BBR #175: Embracing Change for a Balanced Life: Tessa Arnold's Story of Entrepreneurship and Personal Growth

Today, I'm talking with Tessa, co-founder and COO of Snapback Energy, to share her story of resilience and the pursuit of a fulfilling life, leaving the structured world of corporate banking to forge her path as an entrepreneur.

She encountered more than just the challenges of business; she discovered a journey of personal transformation. Tessa's story is a compelling illustration of how confronting fears and embracing change can offer a more balanced life.

The road to self-discovery isn't paved with ease, and Tessa and I take a moment to acknowledge the emotional landscapes that often hinder our path. Our discussion goes into the importance of self-care, the impact of our environments on our well-being, and the transformative power of gratitude.

Tessa exemplifies how we can all find harmony within ourselves and show up authentically in the world. It's a reminder that personal growth requires unraveling complex layers within ourselves and that the journey is as important as the destination.

In our final thoughts, Tessa and I explore how community and service are integral to our evolution and sense of satisfaction. Drawing parallels between the communal roles of our ancestors and our current societal dynamics, we highlight the enriching experience of giving back.

Tessa’s commitment to supporting veterans and first responders through her work with Snapback Energy, and her coaching endeavors at Balanceofyou.com, serve as prime examples of living with purpose.

This conversation is a testament to the power of simplicity, self-actualization, and the profound impact of fostering deeper connections in today's fast-paced world.

Get in there and give it a listen for more!

To connect with Tessa:
Balanceofyou.com
Snapbackenergy.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the Brain Body Resilience Podcast. I'm your host, jay Peebee, and today we have a very special guest with us. We are talking with Tessa Arnold and I am just going to immediately hand it over to you to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about who you are and a bit of your background in what you do, and then we're going to go all kinds of places from there.

Speaker 2: 0:25

Great Sounds good. Well, thank you so much for having me again, tessa Arnold, here. So I am a human having a human experience doing all the things. First and foremost, I think it's the perfect way to identify and how I identify myself. I am the co-founder and COO of Snapback Energy, which is one of my companies, which is a supplement company specializing in health, specifically supporting overall liver health. It is a powder. You drink it once, twice, as often as you need it daily to really feel your best. We say you know, crush today, own tomorrow and really love your body so it can love you back.

Speaker 2: 1:02

I'm also the founder of balanceofyouco, which is an Ayurvedic health coaching and guiding company. So what we do is we work with clients to create a knowledge and to remind them of the six pillars of health going back to the balance of health, balancing your life, finding fulfillment in the day-to-day, peace within you, peace around you and all those beautiful aspects of life. So we do a lot of coaching and guiding through business, through movement, through life, through all the things. I practice yoga in my free time and I teach. I also do aerial yoga and have two small children and two dogs and a pony.

Speaker 1: 1:41

And a pony.

Speaker 2: 1:42

I can't forget Jack I. I know he'd be very upset about that that is um.

Speaker 1: 1:48

I don't think I know anyone with a pony that is um was. Tell me more about the pony. I'm really, I'm really interested.

Speaker 2: 1:58

Yeah, so we have a pony, jack, who stays um at the barn down the street from us. My daughter got into riding. I rode when I was younger, but it was more begrudgingly. My father grew up riding. My grandmother rode in England. It was what they did. They were fox hunting, they jumped, you know full equestrians, and I was like, all right if I must, and so it was definitely something I did and I told my daughter when she was younger something you want to do and bless her sweetheart.

Speaker 2: 2:25

She loved everything about horses and when she got up close to him was terrified and didn't want to get on them. We sent her up for pony camp. She didn't ride for the first three days. She was in tears but didn't want to leave them. It was the cutest, funniest thing. There was just a love there and then she became to love them. She rides all the time. She would live at the barn if I let her, and we have a pony that she leases and we take care of, named Jack, who is just an incredible creature, so thankful for him and all that he does for her. She jumps, she's a hunter, jumper and shows and as a parent, that's absolutely terrifying and he takes such good care of her and, yeah, we're lucky to have him that.

Speaker 1: 3:04

I, I love that. I love that story of transformation for your daughter it's great.

Speaker 2: 3:11

We do things we're scared to do right because we, we love them and we lean in and it became this beautiful passion of hers that guides her and will continue to guide her through life. This, you know resiliency, independence, courage, putting work into something, discipline I mean so many things and love for something that's larger than you, literally larger than you, and uncontrollable. And then you kind of you know you care for this thing. Gosh, so many metaphors to life right there in this relationship with this pony, but yeah, it's really great.

