Ep 78 - Unlocking Your Inner Wellness With a Seasonal Review

Faye Casement Author

Nov 10, 2023 |

Hello, hello, hello and welcome to Episode number 78! Today's episode is all about sharing some Autumn Wellness Secrets and today I want to share with you tips and tricks for your holistic well-being for the changing seasons, so if you are starting to feel your mood slipping and a shift in perspective as you say goodbye to the lighter day, beaches, suntans, and cool pina coladas then this episode is for you.

As usual, the tips I will share today will not only help you in life, and weight loss but also your overall well-being.

So what does Autumn bring for you? Leave me a note in the comments.

Are you excited for cosy jumpers and pumpkin spiced drinks and food? Do you love crunching through rustling leaves in the crisp air perhaps on a walk out with family? in which case still listen on as there is something for everyone. Or maybe you are more like me and a lot of people I know who start to get a little bit down in the dumps as the darker days and cold mornings start to set in. Maybe you are feeling the pinch of the cost of living and worried about your energy bills or the upcoming holiday expenses. Whatever your concerns may be, I want you to know that there are simple steps you can take to make this autumn season a little brighter.

So coming up, I'm going to tell you a story that will help you uncover some beliefs that might be impacting your well-being during autumn, I'll also of course as usual talk about how you can step into action for your well-being and be accountable. If you want some practical tips to help you maintain your energy, boost your mood, and make food choices that align with your unique well-being journey this Autumn be sure to join the membership link in the description as this week's complimentary resource is "10 Tips for Autumn Wellness"

So, make yourself a warm cup of tea or coffee, get comfy, and let's begin.

Understanding Your Seasonal Challenges

First up, let's have a look at how these seasons impact you. What do you know already?

Some common struggles at this time of year are:

- Feeling more tired and lethargic due to shorter daylight hours

- Cravings for comfort foods and unhealthy snacks

- Difficulty staying motivated and active during colder weather

- Increased stress and pressure around holiday season events and expectations

- Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or winter blues

Who remembers my character Jane from previous episodes? Well, I am rolling her out again today with a story of a typical morning.

During the autumn season, Jane finds a lot of life and diet drama comes up in Autumn.

She misses warm summers, lighter mornings, and time off work and school with her family. She is back to doing the school runs, trying to encourage the kids to behave and is back to rushing around like a blue assed fly in the mornings to get herself and the kids ready so she can get to work. Urgh work, work is manic as well. It feels like no matter where she turns, home or work there is a world of trouble waiting for her.

It starts as soon as the alarm goes off. She is finding the new dark mornings a struggle, she doesn't want to get out of bed and feels miserable. The room is dark and cold as she is refusing to put the heating on yet and she does not want to go to work. If Jane had her way she would hibernate until summer comes back but noooo she has to get shit done. So every morning as her alarm goes off she curses and mentally rants about how it is not fair and how she wishes she didn't have to go to work. She wrangles with herself, tempted to hit the snooze button. Just 10 more minutes. She knows it will put her behind but she just can't face the day yet.

The alarm goes off again... urgh! How was it possible to fall so heavily back to sleep in 10 minutes that she now feels like she has been run over by a bus and what was that crazy ass dream she just had about being in that important meeting today naked!

Steeling herself to brave the cold she says well at least she can stop at Starbees on the way to work and get the latest special pumpkin spice lattes have gone off the menu boooo but eggnog lattes are in and will do the trick as will the caffeine hit. As she is in the shower, she starts to wonder how it is nearly bloody Christmas. She hasn't even started her shopping and she's really pissed at herself that she is behind this year, especially after she read on Suzie (another mum at school's)Facebook that she had completed all her shopping. Well, whoopty do for perfect Suzie.

She gets out of the shower and can hear the kids screaming at each other. Joy of joys. She looks at her husband sound asleep simultaneously wondering how he can sleep through it and also cursing about how he never does anything as the kids start screaming again.

Wet hair, towel wrapped around her she goes to investigate trying not to cry. Gawd it's bloody cold.

