You’re Not Broken: Britany Williams on Healing, Motherhood & Finding Your Way Back

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Feeling not alone is I think the number one thing
I can provide women during that time. Yes, I want
to help you rehab your ABS, and I want to
help you get back to a healing space in your
body and feeling good, sure of course, But I really
want you to feel seen and heard and loved and
supported and know that you're not broken. And I think

(00:26):
that that's what I try with my platform to provide
remind you that you're powerful and beautiful and strong, and
that like, this is a phase and you'll get through it.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Welcome to the Shaping Freedom Podcast, where we dive into
conversations that inspire personal growth, transformation and clarity and challenging times.
I'm your host, Lisan Basquiat. Today's conversation is with someone
who speaks honestly about a topic that so many women
carry quietly, how our bodies, our energy, and our identities

(01:02):
shift after having children. This was actually the reason why
I reached out to this woman was because she is
a global fitness coach, a former competitive runner, a content creator,
and a mother. Her name is Brittany Williams. She's also
a woman who lives with rheumatoid arthritis and still shows

(01:23):
up for women every day with realness, humor, and practical tools.
What I admire most about Brittany is her willingness to
talk about the tension between expectations and reality, the pressure
to bounce back, and the grief that can come with
losing who you once were, and the courage that it
takes to rebuild a relationship with yourself and with your

(01:45):
body after pregnancy and after life transitions. That was really
the reason why I wanted to have this conversation with
Brittany was because I have followed her for some time,
at least a couple of years, and I noticed her
talking about this experience she was having as someone who's
very dedicated to taking care of her body, into working

(02:07):
out and to sharing that with other people, that she
was willing to just vulnerably share how challenging it was
to bounce back. So this is a conversation about presence.
It's a conversation about listening to your body instead of
performing for the world, and about generosity and sharing. It's
also about the freedom that comes from honoring the woman

(02:28):
that you are today, not the one that you think
you should be. Brittany Williams, Welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much to what
a beautiful intro.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
I love that. Yeah, I got me inspired.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
And even though you're like, oh yes, all those things
like let's.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Do it, that was the intention. That was the intention
and so the guide in question. And I always have
like an overarching question that I would like for the
that I intend for the conversation to answer, and that's like,
how do you stay connected to yourself, to your body,
to your identity, and to your purpose when motherhood and
life transitions demand so much of you?

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah, I think, I truly believe that you can't pour
from an empty cup. And I think that what fills
up your individual cup is going to change through seasons
of life, and so I think for me, it's being
in tune with what fills up my cup in any
given moment, and that may change over the course of
a year, over the course of a day. You Know,
it's easy for me as a fitness trainer to sit

(03:36):
here and say, oh, fitness fills up my cup, and
it just makes me feel like I'm so powerful and wonderful.
But there are days where working out isn't the solve,
and what I really need is a quiet thirty minutes
to shower and shave my underarms by myself, without my
toddler trying to want to get in the shower with me.
Like sometimes that's what fills up my cup.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
And I think for.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Me, it's honoring what my needs in the moment and
finding balance between what do I have to do either
for myself, my own health, for my you know, child
and my husband, or just work.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Uh, and then what do.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Like I want a need and then I'm craving and
kind of finding that balance, uh, is kind of how
I honor that.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, how old is your baby now?

Speaker 3 (04:21):
She's two and a half going on thirteen.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
That's right, and it's going to continue. That's how it is.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
She She is strong willed like her mom. We just
finished potty training her, and I think that all the.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Talk of like, oh, you're a big girl now and
like big girls use the potty, she took it very
literally and now everything is like, well, I'm a big
girl now, so I'm gonna it's.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Almost like a backfired girl. And you said I'm a
big girl.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
I got rid of the diapers, Like now you know,
use a stake knife obviously.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, I want to go back a little bit just
to kind of help people understand like who you are,
like who is Brittany Williams, right? And so, as I
mentioned to you before we started recording, as I was
doing some research, I learned that part of your story
is being a competitive runner and living with rheumatoid arthritis

(05:17):
since you were thirteen, and then also building a corporate
career and then transitioning into fitness full time. So I
don't ask you the like, tell me your whole life story, right,
what parts of your identity have carried you through each
one of those shifts and what about that journey would

(05:38):
you like to share with us?

Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, I think, oh, that's a great way of phrasing
that question. I think the red thread in my multiple careers,
in my time as a competitive runner, and I think
as a young athletic child getting diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis
is that there are going to be obstacles, but you
have to find a way to the other side, like
you cannot sit in your hardness. I think that's one

(06:03):
of the beauties if there is a silver lining of
getting diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and I do have
it pretty severely in multiple joints at such a young
age is that, you know, I kind of sat with
myself at thirteen and had the very you know, sobering
conversation with myself that said, Okay, you're going to have
this disease for the rest of your life. Most likely
they're not going to come up with a cure in

(06:24):
my lifetime, So what are you going to do about it?
Like it's like I was very athletic, I played soccer,
I ran Like the concept of slowing down wasn't really
an option at thirteen. I mean at thirteen, right, like,
you just want to play and do things, and so
I never really took it as a Okay, I have
to slow down because I have this disease. It was

(06:44):
always a I have to find a way to make
it work with this disease. And I think now in
my work, when I see women who are diagnosed older
in life, it's harder to feel that way because it
feels like you're broken. And pregnancy can feel the same way,
like it just feels like everything comes unraveled when it happens,
and you're kind of struggling to find your new normal.

(07:05):
And I think that if one can be blessed to
be diagnosed with an auto immune disease at.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
An early age.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
I think that is the blessing that you kind of
learn to manage it because you know you're gonna grow
up with it, and you kind of know that you
have to find a way. I can't just sit and wallow.
That kind of has really gotten me through a lot.
So with competitive running, you know, having a major disadvantage
of having rumor toward arthritis in my knees and in
my ankles and my feet and my toes and all

(07:32):
the things, knowing that I'm going to have to work hard,
knowing that I'm going to have to treat my body
special and you know, that was a red thread and
obstacle to get over. And then I think that I
mean transitioning career. So I worked for our under armour
in their corporate office for twelve years before working for
myself as a fitness trainer and a content creator, just

(07:53):
understanding that obstacles aren't something to be scared of, and
that they're simply where you have to stop and say, Okay,
how am I going to get to the other side.
It may not happen today, it may happen five years
from now. It's not a quick process, especially when you're
trying to climb the corporate ladder or trying to make
it on social media or as a podcaster or any
of those kind of like breaking into a space kind

(08:16):
of the slow process of like you just have to
take it as it comes, and you have to be
willing to pivot and be flexible and try new things
until you find what works and defined your kind of balance.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
And I think my.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
Arthritis really taught me that. You know, I talk to
a lot of people about the medications that I took
a take and I've been taking the same medications for
twenty years now, but the first ten years took a
very long time to figure out. Maybe not ten years,
I haven't had it for thirty years, but like, it took
a very long time to figure out, and there's a
lot of trial and error and a lot of hard,

(08:51):
painful days, but then I got there. And that tenacity,
that perseverance, I think is something that has been a
red thread in my life sense that early age.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
That is a very wise and mature conversation to have
with yourself at that earlier age where you seem to
have come to a crossroad and made a decision that
you know what Okay, this is the thing. What are
we going to do about it? How are we going
to move through it? How are we going to make

(09:22):
sure that we get to where we want to go
in spite of this situation?

Speaker 3 (09:30):
And I think my mom part of that was. Part
of it was from her.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
I think I remember when I first kind of got
my diagnosis, and you're going to the doctor and the
medication I take requires you to give yourself injections, and
back then it was like you had to like mix
up the whole Like now it's like you just stick
it and go, but back then I had to like
actually make the medication myself, if that makes sense. Yeah,
And the doctor was like and I had to inject
it in my butt. And the doctor or the nurse

(09:56):
said like, hey, to my mom, do you want to
help her, Like do you want to see how this
is done? She was like no, you're telling me she's
gonna have to do this every week for the rest
of her life. And the nurse is like, yeah, probably,
and she's like, no, I don't need to do it.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Like teach her.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
She's thirteen, Like teach her how to do it, because
like she's gonna have to be the one who goes
off to college and does it herself and lives by herself.
And I think that just from the beginning. And she
didn't do that in like a tough love.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
You're on your own way. She was very supportive.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
But I definitely always came from it of like, Okay,
I've got this. It was never like a oh woe
is me? And I'm really thankful that she did that.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, that's an incredibly helpful thing, right, because sometimes as parents,
parents attempt to shield their children from certain things, and
what you wind up doing if you're not careful, is
make creating an obstacle for that person by not allowing
them to live with the reality of what's going on.

