime
opportunities, especially whenchildren are in their, in their
young ages, right to cultivatethe opportunities of teaching
them and having them become alittle bit more fluent in their
emotional language and, and youknow, taking those opportunities
(37:04):
as ways to educate and toempower them so that later in
life they are able to to feelmore confident and empowered in
that way because they have thisexperience as children.
So I think that that's a very,it's a very powerful opportunity
to take advantage of,especially when children are at
a young age.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Well, and I didn't mean to be just sports, because,
for instance, with Lindsay'sIrish step dance or some other
kid might play in the band orwhatever, but I think just
situations that kids can be inwhere they have to work with
teammates, get along with others.
You win, you lose and all thelessons that you get from that
in a kind of a non-threateningway.
You know, in sports if you losea tennis match, it's not cancer
(37:45):
, right, it's not a life ordeath situation, but you still.
There are lessons you can learnfrom that in terms of how to,
how to be more resilient and bea better winner and and move on
and do better next time.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
But anyway, Emily, how can organizations promote
emotional well-being among theiremployees in the workplace?
So we've talked about kids, nowlet's talk about adults.
How can we promote it there?
Yeah, sure?
Speaker 4 (38:08):
Yeah, well, I think, first and foremost, it's really
about making resources availableto employees in the workplace,
depending on what the workplacelooks like, whether it's an
in-person, you know, officewhere you have have employees
working together.
Now, obviously, the culture andthe climate has changed a lot,
so we see, you know, a lot ofshifts in terms of structure and
(38:29):
environment in the workplacebeing.
We work from home.
So, I think, just accommodatingthe employees, based on their
setup, based on their structure,with resources that are
accessible, whether that'ssomebody I've heard before
there's, you know, in-housetherapists or in-house, you know
, wellness coordinators, right,who work with the staff or the
(38:52):
employees in that regard, righton wellness, or they, you know,
accommodate with with guesttalks and and trainings and
workshops on the importance ofemotional health and so forth.
I think a big piece to thispuzzle is boundary setting and
requiring time off, requiring,you know, disconnection in some
(39:15):
extent, you know, I think a bigbulk of our stress is coming
from our work and our jobs andwhile we might not be able to,
especially with adults who maybedidn't get the experience as
children, to cultivate theiremotional wellness or to better
understand their emotions, Ithink these workplaces need to,
and this is speaking from youknow an ideal world right, but I
(39:38):
think these workplaces reallyneed to be cognizant of the
workload and the expectationsthat they're placing on some of
their employees and the impactand repercussions that can have
on our emotional wellness, andnot to not imagine our physical
health as well and and beingreally flexible in that regard
and I understand that that's afine line because you don't want
(40:00):
to be completely standoffishand say, oh, don't worry about
it, there's no deadline, don'tworry.
You know, take, take your time,take the day off, relax right.
There obviously has to be some,some structure to to the work
day, but I think a big reasonwhy we're so incredibly stressed
and we're so incredibly unwellin a lot of ways, especially
(40:21):
emotionally and mentally, isbecause we are, the expectations
that we have within theworkplace are so much farther
beyond what we're capable of ashuman beings, and I think that
this is playing a big role inour physical health outcome,
emotional health outcomes, andif we were able to implement
(40:42):
more self care opportunities,more wellness based practices
within the workplace, I think wecould see a lot of reduction in
the depression, anxiety andstress-related issues that exist
as a result of the workplace.
Does that make sense?
Am I clear on that?
I want to be sure I articulatethat properly.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yeah, you are clear, but unfortunately, yeah, that's
not the real world.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
For most people.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
I talk to my daughters.
Of course I'm recently retired,but I talk to them and once an
engineer and the other is adoctor and oh my gosh, the
stress and the hours and theworkload.
It just seems as a father justlistening to it.
I feel for them and I wish wehad a more compassionate
workplace.
I really do, because, to yourpoint, it takes us toll on
(41:29):
people, and there's a wonderfulChinese proverb I learned many
years ago called the body is apuppet of the mind, and so when
people have this mental issueand a mental, I mean like
emotional dysfunction that doestrickle down, as you're alluding
to it, it's all connected andthat trickles down into things
like gut dysfunction or heartattacks or cancer or whatever.
(41:53):
So just expressions of all thisstress we're under all this
time.
So, anyway, I thank you forpainting a picture of an ideal
world and I think we need tomove in that direction, but
that's certainly not the realityof a lot of people, is it?
Speaker 4 (42:06):
And so, unfortunately , when I think to that point.
You know I wanted to beintentional with this ideal
world way of thinking, right,but I think it's not until we
actually consider within ourcountry, within our culture, the
influence that poor emotionalhealth and stress and so forth
has on our health overall, willwe actually be able to make some
(42:29):
sort of change.
I just don't think there's thatacknowledgement yet where we're
considerate of the actualinfluence.
It's not just oh, I'm stressedout and I'm going to continue to
live my life and it's fine.
We're not like you're saying,gut dysfunction and then
hormonal imbalances and sleepdeprivation and so forth.
So once we, hopefully in maybe10, 20 years, once we really
(42:50):
notice and acknowledge thatinterconnectedness and how it's,
you know, decreasing ourproductivity and decreasing our
performances and all that, willwe actually be able to hopefully
implement something so thatthey know it's for the longevity
of your company, of yourworkplace and for the quality of
life that these employees canhave, you know.
So I think that I'm hopeful,I'm optimistic here, but I also
(43:14):
acknowledge it's very idealistic.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Well, that's what we're doing the show today.
We're trying to do our part tomove the needle in the right
direction.
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (43:23):
So what are the?
Speaker 1 (43:24):
common triggers that start people down a path towards
emotional dysfunction.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
There are definitely more abrupt or isolated events
that can trigger emotionaldysfunction or trigger emotional
suffering, right?
So something like loss offamily member, loss of a pet,
loss of a relationship, of a job, you know, breakups, financial
stress, right.
Maybe you suddenly, you know,had some sort of massive
(43:50):
financial responsibility thatyou put and take care of, right?
That's more abrupt, moreisolated.
Maybe there's a traumatic eventthat took place, or a national
disaster or a worldwide pandemic, right, things of that capacity
that can definitely generateemotional distress and then, you
know, kind of compound withinitself to really contribute to
dysfunction.
But then I also think there'sjust this ongoing, almost
(44:14):
subclinical stress that exists,that also strikes when it's and
you don't even realize that it'shappening where it's.