Speaker 1: 3:45

I love that you mentioned the uncontrollable in life. There is so much of that and first, before we get into that, I would love to know what led you into this journey of entrepreneurship and the businesses that you chose to pursue.

Speaker 2: 4:07

Absolutely yeah. So entrepreneurship, I think, really found me. I was working in corporate banking so global commercial banking for the better part of 12 years with two different companies. Through that journey I was kind of homegrown in these large financial global institutions very structured, very regimented, very finance based. You know implementation, ai, just technologies. And my husband at the time had an idea of a company that he wanted to get off the ground and it was more of a similar to an energy drink and I was like great, that sounds great, fully support you on that. And then the idea started to grow. And then he brought me on board and wanted me to assist with it while I was still with the bank. And I did and I don't do things halfway If my name's going to be on it, I need to be fully submerged. So what turned into hey, can you provide structure from a project management perspective? Quickly turned into all right, I've got ideas, where are we going to go with this? And I very much became a part of what is now Snapback Energy.

Speaker 2: 5:13

And then his health. He was dealing with some health issues and some other things. We had to take a step back from the company and then we were going through some relationship challenges and then ultimately we lost him. He left this world and that was challenging but we still had this company which I had just recently gotten off the ground with my incredible team, and he saw that and he got to see it get to all the way to the fruition and all the way to the public and he got to experience that for a few months and really see his idea come to life. And then we lost him and the company.

Speaker 2: 5:46

I was still working at the bank through all this time, kind of wearing both hats, and the company kind of turned into my lighthouse in the storm.

Speaker 2: 5:54

You know, through the grief and through navigating this new world without him and raising my children as a single parent and doing all the things, Snapback became this beautiful sort of guide to me that I was going to put a lot of energy and focus and structure into.

Speaker 2: 6:11

And then shortly thereafter I made the terrifying decision that I was going to leave all the security of banking and that world and my salary and the benefits and I was going to go out on my own and put all of my energy and focus and attention and blood, sweat, tears into Snapback and really get it going and I've done that since and that happened just this past January actually that I left the bank and I've been focusing on Snapback. And since that time, not only have I been focusing on Snapback, I've started a whole other company company in the midst of that which that just kind of happened and naturally in flow, in a flow state of creativity and ideas, and I don't know what's next, but it's interesting. That's why I like to say it found me in so many ways and it continues to find me and will continue to find me as long as it's part of my path.

Speaker 1: 7:02

Yeah, that's. That's a fantastic story, Especially thinking about the lack of control that you were talking about with with Jack and how that relates to life and just you know, we think that we have some sense of control. We like to do things that make us feel like we have some sense of control in the world.

Speaker 1: 7:28

And that experience that you had losing your husband and starting this company I imagine would give an immense sense of lack of control, um, and then leaving, leaving the security of the banking world and jumping into that uncertainty and maybe a sense of. Did that give you a sense of more control with your, with your life?

Speaker 2: 7:56

Oh, absolutely it did. It was my safety net, I mean, even prior to losing him. Um, through relationship, you know dynamics that we're working through, through navigating becoming a mother, you know in itself, which is a new identity that I'm relating to. So all the things in motherhood, you know, when in itself is a shift, moving across the country, shift that was always. I knew my place within the commercial world. I had my network, I had my support, I had my mentors, I had my clients. I knew what my toughest days were going to look like, right, so in itself that was a beautiful structure that kept me together in a lot of times where you do feel a sense of control.

Speaker 2: 8:36

Now I mean, if we take it back even further, this experience, this life experience that I've had through the years that I've been alive, there's been periods on a timeline where my world has been turned upside down, chaotic. I lost my father when I was 12 in a boating accident where it was just sudden and nobody could imagine that anything like this would ever happen. It was a shock to our community, it was a shock to us. Obviously I was very close with him. And then my brother when he was 17, in a car accident almost 12 years to the day, and he was lost in a car accident and turned my world again upside down for a second time. And then losing my late ex-husband in that tragic way Again, so many years in between, and it's like, okay, I get it. I have no control over any of this and these things will happen. Now I have choices to make, right? So how am I going to continue on and through each one of these instances within my life? And then you know, nobody's journey should ever be compared to anybody else's. We're all connected through our hardships and you know our journey and our path and we're all simply just walking each other home. But those things did happen and I had to make decisions at each step along the way.