(10:54):
You know, shielding them does not help. You're generous. Yeah, yeah, generous. Yeah,
I see, it was generous. So okay, so you working
in corporate, you work for under armour, you're doing the things,
you're climbing the ladder. We all know what that some
of us know what that's like. And a grind. It's

(11:14):
a thang for sure. Yeah. I was in corporate for
twenty three years. Uh. And then you make the decision
to transition into fitness full time. Uh. And then to
become a content creator. What led to that, to those decisions.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Yeah, I'll be honest, I truly thought I was going
to be an under armmer for life. I always say
I was drinking the kool aid, brewing it in my backyard.
Like just truly was in love with the industry, and
if it wasn't under Armor, it was gonna be Nike, Adida,
something else. So she was truly in love with the
industry and was in love with the idea of becoming
a vice president, becoming c suite at a business and
a big brand.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
And I started fitness.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Training when I moved to Portland, Oregon. I had no
background in fitness other than being a competitive runner. But
like running is running is not lifting dumbbells. That are
two very different things. But I was just taking these
fitness classes myself to meet people when I first moved
here to Portland, and then I just got this scratch
or I got the itch that I wanted to scratch of,

(12:15):
like I think I could do this, Like I really
enjoy public speaking, getting up in front of people, and
so I decided to become a trainer on the side.
So it was never zero percent meant to be a career.
It was always just I have a passion, why not
monetize the passion and then you snowball that into Wait,
I really like this passion. And when I got the

(12:36):
opportunity to partner with an app called Sweat, the Sweat
app is where I now exclusively host all of my
digital workouts. I still teach in person some but digitally
that's where the majority of people are working at with
me across the globe. That kind of opened or introduced
me to the world in a way. That also opened
up these opportunities where I'm no longer just a trainer

(12:59):
in Portland organ and I have the opportunity to impact
women's lives across the goat globe and have these conversations
with women in you know, Japan and Australia and Norway.
And just like overnight, kind of once it kind of
went live that I was partnering with Sweat, it just
I suddenly was reaching so many women and I got
this really big pull to help women. And I think

(13:22):
that I always felt like I was helping women in
a way like I'm selling shirts and shoes. I wouldn't
say I was in sales at under Armour, so like
I was selling shirts and shoes, and I was getting
great product into great stores, but this met them exactly
where it's at. Instead of helping you be comfortable in
a good shirt that is moisture wicking or a shoe
that lets you run your first marathon, this was me

(13:43):
holding your hand while you were doing those workouts.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
And so I did them both full time for a year,
which I do not recommend doing two full time jobs
if you don't have to. But I knew that I
once I got that again the itch again of like,
this is an opportunity of a lifetime to be able
to work for myself, to be able to inspire women
and motivate women via social media and via my workouts,

(14:09):
Like that's just an opportunity that I wasn't prepared to
pass up. Like I just like I have to try.
I can always go back, like Nike, under Armor, Adidas,
those types of companies will always be there. But this
kind of like once in a lifetime opportunity to make
financially enough money and also be able to just like
have fun and be creative. So I just took the plunge.

(14:30):
And I've been doing it now for five years and
still at it and still love it and kind of
knows signs of stop it.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
And how did you move into the content creation part?
Was that just the naxt just kind.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Of naturally happened.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, So so with Sweat, you know, from a contractual perspective,
there is an obligation of like, hey, you've got a
market on social media because that's where everything markets, you know,
And so I had I had already created a social
media account and was already kind of building an Internet presence.
But like for frame of reference, I have I think
four thousand followers when I started with Sweat, and I

(15:02):
think I ended that year with like thirty thousand, Like
I think it definitely like my initial push into becoming
a content creator certainly started because of the doors that
they opened.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
And then just as my workout programs got bigger, my
following programs got bigger, and then the opportunities in content
became bigger.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
And that's when I just kind.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
Of started balancing more of being just a fitness trainer
to fitness training and content creation. I used to teach,
I used to personal train in person. I used to
teach like upwards to twelve to thirteen classes group fitness
classes in person, and so as content creation grew, I
did less of that and more balanced at the two worlds.

(15:41):
And now I kind of sit with a balance between
the two.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah, And so what is it that you want to
do for women globally? Uh?

Speaker 1 (15:49):
I want to motivate them to live their best life.
And I kind of ugh when I say that it's
so cliche, but it's truly for me. The three kind
of stakes in the ground that I believe in our motherhood, fitness,
and then just general well being. So kind of like
I said at the top of our conversation of just
filling your own cup, I want to motivate women to

(16:09):
not feel guilty or shamed for taking the time to
do so. I think that most women are going to
have their first handshake into the world of Brittany Williams
through fitness. That's where most people find me. And then
I think most people stay because I'm very realistic and
open and honest, and I try to point out the
silliness in what we are all going through in the

(16:30):
humor of being human. And for me, I'm trying to
help women not take themselves so seriously, but also take
their goals seriously. And then kind of finding the in
between are the intersection of that.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
And how do you yourself find And I assume that
it's kind of part of its a habit for you
at this point, right, Yeah, what do you do to
motivate yourself when maybe your body is acting up, you know,
doing something different than what you'd like it to do,
or when you're tied or whatever those things are, what
do you do?

Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah, I really focus on consistency instead of intensity. I
think a lot of women think that to motivate yourself,
you're motivating yourself for that perfect scenario. So if you're
going to use the example of a workout, you know, oh,
my workout plan says I have to work out five
days a week. In our heads, it has to be
an hour. I have to maybe go to the gym,
I have to do all of these things. And like, yes,

(17:25):
if you have certain goals, especially if they are specific
to changing the way that your body looks and feels,
there is going to be certain types of workouts and
a certain length of time and a certain amount of
weight that you're going to have to lift to get there.
But I don't think that that should be the carrot
that we go after, and I always try to just focus.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
On am I showing up today?

Speaker 1 (17:47):
And the good news is, hopefully for most people myself,
I have more good days than bad, and I know
that like I'm training for life, there's not some there's
not I'm not trying to do some event or some
race in year or in six weeks, like I truly
want to feel good. I always say that my end
goal is to be able to bust a groove and
like to bust a move on my grandkid's wedding, my

(18:11):
daughter's two and a half, So put us in perfective
of like what I'm shooting for here. I've got many
years to go until this happens. But like, can I
be healthy and fit enough to be mobile, then okay,
I'm in a long game here, So who cares?

Speaker 3 (18:26):
Who cares of.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Tuesday's workout wasn't good? That does not mean anything in
the grand scheme of being fit in fifty years so
that I can dance with my grandkids at their wedding,
Like it doesn't matter. And so what does matter is
being healthy enough to be consistent and so everything that
I do, I just try to say, do your best

(18:47):
with what you have right now, does that mean I
go through periods of time where I'm just doing twenty
minute workouts, where I'm just doing body weight workouts. Absolutely,
and sometimes I can. I'll be honest, I feel a
little like a fraud because here I am selling all
these programs, some of which are like an hour long
and they're really complex, and they're doing all these things,
and I'm like, but I'm barely making it ten minutes

(19:08):
in my skivvies on my yoga mat out by my bed.
But like that's real life, and I try to have
options for everyone, because like there are just gonna be
times in life we're ten minutes in your underwear at
your bedside is all you've got, and.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
Like you've got to be okay with that.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
So the motivation piece comes from not holding myself to
a really really high standard, knowing as long as it
evens out in the end, meaning I have more good
days than bad, and if you're having more bad days
than good, then having the long, hard conversation with myself
that something has to change. And I have that with
myself recently. Actually, I was shortening my workouts all the time.

