DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE YOU’VE BEEN GIFTED WITH THIS INCREDIBLE AMBITION, BUT YOU DON’T HAVE THE PHYSICAL ENERGY TO MATCH?

In today’s world, with all the pressures and all the exposures, and all the things we’re walking through, it’s so common to be drained, to not have energy. So, today we’re talking about some strategies to support you in your times of low energy and a perspective shift that might just be the answer you’ve been looking for. 

You don’t have to fight through the exhaustion. You don’t need another cup of coffee. You need this, and I’m gonna tell you exactly what that is!

IN THIS EPISODE, WE COVER:

[2:13] This Is the Path for You

I knew I was on the brink of a spiral recently, because I started to notice myself looking for ways things could go wrong. 

It was one of those days, I was sitting in front of a computer screen and I felt like I was going cross-eyed. I had this whiteboard mapped out of all these things that I’m so fired up to do. I know this is the work I’m supposed to do, but when it came to actually doing the work I felt like my brain was just powering down. Before, when that would happen I would just grit my way through it. I would keep staring cross-eyed at the computer screen and type out five words per minute and just do in three hours what normally would take me three minutes, because I had to get the work done. I have since learned that this does not serve me, my mission or my healing and it doesn’t ultimately get me the result I want anyway.

So, I hit pause on everything, curled up in a ball in my closet and pleaded with God. Why do I feel like I’m under attack? Why can’t I come up for air? Why does this keep happening to me? I’m saying yes to the mission that you’ve placed on my heart. Why aren’t you clearing a path for me? And I heard it, clear as day. This is the path for you. 

It was like a calm came over me, so I pulled up my journal and I just started writing what’s coming to me and it was so clear. I’m not asking you to go faster. I’m preparing you. Every struggle is shining a light on the gaps that you need to fill, the ways that you need to grow. You are not ready yet for what you’re working towards, so that you can become who you need to be to carry out this mission. 

Sometimes when we want things to happen fast, we are given the roadblocks. We are given those roadblocks to slow us down and make us better drivers. So that we don’t just get to our destination faster, but we arrive prepared. 

Disclaimer: what you hear today is not medical advice. This is a wake up call for you to advocate for yourself and do your own digging. No one’s coming to save you. No doctor is going to care as much as you should care. You have to figure out what is right for you. 

[10:14] Giveaway Time! Get Your Business Question Answered by Me 

Let me pause for a minute and let you know that we are celebrating the new season of the Luminary Leadership Podcast with an exciting opportunity for you as a potential lucky winner!

From April 4th through April 15th, you can enter into a drawing to submit your most pressing business questions to me. I’ve been doing this for a decade and I love coaching people but usually the only way you can have access to me for something like this is through my programs and my masterminds, but this time you will get it for free. I will give you my breakthrough feedback and send it to you so that you can have that next level launching pad into where you’re called to next. So, if you’re ready to make some massive progress and see huge growth in your business in a quick time frame, here’s your chance. 

All you have to do to enter is rate and review the show in Apple Podcasts. Once you’ve done that, you’re going to take a screenshot of the review and email it to [email protected]. If you’ve already rated and reviewed the show, first of all thank you. We want you to have a chance to get this giveaway too, so just share this episode on your socials and tag me @elizhartke and you will be entered into this giveaway. Ok, back to the episode!

.[13:24] Getting Under the Hood  

Step one is getting under the hood.

Do not wait to be told. You have to make this a priority. You are someone who feels called to really big things in your life and if you were trying to operate from a broken machine, it’s going to be a lot harder. 

Honoring your health has to be a continual priority for you. 

This is why, on my health journey,  I’ve worked with functional integrative medicine doctors who look at the whole picture, all the factors and they want to get to the root. They don’t want a band aid. They want to support you in your healing. In that process some of the tests that have been very helpful are:

• The DUTCH test (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones). This hormone test is so important because your hormones affect everything: how your brain works, how you feel, your energy levels, your libido, etc.
• A neurotransmitter test. It was very insightful to see how little my brain was actually working.
• A hair analysis test. This one was great because it’s looking at the tissue, not just what’s happening in this current moment, but it’s giving you a history of what’s been going on in your body. Do you have heavy metals in your system that you need to get out, have you been exposed to mold, etc.? 