Speaker 2: 9:57

How was I going to now show up in the world around me Because it's fundamentally changed? And when you're 12 and all you want, in that sense, is control, I want you to know this is never going to happen again, right? And then losing my brother, and then losing Michael and being like, okay, grabbing onto my kids and being like, okay, well, don't ever take them from me. Like you can't do this for me now I can't take any more, but you got to let that go. You've got to quiet that voice inside you. So I guess, fundamentally, I've almost been prepared for this.

Speaker 2: 10:26

All right, tessa, you can keep holding on tooth and nail to this water you're cupping in your hands. It's going to run through your fingers. You have no control over this. You have no control over life. How are you going to perceive that? Is it going to be terrifying for you? Are you going to be scared? Are you going to live in a sense of fear? Are you going to embrace this control, the little things that you can, maybe if that feels comforting to you, and are you going to just continue to move forward with a perspective of gratitude and things that I did have all the time that I had with them, I gained the knowledge, I have the growth and continue on this path of gratitude, understanding that every day that I have is a gift. And what am I going to do with it?

Speaker 1: 11:08

Yeah, I think that's incredible. I think loss does something very I was going to say special significant to us in the way that we understand life a little bit differently and the value of our days, the fragility the fragility to it and the fact that it can be swept away.

Speaker 2: 11:29

You know, like you, you draw in the sand this beautiful picture of everything, it, everything that you hold near and dear to you on the sand, and a wave comes up and it's gone, but the memory of it is forever there and the moments that you had are forever there and are so incredibly beautiful. And the people that are in front. I was out with my partner last night at dinner and we're sitting there and he and I are sitting there and we're talking about different things, and I said what is right in front of us, what I can hold? I can hold your hand, I can look at you, I can hear the words that you're saying about any topic that you want to talk about, and this moment is a gift right here, that we have, you know, in the stillness, and I'll just be still with you right now, right here, and I'm thankful for this. I don't know how many of these we're going to have in life, so each one, I've got to treat it and cherish it. I've got to cherish the people around me. I've got to really deepen the connections that I have. I've got to deepen what I find fulfilling and I've got to step into the unknown as much as I can.

Speaker 2: 12:29

We were talking about potentially move, you know, moving in a year, two years, however long, and that's terrifying. And he goes yeah, pros, cons. Pros is it's comfortable here and I was like, yeah, but complacency, or where dreams go to die, I'm not going to stay anywhere, do anything because it's comfortable. That can never be an option. Yes, it's comfortable, but the unknown could be so many more things beyond our wildest dreams and I guess that's where it led me to entrepreneurship and all the things. That's sort of, I guess, my interpretation of life as it is yeah, there's um.

Speaker 1: 13:02

I think it's so interesting just how our life experiences shape us, and that's kind of what led me to do what I do just the curiosity of why do we do the things we do and what has informed that. So I want to ask on you spoke a lot about gratitude and deciding where you were going to go, the decisions you had to make next after each of these pivotal points in your life, what helped you to answer those questions about what comes next and how you're going to show up? Did that come naturally for you, just like, oh, I need to have gratitude and be more connected? What was that process for you?

Speaker 2: 13:43

So funny? Absolutely not. And I try and instill that in my kids. I'm like, yes, this didn't turn out the way that you wanted to, but let's be thankful. And they're like, oh, I need to fall apart. I need to go have a temper tantrum and fall apart. I was like, get it, I get it. We as adults still need to do that too. I was like go, do that, but then maybe we'll continue to have this conversation. I was talking to somebody as well and I was like, man, it's hard to try and talk about that and, yes, it comes naturally to me now to pivot to that thought pattern of gratitude, but it's been a continuous practice. So I try and instill that and share that in words that I embody and the things that I teach my children now. So maybe it'll be a shorter path to get to that for them, but absolutely not.