(19:49):
The way that my kind of schedule works is that
I drop my daughter off a day care. I work
from home, so I come home work and then work
out and then work. And what was happening was that
I was sitting in my workouts and my brain was
already tinkering. I was already thinking about that email that
I needed to send. I was already kind of half
thinking about work. I would just click end on my workout, like, oh,

(20:12):
I don't need to finish it, I can just end
and go.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
And what I found is.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
That my workouts were getting shorter and shorter, and because
of that, I just wasn't I was kind of out
of shape. Like I'll be honest, I'm not in my
best shape right now because I haven't really been giving
it my all my workouts. So I kind of had
to get have set myself down and say something has
to change. Uh. And so I moved my workout times
to be before I dropped my daughter off at daycare. Uh,
changing my bedtime so that, like, I can get still

(20:37):
eight hours of sleep even though I'm waking up a
little bit earlier, because I refuse. I refuse to cut
sleep short in order to get a workout in Like
do not.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Pay Peter's to pay Pete what's the same rob don't
rob Peter to pay Paul or don't don't rob Pa.
Nobody robbing people.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Don't be robbing people exactly.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
And it's just like you have to have this like
sit down with yourself saying like, wait, hold on, I'm
having more bad, short, inconsistent workouts because clearly and work
as a priority, I like, like I have to honor that.
I have to honor that if the email is ruminating
in my brain, that I need to go send it.
And so giving myself space to say, Okay, you do

(21:18):
need to start work at eight thirty in the morning,
there's nothing wrong with that. Let's find a way to
still achieve your goals and get to work at eight
thirty in the morning. And for me that meant going
to bed at nine thirty instead of eleven, scrolling on
TikTok's late night Giglin', you know, but knowing that I'm
so much more fulfilled because now I don't feel rushed,
and when I do have to pick my daughter up

(21:39):
at daycare at four thirty, I'm not like, grab, I need.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
One more hour of work.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
Like I'm getting it all done now. But that's a
really hard conversation to have with yourself. But I try
to check in with myself. I'd say at least three
times a year, like, is what I'm doing working?

Speaker 2 (21:55):
Like?

Speaker 3 (21:55):
Am I happy?

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Like?

Speaker 3 (21:56):
Am I motive is?

Speaker 1 (21:57):
If it's really hard to motivate yourself to work out
or to diet or to whatever, you know that thing
is that you're trying to implement from your habits. If
it's really hard to motivate yourself, I actually say that, like,
maybe that's not what we do. There's this I think
crossroads between like and it's a concept that there's a
book called Tiny Habits by bj Fog. He's a researcher

(22:22):
maybe at Stanford. I shouldn't even say the university because
I don't know exactly which one. But it's this concept of, like,
the best habits that you can apply are ones that
are effective, right, They obviously are going to get you
to your goal, but you can actually motivate yourself to
do And I think that's what a lot of women
skip out on. They just think, Oh, I hear that
I need to be eating more protein because it's going

(22:42):
to make me healthier, So like I'm going to eat
protein shakes. But if you absolutely hate protein shakes. If
the thought of eating a protein shake is like repulsive
to you, you're never.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Going to do that.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
For river, I can tell you that now it's just
not going to stick. So, like, I think it's just
as important for a habit to effective but also be
easy to motivate yourself to do, and kind of finding
that intersection of those two I think is really important.
Motivation shouldn't be hard, and if you are finding it hard,
like I would actually just completely switch what you're trying

(23:15):
to achieve. And that's a little like, oh my god, what,
But like it's never gonna it's never gonna stick. If
you don't want to go to the gym, I don't
think that you should try to. You might get there
five years from now, but like, let's start with something
that's achievable for you right now that you're gonna enjoy.
Because if I can get you to enjoy something about
your health, whether that means getting to bed earlier or

(23:37):
eating more carrots and vegetables, more fiber, Like, if I
can get you to enjoy it, I can get you
to do it long term, which is what we want.
I really am not interested in doing something for thirty
days or doing something for six weeks like it just I.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
Don't care about short term results.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
Again, I'm trying to bust and move, you know, to
usher or whatever they play, you know, my throwback on
my kids wedding dance floor, Like that's what I'm trying
to do.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
You know, it's thank you for sharing that. I had
a conversation with someone I've been I've struggled with consistency,
and a lot of it is because I travel so
much and blah blah blah. Right, we all have a reason.
And I was having a conversation with someone at a
dinner party on Sunday, and this is the person who

(24:26):
has been in shape forever, like an amazing shape, and
I'm chit chatting. We're sitting at the table. We're talking
about like working out or whatever, and this person shared
that the person said, and it was like a moment
for me. The person said, well, I work out in
the afternoon because I don't want to work out in
the morning. In the morning, I want to wake up

(24:48):
like that's just the way my body is. So I
wait until the afternoon, and for the first forty five
minutes that I'm in the gym, I'm fartsing around, I'm thinking,
I'm listening to music, I'm dancing. I'm like yeah. And
sometimes I get there and I go right for it
right and other times I'll go and all kind of
farts around for a bit and then I'll get my
workout in and I kind of adjust to whatever it

(25:09):
is and I'm feeling. But for me, it's about the
consistency of making sure that I get there, because it's
not just about the workout, it's about the entire experience
of spending that time with myself and allowing myself that
container in the middle of a day. And it was
for me, Brittany, because I've never been a person who

(25:30):
wants to work out early in the morning. I just don't.
I just don't. There were other things that I like
to do in the morning. And what I realized through
that conversation was that, for some reason, and I don't
know why, and I'm so happy that this person and
I had this conversation, for some reason, I had been
trying to fit myself into you got to do it
this way. When for the entirety of my life, during

(25:55):
the times that I have been an amazing shape, I've
always worked out in the latter part of the day,
right a late afternoon workout. I'm all about that. It
feels good, and so it really just it was the
thing I needed to hear, couple with what you're saying
to me today, to all of us today. I'm being
very selfish about this. I'm like Britney's telling me, but

(26:19):
I know there were other people who are listening who
are struggling with the same thing, and so thank you
for sharing that figure out what's right for you, and
also that check in with ourselves a couple of times
a year about working out and about anything, like am
I happy?

Speaker 1 (26:51):
Especially as women, we put a lot of pressure on
ourselves that success looks a certain way and that what
it looks like maybe different for every individual person, but
generally I think that we kind of can close our eyes.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
And it's funny.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
I actually had an event last night and I went
through this Like I was a speaker at an event
and I had the participants go through this exercise. I'm like,
write down what your perfect plan is for sleek nutrition, hydration, exercise, movement,
whatever it is your health kind of focus. Write your
plan A because everyone has it everyone. It does not
take a lot of time to you know exactly what
you like your plan to look like. And I said, okay, well,

(27:27):
fun fact, the holidays are coming and the next six weeks,
we've got travel, we've got delays, we've got all of
the things that ain't happening. Hun, can we all agree
that Plan A is not happening? I was like, all right,
so write down a plan B. What does your Plan
B look like?

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Like?

Speaker 1 (27:40):
What can you actually truly achieve realistically? And then they
write it down. I'm like, Okay, I feel good and
I go and that's probably not gonna happen either. So
now I need you to write your plan C because
realistically that Plan A happens three days a month. Yeah,
And we focus and we obsess over what that plan
looks like, and we think that if we can just

(28:01):
get there, that all the stars will align and I'll
just be grooving and firing on all cylinders. And I'm
not saying don't aspire for that, but have a Plan
B and Plan C in your back pocket.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
Shoot for the moon.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
But when you land upon the stars, I think that
giving yourself permission.