You know, these subclinical,psychological or even
non-psychological stressors thatwe encounter from day to day,
and if we don't have anyunderstanding of the importance
of nervous system regulation orstress management, self-care,
(44:37):
they just kind of existsunderneath the surface.
And then the next, you know, wewake up the next day or months
down the line and we'redepressed or we're, you know,
running out of bed with massiveamounts of anxiety.
And it's really because of thiscompounding experience of I
don't like my job, I'm havingtrouble in my marriage, I hit
(44:58):
traffic every morning and it's,you know, activating my fight or
flight every single day, andnow I'm chronically activated.
So I think it can be a numberof different things and it's
really about building awarenessaround the psychological stress
that we all know, right.
Financial relational et cetera.
But it's also thesenon-psychological stressors that
(45:19):
we don't even realize arestressing our body right, like
processed foods, sedentaryliving, environmental toxins,
and that then, you know, canimpact our gut health, like you
had mentioned, it can impact ourhormone health and it all kind
of creates this storm and then,like I said, we wake up, you
know, and we're feelingespecially lethargic or
depressed.
And then I think there's alsotrauma and adverse childhood
(45:42):
experiences, which definitelyplays in.
I'm especially passionate aboutthis topic just because of what
we know about trauma and howour experiences as children and
certain types of experiences canresult in autoimmune and
long-term, you know, depression,anxiety and so forth.
So I think it's a couple ofdifferent things, right, and
(46:03):
sometimes it's all the things,other times it's one or the
other, but in most cases it'sone of these few things I would
argue is being most prominent.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Oh my gosh, there's just so much to talk about on
this subject of emotionalwellness and Emily is just such
a fountain of knowledge.
But out of respect for yourtime, we'll pause here and save
the rest for part two, whichwe'll have out for you shortly.
Let me give you a heads up onwhat you'll expect to hear on
part two.
We'll get into some interestingtopics like the role of social
media and technology inemotional wellness, how to build
(46:34):
meaningful relationships andemotional resilience, how to
identify red flags and how toget help if you or any of your
friends or family are havingemotional difficulties.
And finally, emily will provideyou with some practical take
home solutions to help youbecome emotionally optimized.
We will have Emily's contactinformation, website address and
her social media platformslisted on the website.
(46:54):
At McMinnMDcom, you'll find iton the homepage under the banner
helpful links.
Please check out her stuff.
It's really your first rate.
You'll be glad you did.
Also, at McMinnMD, we'll have abrief bio of Emily and a
picture of her under the headingGuest Biographies, so you can
get to know her a bit better,and we'll have some other
resources on the subject ofemotional wellness that Emily
(47:16):
recommended for you.
By the way.
Last month, we started a blog togo along with the podcast,
simply called WellnessMDBlog.
You can also find this at theMcMinnMDcom website.
Just look at the heading at thetop of the homepage, which
you'll see one calledWellnessMDBlog.
I'll also put a link to theblog in the show notes for you.
Well, that will about do it forthis episode of
WellnessConnectionMD.
(47:36):
Thank you so much for joiningus.
We hope that we were able toshare something with you that
was helpful for you.
After all, that's why we dothis.
Please take a moment to rate uson iTunes.
These reviews really do help.
These can be difficult to do,so if you're not sure how to do
them, then I have a detailedexplanation on how to do it on
an iPhone, which you can find atMcMinnMDcom slash reviews.
(47:57):
Thank you so much for listening.
This is Dr McMinn.
Until next time, take care andbe well.
Hello, this is Dr McMinn and welcome to Wellness
Connection MD.
Have you been feeling a bitemotionally out of balance these
days?
Well, we have just the podcastfor you.
This is the first in a two-partseries on emotional wellness
with our expert guest, EmilyHuedek.
Emily is a budding youngsuperstar in the wellness space
and you're going to love her.
We'll take a deep dive into whyour emotions are so frazzled
(00:20):
these days and how we can takeback control.
By the end of this podcast,you'll have practical solutions
to help you become emotionallyoptimized.
And now on to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome to the Wellness Connection MD podcast
with Dr McMinn and Coach Lindsay, where we bring you the latest
up-to-date, evidence-basedinformation on a wide variety of
health and wellness topics,along with practical take-home
solutions.
Dr McMinn is an integrated andfunctional MD and Lindsay
Matthews is her registered nurseand IIN certified health coach.
(00:53):
Together, our goal is to helpyou optimize your health and
wellness in mind, body andspirit.
To see a list of all of ourpodcasts, visit McMinnMDcom and
to stay up-to-date on the latesttopics, be sure to subscribe to
our podcast on your favoritepodcast player so that you'll be
notified when future episodescome out.
The discussions continue.
(01:13):
These podcasts for educationalpurposes only and are not
intended to diagnose or treatany disease.
Please do not apply any of thisinformation without approval
from your personal doctor.
And now on to the show with DrMcMinn and Coach Lindsay.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Hello and welcome to the Wellness Connection MD, the
evidence-based podcast on allthings wellness.
We thank you so much forjoining us today.
I'm Dr Jim McMinn and I'm heretoday with our co-host, nurse,
bff and certified health coach,ms Lindsay Matthews.
Good morning, coach.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Good morning, Dr Mac.
It's good to be back on theshow with our listeners and
continuing on with our under ournew name.
We're excited.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, and as always, we come to you to bring you
commercial-free, honest,unbiased, up-to-date,
evidence-based,outcomes-oriented information,
along with practical solutionsin order to empower you to
overcome your health carechallenges, to optimize your
wellness and mind, body andspirit and, as Coach Lindsay
said last time, to be a greatcaptain of your ship as far as
(02:13):
wellness and health.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yes, today, listeners , we're going to be discussing a
very important but oftenoverlooked aspect of health care
, and that's emotional wellness.
We have with us today a specialguest who's going to enlighten
us on this topic, and we're justreally excited to dig into this
.
It's really a fundamentalsubject to overall wellness.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
And yes, our guest today is Ms Emily Hudeck.
Emily is a certified holistichealth coach and a certified
dietary supplement professionalwith a master's degree in
clinical mental healthcounseling.
She is the founder of Hole withEmily, where she educates and
she sees clients to supporttheir mental and whole body
health through nutrition, stressmanagement, sleep, self-care,
(03:00):
gut health, exercise and so muchmore.
I love Emily's passion andenthusiasm about our topic today
.
She once told me that wellnesssets my soul on fire.
I thought that was just so cool, so I'll just be cooking
together on the subject, Can'twe?