[17:53] Be Your Own Advocate 

The second thing is advocating for yourself.

I am a solution-oriented person. If I want to do something, I go all in, I’m willing to sacrifice, I’m willing to put in effort, time, money, and I want it to work. And when it doesn’t fully work, it’s easy to give up. But, you have to be your own advocate. 

You have to be willing to pay attention and say what’s working for you and what isn’t. If your doctors suggest one panel and you’ve learned about another and want to try it, you have to be willing to speak up. You have to be able to bring your own desires and realities to the table and not give up just when one thing doesn’t work.

[18:51] Stop Taking Shortcuts

Stop taking shortcuts. Stop doing something for a season.

Healing is not a temporary thing. It’s not something that you do once, and then move on. It’s something that you choose over and over and over again so that you can optimize your body and your brain and the potential of what you’re working towards, because all of this is rooted and connected to your mission. As you enhance and grow and get better and heal and have more energy and can show up better for your people, it directly affects that mission. 

Two most common shortcuts that I see people take are:

• Store-bought supplements. If you take supplements from places like CVS, I can almost guarantee you they should be thrown in the garbage. Again, you’re going to want to talk to a functional or an integrative medicine or a holistic doctor to get a better sense of what that looks like. But a lot of times those are shortcuts. Those are marketed well and they do nothing for healing. They do nothing for your body and in many ways sometimes they’re more detrimental than they are good and can be leading to and aggravating some of your symptoms. 
• Caffeine. Ah, this is a tough one because you’re so tired and you need caffeine to function. But it is a band aid. It is not addressing the root cause and it’s probably aggravating the actual problem

[21:41] Developing Your Health Team

What has really helped me is developing my health team overtime. People I trust, people that do look at me holistically. A chiropractor, functional medicine doctor, an integrative medicine doctor, a holistic nutritionist, an acupuncturist, massage therapist. People who are working in tandem to support me and to help me figure out where things are coming from. 

You need to seek out the advice of those that you can trust, to start to heal and start to feel better. So develop your health team, make sure you’re supporting all parts of you because your mind controls your body and then your body keeps the score. When you’re getting hit with stress after stress, and you’re not getting that out of your body and you’re not addressing it, all of that lives literally, physically and measurably in your body and can lead to disease and sickness and symptoms that can be really debilitating.

[24:15] How Are You Feeding Yourself Throughout the Day?

Now this is a multi-part question. 

Again, what I eat or what I avoid, might not be of any value for you, but there are some obvious things that we could all benefit from cutting out:

• Processed food
• Sugar
• Alcohol
• Sodas 

When it comes to these things, I’m totally fine being black and white about it and not saying ”everything in moderation”, because it’s 0% serving you and it’s 100% a detriment to you and to your kids. There are certain things that are simply toxins, actual toxins, poison to the body that should be eliminated.

But, how are you feeding yourself outside of that? It’s really hard today to get the level of nutrition that we used to be able to get from our food. Even if you’re buying organic food, the soil is so stripped of nutrients because of how things are grown out and if you aren’t buying organic or you’re not paying attention to the ingredients, there’s a high probability that they’re loaded with chemicals and pesticides, on top of not being nutritional enough. 

Are you getting enough protein in your day? Are you getting enough healthy fats? Are you getting enough clean sources of vitamins that are fueling your body?

[27:55] Things I’m Doing That Have Been Supportive

I’m going to walk through some of the things I’m doing currently or have done that have been really supportive. 

A lot of this is based on the book I’m currently reading called Cu-RE Your Fatigue: The Root Cause and How To Fix It On Your Own Paperback by Morley Robbins. It’s a wonderful resource to walk through and it’s very eye opening. So, I truly recommend that book, read it and see what feels right for you.

