Where it all began - Episode Zero

We are at ground zero with this episode and I am literally floating just to get this podcast started. In this episode zero, you will meet me, Jennifer Guidry, your host and learn how and why Best You Year was started. You will also hear about what you have to look forward to each Saturday with an episode drop. We will be talking all things related to moving large objects like mountains, boulders and for some, helping you get rid of that rock of Gibraltar you have been carrying around so you can move forward in every area of your life and live your best year yet! 

Transcript

What's up and welcome beautiful people. I am so excited to kick off Best You Year podcast. I am your host, Jennifer Guidry, fortune 500, executive, professional singer, off and now on again, yes, I said on again, and that may be a shock to some people listening right now, New York City commercial print model. We'll talk more about that in a later podcast. All these titles are great, but honestly, the ones that I'm most proud of are being a leader, a mentor, a coach, and a hope dealer. I've mentored many people, career professionals, in my 20 plus years working in the financial services industry, and I've helped them achieve their goals, whether it was getting promoted to that next step into a formal leadership role, or getting promoted into a role with more accountability. Either way, I've been able to help career professionals and even people outside of my career path to reach what would be seemingly unattainable goals that ended up being life changing. I've been quite the goal getter myself, candidly, and I've moved some mountains in my own life. But really, this podcast is all about you, and helping you knock down your Goliath in life, whether it is within your career, relationships, thought patterns, finances or whatever name you want to give to your Goliath, fill in the blank. This podcast is all about moving you forward on a weekly basis so you can win in life, and have the best year yet. Welcome to Best You Year podcast!

So why this podcast and why now? The impetus to this podcast really goes back to 2015. And I'm going to tell you a little story set the stage and I will say this is probably going to be my most vulnerable adventure in life in this podcast. But I'm going to be the she-ro and I'm going to go out there first and tell you a little bit about how I got to this space. In 2015, I was running the New York City Marathon or had signed up to run the New York City Marathon and I was in the tail end of my training. It was such an exhilarating time, it was such a cool opportunity to run for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. I was raising money on behalf of a loved one who had passed away from cancer many years ago, and was raising money felt so committed to it....very passionate to it. It was just an important race. For me, it was not my first marathon but was I would say the race that was really the most important to me to date. So I was in the last or sort of tail end of my training. And in that time in my life, I was literally in Marathon mode, which for anyone who's ever run like a half marathon or marathon, you know what life is like during that time. It's literally eat, sleep, run, work, repeat. On top of that, there was complexity. In my day to day job, I was experiencing a lot of stress, which I won't go into that deeply. But there were a lot of stresses that were coming out of work at that particular time that we can talk about at another day, but know that I was going through people and yes, I was still running a marathon, which in and of itself is like a life goal for most people. But as you'll get to know a little bit more about me, I am like all about going lights out. So it doesn't matter what I'm going through, if I'm stressed out, etc. I'm still going to just go balls to the wall on things and just make it happen. And in that moment, I started to have headache... in that moment, in that time of training for the marathon, and at first I thought it was really just work related because it was super intense what I was going through from a work perspective, and I started to continue to have these progressive headaches. And what I mean by that is, I was getting migraines and I am not a sick person, I am a healthy person. I generally, I literally never get sick. It's just not something that is, has ever really been a large part of my life is being sick..thanks, thankfully. And so for me to get these migraines was like what in the world is going on? And it was to the point where I remember sitting at my desk..and for those people who do suffer from migraines and headaches, my heart goes out to you because at that time, I never knew what it was like. And I remember the pain being so intense, and the pressure being so intense that I could hardly keep my eyes open. And it wasn't for lack of sleep, it was just because my head was banging so hard and the pressure was so intense, that my eyes just wanted to close and I knew that was so uncharacteristic of me, a healthy person, etc. And so I went to see my primary health care doctor and saw her one time and she gave me like prescription strength Tylenol or Excedrin, something that was very migraine focused, and nothing was helping. And so I went back and like within a within a week or so because it was still not helping. And at that time, she was looking to actually move away from Connecticut, her practice was changing. And so I pivoted and said, You know what, I'm just gonna go to a local practitioner, I love that practitioner. So just want to say that I loved her, she was the best, but wanted to go to someone that was closer to me, closer located to my town. And so I ended up going to another