Speaker 2: 14:20

No, there were many years where it was fear and it was grief and it was pain and uncertainty and unknowing and, frankly, a little lost. And that's perfectly fine, right. The term lost, I think, is a beautiful term, because I think we all are at some point within our lives. But what we need to understand is it's not a path that we're trying to find. It's not a dharma or purpose, it's ourselves. That's all that it is. It's coming back to ourselves, to our true being within us, to the intuition that we have within us, to the fulfillment we find in things right that really fill us with peace and light and love and gratitude and fulfillment. It's finding our way back to that. Some people might never do that because it's a scary idea of having to look within and start to unravel maybe some past traumatic traumas that have sat down there. Maybe do some shadow work, getting into the emotional needs, maybe understanding how we're showing up in life and being like, yeah, the environment around me, the people around me, the relationship, the job might necessarily not be the problem. Maybe it's something that I need to deal with how I'm showing up in the world around me.

Speaker 2: 15:39

So I had to do a lot of that. I had to go with it. I had to look in the mirror. I had to take accountability and say, wow, lost myself here and it's not searching for a place to be or the right job or the right relationship or the right people around me. It's understanding how am I showing up and showing up as my truest, authentic self and what feels good within my body and mind and soul and that connection there. And that has been quite the journey. That has been quite the journey amongst living and doing all the living things that we do and having life be all around me.

Speaker 2: 16:15

I mean, I can't put that on pause as I'm doing all this great work. It's like you know, you've got to do it all simultaneously and that's where you have to find the balance within that and what that looks like, and that in itself is a practice too. So no gratitude for me came about within my journey and it kept showing up for me in different teachings and learnings. I was like, well, yeah, waking up and writing down or thinking what I'm grateful for feels a whole lot better than scrolling on my phone or being having to take deep breaths before I walk into the office or get out of bed or go talk to my spouse or you know it's. It's a different practice and it changes how you show up and how you're navigating conversations in the day, and then I started to do that more and more. So now that's just a natural switch that turns on and it feels good.

Speaker 1: 17:11

Yeah, what I hear in there is a lot of practice over a lot of years. Was there a moment, that kind of a pivotal moment that that introduced you to the need to turn inward and and what that looked like, or is it just kind of something you intuitively understood that that needed to happen?

Speaker 2: 17:25

No, I mean I was. I was truly lost in all sense of the term. So I was going through significant things within my relationship and myself and I lost myself within my body. I mean there was no, quite truly. If you were to see, if I were to look at pictures for myself from you know, five, six years ago, I don't see me, I don't. I see a shell. I see a shell who's sleepwalking through life doing all the things that she thinks she's meant to do, and from the outside, looking in, probably looks perfectly fine, but that light at nowhere. I was not there and I didn't know that. To say I needed to look within. If you had said that to me back then I said Well, I have no idea what you're talking about. What are you talking about? I had to go to the doctor. I maybe need to start some therapy. I don't know what I need, you know, but I'm going to just start taking small steps.

Speaker 2: 18:17

I took a leave of absence from work, which was my safe place, which was my constant instability. I took some time off to care for myself. Did I know what caring for myself looked like? Absolutely not. I moved back home across the country, which I never thought I wanted to do. I didn't want to do which felt defeating in itself and I started to take small steps to be still, to see what felt better for me, to start to care for myself a little differently, to start to get back to things that I used to love as a child, as a young adult, as somebody in my 30s. I just needed to get back to those things that felt fulfilling slowly, but I needed to be still. I needed to stop chasing and running around and really just expending everything for myself and I need to start loving myself and taking care of myself.

Speaker 2: 19:10

A lot of that had to do with switching my environment. I don't know that we realize enough how impactful our environments are to us, and that is the food that's around you, the people that surround you, the sounds, the colors, the atmosphere, the stimulation that you're getting. How often you're going on a device and looking through a lens and what you're intaking there, what you're seeing on your computers, on your phones, on your apps, what are you inputting into your body through all the senses. That has profound effects on our body, our nervous system and our brain. I had no idea of any of that.

Speaker 2: 19:50

You know back then I mean, I get a date myself, but I wasn't on Instagram. I think I had maybe Facebook, you know, I think I barely went on my phone. I had one laptop. Our phone wasn't what it was now. I was outside quite a bit. I was working extremely hard. My work weeks never stopped. I was on a plane all the time. Food was more like grab and go than nourishing and loving my body. So all of those things had to start to change, and that started with just my environment and the people I was surrounding myself with, first and foremost, and that's when it started to come into place. No, the me now looks back on the me then and just says thank you, thank you for not knowing and starting to take small steps that felt better to you to get to where you are today, poundly thankful for that courageous lost person that was a version of me, because I had to be that version of me for me to get back to this version of me now, and I'm forever grateful for that.