Here are some of the things I’m doing currently or have done in the past that have been really helpful:

• Adrenal cocktails that support your adrenals throughout the day. I take one at 10am and one at 2pm. I use fresh squeezed orange juice for vitamin C, organic coconut water for potassium and salt for electrolytes. This helps to give a natural boost versus caffeine which leads to a crash. 
• Limiting my exposure to EMFs. We’re being hit with EMF (electromagnetic frequencies) from everything. Our cell phones, our laptops, it all emits radiation all day long. There are tools you can use to reduce EMFs. There are also tools you can use to read them to get a sense of how much you’re getting. I wear a necklace, it’s absolutely hideous, but it is an EMF blocker, so it tones it down a little bit.
• Toxin-free. We’ve been working for years to have a toxin-free home. For example, we don’t have candles because they don’t have to disclose the chemicals that are in them; cleaning supplies we either make on our own or buy from companies that we trust; skin products, like lotions or makeup we buy from toxin free brands that are trustworthy
• Epsom salt baths, infrared sauna, meditation, prayer. I use all of these to help detox my body and my mind. You’d be amazed by the power of these tools and what they can do for your brain, which ultimately serves your body
• Having more whitespace in my days. This might sound trivial, but if you’re stacked in your work all day and then you go into being stacked with kids, that is just not how we’re designed to live. There has to be space for you to just relax, think, process and just be.
• Changing my work schedule. In Episode 68, I talked about one shift I made that has been so powerful and that is optimizing your energy zones. I tend to have what we call a green zone, usually in the morning and I use that for the tasks that need most focus.
• Getting the right minerals. One of the minerals I recommend the most is magnesium because we’re all way deficient in magnesium and magnesium is responsible for so many functions in the body. So just getting a good source of magnesium is really powerful. 

[36:01] Pay Attention to the Value

During a little vent session I had with my husband Michael, because I’ve been getting so frustrated with my health and body, I heard God really clearly: It’s so you will lean on me. 

If you know me, you know I have grit. For years, I would just plug away and push through the pain and figure it out and just keep going. But where I’m being called to next is no longer just about me, it’s so much bigger than me. if I were optimized physically, I would just do that. I would go, I would push, I would make it happen. But then it would be just my mission and my success alone. I’m being called to something so much bigger than me that I have to do it in partnership with God, my team, my family, and I don’t have the ability to just go alone anymore. 

So, maybe my bones are kind of weary in this season because there’s a message for me in that. And there’s a message for me and my suffering. And there’s wisdom there. And maybe I’ve been leaning too much on grit and it’s time for me to pay attention to the value in this season as well. Maybe it is time for you as well.

If you feel like you need some help with this, head over to  https://luminaryleadershipco.com/unhurried/ and download our free workbook we’ve developed specifically for people who are spread thin and want to tap into their next level of leadership but aren’t feeling the energy, aren’t feeling the momentum and are needing some help in that department.

I hope today’s episode spoke to you and you take something good from it, whether it’s a piece of wisdom, a next step or something to look into. Make this a priority and honor the journey and honor the process because it’s designed specifically for you.

Make sure to rate and review our show on Apple Podcasts to enter our giveaway. Take a screenshot of the review and email it to [email protected].

Make sure you subscribe because we have some amazing stuff coming your way that you don’t want to miss. Come connect with me on Instagram at @elizhartke!

If there’s a topic, a question or a guest you want to hear on the show, just reach out and share that. We do this for you so the more you tell us, the more we can serve.

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Get your free Unhurried Workbook here!
• Episode 68: This Small Tweak Changed Everything in my Business
• Cu-RE Your Fatigue: The Root Cause and How To Fix It On Your Own Paperback by Morley Robbins
• Did this episode resonate with you? Help spread the message by grabbing your phone to rate and leave a review for the show here!
• Connect with me on Instagram!