Speaker 3 (28:20):
For that to be enough.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
You may say I want to work out in the morning.
But I'm the kind of person who works out in
the afternoon. Give your self permission to work out in
the afternoon, even if you are, let's say, going to
try to work out in the morning. In this hypothetical
world I've built for you, like giving yourself permission that
your plan B is to do it in the afternoon
makes it not feel like a failure, right because once
you've given yourself permission that if I can't hit perfect,

(28:46):
I still have a plan B and a Plan C.
If you land on the plan B and Plan C
and didn't plan for it, you're gonna feel not great exactly.
You're like, oh, I was shooting for five days a
week this week and I only did three, and now
I feel like a failure, and you're going to feel
about it, and that's what really hurts our motivation and
our consistency. But if you say I want five days,

(29:07):
but realistically, looking at my work schedule, I'm traveling this week,
three is going to have to be it you You're
going to do three and actually feel good about yourself.
And I think that that's the feeling that we should chase.
Is like, what's going to make me feel good about
what I'm doing what's going to make me feel prideful
and accomplished more so than what does what pressure has
society put on me to think I should be.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
Doing right, because there's more detriment to living out of
integrity with yourself in this created world that you know,
as you said before, right, this world that you create,
where like I working out for me or fitness for
me is getting up at two o'clock in the morning
and working out for four hours, and that's the thing
I should be doing, when in fact, it's you're starting

(29:53):
at a detriment. You're behind already because you know you're
not going to do that, and then the ag that
you wind up being in with yourself, yes, all day
every day because you did not accomplish this thing that
you really didn't consider yourself.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
Yeah, yeah, four isn't worth it?

Speaker 1 (30:14):
And then it honest and it gets certainly not apples
or apples apples, but like it also just undoes all
the benefit of the thing in the first place. Like
if you think that you have to work out in
the morning, and working out is great for endorphins', like, well,
then it'll just get out of the way and I'll
be calm and cool and collected for the rest of
my day. I'll be energized. But the stress that it

(30:34):
puts on your body, if you are not the kind
of person who wants to work out in the morning,
the stress that it's gonna put on you, the anxiety,
the dragging your feet, the probably less sleep that you're
gonna get in order to get that done, it completely
counteracts any of the positive but not all the positive benefits,
but a lot of the positive benefits that you get
from the workout, the feeling stuff like it just it's

(30:58):
just you've got a follow what your gut says about
who you are as a person and about what's going
to support you as a person. And again, like I said, yes,
there are certain things that you are going to need
to strive for when it comes to certain changes in
your body. If you want to lose weight, if you
want to gain muscle, yes, there is generally a prescription
I could write you. It's like not literal prescription, like

(31:19):
a here are things.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
That I think you should do.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
But then I also I am going.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
To say, well, what if this do you think you
can do? Like if you want to build muscle, yeah,
I do need you to eat a lot of protein,
but if you're a vegetarian or a vegan and most
of the easy protein sources aren't just gonna come natural. Okay,
let's not start there. That doesn't mean we're not going
to come back to that conversation, but it does. It

(31:44):
also doesn't mean you have to start eating meat, but
it like, maybe we just start with workouts instead of
your diet, and like, let's just start there, and let's
take one thing at a time. And it's hard, especially,
you know, like you said at the top of the
of the of the episode of especially when you have
a woman who's had a baby and they want to
come back to their body and they want to feel

(32:05):
like themselves. It feels like a rush. And so many
of us feel rushed to get back to.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Who we used to be.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
Even if you've never had a baby, or even if
you were decades past postpartum and you just want to
feel like the version of you ten years ago, it
always feels like a rush. It always feels like yesterday
would have been the best day to do it, and
now that i'm today, I'm late, yes, And that is
a trap that I fall into. So I'm not sitting
here on my high horse saying don't feel that way.

(32:33):
I'm sitting here rowing in the boat next to you
saying like that's just holding us back, because it will happen,
and it can happen. And I've seen women's lives completely changed,
but it always has required them to drop the arbitrary,
dot ted timelines and deadlines that we've given ourselves.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
Absolutely, and I think that idea that this is the
long game. The goal here is to connect with your
body and to make this a lifelong practice. And when
that's the goal versus I have to, you know, lose
forty seven pounds in three days and someone to work
out twenty hours a day and I don't need sleep
that you're setting yourself up for failure. So this really

(33:15):
your approach sounds like it is a really beautiful way
to set yourself up for success over the long term. Yes,
that's really what matters. What matters isn't that you can
do it today. It's like, can you work with your
body and include integrate your body, your physical being into
the way that you choose and create your future self.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
And that's such a journey, and to me, I find
that so much more inspirational than someone who you know,
some fitness trainer who has a photo shoot who just
goes on this like extreme diet to get really really
lean and look really really good for a specific day,
or even a woman who you know is getting married
and does some extreme dieting in the last month to

(34:04):
like look really good in her wedding dress. Like, to me,
the beauty is in feeling confident in who you are
and knowing that it's going to take time, and not
doing these shortcuts that never last. Trust me, I have
been in this industry long enough to know that, like
those short term cuts may make you feel good for
a day, but then the next day comes and it's done, unfortunately.

(34:29):
And I think that like romanticizing the journey and finding
ways that you can fall in love with the journey
is the shortcut to I think better health and loving
your body and being confident and all that and feeling
sexy and all the things that I think women are
looking for. And I think that you've got to look
at the journey then, and if it isn't romantic to you,

(34:52):
if there isn't some joy in that journey, you've got
to find a place to inject it in. Maybe you
start working out with the friend, maybe you go do
group fitness. Maybe you you know, start doing dance cardio
on YouTube to some music that you like, like just
something that's fun. And I think that so often we
focus on what should we do? Oh, I want to

(35:13):
I wanna gain muscles.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
I want to be the person who I want to
be that person.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
But you also want to be happy, So like, what
just makes you happy? And can we do that two
days a week, even if it has nothing to do,
even if it's counterproductive to your goal, but if it
makes you happy, I actually think that that's just as important.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Absolutely, Brittany, how has being a mother reshaped who you are?
And not just the physical? I mean talk if you
want to talk about the physical, let's do that, And like,
how has it reshaped who Britney Williams is?

Speaker 1 (35:48):
You know, it's interesting. I feel oddly I'm not.

Speaker 4 (35:54):
I'm not.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
I have always wanted kids, and I have always felt
very motivated to to like I'm doing this for my kids,
even before I was married or had a boyfriend or
anything of like, I want to be more from a
career perspective and like a financial perspective. Uh, And now
I think it's just I want. I want success, and

(36:16):
I don't necessarily mean financial career success. I mean health happiness.
I want well being.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
Maybe it's a better term so that I can be
there for her when she needs me and also to
be a role model.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
But I really do think more. It's just I don't
know what she is going to need out of me
over the next you know, I'm thirty seven, so let's
say fifty years hopefully that I'm on this planet. So like,
I just want to be prepared for what she needs.
And that means financially, that means with time, that means flexibility,

(36:52):
that means with my health, and to me, that's really
my where things have changed is like not necessarily that like,
oh I need to slow down and I'm gonna work less.
Like anything, I think I'm working more now somehow as
a mom than I was before.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
Like I just like I have not slowed down when
it comes to work.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
When it comes to my own aspirations like those are still,
if anything, stronger than they were before, like to do
my own thing and to like still be selfish with
my time and not just give one hundred percent to her,
like I feel very strongly about that. But I just
want to do it in a way because I know
that that will make me happy. And if I'm happy,

(37:35):
then I can be there for her emotionally and physically
better chances over the next fifty years.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
Like to me, that's the end goal.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
You're a better parent when you're happy, a better parent
when you're taking care of yourself. You're a better parent
when you're resolving the things that need to be resolved,
confronting yourself, having those conversations a few times a year
and checking out where you're at. This idea that motherhood

(38:04):
means that you remove yourself from the stage and that
suddenly you become need less is just as unrealistic and
unreasonable as deciding that you're going to work out twenty
hours a day, going from not working out at all.
It's working out. It's the same thing. It's the same thing.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
I truly feel like my identity is not a mom.
It's just a mom got added to the list of
identities that I have. I truly, truly, truly believe that, like,
my daughter is her own person and I am my
own person, and like, yes, she is the priority in
my life, but she is not more important than everything else.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
In life.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
I cannot just completely stop everything in my life any
long term. In the short term, yes, she needs me
right now, girl, I would say.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
Bay, hang up, click and this call and go get
it right now right.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
But in the long term I can't just drop everything
for her because she also needs to learn how to
do things herself. She also needs a role model of
seeing balance in her life and seeing what going after
your own aspirations look like. And that could literally mean today,
I posted on Instagram about how I refuse to work

(39:21):
out with my kid and it's so cute and sometimes
I do it for content and whatever, like oh look,
she's crawling all over me, and I'm like, no, honey,
that hour.