Speaker 1: 20:55

I love that. I think that so many times we have a tendency to Hold shame for the person that brought us here instead of a lens through looking at our previous versions of ourselves with a lens of compassion and kindness and gratitude for the persistence and the courage to keep going.

Speaker 2: 21:15

Yeah, that courage self. I look at that self and it was going to bring me to tears. How courageous. Look at that self, and it was goodness it'll bring me to tears. How courageous the, the crying in the bathroom or the closet trying to hide it from young children trying to pull yourself together, walking into that meeting, walking out of the meeting and getting off the plane and not being able to like even move your neck because the tension. And you, you nailed it. You did great, they signed the contract, but you're, you've got nothing left.

Speaker 2: 21:39

And when was the last time you did one small thing for you? Because that you felt like selfish, because you had more to, because you were the last one on that totem pole. There were no promises kept to you, because you didn't make any promises to yourself, because you didn't have time for that. That, that self that operated at that level. Wow, knowing what I know now and living the way that I live now, I couldn't do it then.

Speaker 2: 22:03

So that self is so incredibly courageous and beautiful to get. We are so much stronger than we give ourselves credit for. The most beautiful things come from a complete breakdown, because then you get to a breakthrough. You have got to love those parts of you. You've got to love the parts of you who had to grow and evolve, the mistakes that you made, the challenges that you went through, the scars that you have because they let the light shine out.

Speaker 2: 22:27

I am broken. I've told somebody and in interviews before. At the end of all of this, I hope I am bruised and tattered and torn from the inside out, because I have lived, I have grown, I have evolved to so many beautiful versions of this self and I've given it all away. I want nothing left to keep. I'm not meant to take any of this on with me. This experience is meant to be completely fulfilled and I wish, I hope that I have very few regrets. I hope that I've done the things that were terrifying. I've failed at the things that I needed to fail to. I've been hurt. I've cried the tears, I've laughed the laughs. I've hugged throughout it all as many times as I could. I've had the deep connections. I've lost connection with people who have fallen away from me, because that happens. I've built the new ones and I've experienced it all through fear but embracing the hope that I'm putting out what I need to be putting out to my fullest extent.

Speaker 1: 23:21

There's so much in there that I have thoughts about, I think, first just being able to truly embrace that change and the tattered, torn, exhausted parts of you that come with that, and really having that appreciation for that and understanding that those experiences of falling apart are necessary, as opposed to this idea that I see so much of just like positive vibes. Only, you know, just be happy, just just fix your mindset, and all of this, how would you, what would you say to someone who, who says you know, like that sounds really great, you want to appreciate that version, you want to appreciate all of the, all of the hardships and all of that, and they're not in a place where they can see that those have brought them to a place, because maybe they're not in a place where they can recognize that. How would you introduce that idea or what, maybe? What would? How would you introduce that idea or what, maybe?

Speaker 2: 24:26

what would, what would you say to that version of yourself? That's a beautiful question. Two things there, and I'd love.

Speaker 2: 24:35

I've never been brought up the affirmations I have a hard time. The gratitude I like. Affirmations are tricky, right? You need to tell your mind what your mind's going to believe, right? So you need to be careful with that. So, if you don't believe what you're telling yourself, it is a waste of time. You need to believe the things that you're telling yourself at some level and you need to share those. And you need to also know that we are limitless. The only limits that we set on ourselves are self-imposed. So we've got to.

Speaker 2: 25:02

Before we start saying all of these beautiful affirmations to ourselves, we have to start setting the intention, the attention, the action and the thoughts, and those four things have to come into place before we can start to move forward and manifest or create, or whatever you'd like to call it. You know, get to your desirable goals and dreams. What I would say and I said this to a client today is that what would your future self tell you? Your future self is going to tell you thank you. You are not doing this for you today. You are doing this for you next week, next month and next year. So what is that future self that you see? What do they look like what are they doing? Because I'll tell you what they're grabbing you up and they're smiling right now and they're so incredibly thankful and maybe it's so profoundly hard right now. The tears are streaming down your face now, but the tears that stream down your face a year from now are tears of happiness and elation, because you're putting in small steps to get to where you want to be.

