Welcome to the Slay Girl Slay podcast, a space designed to uplift, to motivate and to inspire you to be fearless in the pursuit of your dreams, go after what you deserve and show up as your most unapologetic, most authentic self. This audio series was created for every woman who's on the verge of her come up. She's creating her own vibe and fiercely transforming her life. So sit down with me, get your notebook, grab a pen, and let's create the life that you've always dreamed of. I'm your host, Ashley Leggs, and this is the Slay Girl Slay Podcast. Hey girl, hey, welcome back to the Slay Girl Slay Podcast. I hope all of you are doing absolutely amazing today and your week or your day is off to a great start. Y'all, I had a jam-packed weekend this weekend. I celebrated my mom's birthday. She just turned 67 and she had a pajama party slash sleepover. Y'all, we had so much fun. Her favorite colors are pink and orange. So everyone had to wear pink or orange pajamas. There were balloons and tiaras. And I was just so grateful to sit back and watch her face light up and see her joy, live in her joy, experience her joy. and I didn't take those moments lightly or for granted. And so grateful to God for being so faithful and giving her another year of life. So mom, if you are listening, I know you are. Happy birthday, girl. I love you, girl. I would not be who I am or have what I have without you. Your prayers, your patience, your sacrifice, any of it. I would be nothing without you. You were my hype woman since day one and I'd be lucky if I could be at least half the woman that you are today. Also, before we hop in y'all, I've been on a get your life all the way together kind of kick and I'm going to explain more about that in a minute but I have been so serious about taking care of myself and being so mindful about what I'm doing with my body, what I'm doing with my mind, what my body reacts to, regulating my nervous system, lowering my cortisol, all the things. And it just led me to create what I have been calling my maintenance manual. A manual is a literal book of instructions on how to make something work or keep something from breaking. And I put one together for our physical selves, which is also available to purchase on the website. But if you're like me and you really are trying to do a better job of taking care of yourself this year, staying on top of your doctor's visits, blood work and labs, your supplements and all the other things that we're about to discuss, you should absolutely check it out. That's all in the link in the description of today's episode. And I hope it brings you a sense of comfort and control like it does for me. Because one thing we will not do this year is be all over the place and guests when it comes to our health and well-being. No, ma'am. All right? All right. So as I mentioned, I have been on this get your life all the way together kick. And I mentioned at the top of the year, I had a health scare over the holidays. And over the course of these last few months, just have been battling with my health. And I don't know if you're like me, you hate going to the doctor and so it just makes everything 10 times worse on top of still living your life and dealing with everyday life issues it's a lot y'all and today's episode may not be the episode where i'm yelling at you and i'm telling you to go be great and you can do it today's episode i feel is a bit more serious in my opinion because what good are we what good are you? What good can you do out in the world with your goals and your dreams if you are not good yourself? If your health is not right, if your mind is not right, if your money is not right, if your environment is not right. These are things that we think about all the time or encounter every day that have a huge impact on how we live our lives. And that is crazy for me to tell you week after week, girl, go get it, girl, you got this. If you aren't even taking care of yourself you probably like Ash but I do take care of myself I work out girl or I get eight hours of sleep I that girl You are And while that great and yes you should be working out and getting adequate amounts of rest there is so much more that we can be doing, so much more that we should be doing to take better care of ourselves this year. I feel like a lot of the content and things that we see about self-care is very soft, right? How to live a soft girl life. Here's my soft girl self-care routine. And it's a lot of hygiene and skincare content and how to romanticize your morning. And while those things are necessary and beautiful, I am talking about the kind of self-care that keeps you alive, stable, regulated, and supported. Things are always fine until they're not fine, right? And I'd hate for any of us to be naive or putting it off to the side, putting the necessary steps we should be taking to take better care of ourselves off to the side just because now is good and nothing is wrong. The worst time to get on top of taking care of yourself is when something horrible happens. It's a wake-up call, yes, but maybe there's something I can say today that helps you get into a preventative mindset versus a reactive mindset. So I'm going to start by saying this, go to the doctor, sis. Not because something is wrong, but one, we all should be getting annual physicals, staying up to date on our medications, or perhaps getting prescribed medications we probably need. Getting blood work done. Hello. Blood work will tell