Finally, she sorts the kids out and calms them down. Little Jonney was still not dressed for school even though she shouted at him 3 times to get dressed and Little Josie was supposed to be eating breakfast but was playing Barbie. As she walks back to her bedroom she steps in something... cat sick looks like Felix has barfed up in the night. Bloody brilliant.

She thinks to herself how the day is a disaster already as predicted, how she knew she shouldn't have gotten out of bed and if it wasn't so dark and cold she will be fine. She was nowhere near ready for work. Her husband was still sleeping and she needed to get ready. She starts to think maybe she will grab that caramel waffle muffin at Starbie too. She likes to try new seasonal foods and she sure as hell deserves it after the morning she has had so far. Plus crap she had not made herself any lunch so she'll have to grab food out for lunch too and goodness knows what she will do for dinner likely some beige food from the freezer as she knows she will be feeling even more frazzled later.

So that is Jane's morning story so far, how does that land with you?

There are certainly a fair few bits from Jane's story that have happened to me over the years. I can totally relate to her hectic morning routine. The struggle to drag myself out of bed and get ready for the day is all too familiar. Sadly (or maybe it is not a bad thing), there isn't a Starbies near me but I certainly welcome my come of morning Joe.

I too also love trying new seasonal foods as they draw me in and I worry about getting FOMO as they are only available for a limited time.

The good news is though Jane can work on her difficult mornings, her relationship with food, the kids, her husband, work and the dark and cold autumnal mornings.

It starts with awareness, if any of Jane's story resonates with you, firstly you are not alone. The next step is to keep gathering that awareness.

Let's talk for a minute about beliefs. Do you have any beliefs about this time of year that could be impacting your life and or your relationship with food?

Let's take a look at Jane's as our beliefs and subconscious programming are setting the tone for everything influencing our thoughts, emotions, and actions.

For Jane, her beliefs about seasonal foods and the fear of missing out are impacting her relationship with food. But what other beliefs could be at play in her life during this time of year?

Perhaps Jane holds a belief that she needs to do it all - be the perfect wife, mother, and employee - even on those dark and cold autumn mornings when motivation is low. This belief may put unnecessary pressure on her and make it difficult for her to prioritize self-care and nourishing herself properly.

Additionally, Jane might have a belief that indulging in comfort foods during the fall season is a sign of weakness or lack of discipline. This could lead to feelings of guilt and shame whenever she gives in to cravings or enjoys seasonal treats.

Furthermore, Jane may have been conditioned by societal expectations that dictate what her body should look like during the summer versus the colder months. This pressure to maintain a certain physique year-round can create anxiety and negativity towards her own body. Jane may feel the need to constantly compare herself to unrealistic beauty standards, leading to a constant feeling of not being good enough. This can further exacerbate her struggle with self-care during the fall season.

Practically speaking Jane's busy schedule and responsibilities may leave her with very little time or energy for herself. Between work, family obligations, and social commitments, it becomes easy for Jane to neglect taking care of her own well-being. The idea of carving out time for relaxation and self-care during the fall season may seem like an unattainable luxury for Jane. She may find herself constantly on the go, rushing from one task to another, leaving no room for personal rejuvenation.

Jane also is likely to have some subconscious programming at play from when she could have seen her mum go through the same patterns, heard stories about how a woman's work is never done, maybe she was once told that you should always prioritise others, that self care is selfish and that she believes this even though she says she doesn't and she maybe she has absorbed societal expectations of constantly needing to be productive and self-sacrificing.

All of these beliefs are feeding into Jane's daily story and they need unpacking.

As the saying goes, what isn't changing we are choosing. Harsh, maybe at times but also true. If you feel resistance to that phrase it may be worth leaning into it and seeing where it comes from.