So anyway, we're so excited tobring her passion, her knowledge
, her experience right to you,our listeners today on the
(03:21):
Wellness Section, MD podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
But first listeners, let's just take care of those
housekeeping things.
Our podcast is commercial freeand so that you won't be
bothered by sometimes thosedisingenuous ads, so we want to
bring that to you that way.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
However, it does cost us some money to produce these
podcasts, so think of this likepublic radio.
Just consider making acontribution to help us keep
this coming to you.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
There are a couple ways that you can contribute.
First, if you buy nutritionalsupplements, then consider
purchasing physician-gradesupplements from our Fullscript
dispensary at a 10% discount.
You can see a link to theFullscript in the show notes or
you can go to mikminmdcom andthe link will also be there at
the bottom of the home pageunder helpful links.
(04:07):
It's really simple Just clickon the link and they'll guide
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It's a win-win you get the goodsupplements at a discount and
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Thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And, lastly, you can make a contribution directly to
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And please don't forget tosubscribe to the show and tell
your friends and family about usso we can keep it growing.
And thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
And now on to the show.
Welcome Emily.
Welcome to the WellnessConnection MD.
Thanks for being here with ustoday.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Thank you so much, lindsay and Dr McMahon.
I am very excited to be here.
Thank you for that warm welcomeand, yeah, I'm excited to
discuss this topic.
It's so important.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
We're really thrilled to chat with you today, emily,
and to pick your brain aboutthis topic on emotional wellness
, and over the years we'vetalked over and over on the show
about things like mind, body,spirit, health, and we're really
happy to finally address thishead on with this issue of
emotional wellness, with a bonafide expert in the field like
you.
One of the fundamentals to ourapproach of health care has
always been what we calloptimization, and certainly a
(05:13):
person cannot be optimized if heor she has things like profound
depression or anger or anxiety,for instance, even if she has a
perfectly normally functioningphysical body.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
So, yes, I absolutely 110% agree with how important
it is for us to optimize ourwellness, and within a culture
that places a lot of emphasis onphysical health physical
wellness it's unfortunate thatwe're not meeting that same
level of emphasis and importanceon our emotional wellness,
because it's really theintersection of both of these
(05:44):
areas that allows us to feel ourbest.
So, you know, I think,progressively removing in the
right direction.
However, there's still a lot ofwork to be done and a lot of
education to be had around thistopic, and I am hopeful to do my
part in this lifetime.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Well, that's great, that's great.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
I love that.
That's a passion that you haveand you're really bringing
awareness to this topic.
Emotional wellness encompassesso many aspects of our lives and
it affects literally all of us.
There's there's no one outthere who hasn't dealt with.
Dealt with emotions as a partof a human being.
We deal with them.
So, in a recent CDC study, theyfound that a whopping 60% of
(06:26):
teen girls experiencedpersistent sadness and even
hopelessness.
They also found in the samestudy that almost a third of
these girls had seriouslyconsidered attempting suicide,
which has a huge increase fromwhich is a huge increase from
previous studies.
It's just I say those numbersjust to kind of set the stage
for why this podcast is soimportant and why this topic and
(06:48):
why what you're you're doing isso important.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
And also about a quarter of American women over
60 are on antidepressantmedications and that's just a
sad commentary on the emotionalstate of American women.
And that's just a number whoare actually taking meds.
But if you think about all thewomen who have depression who
are not being treated withmedications, the numbers are
really truly staggering.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Another article from the same group suggested that
about a quarter of Americanwomen also suffer with anxiety
disorder, so emotional wellnessseems to be an urgently
important issue, and it seems tobe getting worse in this modern
day stress induced society.
We're so fast paced and we haveall the news cycle going
(07:28):
constantly.
It's just the world that welive in, so your appearance on
the show really is timely, emily.
I'm really excited to hear whatyou have to say about this
issue.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Absolutely, and I think those statistics really
speak for themselves.
And that's just speaking forone subset of the population.
When we really think about it,it encompasses men alike.
Maybe it's not as commonlyreported and so forth, but it's
embedded in each and every oneof us to some extent and it
(07:59):
continues to rise, which I thinkis pretty fascinating, and we
have to question why is thishappening?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Can you tell us a little bit more about how you
got like your?
I know in some of what youshared with us prior to the
podcast that you post gradschool you did some work in the
mental health field.
I think our listeners wouldlove to kind of hear your
background Like can you tell usabout your work?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
So I graduated with my master's degree in mental
health counseling and I enteredthe field immediately after my
graduation, which wasn't theplan at first.
I wanted to give myself sometime to find the right position
and so forth, and this role wassomeone who was interested in an
individual passionate aboutnutrition and mental health, and
at the time this was totallyunheard of.
(08:44):
For me at least, I really wasnot convinced I would find a
role in in in relation to thattype of approach.
So I immediately applied, Iinterviewed and I got the job.
My supervisor and I, the ownerof the practice, she and I hit
it off pretty pretty well Overthe course of my time in the
field.
My clients were both men andwomen.
I worked with all age groups,different demographics coming to
(09:08):
me, for the most part foranxiety and depression, and what
was really fascinating waslearning more about what was
happening in our high schoolsand what was happening in our
middle schools and even in olderadults, right, and seeing that
firsthand and reallyexperiencing the wide array of
distress and suffering that doesexist within our world and
(09:31):
seeing it and then also havingthe responsibility of supporting
these individuals right.
And so these statistics, whilethey are disheartening, and
while they might be fascinatingor surprising for some, they
kind of, you know, listening tothem, it does make sense, right?
Because I saw it, I experiencedit, I worked with it and my
(09:55):
philosophy was really acombination of how can I support
these clients through the lensof holistic wellness, right?
How can I support them inrelation to nutrition and
movement and sleep and so forth?
Well, also marrying that withthe cognitive, behavioral,
dialectical, behavioral,behavioral, therapeutic
orientations that we commonlyknow in psychotherapy.
(10:16):
And it was a part of the reasonwhy I decided to leave the
field and, you know, kind ofwalking this line of I need to
support them in the way that Iknow is traditional within the
world of mental health.
But I also feel so strongly andso urgently about these
nutritional strategies and, youknow, moving your body as it
(10:36):
relates to anxiety anddepression and all of these more
behavioral changes that can bemade.
But I felt conflicted becausethis was not something that was
normal to be expected when goinginto therapy.
Right, people going intotherapy are expecting more of
those more cognitive copingmechanism type of approach,
which understandably so.