Speaker 2: 26:02

This is not an overnight thing. This is the most courageous thing that we can ever do for ourselves is working on ourselves and looking within and taking accountability. Self-actualization is what the world needs right now more than anything. We are in a pandemic of loneliness and depression and it is so incredibly hard it is, and people feel desperate at times. That could be looking like you know, just moments of having, you know just feeling down during the week to severe depression, and I'd say self-actualization is one of the most beautiful gifts that you will ever give yourself. What gift are you going to give yourself right now, at this moment? That's small that you can do, and and maybe it's just a thought, maybe it's just thinking about that future self and then continue to. And then I'd say, yeah, this is hard and you're not alone. We're all in this, together with the shared hardship, I promise you you are not alone, and I promise you you're stronger than you think you are and you're loved and cherished.

Speaker 1: 26:59

You always are, no matter what you think you are and you're loved and cherished. You always are, no matter what. So I hear, I hear so many, so so much wisdom in all of this. What took you from the the, the shift from I need to go to the doctor, something's wrong, I need to rely on this, this kind of source outside of myself, and shifted to a more like holistic approach with Ayurveda, which, you know, the kind of idea that we can have real agency in our own health and our wellness and just in our journey as humans is still very counterculture here in the Western parts of the world. And so how did you make that shift from that idea that I just need to go to the doctor to I actually have some agency here?

Speaker 2: 27:52

Oh goodness, I can't pinpoint. I wish I could. I wish I could say this is the exact moment. This is the book that I read, the notes that I took, the seminar that I went to, because it's different for everybody. Everybody's journey is different and that's what I do with my coaching and guiding help you along that process. But to get to that process, I had to take a bumpy road and some detours here and there to get to it, to really get to know myself again.

Speaker 2: 28:18

And it was in talking, it was in dialogue, whether that be with a therapist or somebody they're comfortable with, or a coach and a guide. That's where you broach the conversation. This is what feels good right now. This is what I'm struggling with, this is what I would like to see happen, and those conversations are going to continue to evolve and it's just putting one foot in front of the other with a commitment to yourself. First, make that commitment to yourself and understand that we do have agency over our lives. We you are exactly right. We live in a world here in the West and I think our culture which very much we're told to fit into a box and how to live.

Speaker 2: 28:56

You go to school. What do you want to grow up and be? I don't know, I haven't lived yet. You know you go pick, declare your major in college. That was the most difficult thing for me. I thought somebody was telling me to turn purple. I was like I I don't know what I want to do. How would I ever know if I haven't gone out and lived and experienced? Can I go out and do a bunch of different things and then figure it out?

Speaker 2: 29:18

Conformity for me has always been extremely difficult Because I think fundamentally I knew, as we all do, that's not how life's meant to be lived. We have agency to create the life that we can't wait to wake up to, and it evolves and it changes, and some days are good and some days are bad. It's meant to be a balance. Happiness is an emotion. It's not a state that you maintain. End of sentence. And I think so many people need to realize that we're not chasing happiness. Nothing outside of you, through object referral, is going to make you happy, right? Happiness is a feeling. It's all self-referral and it's not happiness. It's peacefulness and fulfillment. We need to switch out happiness for a peacefulness, a peacefulness that you build up and you nurture within yourself, that you can call upon the beautiful tools that are available to everyone, whether it be your breath, sitting in a moment of stillness, going for a walk, looking up at the sky, embracing and a hug with somebody that you love, telling, telling somebody that you love them.

Speaker 2: 30:22

It's a simple process there, but it was a difficult journey to get to understanding that. So, first, the promise to yourself that something's going to change. Second, going and understanding who you truly are. Right, you haven't changed your essence and who you are, and your composition was you from the very beginning. Your intuition is never wrong. It's your gut feeling. The ego is going to try and protect you and typically comes from something of fear. It's based out of fear and it's more of a survival mechanism, and that's fine, just like your nervous systems. But the intuition is never going to be wrong. But how often do we listen to that if we're living in chaos and we're constantly moving in emotion? We don't have time. It's dulled out. So first we've got to get back to that, and that could be through meditation, that could be through movement, it could be through the six pillars of health, through the Ayurvedic practice which, funny enough, it was introduced to me on a retreat out of the country and I was like, oh, that's great, that sounds wonderful, great.

Speaker 2: 31:22

I didn't really think much of it. I started to eat the food that they had there at the retreat. I was like, oh, this feels really good, nourished my body and I went back home and I was like, well, that was interesting and I got a lot of mindfulness and wellness. I did the main guest speaker, who's quite famous. At the time I had never read a single one of his books. I just found a retreat that felt good in an area and I wanted to go. And I went there and I was like, wow, this is a lot of information on mindfulness and Ayurveda. I'm going to take it all in. We'll see.