you everything. And I fully recommend getting blood work just to see what's going on with your body. Our bodies change as we get older. We don't have the same hormones that we did when we were 10, 20, 30, 40. As our external lives change, so does our internal selves and we should know what's going on. Do not let your fear of going to the doctor make you one day regret not going to the doctor. Y'all, I have an aunt who passed away from ovarian cancer that runs in my family and she didn't want to go to the doctor. She felt like something was off, but she kept ignoring it until she couldn't ignore it anymore. And then by the time she actually got on top of it, it was stage four and she passed away two months after she found out. Going to the doctor is scary. Yes. And I get it. I also feel like they always find something wrong. And sometimes I do be feeling like they just do that to get paid. But also, sis, they are doctors for a reason, right? They get paid the big bucks for a reason. They know things that we don't know. They can tell us things or at the very least, give us guidance on what to do next. This one is simple, but somehow this was always very hard for me. Taking the right vitamins. I mean, no harm when I say this, but there are content creators whose main focus is telling you what supplements you should be taking for which problems that you may experience. And I'm not saying they are wrong and I'm not saying that they are not helpful. They are. I'm saying let your blood work tell you what you need first before what someone else's content says online. We kicked off the year being excited and we made all these goals and plans and we want to be great this year, but somehow also ignoring red flags that could potentially keep us from getting to where we want to go. A lot of us are walking around exhausted, anxious. Some of us are inflamed or we're struggling with weight and our mood is changing left and right without realizing that perhaps we are dealing with, I don't know, an iron deficiency, right? Or maybe a thyroid issue. Maybe you have a vitamin D deficiency, or maybe it's a hormonal imbalance. Take the guesswork out of how you're doing internally and start getting familiar with what's happening in your body. Another way to actually take care of yourself this year, sis, is to build an actual care team instead of just winging it. We should all have or be looking for a PCP, primary care doctor, gynecologist, a dermatologist, a dentist, and a mental health specialist or resource before we are in any type of crisis. Save their names in your phone and give them a call. Y'all, I've seen my PCP so much these last few months. I call the front desk and I'm like, hey girl, it's me again. Also when you do go to your doctor visits bring notes I bring a folder to my doctor appointments now this is new for me i never did this but because i gone back and forth so much i want to bring past visit notes blood work i have a list of questions that i want to ask already written down i request paper copies of the lab work that they upload into my portal before i leave. And I try to make sure that I don't feel dismissed by the end of my appointment. But heard, your care team sees thousands of people a month, probably hundreds a week. And sometimes you really are a butt in a seat to them. But if you're going to charge my insurance for being a butt in the seat, I'm going to make myself comfortable and get what I came here to get. Now, I do recognize not everybody has that privilege of having insurance to go to a doctor. I have been there. But not having insurance does not mean you can't take care of yourself. It just means you have to be more strategic about where you go and what you ask for. I learned when I didn't have insurance that most cities have federally qualified health centers that offer primary care on a sliding scale based on your income. They can also handle your checkups, your chronic issues, your prescriptions, labs, anything. And they are designed for people without coverage. Also, I learned that Planned Parenthood is an excellent resource. People think it's only for reproductive care. I was one of those people. But many locations offer general wellness visits. They offer cancer screenings, birth control, preventative care, and often at a low cost. This is boring, Ash. Yes, I know. health stuff is boring going to the doctor is not fun but it's really not going to be fun when things go haywire right when your body is responding to something that's happening in your life the body is going to change sis and we have to be fluid enough and change our thoughts our mindset our habits our actions with it nothing hits like home cooking then hello fresh makes it easy to do more of it this year with recipes that feel good and taste delicious night after night. I'm not the best at cooking, but during busy weeks, it can feel overwhelming trying to plan and cook meals that are actually satisfying. HelloFresh takes that pressure off. You get more than 100 recipes every week, including cuisines from all around the world. And the portions are generous, which I appreciate. If you're focused on your protein or trying to eat more intentionally, they have more than 35 high-protein recipes every week, including Mediterranean and GLP-1 friendly options. I use this and love it and you should too. Because when dinner does taste this good, nothing hits like home cooking. Go to hellofresh.com slash slay10fm to get 10 free meals plus a