And when I would suggestnutritional changes, when I
(10:59):
would suggest sleep-relatedchanges and so forth.
It wasn't met as warmly asmaybe the other strategies and
that really became challengingfor me to be in a position of.
I know that improvements indietary choices, improvements in
, you know, their sleep hygieneand so forth would really
improve their quality of lifeand intentionally reduce their
(11:20):
symptomology, but they have tobe willing to take that
information and apply it, and alot of clients weren't able to
do that.
So it was a very difficultposition because I felt so
strongly, like I said before,about these changes that could
be made that are more holisticin comparison to traditional
mental health care, and it feltvery hard to be in that space of
(11:41):
contrast.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
I mean, I think we're in a place these days in
medicine where we've all beenbrainwashed doctors and patients
to thinking there's a pill forevery ill, you know.
So I know when I was in the ERpeople come in for some basic
common cold and they wantantibiotics, and I would get out
the CDC literature and showthem how it's not indicated.
But next thing, you know,you're getting a complaint
(12:03):
letter because Dr McMillan won'tgive me antibiotics, right?
And so I think that we've allbeen sort of I don't know the
pharmaceutical influence orwhatever it is.
We've been brainwashed asthinking that everybody's got to
get on Prozac and all this kindof stuff and so patients expect
it and doctors, it's thequickest way to get the patient
(12:23):
out of your office and get on toa new patient.
So yeah, and it's unfortunate,because I think you're exactly
right.
I mean, the science is prettyclear.
I think that things likeexercise are wonderful for
depression.
There was a study out of Duke,if I recall, that compared
Prozac to exercise and theexercise just is good, right,
yeah, just perfect Totally.
And I think one could say thesame thing about other things
(12:45):
like diet and nutrition andcertain, perhaps certain
supplements, et cetera.
So, yeah, I think you're on theright track, but we have to
just take people like you andstart to multiply and grow and
get the word out, and that'swhat this podcast is all about
really is to help spread theword, and so thank you for being
a part of it and, by the way,under our new name, you are our
(13:06):
very first guest, and so it'sreally an honor to have you as
our first guest today.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
It's an honor, Thank you yeah yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
One other thing that really caught my ear or my eyes
as I was looking into this isthe amazing and depressing
number of young women who havesuicidal ideation in their teens
.
Oh my gosh, it's like a thirdof young women.
It's just starting to hear that, and I don't know if that's the
effect of maybe a perfect stormof social media and COVID or
(13:35):
whatever, but maybe you couldshed some light on that,
especially since you've workedin that field.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Sure, yeah, that is essentially what I was referring
to when I was just discussinghow being exposed to these
middle schoolers and these highschoolers right, and it made me
very aware of my age and I'm notsaying that I'm very far off
from being in high school but Icertainly did not experience
what I'm listening to from theseclients and their teens and
(14:00):
adolescents and the commonplacelanguage that they're using
around suicide and around selfharm.
It was alarming, right to hearthis and how, being in the space
of mental health care, and howcommon it is for these clients
of this age to just be socomfortable with those topics.
(14:23):
It was both, and I'll say thisit was both encouraging to hear
that the conversations are beinghad around suicide and around
the need to seek help, but itwas also very concerning to hear
that there is so much riskthat's there from hearing these
clients talk about their friendswho are just throwing around
(14:45):
terms of ending their lives andsending pictures of their self
harm to their friends.
And of course, in those momentsI'm like, oh my goodness, I
never, ever, had this experiencein high school and maybe it was
just, maybe I just wasn't awarethat this was happening.
But I think it's also justgenerationally, so much
different than what it was whenI was 10 years ago, 15 years ago
(15:06):
in high school, and so it wasdefinitely a, to some extent, a
culture shock for me toexperience that and then to also
help support them in navigatingthose friendships or those
experiences, because I don'tthink that they're equipped with
those tools and that's why wesee such an alarming rate of
suicides and attempts and selfharm and so forth, because the
(15:27):
emotional wellness area isstruggling significantly and I
think, like you said, socialmedia definitely plays a huge
role in it, for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
And yeah, you know, in my practice, of course I was
in ER for 20 years and I saw alot of those people coming in
with suicide, even young people.
But in my practice I always hadthis what I call Mother Teresa
approach, one by one, by one.
That was her one of her sayingsthat people come to see me for
their problems and wouldintently focus on that person
who was there in front of me.
But it seems like the numbersthese days, when you look at the
(15:54):
masses of people who are havingthese issues, we don't have
enough healthcare providers totake care of these folks one by
one.
And we don't have the resources.
So somehow we have to do this,things like this podcast and
these mass efforts to somehowchange the culture through
things like nutrition andexercise and other things you'll
talk about today, but anyway.
(16:15):
So let's kind of set the stageby you giving us sort of your
big picture philosophyconcerning emotional wellness.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Sure, yeah.
So I really believe, like I hadmentioned before, there's an
importance that we start to viewour health and our quality of
life through the lens of bothphysical and mental health,
right, and it's all about theintersection that's there that
determines how we feel, thatdetermines long-term health
outcomes, both mental andphysical, and so forth.
So, when we're really lookingat this intersection, we're
(16:46):
considering the mind-bodyconnection, and I'm sure many
people, especially those wholisten to this podcast, are
familiar with this concept, butI'll give a brief overview of
what that means.
It's essentially theacknowledgement that our mind
and our body are connected,right, that what happens in the
brain impacts our physiology,our thoughts, our beliefs and so
forth, and then also what'shappening within our body is
(17:09):
impacting our mental health, isimpacting our cognitive health,
is impacting our brain health,and there's a number of
different ways that thismanifests, and I could go on and
on and on about it, right, butI'll keep it simple.
When we are looking at howconnected our mind and our
bodies are in the whole body,right, looking at the whole body
, it's very different from whatwe see in Western medicine,
(17:30):
which is isolated individualparts.
Right, we're the combination ofthese individual parts.
We see different specialistsfor different health concerns
and we're not really consideringhow every single thing impacts
the next right.
It's a domino effect.
And so when I work with clientsand my philosophy is really
(17:50):
trying to put those piecestogether and understanding,
especially as it relates toemotional wellness, how are the
lifestyle practice, like I hadjust mentioned, how are those
all contributing to theiremotional distress?
How is it contributing toemotional wellness or detracting
from emotional wellness?
And how can we optimize some ofthese, these lifestyle
behaviors, while alsoconsidering the mindset part of
(18:13):
it too?