Speaker 2: 31:52

Was that the right time for it to really absorb and to sit with me and for me to begin my journey? No, but it was the start of it and I think that's what people need to realize. Things are going to come in when you are prepared to receive them. You could have an introduction to it. It might not be the right time yet, but it's in the back of your mind.

Speaker 2: 32:10

It kept coming up for me and I did more research over at the science of life Goodness that term in itself, the science of life and loving science and all that it is and life, and trying to continue to understand what I'm doing on this journey and how to continue to nurture this fulfillment. It just made too much sense to me, so I delved deeper and then I went and got my certification as a lifestyle and health coach. And then I continued on and on and I started to embody and I was like man, this feels too good not to share and I don't need to sell you anything and I don't need to promise you, you know, a fat five-week diet that's going to change your life. No, I need to talk about the mind-body connection, your gut health. I need to talk about you getting up and moving and moving emotions through you and healthy emotions and your prana and your breathing, all of these things that are just natural to our bodies anyway. And that was it for me.

Speaker 2: 33:05

I can't change, I can't go back once I've unlocked this inner wisdom that we all have. Right, I don't necessarily believe in gurus, because I read in a beautiful book that you only need the guru till you understand that you have all the wisdom within you that you could possibly need. You just need to tap back into it. I love mentors and I love people that we work with, but you have you have all within you that you could possibly need All the love, all the strength, all the wisdom. But we've got to clear the way so we can get back to it. We've got to quiet the mind. We can't be so stimulated. I truly don't know how we are maintaining and processing at such a nervous system level as we are today. We are incredibly overstimulated, we are incredibly bombarded with all of these distractions and pictures and things and noises and notifications and all of the things in our lives that it's no wonder that we're in the position that we're in.

Speaker 1: 34:06

Yeah, absolutely. I love that you mentioned that you can't seek someone outside of yourself to do anything for you. No one can do this work for you. And the science, the science of being alive, that's where you speak my language. That was my kind of first introduction to the idea that I wanted to share.

Speaker 1: 34:29

The things that I knew was understanding that there are underlying biological mechanisms that help us to think the way that we do function, the way that we do have that health in our body, mind, and allows us to understand that these processes taking it back to what you said in the beginning are just of the human experience and that there are ways that we can interact and build relationships with our systems that take away the kind of blame and shame of what's wrong with me.

Speaker 1: 35:00

Oh goodness, you're a human having a human experience and all these things are normal. And you know just what you said about learning to turn inward, learning to respect yourself and give yourself grace during all of this learning time as we learn and unlearn what we need to on our journey. I love that you mentioned the talking with a therapist. Talking with you know trusted people. I healing comes in in with community and we have such an individualistic. We really hold up individualism in this culture on high and I think that that contributes. I guess I'll ask how do you think that that contributes to our wellness or lack of ability to reach that?

Speaker 2: 35:57

Absolutely so. It's inherently has gone away from how we were meant to be as a civilization, and I speak a lot about this. I'm so happy and I'm not surprised you brought up the topic. That's how things work. It has become so incredibly isolating and empty to us as a civilization that it's causing us to move towards eventual extinction. And I don't know that it's talked about enough. I think we're starting to talk about it a lot more when we get the topic of loneliness and deeper connections and fulfillment and purpose.

Speaker 2: 36:29

We have to look at the values of what it was meant to be human from the start. And how did that feel? We were not alone saying I've got the biggest hut on the plains, you know, it wasn't like. Look at my castle behind me and my rocks and I've got a giant fire pit and all of these things and I sit up in here in my castle by myself. No, because you would have been eaten by a predator, right, that's just the way that it works. No, how did we survive? How did we survive and thrive and evolve to come to be the beautiful humans that we are today? In this beautiful experience, we've forgotten at our core. It's Maslow's needs, his hierarchy of needs. It's the needs of also just when we get into affection, attention and appreciation. To get into affection, attention and appreciation, we have to get back to basic the simplicity of living and the beauty of living. And if you even look back to the work that's been done on longevity and centennials and the different areas that people are living in, quality of life past 100, what is one of the main threads through all that community? Having a place within your community, knowing your purpose within your community, giving to others for the greater good. We have to get back to this. It has been so detrimental to us because it's a race that we seem to all be on To what ends? To being stuck up at the top of the mountain with all these things around us, cold, non-human, materialistic things and nothing else to show for it. Our connections, our relationships have now fallen apart the people, the memories, the moments as I spoke to earlier today holding somebody's hand, embracing in a hug, having a conversation, seeing a loved one that you haven't seen for a long time. As humans, general maintenance and I don't think people know this and I love this fact we need eight hugs a day. Eight hugs a day for overall well-being. And you talk to people and they're like hugs what do you mean? I haven't hugged anybody today. It's so incredibly sad.