free Zwilling knife, a $144 value on your third box. The offer is valid while supplies last. Free meals are applied as a discount on your first box for new subscribers only, and it varies by plan. Now, this next tip is going to be hard for a lot of us, and I'm going to hold everybody's hand when I say this. I'm going to hold my own hand when I say this. But sis, the way we actually take better care of ourselves this year is we stop stressing over every little thing. I'm sorry, I held everyone's hand. I did. But girl, as a recovering overthinker who's been fighting anxiety and a self-proclaimed hypochondriac, we have to let the stress go. We do. Stress comes with life. We get that. Children bring stress. Partners bring stress. Money brings stress. Our living situations can bring stress. But unmanaged stress, stress that persists without adequate coping mechanisms, will keep your body in fight or flight. So think of it like this. Stress is like an alarm clock that goes off in your brain, right? Like a smoke detector. And the part of our brain that acts like our body's emergency coordinator, that signal gets sent to them. It sends a message through your nervous system and it tells your body to get ready to respond. So if you were about to get jumped, your emergency coordinator is like, all right, get ready to run or hide or it's go time. You are in danger. Your nervous system releases adrenaline or cortisol And these hormones speed up your heart They speed up your breathing They increase your blood sugar They sharpen your senses And now in an actual emergency that going to help you stay alive But while you at home laying on your couch worried about what about to happen next with your finances your job with what that person said about you That's not helpful sis and when you don't know how to Let that go your body is an alert mode way longer than it should be I read this article published by Harvard Medical School and it said, your body reacts to stress the same way whether you're running from a wild animal or stressing about a project deadline. Like your body doesn't know the difference. Imagine your body thinks you're running from a cheetah in the Serengeti and you're just at home scrolling on TikTok. So Ash, how do we get better about it? Track your stress the way you would track your finances. You know what triggers you. You do. Stay away from the trigger. People, environment, obligations. Remove the source. Not just coping when it happens, but fully walking away from it completely. My friend Jess will always say, I don't have the emotional or mental capacity for this today. I will call you back when I have the capacity for it. Boom. You have to take care of your nervous system on purpose. Your nervous system doesn't just settle with a bubble bath. I go over this in the maintenance manual, but it takes breath work, sis. Getting outside, take off those headphones and go for a walk. Breathe some fresh air. Get some sun in the morning if you can. I do not have the capacity to worry about this today, so I won't. My mental health does not have the capacity to think about this today, so I won't. I cannot solve this today, so I won't. What triggers your stress, sis? When your cortisol isn't jumping and your blood pressure is normal and you're taking the right vitamins to support your body, you feel better. When you feel better, you do better. You make better decisions. You start having more capacity for things that bring you joy and you get closer and closer to the woman that you are working on becoming this year. Sometimes you have to treat yourself like you would treat your favorite child. Now I know this is controversial. Parents can't say that they have a favorite child because y'all love them all equally. I've heard it all before. But I'm not a parent and still someone's child at my big age. And I will be childish and say, y'all do have favorites and it's okay. We still love you. But since I don't have kids, I try to remember to treat myself like my favorite actual child, which is my niece, Lonnie. When I see her, it's whatever she wants, okay? Whatever she wants, she can get. Whatever she wants to do, we're doing it, no question. I will make time stop for her if I can, just so that she's happy, just so that I can hear her giggle. Now imagine if we treated ourselves that way too. If we gave ourselves that much priority, that much consideration. Tomorrow in the morning when you get up, ask yourself, what do you want today? And what do I need to do to make that happen? Because this year is going to move whether you do or don't. How to actually take better care of yourself this year is to stop treating yourself like you are optional. You are not optional. There is no success, no seeing your vision board come to life this year, no seeing the fruits of labor you've planted year after year if you are not there physically, mentally, spiritually, or emotionally to see it. That's it for today's podcast, boo. If you loved the Slay Girl Slay podcast, be sure to leave us a rating and a review on the podcast app that you're tuning in on. We would love to hear from you. Follow us on all of our socials at Slay Girl Slay and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Don't forget to come visit us on our website at www.slaygirlslay.com. The Slay Girl Slay podcast is brought to you by Ash Media Network with brand new episodes every Monday. I can't wait for our next girl chat. So please believe we will chat soon, boo. Peace.