It's not to say that that'sexcluded by any means, but how
can we really create thistoolbox of sorts to help them
feel better and increase theirquality of life, both in a
physical and a mental way?
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Mm-hmm.
Wonderful Emily.
Can you kind of define for uswhat you consider to be
emotional wellness and alsoshare with us some common myths
and misconceptions aboutemotional wellness?
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Sure, yeah, absolutely.
So.
I would define emotionalwellness in a couple different
ways.
I think, first and foremost, itis the acceptance of both
negative right, we could thinkof stereotypical negative and
positive emotions, and I usethose words very intentionally,
because it's not good and bademotions, it is simply just some
(18:54):
are more positive and some arenegative, and I think that they
all exist on a spectrum where wecan have a multitude of
different experiences, and itdoesn't make it wrong, it
doesn't make it right, it'ssimply just the the larger ray
of experiences and emotions thatwe have as human beings.
It's developing awarenessaround our thoughts and our
(19:15):
feelings, and this is somethingthat I came head to head with
when working with clients in atherapeutic capacity, but now,
especially as a coach too, I seeit as well we don't have
awareness, we have no awarenesson our emotions, and I see this
a lot with males as well.
Right, I think that this speaksto our cultural system that
exists within our country aroundemotions and men and young boys
(19:38):
experiencing emotions and soforth, which we can talk about
later on.
But, for the sake of this fastetof emotional wellness, it's
really about the cultivation ofawareness around our thoughts
and our emotions andunderstanding how they influence
our actions, how they influenceour quality of life, and also
(20:00):
the acknowledgement that ourthoughts aren't always on our
side, right, our thoughts arejust thoughts and it's up to us
to respond to them.
It's not up to us to take themas factual and let them dictate
how we feel from day to day,because oftentimes they're
irrational thoughts.
I think the number is 80% ofour thoughts are negative and
(20:20):
90% of them are unconscious orare repetitive, right?
So when we think about that,our thoughts are, majority of
the time, not necessarilypositive and a lot of times
they're recurrent.
And so it's about identifyingthose thoughts and being willing
to reprain, respond to themdifferently, that we can
actually rewire our brain whichwe know from the field of
(20:42):
neuroplasticity and create adifferent experience for
ourselves.
And, lastly, in the realm ofemotional wellness, I think it's
a lot about understanding howto process and how to cope and
how to experience emotions.
And I want to use that wordexperience because I think, when
it comes to these negativeemotions, we're very quick to
(21:03):
quiet them, right, like I'mgoing to eat, I'm going to drink
, I'm going to, you know,distract myself or cope, and
oftentimes it's a verymaladaptive way of coping,
especially within our country.
So being willing to lean intothose uncomfortable emotions is
really where we are able to grow, we're able to better
understand ourselves and we'reable to navigate them more
(21:25):
smoothly, which then hopefullyimproves our quality of life in
an emotional way.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Okay, I just asked this, not in a way of pushing
back, but I'm just kind ofinterested.
Might there be a time when it'shelpful to not be so aware or
acutely in tune, because itseems like sometimes if you're
too emotional then you can'tnecessarily go about your day.
It can be crippling for you,right?
It seems like it's a balancingissue where you want to be aware
(21:52):
of your emotions but not letthem incapacitate you so that
you can't go about your day?
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Certainly you see what I'm saying oh, absolutely.
I think awareness is important,but not allowing them to consume
you and learning how to copewith them and be okay with them,
being as they are right,because I think we place a lot
of judgment on these emotionsand that makes matters much
worse.
But if we just say, you know,I'm just having an off day, I'm
(22:19):
not going to abandon ship, I'mnot going to go hide in my
bedroom, I'm not going to dothings that aren't going to help
the situation, I'm simply goingto allow myself to feel and to
be there and be okay with it,and otherwise we are one or the
other.
So I think I appreciate thatbecause I think you're right,
(22:40):
it's very much a balance.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Right, right right.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I liked how you used the term cultivate in what you
were saying, emily.
That really stood out to me.
I think about some of the memesI've seen for functional
medicine and how the westernview of medicine is like pipes
and like bolts and mechanics.
So you see, this body that'smade of like pipes and circuits
(23:05):
and things like that, versus abody like in the Chinese
medicine that looks like a treeand like this cultivating idea
and I think about like a gardenand there's supposed to be weeds
in the garden and it's justpart of the natural world and so
there are weedy emotions thatwe have to cultivate and weed
(23:27):
out on a daily basis.
And I think you know, as aculture, so much of what we see
on the screen is positive.
So if I have these weeds in mylife, something's wrong with me,
you know, and I wonder ifthat's so much of what's
happening with our youth isthey're not seeing, we're just
(23:47):
seeing screen and we're notreally living in proper
community where we see that,yeah, there's weeds in other
people's lives too, and this iswhat it is to be human and to
overcome those weeds and workthrough them actually builds
that resilience of emotionalwellness that you're talking
about, but just kind ofnormalizing that.
That's part of life and, drMcMinn, like you're saying,
(24:10):
there's an acceptance level tothose negative things and
emotional wellness is about howwe buffer and balance and rise
above Sure.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Like sometimes these days.
You know, maybe young girls geton TikTok and they see all
these other young girls doingthings to say gee, why am I not,
you know, that vibrant or thatpretty or that thin?
or that whatever you know, Idon't know In the old days I
think before we had stuff likeTikTok, it was like women would
look at things like Cosmo andshe well, everybody else has
this great one full marriage.
(24:43):
It was with mine, somethingwrong with me, so we compare
ourselves with others.
But I think with social mediait's even like in your face,
like every day, all the time.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
You know so and our schedules are so busy that we're
not intersecting people on thatmore relaxed level where we
would see, yeah, that's justpart of daily life, you know so
it happens to the 30 somethingyear old moms in the realm.
I'm raising my hand, you know,looking on Pinterest and seeing
these spotless homes and theseother moms that have all these
(25:13):
beautiful ideas of how tohomeschool and make sourdough
bread and all these amazingthings are so good, but that
don't happen.
24 seven.
You know there's there's also abeauty in the weeding in your
life.
But, like just for the sake ofclarity here, Emily, let's let's
just talk about like keyelements of emotional wellness.
(25:35):
What would you say are thebuilding blocks?
Speaker 4 (25:38):
And I would say, you know, when it comes to it's, I
think it's very individual tosome extent, right, how we
experience happiness, how weexperience Anger, how we
experience anxiety.