health care facility and saw another great health professional, a nurse practitioner...I fell in love with her, she was awesome. She did like a complete diagnosis, or sort of, I'm probably like totally butchering that, but you guys get what I'm going. I went in there, she checked me out really thorough asked me a ton of questions. And she said, you know, because the medicine is not working. And because what I'm hearing is this is onset, which is very unusual. And symptomatic of something else going on. I think for just an abundance of caution, let's go get an MRI. So I'm like, okay, yeah, sure, like, this is fine MRI, I've had an MRI done before, like, on a muscle strain or something. And not a big deal. I'm still like locked in this pattern of you know, it's stress, you know, there's a lot going on, etc. So, I go probably within a week for an MRI. And I, I pause for a moment because I literally am taking myself back in time. I have a photographic memory. So when I remember things, I don't necessarily remember them all the time, audibly. I remember them in pictures with a little bit of audible overlay. And so as I think about where I was, in that moment, I was in a town driving down one of their main thru ways. I was running an errand and that morning, I'd gone for the MRI, and I looked down, my cell phone's ringing, and I see it's the doctor's office calling. And for anyone who has any familiarity with going through anything healthcare related, like the doctor's office never calls you like the same day for your test results - like never, unless it's like something really bad. So it's like when you get the call the day of you know something is up. So I answered hands free, of course, on my cell phone. And she proceeded to tell me that they had found a small tumor on the frontal lobe of my brain. They had the exact size of it - exactly where it was located, etc. And in that moment, everything stopped. Everything went into just like this space of slowness as I was taking everything she said in and I remember her saying this may mean surgery. This may mean we need to test for, you know, it could be malignant or benign, etc. And if you could imagine being a 30 something year old, perfectly healthy and hearing that.. the amount of emotions that literally just flooded me in that moment, I can't even begin to describe. I took in what she said. And she also mentioned, hey, let's let's do a fast follow with a CAT scan, because that will give us even more information to help me determine, you know, who I need to work with going forward for next steps, surgery, etc, etc. So, I processed right and gave myself the chance to really well, you know, I'm just gonna be real..I didn't even have like...I can't say that I made a conscious decision that I gave myself a chance to feel those emotions, like I need to back up for a second and, and make it not sound so like logical and controlled, because it really wasn't. It was like flood gates opened, it came, I had no choice but to experience every emotion that you could possibly feel in that moment -right. So the feeling of, obviously fear. And I think the biggest thing for me at that point in time was,
as I was thinking about sort of like projecting into the future, of course, in that moment, projecting worst case scenario, and I'm going to have to have surgery, and what if they cut into me, and it disables another part of me, or who's gonna want me..... who's gonna want me after my head's been cracked, open?.. and not having a partner at that time, and not having children at that time, all the weight of every dream I've ever had in terms of having a family and having that person felt like it was quickly like sliding out of my grasp. And that was pretty scary. And I remember thinking about, you know, I've got to get through this. And I remember quickly, even though again, I want to be real, in that I did experience those emotions. But I quickly came back to my rock, which is my faith. And that is what kept me grounded... was my faith in God, my faith in Jesus. And no matter what your faith is, because this is not about me trying to, you know, push you in either direction. It's just me keeping it real and sharing, you know, what I experienced. I was so grateful to have that rock to go back to. And I, I remember talking to my mom and sharing with her about what the doctors had said... and my mom and I'll talk more about her.. I love my mother, she is literally close to sainthood. She's just a beautiful person, very, very emotional person, which I think that's probably why I am not so much....at least on the surface. But an extremely vulnerable person. I'm usually the one walking her off the ledge. And in this moment, I should have known something was up because I remember calling my mom and telling her what happened. And I got to tell you guys, she was calm. Like the calmest I have ever heard her be at like that level of intensity of like, a life issue. And I knew that it was serious when she was calm. I knew it was serious, because I had never seen her take on that form ever before. And it's not like we haven't gone through different things in life and different challenges. So I've had that experience of seeing her at different levels. And she was so calm. I remember sharing it with one of my younger cousins, and she had the exact opposite reaction, she started crying. And I was like, Kimmy, it's okay, like, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not dead yet. Do not put me in the grave yet because I'm going to fight this. You know, I am not giving up. And so with that same spirit, you may be thinking, well, you had the New York City Marathon. Did you really continue with training? And I have to say, I did not listen to the doctors. I