Speaker 3 (39:29):
Is mom time.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
Yeah, I will.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Show her how to be, you know, a strong woman.
In other ways, I don't think that she has to
literally sit and watch me pick up a dumbbell in
order to like, see you a strong woman. That to
me is very like, that is my time and I'm
not going to feel I'm not gonna apologize, so needing
to take an hour to work out and looking at
my husband and saying, hey, you got it, you good

(39:53):
on dad duty because Mom's gonna go, you know, lift
a barbell downstairs. I have zero guilt for that.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
I'm so happy to hear you say that, because it's
so important to have our children, sons or daughters see
us as whole people. I think that this idea that
you want your children to see you in this kind
of perfect mode of being superperson who's available twenty four

(40:22):
to seven all the time, it's just not a great
precedent to set at all for our children, you know.
And in doing that, I've had a similar approach to
my children because I've always worked full time and I've
always explored the things that bring me joy and fill
my soul and the work that I've wanted to do.

(40:43):
And I think it has helped my children to understand
that there are aspects of who we are that only
we're responsible for. Right, there's some taking care of ourselves
that has to happen, and neglecting who you are for
the sake of being like a good parent is just
not It doesn't It helps no one. It doesn't help

(41:05):
the child because the child has no sense of like,
what can I do to take care of myself? Or
you know it. It leads I believe to an expectation
that people just have to be showing up for them
twenty four to seven. You know that people are at
their own disposals. So I'm glad to hear you say
that good for you and good for your family.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
And I think that it doesn't.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
And I think to be clear too, that I don't
think it necessarily has to always be work and working out.
Like my husband goes on like I guess we'll call
them like boys trips, like with his like college friends. Yeah,
they'll go on like they go to an NFL game
every year, and you know, every year it seems like
he's got like work travel and then he's got this

(41:47):
boy's trip, like right.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
In the middle of like two long work trips.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
And the timing always couldn't be worse because it's like
he's been gone for a week for work.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
Now he's going to go on.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
Vacation for himself for four days. And he always takes
he always tax on a couple of days at the
beginning of the end and I'm like, wait, no, hold on,
the game's on Saturday. Why are we leaving on Wednesday?
But every time I zip my mouth and I'm like,
of course, no question, Like go because I know that
that fills up his cup and his friends. He has
such a good, tight knit group of friends. I mean,

(42:17):
this man texts them all day every day, like literally
just his phone's blowing up all day because those men
love each other to the end of life.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
Yeah, and I know that.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
I'm like, I will never even you know, we're trying
for a second kid right now, and knock on wood,
one day it happens, and like even when I've got
two kids, it's going to be miserable those days that
he's like, Okay, I'm off to go, you know, gallivant
with the boys. But like I know that that's so
important to him, and I know how much he loves
his friends, that like, hell, yeah, all inconvenience myself for

(42:48):
a weekend, it's gonna be hell And I'm gonna be
Begeomona when you get back.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
Like mom's gonna need a day, like you know, when
you get back.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
But of course, like I think that sometimes you you
cannot feel guilty for the things that you need because
it's going to make you a better parent one hundred
percent of the time. And and he's a wonderful parent,
and I know it's because he feels fulfilled.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
Yeah, and it's not forever like this. At this stage,
this chapter of parenting, it feels like a long time,
but it's very short. It's very very short, you know
it is.

Speaker 1 (43:24):
Please if you could remind me that while I'm trying
to get my daughter to poop before we leave for
a thirty minute.

Speaker 2 (43:29):
Car ride, I'm telling you it doesn't last long. It
feels like it when you're standing there trying to get
her to poop before the car ride, because you know
she's gonna get in the car, I'm gonna pull out
and she's gonna be like, now I want to poo.
I gotta go. Yeah, But I'm telling where I'm not right. Yeah,
it will. It does not last long at all. And

(43:49):
just right about when you believe start to believe that
you have perfected parenting, which is about seven sure, you're
gonna be like, I got this, Pio, What was that
talking about? It's easy? Right? Then it turns into something else.
But this period right here, it doesn't last long at all,
but it is probably the most physically taxing, Like it

(44:10):
adds on you know, that layer of the physical burden
or you know, waight on you just because you're tired
of chasing a kid around. It's exhausting.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
Oh yeah, you know, just from a focus and energy perspective,
I think that, and I think that that's why I
you know, I like to to say, especially with workouts,
like it's a phase of life.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Yeah, like that's it.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
You are allowed to say, Okay, for the next four years,
I'm not going to work out for more than forty
five minutes. And I literally have my garm and it
has a great feature where you in once you start
a workout, it will it will trigger an alarm. They'll
go off after my alarm set for forty five minutes.
And so I like it because it's like I I

(44:54):
now use it as an alarm, no stay till that alarm.

Speaker 3 (44:57):
Do not cut yourself short.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
But it also is just nic to like check in
with yourself and say, okay, that's enough.

Speaker 3 (45:03):
It doesn't have to be an hour and a half.
You can.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
When I was postpartum, I set it for twenty minutes.
So once that twenty minutes was was done, I gave
myself permission to say that's enough. I don't have to
force perfection in an hour long routine, Like this is
a phase. And I knew eventually and it took probably
like a year, and so I was like, Okay.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
I'm going to move that a whore.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
I'm out to you know, an hour or forty five
minutes or whatever it is. And it's just giving yourself
permission to recognize the phase of life that you're in.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
Man.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
As soon as you can learn that tool, it helps
you in so many different aspects of your life.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
It really does. Have you had a moment and yet
where you thought, maybe I don't recognize myself.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
Oh yeah, what you do?

Speaker 2 (45:46):
What happened and what you do about it?

Speaker 3 (45:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
So there's been there's been a couple of times specific
to motherhood. I mean early not early postpartum, but I
would want to say, like around the year mark, I
was still breastfeeding.

Speaker 3 (46:01):
I was in this limbo.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
Of like I'm gonna do it all. I'm gonna be
a stay at home mom and a work from home mom.
And I was working from home. Sorry, I was staying
at home with my daughter. I think two days a week,
two three days a week, and I had a nanny, uh,
two three days a week, and you know she came
for maybe six hours a day, and like I would
breastfeed and like hand her my daughter back off to

(46:23):
the nanny and then like you know, do film the
content or write the workouts, to do whatever work I
had to do and trying to balance it all. I
just completely lost myself, like just wasn't working out, was
eating super poorly, uh, and just was like physically, I mean,
breastfeeding is and pumping is just such a physical feat.