But I think it's really aboutfamiliarizing yourself,
especially with those negativeemotions.
I think that a lot of us don'tknow what it's like or, I'm
(26:00):
sorry, not even what it's like.
I think we don't know how toidentify these emotions in
ourselves, especially on thenegative side of the emotional
spectrum, and I think we seethis a lot in Men and young boys
, where they don't know how toexpress anger and they don't
know how to express sadnessbecause maybe, emotionally,
their upbringing was lacking inthat arena, right, especially
(26:21):
based on our, our culture.
So I think it's all aboutfamiliarizing yourself with how
you experience those, so thatyou're able to put a name to
them, because I think that canbe really liberating for some
when we're able to actually justIdentify the emotion that we
have.
As opposed to, I feeluncomfortable, I'm feeling this
lethargy, I'm feeling irritableand feeling, you know, I'm
(26:43):
feeling these symptoms that Ireally I'm not familiar with and
I don't know how to handle them.
And then, once you know whatthat, what it is, you can then
say well, I know that this helpsme a lot, or I'm gonna breathe
through this, or I'm just gonnago take a walk, or and it gives
you a little bit more claritywhen you're able to actually
identify it.
So I think, when it comes tothe elements of of it, it's
(27:06):
really those specific emotionsand then really being able to
tune into them with yourspecific experience, so that you
can decide how am I gonna moveforward with with now knowing
that this is what I'mexperiencing.
Does that make sense.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Yeah kind of sounds like what you're saying is
there's a level of emotionalintelligence, like knowing what
you're experiencing and thenhaving a toolbox to move forward
with those emotions once youknow what they are.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
Totally, absolutely, yeah, and I think that we don't
have that as much as we shouldwithin our, within our country,
and it's unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yes.
I, you know my personal theoryis we need that in preschools
and kindergarten and first gradeand second grades.
We should have that should be acore curriculum.
It really is and health justhealth, but also emotional
wellness.
As part of that, I thinkthey'll show you a core
curriculum and in colleges, too,you know they have their.
You know they're learning theirEnglish and their math, but I
(28:01):
mean you need wellness yourwhole life, from the Time before
until the time you die, and youuse it 24-7.
So why are we not putting thesetools in people's tool belts?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Well, that speaks to the biggest.
You know, how do we get thatemotional Intelligence like you
were talking about?
And I think that we, as Lindsaywas saying, we should start
young and teach it, especiallyboys and girls.
But you know, boys get nothing.
I mean to as a guy, especiallyin the old days.
I think we grew up and it was asign of weakness to be
emotional, you know you, yeah,we, I grew up in the day of, you
(28:37):
know, clint Eastwood.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
You know, john Wayne and all those guys.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
And so those, those were our, you know, football
players or athletes or whatever,and those are the guys you want
to emulate.
You didn't want to emulate.
The guys were emotional, rightfor sure, and so it is.
So we have for the guys when wehave a huge learning curve, you
know, to to transition into anemotionally competent human
being, but but anyway, I thinkthat how can we get our society
(29:02):
to a better place?
So that's what we're hoping tolearn from you today, emily.
I was kind of curious.
There's this always this debateabout nurture versus nature,
and so how do factors likegenetics, environment,
upbringing, early childhoodexperiences and lifestyle
contribute to emotional wellness?
Or I might ask them another wayis Emotional status that's been
more like by nurture or nature,or a combination of both?
Speaker 4 (29:25):
Yeah, it's the you know big debate, right?
I think nature versus nurtureis so fascinating, and I think
I'll start by saying Idefinitely think it's influenced
by both.
Right, I don't think one isSuperior to the other.
I think we could find argumentson both sides.
But I think, for the sake ofthis conversation and what I
(29:48):
have Grown to learn over thecourse of my experience as a
therapist, as a coach, throughmy schooling and my own personal
experience, nurture, I think,is one that has maybe Just the
slight upper hand as it relatesto, kind of, between the two and
, I think, upringing and howwe're taught to cope and process
(30:10):
Emotions, and what emotions,like you were saying, were
deemed acceptable and how wewitness others coping too.
I think, unfortunately, it's agenerational issue for sure, and
if my parents were raised in atime where, like you were saying
, men can't experience these,these levels of sadness and
(30:30):
anger, or maybe aggression wasthe way that they, they
demonstrated their, theirnegative emotions, and if maybe
mom would grow up in a householdthat you know they, that she
had to be happy all the time and, you know, have these kind of
more positive, more Girl-likeemotions for lack of a better
word, right, then that isinevitably going to impact how
(30:54):
I'm raised, how my siblings areraised, how anyone is raised
within that household, and wecan even expand that beyond to
school and teachers and you know, just those in our surroundings
that determine Okay, this iswhat I'm allowed to feel and
this is what I should probablyFigure out on my own or not talk
about or keep inside.
So we see that throughchildhood and adolescence and
(31:18):
then if that's all we know, thenthat's all we know.
We're not told how to cope,we're not told how to experience
them and and and you know,process them.
And then we see this manifestas mental health concerns in
high school.
We see it manifest as self-harmand then after high school, it
shows up in a multitude of ways.
And if we're suppressing theseemotions, we know it shows up in
(31:40):
the body, we know it shows upas disease.
I was working with clients,grown adults, grown men, who we
were working on the basics ofemotions Because of the fact
that they never had that.
They never had that experience.
And I don't want to single outmen, I think women too, but
obviously we know that there's adiscrepancy there.
(32:00):
So I definitely think, for thesake of this argument if I were
to lead one way or the other, Iwill say that I think nurture
and our emotional environmentand upbringing especially just
from you know the basics ofemotions and coping is
completely contingent upon whatwe're exposed to as children and
(32:20):
the education that we're giving, or lack thereof.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Now, looking back on my upbringing and thinking about
you know things that haveaffected me emotionally.
One thing I think about isplaying sports, and that can be
recreational sports or schoolsports or whatever, but I think
that it really had an impact onme.
As far as emotional resilience,for instance, you're playing on
a team, you're socializing,you're building serious
(32:45):
relationships with teammates.
You have to learn how to getalong with your teammates, even
if you like them or you don't,and Similarly, what you might
find in the workplace later onor society at large.
You know those, those skillsthat you learn there can, can,
can help you also in sports.
Sometimes you win, sometimesyou lose, so you have to learn
that things don't always go yourway and you have to learn to
deal with losses and over timeyou figure out coping mechanisms
(33:07):
I'll call resilience, which Ithink is an important trait to
carry with you throughout life.