All of these factors though are what is causing Jane the life and food drama. As she goes about her day to day business these are all playing out. Each shitty thought risks being a gateway to a f'it moment around food or other substance. Each tribulation is another possible nail in the coffin that means by the end of the day she is frazzled, shouting at the kids, the husband, the cat and wishing life was different as she overeats her dinner to try and number out and then tops of the tank in front of the TV as she eats a bag of Maltesers. Afterwards, the guilt and shame starts, she shouldn't have overeat dinner she is supposed to be mindfully eating FFS, she ruminates over how she didn't need those Maltesers and how eating chocolate is bad for her as it is 'full of calories'. Then starts the food blame even though food was not the problem. I just can't keep this food in the house it is my kryptonite, I knew I shouldn't bought them I just can't say no to them. Then the thoughts start about the partner. God I bet he is thinking I am such a bitch, he probably hates me, I shouldn't have shouted earlier. How can he love me when I shout and all I do is sit here and eat chocolate!

Ouch right!

It is so easy to get into these spirals and thought loops.

Each season can bring with it different challenges. It's easy to get caught up in routine thinking or old beliefs about gaining weight during this time of year. But what if we challenge those beliefs?

What if we can find opportunities instead?

Opportunity is a real buzzword for me at the moment after I did a Belief Coding®️ session on myself coupled with some EFT Tapping about the cold dark mornings. What came up for me was a memory of when I was little before I went to school. My Mum had a market stall they had to make ends meet. They did what they needed to do. It was the 80s when mortgage prices were high. I'd get woken up in the dark cold as we had to get up at ridiculous a clock and little me was not a happy bunny about this at all. She hated going to the market, it was cold, boring and she always got hungry. I won't go into he process but through my techniques, I healed that moment that had been stuck since and out popped a new set of beliefs. That every day is an opportunity. Any opportunity to connect, an opportunity to serve, an opportunity to create and an opportunity to grow. Couple this with my SAD Sunrise Alarm clock and the mornings so far since have been far more easier I am on day 4 and the last two days I have got out of bed singing!

Now you may not have tools like I do so this is why I have the membership where I can teach and coach you on various techniques you can use and I work with clients 1 to 1 for Life Coaching and Belief Coding®️ so be sure to check out the description. So when you become a member you get this week's resource which is "10 Tips for Autumn Wellness" which will help you start to unpick what is coming up for them right now as the leaves start to fall and how you can move forward with love and curiosity.

All That Chatter

So tell me in the chat what did notice about Jane's story, the internal chatter that was going on, and Jane's underlying beliefs what did it spark for you?

What sparks for me is how exhausting all this chatter can be, also how complex our relationship with food can be, how she went from feeling like she deserved food in the morning to then by the end of the day demonising it and blaming it. I say it all the time but food is not the problem. When we are demonising our food, blaming it for creating problems it is easy to forget that eating food is an action. An action has to come from a feeling, the feeling from a thought and our thoughts are impacted by our beliefs.

The real issue lies within our relationship with food and how we perceive it. It is more about why we eat. In Jane's case, she had a shit day, but the shit day again is not to blame it is her thoughts and feelings about the day. The more she stewed on it the more emotions would have been rattling around. She was likely tired, overwhelmed, upset, frustrated and a whole host of other emotions too. Those thoughts and emotions can get the better of us if we don't actively work on them and the underlying beliefs.

The beliefs especially if we don't work on shifting them will still keep going around in the same circles. I have been doing a lot of work on my beliefs this week and my reasons for self-sabotage as my journey is not over. I continue to work on myself, to grow and to learn from what comes up for me daily.

Just the other evening, for example, I had an overeat I knew I was heading to finish my plate but I also knew I did not need those last few bites. I decided to eat it anyway but I was also mindfully exploring why.

• Was it a desire for the taste?

• Was I overwhelmed after a busy day at work?

• Was it habit?

• Was I trying to numb out?

• Did I have a fear of not being able to have the meal again?