(46:45):
That was like I felt like I was trying to
like run a marathon while also trying to qualify for
the Olympics and like basketball, like I was trying to
like do so much physically and carry all these I
just completely lost myself and I felt completely unrecognizable because
I had given up on everything that kind of like
fills up my cup, my workouts, eating well even just

(47:08):
like playing games like my husband and I love like
board games and stuff like playing board games like date
nights at like everything had just gone out of the window,
seeing my friends gone out the window, listening to music
gone out the window. Just I was pure survive and
like function maybe that's the word I'll use. Like everything
was just like function, Like everything was just because I

(47:29):
had to not because it functions and joy, function and
serve and I yes and then I just woke up
and was like, WHOA Like, work is a very big
identity thing for me, and ironic because being a content
creator and an influencer, I also have like monetized my myself,

(47:51):
like I am also my brand.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
So it's like in two ways.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
And so I said, like, whoa, work is very important
to me, and I have put it way too far back.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
I'm a back.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
Burner and I need more time working in order for
me to fulfilled. So that was when we made the
decision to put my daughter into day care full time.
And I don't think that there's one right or wrong
way to nanny, daycare, stay at home mom. This is
not a matter of saying what I did is what's
right for other people. But it was having that moment

(48:22):
with myself of saying, like, wait a minute, you have never,
once ever in your life, thought you were going to
be a stay at home mom. You have always always
wanted to be a working mom. Why in the world
are you trying to balance both when balancing both brings
you zero joy, zero amount of joy. That's not to
say I don't love time with my child. I just

(48:43):
love it more when I've gotten some work done, Like
I just am able to be a better mom when
I've also been able to check off the Britney box,
not just the mom box on my to do list.
And so that was one time. The second time was
actually this year, I took seventy three days, I know,
down to the number days off from working out. I've
been dealing with a chronic back injury and just never

(49:06):
really fully healed it and staid like, okay, like I'm
gonna just fully reset, And it was like the most
out of shape I've gotten outside of postpartum and feeling
like a true beginner again. Felt I still you know,
I think I started working out again maybe in like May,
and it's now November, and I still don't feel one

(49:28):
hundred percent and I have felt very.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
Out of touch with my body this year.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
But I kind of sometimes I'm like, this is good though,
as a fitness trainer, because I think a lot of
times fitness trainers get so they haven't been not at
their peak fitness shape and so long that it can
become hard to connect with other people and can become
hard to remember what it's like to be intimidated by
a barbell and to be intimidated by the gym and

(49:58):
to not want.

Speaker 3 (49:58):
To just sit here with my sports bra on say.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
Like, okay, guys, here are the six X exercises for
six pack abs, like it makes you human. And So
while it's been really hard physically this year to like
feel confident in my job because of that, I also
know that it helps me relate to people more Like
I just don't want to see the perfect fitness trainer

(50:21):
selling me a workout. It's just not what I want
to see personally. I would much prefer someone who is
like I don't know how to do this, or I'm
learning this for the first time, or just being realistic,
I struggle with this, or like my form's not perfect,
Like I will get people who will hate on my
form sometimes like oh you should have been doing this,
like on on Instagram, And I'm just like I never

(50:42):
sat here and said I was perfect at every single exercise, right,
Like I can still show like my form's not bad
enough that if someone tries to maybe mimic me, they're
not going to hurt themselves. But like, I'm never gonna
sit here and say that my form is perfect in
absolutely everything.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
I will always admit when I'm wrong.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
I always have something to learn, and I just I
feel much more at ease, at peace with myself with
that mindset as a fitness trainer than I want you
to aspire to be me, because I'm perfect kind of mindset.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
Yeah, And I think that you've also been very open
and transparent about the fact that this is a lifelong journey.
And so for those folks who have this expectation that
a person who is going through her own life having children,
you know, getting married, doing all these things that we
all you know that many of us experience in life,

(51:32):
to have this expectation that you're supposed to be just
perfect all the time is unrealistic. And I think that's
more of a reflection of this kind of external validation
that people look for than it is like really living
in the presence of what's happening for you right then

(51:55):
and there. You have spoken about your journey with postpartum yeah, depression,
and I know that you've also created some routines for people,

(52:19):
you know, for women, to help them through that. Can
you speak a little bit about that journey just for
those folks who are listening who either know someone who
could be experiencing postpartum or who are feeling that themselves.
Is there anything to say to those folks?

Speaker 3 (52:33):
Yeah, Oh, there's there's so much to say.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
I mean, I think first recognizing how common postpartum depression anxiety,
rage is. I think that I didn't experience postpartum rage,
but I've had a few friends who have experienced it,
and like, I had never heard that as a thing,
but it is a very very real thing. And I
truly believe that Luckily, we are in a day and

(52:57):
age where women no longer are being quiet about postpartum depression,
anxiety and the things that you can go through during
that time. And I really really really encourage women who
are going through it to speak about it. I do
believe that going and seeing a professional. I am not
a professional in that space, but I think finding a
professional in that space is so helpful. But even if

(53:19):
it's not something that is affordable for you, or that's
not something that you have access to, having some sort
of support system who isn't your partner, who's also going
through it in the moment, who's in the weeds with
you when it comes to postpartum I think is really helpful.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
I think there's some great tools.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
Online as well, or communities online that can help, because
I absolutely think that talking about it helps. I think
not trying to ignore it, leaning into it, and like
for me, when I was going through my postpartum depression,
I sat my husband down and I said, I need
to just tell you how I feel. I need you

(53:57):
to not question it. I need you to not say, well,
that's ill logical or irrational. Like he's very he's a scientist,
he's very like, very rational. I'm like, like, I am
an emotional person and I need you to just see
my emotion and my feelings as fact. And having that
conversation with him just allowed him to give me space

(54:17):
and to like hold me emotionally and literally, but hold
me emotionally. Uh. And I think the more people that
you can have in your life holding you emotionally is
never a bad thing, but especially during I think one
of the loneliest times. I think one of the loneliest
times in that process is like pregnancy first trimester, when
you haven't told anyone and you're scared every single day

(54:39):
of like of what's gonna happen. That's really lonely. And
then the second time is when like the meal trains
stop and people stop checking in on the baby, and
people stop. It's like, you know, maybe like three months
to like six months, like the baby's not old enough
to be like walking and hitting all these cute milestones
that you can share on the internet.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
There is this like no Man's land.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
It's the cocon time. It's that cocone time, and it's
just you and baby.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
Yes you kind of forgotten, Yeah you could have kind
of forgotten that you had baby three months ago.

Speaker 3 (55:09):
Maybe you're back at.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Work trying to make that happen, but you're not like, oh,
she's walking and so you have something fun to talk about.
It's just this really hard time and I try to
support women during that time in a big way. So
I have a program called Core and Restore, which is
a restorative core program. It's to help rebuild the abdominal

(55:31):
wall and your core, your posture, your pelvic floor from
a physical perspective. That's you know, my my calling cards,
so to speak, as a fitness trainer. But one of
the thing I love about this program is that I
recorded it in real time as a postpartum woman. So
like flew to Australia like postpartum, and I was like okay,

(55:51):
because I do all my filming in Australia, and I
was like, okay, like I listenly raw and real, We're
not going to do cuts just because they did something wrong.

Speaker 3 (55:59):
I'm going to make this.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
I'm going to be real and open and honest about
what I am feeling in the moment as a postpartum woman.
And that was really important for me so that someone
could log into their workout, and the workouts at the
beginning are like ten minutes. They're literally like I just
want you to log in and not feel like you're
logging into a workout, but just that you're catching up

(56:20):
with a friend and we happen to be improving our
core and on diacessis directay and all the things at
the same time, and like having feeling not alone is
I think the number one thing I can provide women
during that time. Yes, I want to help you rehab
your ABS, and I want to help you get back
to a healing space in your body and feeling good,

(56:41):
sure of course, but I really want you to feel
seen and heard and loved and supported and know that
you're not broken. And I think that that's what I
try with my platform to provide again, knowing that I'm
not a therapist and I can't say, like, hey, I.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
Can fix it.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
I can at least support again like that like three
to six nine months. Like that to me is what
I just want to like hug women and like come
into my world so I can just you know, remind
you that you're powerful and beautiful and strong and that
like this is a phase and you'll get through it.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
Do you think that that's part of the reason why
this strong community of women have come to you. Is
it because of what they're getting in the workout, obviously,
but also outside of the physical aspects of the workout?

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Oh yeah, I truly think my uniqueness is in my
ability to be very real about working out and the
process of being healthy and now the process and now
becoming a mom. Is the reality of that of I
will complain in the middle of my workout that I'm
asking you to do, like I will complain about it

(57:53):
being hard. I don't see her. Come on, girls, you're
doing great girl power.

Speaker 3 (57:57):
Like that's not me.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
I'm like, okay, han, I'm let you know.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
This.

Speaker 3 (58:00):
Next one's gonna suck. Deal with it.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
It's for thirty seconds. We can do this, you know.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
It's like, I try to be very real. I also
try not to just show the positives.