You also have to learn topersevere and to develop some
toughness in order to overcomeobstacles and achieve your goals
.
And you have to learn to becoachable, which later in life,
in a job or marriage, can be ahandy school to have, although
my wife, cheryl would probablysay I'm minimally coachable at
(33:29):
best, and you know, I realizethat sports are not for
everybody, but for those who areinterested, I think that they
can have a positive impact onemotional wellness.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
I Certainly agree.
I'd love to hear what Emily hasto say.
But you know, as as I'mreflecting on just the that
aspect of the physical Exertion,even just from like an energy
in, energy out point of view,you know, as a parent right now
I have a two-year-old toddlerand our worst days, when I have
the most behavioral problemsbetween him and me, are when we
(34:04):
haven't gotten our energy out,you know, and it's like there's
that energy level that has to bereleased and it will be
released some way.
We can release it in thatpositive way of like jumping on
the trampoline, which you dowhen you're two years old.
Or you know you can really sitin the negative way, which is a
temper, anger, tantrum at mommywhen you can't have this Nacky
(34:26):
one, and I think we also do thatas adults.
You know there's there's a needto Release energy and create
energy and and move things, andthere's that.
I think I see that connectionBetween the physical and the
emotional just right there inthat.
What do you think, emily?
How is sports or physicalactivity or an influence to your
practice or you personally inemotional wellness?
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Yeah, I think that this is such a good analogy to,
like what you're saying abouthaving a toddler, because in
reality, we're all just grown uptoddlers, right, and so being
willing to, like you're saying,release that energy or just let
it out, right, it's so important.
And I think, when it comes tosports, you know, not only is
(35:10):
there this social aspect whichwe were referencing for being on
a team, right, you have tolearn how to work together.
It's all about team buildingand I think that can be really
valuable in understanding otherpeople's emotions and understand
and I say people.
But I think, you know, for thesake of this example, we can say
other kids, right, other peersand your teammates,
understanding how they processemotions and watching them
(35:33):
process emotions and learninghow to communicate effectively.
I think, like you're saying,you know sometimes you lose.
So, learning how to process andnavigate those hard emotions at
a young age, I think you know,you hear the term sore loser,
right, and I think that that isa perfect opportunity to educate
these kids on all right, whatis it that you're feeling?
(35:56):
It does, it does suck to lose,right?
Like, how can we work throughthis?
How can we, you know, you know,improve and what is it?
What is it, you know, tellingyou and what's coming up for you
right, and having thoseconversations.
And I think what's unfortunateis, you know, for example, a lot
of kids are met with, you know,maybe the coach or the parents
(36:17):
or whomever you know, maybe in amore negative way, as opposed
to empathizing and helping them.
You know, be constructive withthose emotions.
It's do better or it's, youknow.
You know, next time try doingthis Right, right, exactly.
And I think that these are primeopportunities and I can't speak
(36:40):
for myself.
I didn't do sports growing up,so I can't really see, you know,
on a personal level, but I doknow that these are prime
opportunities, especially whenchildren are in their, in their
young ages, right to cultivatethe opportunities of teaching
them and having them become alittle bit more fluent in their
emotional language and, and youknow, taking those opportunities
(37:04):
as ways to educate and toempower them so that later in
life they are able to to feelmore confident and empowered in
that way because they have thisexperience as children.
So I think that that's a very,it's a very powerful opportunity
to take advantage of,especially when children are at
a young age.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Well, and I didn't mean to be just sports, because,
for instance, with Lindsay'sIrish step dance or some other
kid might play in the band orwhatever, but I think just
situations that kids can be inwhere they have to work with
teammates, get along with others.
You win, you lose and all thelessons that you get from that
in a kind of a non-threateningway.
You know, in sports if you losea tennis match, it's not cancer
(37:45):
, right, it's not a life ordeath situation, but you still.
There are lessons you can learnfrom that in terms of how to,
how to be more resilient and bea better winner and and move on
and do better next time.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
But anyway, Emily, how can organizations promote
emotional well-being among theiremployees in the workplace?
So we've talked about kids, nowlet's talk about adults.
How can we promote it there?
Yeah, sure?
Speaker 4 (38:08):
Yeah, well, I think, first and foremost, it's really
about making resources availableto employees in the workplace,
depending on what the workplacelooks like, whether it's an
in-person, you know, officewhere you have have employees
working together.
Now, obviously, the culture andthe climate has changed a lot,
so we see, you know, a lot ofshifts in terms of structure and
(38:29):
environment in the workplacebeing.
We work from home.
So, I think, just accommodatingthe employees, based on their
setup, based on their structure,with resources that are
accessible, whether that'ssomebody I've heard before
there's, you know, in-housetherapists or in-house, you know
, wellness coordinators, right,who work with the staff or the
(38:52):
employees in that regard, righton wellness, or they, you know,
accommodate with with guesttalks and and trainings and
workshops on the importance ofemotional health and so forth.
I think a big piece to thispuzzle is boundary setting and
requiring time off, requiring,you know, disconnection in some
(39:15):
extent, you know, I think a bigbulk of our stress is coming
from our work and our jobs andwhile we might not be able to,
especially with adults who maybedidn't get the experience as
children, to cultivate theiremotional wellness or to better
understand their emotions, Ithink these workplaces need to,
and this is speaking from youknow an ideal world right, but I
(39:38):
think these workplaces reallyneed to be cognizant of the
workload and the expectationsthat they're placing on some of
their employees and the impactand repercussions that can have
on our emotional wellness, andnot to not imagine our physical
health as well and and beingreally flexible in that regard
and I understand that that's afine line because you don't want
(40:00):
to be completely standoffishand say, oh, don't worry about
it, there's no deadline, don'tworry.
You know, take, take your time,take the day off, relax right.
There obviously has to be some,some structure to to the work
day, but I think a big reasonwhy we're so incredibly stressed
and we're so incredibly unwellin a lot of ways, especially
(40:21):
emotionally and mentally, isbecause we are, the expectations
that we have within theworkplace are so much farther
beyond what we're capable of ashuman beings, and I think that
this is playing a big role inour physical health outcome,
emotional health outcomes, andif we were able to implement
(40:42):
more self care opportunities,more wellness based practices
within the workplace, I think wecould see a lot of reduction in
the depression, anxiety andstress-related issues that exist
as a result of the workplace.
Does that make sense?
Am I clear on that?