None of these seemed to ring true and so once more I took a deeper dive this time again with Belief Coding®️ and EFT Tapping but it could have also been through journalling and reflection. What came up this time was the emotion of being frazzled. I was back at high school 14 years old just started as we operated a grammar school system then, there were new people, new subjects, it was a bigger school, I was overwhelmed, tired and just wanted to numb out on food. But rather than food I guided young Faye to another source of comfort. Clear as day I was back in my old room and trying to record music off the radio making mix tapes. If you are of a certain age you will 100% get the reference.

I always say you get 3 opportunities to change, before, during and after in this case it was after. I was on reflection a little frazzled after rushing about for the day but now that I am aware of this I can step into action next time. I now have new beliefs about how to handle the feeling of frazzled and I can approach this with love and curiosity in future meals.

I imagine Jane was a little frazzled too after a busy day so what could she have done differently in the lead-up to that moment the final finale and the bag of Maltesers and thought shit spiral? Tell me in the chat what you picked out?

As a coach I can see a number of life areas Jane could work on to not feel so frazzled at the end of the day. A number of action steps she could take to change the trajectory of her day as at the end of the day life and weight loss is just a series of decisions one after the other. I could coach Jane through these easily as it is often a lot easier for someone else to help you by holding up a mirror in front of you and talking through the issues.

Jane can, of course, self-coach, as a member of Wellness for Women she can use the podcast, the techniques in the food freedom course or a show resource. She could reach out to the accountability group after a bad day, she could ask for support as she does not have to go it alone.

Building a Supportive Autumn Routine

One thing that Jane could try is building a supportive Autumn Routine. As the seasons change it is worth evaluating if what you were doing in the bright warm summers is sustainable during the colder autumnal months, same when it comes to Winter (be sure to check out Episode 8 "Winter Wellness"). Routines do not need to be ridged and set in stone in actual fact I would advise caution if they were as you are not a robot but they can serve as a loving guide to help you find balance with love and you naturally already are likely to be doing similar things every day, week, month or season. The question is are they serving your higher good?

Some possible questions to ask yourself:

• Who do I want to be this season? How do I want to show up?

• Does my current routine serve my goals for this season?

• Is my current routine sustainable?

• What barriers are there to maintaining my routine?

• At the end of this season looking back what do I want to be grateful for?

• At the end of this season looking back what do I want to have learnt?

• How can I find my joy this season?

As the nights draw in and it gets colder maybe you want to incorporate activities, such as, warm baths with essential oils, cosying up with a good book, or even starting a new hobby. Each one of these can help create a sense of comfort as the season changes. Maybe you want to get a wake-up alarm like me, shift some beliefs and work on living an intentional life this Autumn where you get to create your ideal season.

Weight loss can be challenging during autumn for some when comfort foods seem to be everywhere and food moves from salads and lighter meals to more nutritionally dense items as deep down we still have some cave person beliefs that are saying we need to build fat for a harsh winter in the cave. As ever I would encourage mindful eating, so instead of focusing on strict diets or restrictive eating patterns, practice self-compassion and approach weight loss with a gentler mindset. It is absolutely fine to have 'treats' or 'indulgences' without guilt while still prioritising nutritious meals and loving movement.

Perhaps, knowing that your mood is on the slide it is time to up the thought work, reach out to a coach or have some healing like Belief Coding®️ to help you through the darker months and so it is worth building self development and healing time into your daily/weekly or monthly routine depending on what modality you chose.

This Autumn could be filled with creative comforting routines that prioritise both your physical health, emotional wellness and speak to your soul - because you deserve nothing less!

Closing Words:

As I wrap up this episode, remember that autumn is not just a season; it's a unique opportunity to embrace your well-being with love and joy. It's a time to build your own method of holistic well-being that fits your life seamlessly.

Be sure to take a deep dive into your beliefs, thoughts, feelings, actions and results and if you don't know how drop me a #getmestarted on my socials.

If you've enjoyed this episode, please don't forget to subscribe and share it with a friend who might need a dose of positivity this season.

Stay well, stay positive, and stay tuned for more episodes on "The Wellness 4 Women Show."

Until next week, bye for now.

P.s. Join Wellness 4 Women today and grab the latest resources to help you in life and 'weight loss'.