Speaker 1 (58:10):
Now, I'm not one to like pull up a camera
when I'm crying, Like I'm not very I don't try
to be performative about it. But you know, perfect example
is when I was diagnosed with preclamsia or severe type
of preclamsia, called help at thirty two weeks and delivered
at thirty two weeks, and I like went not live,

(58:31):
posted a story on Instagram every single day for the
thirty days that my daughter was in the NICU. And
I've saved it all my Instagram stories for forever. And
I'm scared that one day Instagram is gonna get rid
of like story highlights and I'm gonna lose that little cluster.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
But so many.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
People to it's been two and a half years, comment
and respond to those stories that I have saved, because
they can go from the very first day where I'm like,
I think something's wrong, We're at the hospital. Two we
made it, We're home with our baby, and literally every
up and down of that journey, and I was like
literally from the silly stuff to like no one talks
about how hard your first poop is postpartum, like talking

(59:07):
about that, but then also talking about like the test
that my daughter was going through and not gaining weight
as a PREMI and just being real about it, like
being real about responding, like coming back from a sea section, Like,
what do you mean you can't walk up the stairs
after sea section?

Speaker 3 (59:21):
I didn't know that.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
No one told me. And I work with pregnancy and
postpartum women, and like just saying that out loud.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
I think.

Speaker 1 (59:30):
I think the world needs more women willing to talk
about the things that women go through.

Speaker 4 (59:36):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
And that's really I think what makes me and my
space unique. Sure, the workouts, but at the end of
the day, like there's a countless amount of good qualified
fitness trainers. What I really try to be and where
I try to be unique is to be real about it,
like just having a realistic approach, laughing at yourself. When

(59:57):
you laugh at yourself, admitting the weird stuff that happens,
and again finding the humor and being human is.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
Like that's my calling card.

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
And I think that if we're not having fun and
laughing and giggling a little bit about something, because it's
not just a moaning fest like a lot of it is,
like I'm going to poke fun at like the seriousness
of things, because it's just we all go through it.
We all go through it, and I want I don't
want women to feel alone.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
Yeah, what kind of emotional and mental legacy are you
leaving for your children? Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
For yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
Yeah, I think the first word it comes to mind
as the word of already used today, but tenacity. That really,
you know, if there's one thing that I want someone
to say, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
What was Brittany?

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
Like what name describe Brittany in one word, you know,
on a tombstone? Tenacious is one that really really hits
home for me, I think, especially knowing I was a premium,
I was born eight weeks early, my daughter was born
eight weeks early.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
I think that we just kind of.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
Started in a little bit of a hole, you know,
and it's like you're gonna You're gonna get there.

Speaker 3 (01:01:03):
Everything's gonna be fine.

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
Like she's fine, I'm fine, but like I want her
to look at obstacles similar to what I did as
social with the room to arthritis and said like, yeah,
I got this, Like it's gonna be hard. I don't
know how I'm gonna get there, Like this is gonna
be a real bumpy ride, but like we're gonna be okay.
Like if I can teach her that, to me, man,

(01:01:25):
the world is your oyster. That's right, Because I can't
predict every hardship she's going to have, but I know
that there's gonna they're gonna happen. No matter how well
I can set her up emotionally or financially or any
of the things, she will have hardships. So for me,
if I can emotionally teach her how to overcome hardship,

(01:01:45):
I don't even want to say overcome to endure, how
to not lose yourself despite hardship, Like that's what I
think I want my legacy to be, and doing it
in a way that is I hesitate to say the
word fun, because hardships aren't fun, but in a way
that's still lighthearted. I want her to be able to
giggle and not lose her light just because there are

(01:02:06):
some negatives in life. Humor is a very big part
of my life and part of my brand of just like,
we gotta still have some fun, we gotta still be
able to kiki and giggle no matter what's going on
in the world and in life, and so I think
those two things are what I would want my legacy
to be.

Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
What are you learning about yourself right.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Now that I really need to I would say that
I need to slow down, but I need to slow down.
I need to build more of a roller coaster in
my year, meaning I always at some point burn myself out.

Speaker 3 (01:02:47):
Always I take on too much.

Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
I'm go, go, go, just it's gonna happen, and I
think I need to allow it to happen because it's
just my nature. But then I need to plan for
downtime after it realistically. And I started a little bit
this year. I started taking a one week off kind
of a staycation once a quarter. This quarter, I'm so

(01:03:10):
busy that it didn't happen. So I promised myself that
I would take off Fridays so through the months of December.
That also isn't gonna happen. So now they're being pushed
to January. But it's like one of those like, Okay,
I now need to You know, you think of people
vision boarding, you think of people doing New Year's resolutions.
I just need to do a better job of saying,
where is life going to be peak level busy? And

(01:03:33):
that can be in career, or it can be from
a parenting perspective, and like where can I build out
actual And I don't mean rest because it's not necessarily
that I take off time of work. It's just where
I allow myself to be creative, like just don't put
anything on the calendar.

Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
And if I just want to experiment with a new editing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
Style, or maybe I want to learn, you know, something
new about email marketing I'm trying to think of, you know,
or maybe I want to learn yoga, like just something
that's just or I'm thinking about taking up Spanish again,
Like just take some time to do something that it
can still feel productive, because I'm that kind of person
that if it doesn't feel productive, then like why the
hell are we doing it?

Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
It's a problem.

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
I'm working on it in therapy, but that downtime, let
it be down where there's not a deliverable, there's not
a deadline. I know that's hard if you're in the
corporate world, but I think like even looking at like
the holidays, like okay, could you you know if you
take two if you have to take two weeks off
because your kids are out of school, like can one

(01:04:34):
of those weeks you know, you work with your partner
where like you take a couple of the days where
you don't have to be mom, yeah, and you can
go and do something. Taking more vacations by yourself, like
truly taking taking off a Friday in May just cause yeah,
not because you have something to go do. For me,

(01:04:55):
that's really what I'm working on, is like resting more. No,
not slowing down, but just taking the time to rest
when I can do it and doing it on my
own terms. Not I'm gonna go vacation, because when you
go on a vacation with a kid, it's a trip.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
Yeah, it's a trip, but it's a trip. It's a trip.

Speaker 3 (01:05:13):
Uh huh, it's a trip.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
And so I think for me, it's allowing myself to
ramp up, allowing myself to burn out, no matter how
controversial that sounds, just making sure I'm protecting myself.

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
On the backside, it's giving yourself space. Yeah, you know,
it's like wherever you can integrate space, uh into what's happening,
the easier it is for you to step into that
next thing. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
I just don't think it's realistic to tell women to
like work less or to like not be as so
stressed in this.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
Day and age.

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
I just.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
It'd be nice. It just it just doesn't telling me, yeah,
you're doing too much. I'm like, I'm self employed, Like
I am then the book keeper, the fitness trainer. I
do the content, and I do the editing, I do
the emails. Like I, yeah, I'm doing too much because like.

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
I'm a one woman show. Hopefully one day I will hire.

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
Someone to help me, but like until then, it's me,
like I'm all the people. And so it's like telling
myself that I need to slow down or to drop
something I think is just not realistic.

Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
I just need to again build in more pause.

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
I'm glad that you mentioned that, because I think for me,
the answer to that is for myself is the tribe
that I'm around, right, And so I have people around
me who are in the same grind that I'm in.
They may be doing it differently and you know, maybe
in different industries, but it's really important to me to

(01:06:46):
have people around me and to be within the midst
of people who who understand who you know, because I
don't want to hear that, you know, the advice of like.

Speaker 1 (01:06:59):
Well just because it's like slow down, what yeah, like no,
you know.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
It's I don't you don't understand my life. So being
around people that understand your life, I think is imperative
to joy.

Speaker 3 (01:07:12):
Yeah, I completely agree.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
And that's that's really something that I You've inspired me
now for twenty twenty six of like I I've got
great friends, but I think very few of them understand
my business drive and my my career drive. And I
think that that's something that I like. I have a
business mentor and a business coach, and she very much
feels like a friend, but I'm also paying her. Yeah,

(01:07:36):
you know, so it's like I need more people that
are like minded like her, that are truly just friends.
And I think, you know, you always think of networking
as like, oh, I got to get the next connection
to me, It's not that it's just people who understand.