I want to be sure I articulatethat properly.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yeah, you are clear, but unfortunately, yeah, that's
not the real world.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
For most people.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
I talk to my daughters.
Of course I'm recently retired,but I talk to them and once an
engineer and the other is adoctor and oh my gosh, the
stress and the hours and theworkload.
It just seems as a father justlistening to it.
I feel for them and I wish wehad a more compassionate
workplace.
I really do, because, to yourpoint, it takes us toll on
(41:29):
people, and there's a wonderfulChinese proverb I learned many
years ago called the body is apuppet of the mind, and so when
people have this mental issueand a mental, I mean like
emotional dysfunction that doestrickle down, as you're alluding
to it, it's all connected andthat trickles down into things
like gut dysfunction or heartattacks or cancer or whatever.
(41:53):
So just expressions of all thisstress we're under all this
time.
So, anyway, I thank you forpainting a picture of an ideal
world and I think we need tomove in that direction, but
that's certainly not the realityof a lot of people, is it?
Speaker 4 (42:06):
And so, unfortunately , when I think to that point.
You know I wanted to beintentional with this ideal
world way of thinking, right,but I think it's not until we
actually consider within ourcountry, within our culture, the
influence that poor emotionalhealth and stress and so forth
has on our health overall, willwe actually be able to make some
(42:29):
sort of change.
I just don't think there's thatacknowledgement yet where we're
considerate of the actualinfluence.
It's not just oh, I'm stressedout and I'm going to continue to
live my life and it's fine.
We're not like you're saying,gut dysfunction and then
hormonal imbalances and sleepdeprivation and so forth.
So once we, hopefully in maybe10, 20 years, once we really
(42:50):
notice and acknowledge thatinterconnectedness and how it's,
you know, decreasing ourproductivity and decreasing our
performances and all that, willwe actually be able to hopefully
implement something so thatthey know it's for the longevity
of your company, of yourworkplace and for the quality of
life that these employees canhave, you know.
So I think that I'm hopeful,I'm optimistic here, but I also
(43:14):
acknowledge it's very idealistic.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Well, that's what we're doing the show today.
We're trying to do our part tomove the needle in the right
direction.
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (43:23):
So what are the?
Speaker 1 (43:24):
common triggers that start people down a path towards
emotional dysfunction.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
There are definitely more abrupt or isolated events
that can trigger emotionaldysfunction or trigger emotional
suffering, right?
So something like loss offamily member, loss of a pet,
loss of a relationship, of a job, you know, breakups, financial
stress, right.
Maybe you suddenly, you know,had some sort of massive
(43:50):
financial responsibility thatyou put and take care of, right?
That's more abrupt, moreisolated.
Maybe there's a traumatic eventthat took place, or a national
disaster or a worldwide pandemic, right, things of that capacity
that can definitely generateemotional distress and then, you
know, kind of compound withinitself to really contribute to
dysfunction.
But then I also think there'sjust this ongoing, almost
(44:14):
subclinical stress that exists,that also strikes when it's and
you don't even realize that it'shappening where it's.
You know, these subclinical,psychological or even
non-psychological stressors thatwe encounter from day to day,
and if we don't have anyunderstanding of the importance
of nervous system regulation orstress management, self-care,
(44:37):
they just kind of existsunderneath the surface.
And then the next, you know, wewake up the next day or months
down the line and we'redepressed or we're, you know,
running out of bed with massiveamounts of anxiety.
And it's really because of thiscompounding experience of I
don't like my job, I'm havingtrouble in my marriage, I hit
(44:58):
traffic every morning and it's,you know, activating my fight or
flight every single day, andnow I'm chronically activated.
So I think it can be a numberof different things and it's
really about building awarenessaround the psychological stress
that we all know, right.
Financial relational et cetera.
But it's also thesenon-psychological stressors that
(45:19):
we don't even realize arestressing our body right, like
processed foods, sedentaryliving, environmental toxins,
and that then, you know, canimpact our gut health, like you
had mentioned, it can impact ourhormone health and it all kind
of creates this storm and then,like I said, we wake up, you
know, and we're feelingespecially lethargic or
depressed.
And then I think there's alsotrauma and adverse childhood
(45:42):
experiences, which definitelyplays in.
I'm especially passionate aboutthis topic just because of what
we know about trauma and howour experiences as children and
certain types of experiences canresult in autoimmune and
long-term, you know, depression,anxiety and so forth.
So I think it's a couple ofdifferent things, right, and
(46:03):
sometimes it's all the things,other times it's one or the
other, but in most cases it'sone of these few things I would
argue is being most prominent.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Oh my gosh, there's just so much to talk about on
this subject of emotionalwellness and Emily is just such
a fountain of knowledge.
But out of respect for yourtime, we'll pause here and save
the rest for part two, whichwe'll have out for you shortly.
Let me give you a heads up onwhat you'll expect to hear on
part two.
We'll get into some interestingtopics like the role of social
media and technology inemotional wellness, how to build
(46:34):
meaningful relationships andemotional resilience, how to
identify red flags and how toget help if you or any of your
friends or family are havingemotional difficulties.
And finally, emily will provideyou with some practical take
home solutions to help youbecome emotionally optimized.
We will have Emily's contactinformation, website address and
her social media platformslisted on the website.
(46:54):
At McMinnMDcom, you'll find iton the homepage under the banner
helpful links.
Please check out her stuff.
It's really your first rate.
You'll be glad you did.
Also, at McMinnMD, we'll have abrief bio of Emily and a
picture of her under the headingGuest Biographies, so you can
get to know her a bit better,and we'll have some other
resources on the subject ofemotional wellness that Emily
(47:16):
recommended for you.
By the way.
Last month, we started a blog togo along with the podcast,
simply called WellnessMDBlog.
You can also find this at theMcMinnMDcom website.
Just look at the heading at thetop of the homepage, which
you'll see one calledWellnessMDBlog.
I'll also put a link to theblog in the show notes for you.
Well, that will about do it forthis episode of
WellnessConnectionMD.
(47:36):
Thank you so much for joiningus.
We hope that we were able toshare something with you that
was helpful for you.
After all, that's why we dothis.
Please take a moment to rate uson iTunes.
These reviews really do help.
These can be difficult to do,so if you're not sure how to do
them, then I have a detailedexplanation on how to do it on
an iPhone, which you can find atMcMinnMDcom slash reviews.
(47:57):
Thank you so much for listening.
This is Dr McMinn.
Until next time, take care andbe well.
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