Speaker 2: 38:29

Back as a civilization, how we thrived was to have the security of people around us, our community having a purpose within the community, that we know how we show up and what we could give. And it felt so incredibly fulfilling to know that we were giving back to our community. We had safety and security. We had people that would hunt for us, people that would gather for us, or we would be one of those people. We'd make it all work, and then that's how we continue to thrive and evolve. If we were by ourselves, we would have been eaten by a predator. That's just the fact of it. So now we are the predator out here. We're the highest on the totem pole, unless you talk about AI and artificial intelligence.

Speaker 2: 39:08

That's a whole nother podcast, but it is. It's really it's. It's difficult, difficult. I mean I do try and get my kids out in the community, my 93 year old beautiful grandparents. They're still with us and around the corner and we try and see them as much as we can. And then also family and getting out to help a neighbor, to do the things to be a part of it.

Speaker 2: 39:29

How are you going to give back? And I would ask, and the things that people decide to do? Just because you can doesn't mean you should, and is it for the good of you and for others or just for you, right? Because is that truly what you find fulfilling and is that what you want to look back on at the end of this experience? This is the mark that I left in the world. There are two things that I like to say, and I really do try and lead my life by and I am only human and I give myself grace for that and life can be very challenging, but I like to leave people better than I found them and I would like to leave the world a better place than I found it, and that's it.

Speaker 1: 40:07

I think that is an incredible space. To wrap this up, you really kind of put the point on there. I was going to ask with the service that you were just speaking of leaving the people better, leaving the spaces that you find yourself in better than when you found it, and I see that you were aspiring to do that with snapback energy and Balance of you and I don't know if what you said there just rounded it out so well. But is there anything else? Is there something that you want to leave the people with before we end?

Speaker 2: 40:47

No, I think simply that's truly it. I think the fulfillment that I found in that speaks beyond anything else that I've seen within my life and I've had the jobs and I've had the salary and I've had the relationships and I've done the things that I'll tell you. Simplicity and knowing the what I work to put out is is to the benefit of more than just me and feels good has been the best feeling that I've experienced to date in this life experience. So I would say that's just a beautiful place to look first if you're starting to change some of the things within your life. And I'd also say we're all on this journey together. You're never alone. We're all just walking each other home, and that's what it is, and we're all in it together home, and that's what it is, and we're all in it together. And I'd say you know, reach out. Deeper connections. Self-actualization, your values and the deeper connections are the three things that I really try to focus on and work with my clients on, and I think those are great places to start.

Speaker 1: 41:48

Yeah, absolutely. So where can the people find you if they want to reach out?

Speaker 2: 41:53

Absolutely so. Balanceofyoucom is my coaching and my guiding All things Ayurvedic health. We have a beautiful journal and newsletter that comes out monthly. We have a lot of great information on there, and then you can connect with me one-on-one in sessions. That's also Tessa at Balance of you. And then Snapback Energy is the supplement company. You can find a lot of great things that we're doing. We give 2% back to first responders and veterans. We work very closely with veterans. We're a veteran and woman-owned company, so there's a lot of great work that we do and I would encourage you to go out and look and see how you can help the veterans in your community. And then you can find me that's also Tessa at Snapback Energy and then on all the all the platforms. I don't go on there as much, so I'd say email me first, please. I do try and get stuff out there and post when I can, but I'm not.

Speaker 2: 42:46

I don't spend my time doing that, so email me call me, we'll do, we'll talk like face-to-face interactions and yeah, thank you so much absolutely.

Speaker 1: 42:56

I will make sure to put all of that information in the show notes as well, so people can find that. Thank you so much for coming to chat with me today. This has been such a cool conversation. I'm so happy that you joined me for everyone listening. I am grateful for your time and attention. You know that I don't take those for granted. We will do this again until next time tessa and I are out of here.