Speaker 3 (01:07:53):
The grind and the drive what.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
You're up to. It's people who understand what you're up to,
and people who understand that the life life of an
entrepreneur is not the life of a person who works
for corporate. It just is not.

Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
And it's.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
It's different, but it is what it is. And so
put yourself in the spaces where you get fed from
those folks who were like minded and who were doing
the same thing, because it also helps the relationships with
folks who are doing something different because they are not
putting it on them, putting it on them because you
don't expect for them to feel that, you know, to

(01:08:32):
fill that part of your life for you. So for me,
I've learned really early on. I've been out of corporate
now since two thousand and eight and or been organ
I've been in my own corporate since two thousand and eight,
and and that's one of the things that I realized
very early on, and that was like, I need to
have like minded people around me, because the folks that

(01:08:54):
I that are my friends were my friends who worked
within corporate and just had a different life. They thought
I was bonkers, and so the energy that went into
trying to debate or explain was you know, not the
best use of my time or for them to listen.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
Yeah, And that to me, I think is a really
big one. Especially as a content creator. It sounds like
you're not doing anything when you explain what your day,
It's like, what do you mean you just made videos
all day?

Speaker 3 (01:09:19):
You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 1 (01:09:20):
Like that sounds fun and like especially because my brand
has so much humor in it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
Like it and it is fun.

Speaker 1 (01:09:28):
But if you have ever sat down to edit a
of hours of footage into a thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
Second real hunt, it is and or like, you.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
Know, I have my own podcasts and I do all
my own editing, like listening back to myself and editing.
I'm doing all the I'm like, that is a grind.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
You're working.

Speaker 3 (01:09:43):
You're working, and I think that, you.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
Know, like yeah, and people are like so fun talking to.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
People all day and you're like it's so great to like,
you know, do all this traveling. I'm like, have you
noticed that I'm not like, hey, I'm in BALI you know,
you know, like I'm doing the.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
Travel work is something I used to travel. When I
worked for Underarmar, I traveled. There was a different amount
of time, but there was a time where I traveled
four days out of the week and I was like
in the office on every Friday. Yeah, and that was
like my one day.

Speaker 3 (01:10:13):
Oh it's a grind.

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
I mean I have seen ninety like up and down
I ninety five.

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
I have seen it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:19):
I have been to whenever people are like, oh, I'm
from a small town in New Jersey. I'm like, where
a girl, because I know I've gone through I've been
to every small town in New Jersey, trust me.

Speaker 5 (01:10:29):
Like it's a grise and people just, oh, you're just
setting and oh you got to go see Niagara Falls
and you got to go to some posh place in
New York.

Speaker 1 (01:10:39):
I'm like, yeah, but like I haven't seen my.

Speaker 3 (01:10:43):
Bed and I want to sleep in my bed three weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
Like I also, like, you know, that was at the
time when I was single. Like I also would like
like a stable relationship, but I can't not home enough
to find anyone exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
Oh, I know that that's a whole that's a completely
just episode. Don't take me down that road, Brittany, because
I'm trying to wrap this up. Question two quick questions.
If a woman is feeling disconnected from her body or
from herself, like, where's a good place for her to start?
Can you give her, like, you know, a couple of tips.

Speaker 1 (01:11:12):
Yeah, this is gonna sound a little woou, but your breath.
I think that is the first place I would start.
And I always this is silly, but I took it
from a client of mine. If people never take the
time to just slow down and check in with their breath,
And so I told her to start doing it when
she went to the toilet, Like, just every time you

(01:11:33):
sit down to pete, you're gonna be there for fifteen seconds,
close your eyes and just in hell for four seconds,
hold for tow two seconds, ex heal for four seconds.
Like it doesn't even have to be that, it can
just be your normal case. But that allows you to
check in with yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:50):
I think that once you can plant that seed of
I'm the kind of person who checks in with herself,
then it can become I'm the type of woman who
takes ten minutes of movement. What does movement mean, Brittany.
It could mean walking, It could mean yoga. It could
mean stretching in bed while you're still with your eyemask on,

(01:12:10):
you know, and your bondet on. It does not have
to look like a workout. I think that the slow
build to okay. Once you become the kind of woman
who takes ten minutes to stretch in bed with her
bonnet on, you can become the woman who then works
up to a twenty minute workout with or without dumbbells.

Speaker 3 (01:12:26):
And then eventually it slow rolls.

Speaker 1 (01:12:28):
I think first becoming the woman who can check in
with how her body feels in a moment, who can
listen to her body. That is the foundation that I
say start with before you try to get the GEM membership.
Do all of the things, like just prove to yourself
that you can check in with yourself and be still

(01:12:48):
with yourself. That is the starting point that no one
starts with. But gosh, it would do so much good
if more women started there. I think, especially if you're
listening to this and you are postpartum, or if you're
pregnant and you know you will be postpartum, I think
that that and my my postpartum program does start the

(01:13:09):
first like three weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:13:10):
You really are just breathing.

Speaker 1 (01:13:11):
You're laying there, You're breathing, You're checking in because that
is the foundation to your body, because and working out
is like and feeling good is being able to register
how your body feels.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
Yeah, last question, Brittany, how can we support you?

Speaker 3 (01:13:29):
Oh man?

Speaker 1 (01:13:30):
Just by listening to this call it feels supportive or
a call, but podcasts feel supportive. But you can find
me on Instagram at Brittany Williams. It's spelled b R
I T A n Y. You also go to Britney
Williams dot com. I have plenty of opportunities. I have
different guides on metabolism, consistency training. I also do twice
a year small group consistency coaching and its called the

(01:13:54):
Routine Reset, where I work on adjusting women's routine to
fit what their goals are as a group. But I
would say Instagram is probably the best place to start,
or my website Brittany Williams dot com. I have loads
of resources for women who are just trying to connect
with themselves. And then if you want to work out
with me, you can download the sweat app. All my

(01:14:16):
workouts are exclusive there and they're all done to be
at home with a pair of dumb bells and a
smile on your face. And I always say, if you
don't have a smile on your face when you start
your workout, or at least going to get you on
by the end, that's my goal for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:14:29):
Love that. I love that, Brittany Williams. Thank you so much,
Brittany with one t Thank you Brittany so much for
taking the time to sit down and chat with me.
Thank you for your generosity and sharing so many things. Yeah,
thank you your journey that I know that the folks
who are listening will hopefully have, you know, be taking

(01:14:53):
notes on and thank you. You know. There are a
couple of things that you said in this conversation that
I think are really important for people to know. One
is this is a lifelong thing, right, like to get
rid of this idea that fitness is about your ability
to get through a thirty day challenge. Those are great
if you want to integrate those, that's a great way

(01:15:13):
for you to know, shake things up. But if fitness
is something that you really want to be, then it
is a lifelong journey. Take your time with it. The
other thing that you said that I thought was incredibly
important is how motherhood is also a lifelong thing and

(01:15:35):
you're better, your family's better, and your children are better
when they get the opportunity and the gift of knowing
who you really are, not who you're performing for them
to see. Yeah, and then the third thing is taking
the time for yourself and not taking things or yourself
so seriously, just starting with a smile, Starting with a

(01:15:58):
smile and some breath as rewards that that know, you know,
intense for our workout is going.

Speaker 3 (01:16:07):
To get you, it's not going to help.

Speaker 2 (01:16:09):
Yep. It's the simple I think.

Speaker 1 (01:16:11):
I think starting there, there's nothing like check and it
doesn't have to be breath just checking in with yourself.
I think it's going to set you up for so
much success and whatever whatever you're going to try to
do uh in life. It's a it's a great skill
to have.

Speaker 2 (01:16:26):
So thank you so much to those who who are listening. Brittany,
thank you so much. I really really appreciate and have
enjoyed you for having the time that we've spent with
each other here today. And uh for those of you
who are listening as always, please like, share, tell somebody.
If you know someone in your circle that can benefit
from hearing Britney's words, please let them know about this episode.

(01:16:51):
We're all in this together, so thank you so much
for listening. This is Lisan Boskia of the Shaping Freedom podcast.
Love and peace and be well until we neeed to
get four

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