did run the marathon because I didn't want it to stop me. And I had gone through so many weeks of training and had raised so much money that I was like, there's no way I'm quitting. Like, if this thing hasn't killed me yet, then I'll be fine. And if it kills me, as I've crossed the finish line, hey, like, what a way to go out, right? So running for a cause I care about, running for someone who, you know, is important to me, honoring their memory, honoring the memory of so many others, survivors... like I, I'm okay with that, if that is is how it's gonna be, but it's not going to stop me from doing anything. I'm not going to make decisions on whether or not I'm going to do something or not do something based on fear. So I, I went to my cat scan, probably  within a week or week and a half or two weeks, something like that from the MRI. And you know, it's always interesting, right? Because like, when you're waiting for something, it seems like such a lag, right. And I remember like the opposite thing, like when I was thinking that everything was like, fine. It's just a stress induced headache, blah, blah, blah, I get the call pretty quickly. So I go in for the CAT scan. And there's like days going by people like days, like, it was probably... I'm totally probably over exaggerating, it was probably like two or three days, but it felt like weeks, because I was waiting to hear what they had to say. I knew I was going to be fine no matter what, like I was determined, okay, if it goes this course, I'm going to go, I'm going to just do it, I'm going to....I'm going to be strong. I know I've got my faith, I know that no matter what happens, I know that my expected  end is filled with hope. So I got a call again, bring back in that photographic memory, I was in Whole Foods. And I took the call, I pulled myself to the side. And it was the nurse practitioner. And she says, You know, I'm so sorry that it took me so long to call you. And I said No worries, you know, meanwhile, I'm like...just tell me what's going on--tell me what's going on. And she said I would have called you sooner. But I've spent the past however many days it was talking to other doctors, talking to radiologists trying to compare notes of what we saw in the MRI. And the only thing I can say is that whatever was there before is no longer there. And I don't know how many people listening to this can relate to what I'm about to say. And if you can't, I'm sorry, but I'm just gonna say it anyway. I literally wanted to run a lap around Whole Foods. But then I was reminded I live in New England and these folks would not know what to do with me. So I say run a lap because that's like sort of a funny thing we say, but it's actually really truthful. When you get good news, or you're so thankful about something, it's like that.. that moment where you like dance before God because you're so excited. So I literally started to have one of those moments in Whole Foods, but did not because you know, I don't want to freak any New Englanders out. But anyway, I say that in jest, but I was so grateful. I was so grateful in that moment. And not to minimize the stories of others, or the impact that death or disease or loss has to others. But I just felt grateful to God. And there was no other way for me to to explain it other than just being grateful for having what I felt like was a second chance at life. And for some people, they may think about it and be like, Jen, you were just totally like, over exaggerating, you were totally like being extra about it. And I'll say until you get that call that says that you have something in your body that shouldn't be there. You never know how you're going to respond until you have that moment. And so to get through it, and to be able to see on the other side and to have my wit, my wisdom, my grit, my faith to walk through something like that albeit it in a short window of time. I am grateful and I'll always be grateful and thankful. And so, as I think about that, and what I went through, it really made me think about and process how I was going to show up even more in life. And I've always been like a super driven person.. super ambitious. You talk to people who've worked with me, I've always been a goal getter always, always will be, it's just in my DNA. But it made me want to live even more. And it made me want to give even more to other people, and I've always been a giver, but giver in terms of inspiring other people and really being that start of a community for someone else. And so I started blogging, so this was about that 2015..2016 time period, don't like take me to the bank on precise dates. But it was towards I think, the end of 2015. Because I think the marathon was November 2015 and so it was the start of 2016, where I made a declaration and post on social media. And for those who follow me on Facebook and social media, you know, I never post and I never reveal private things. I'm pretty much close to the vest with a lot of my life, for various reasons. But I, I thought it was important to share what I had gone through because I think that a lot of us go through some tough stuff. And I know some people use social media as a dumping ground for like, their trials and tribulations. That's really not my style. But what is my style is sharing a challenge that I've gone through in a way that is meant to bring hope and inspire other people. And so I started blogging at that time, and I started Best You Year. And I started blogging, it was so much fun, I was putting in stuff pretty much on a daily basis. And I really got to the point where I think all of us get at a point when dealing with this social media world of that exhaustion and fatigue of posting. And, and so I was so super focused in on my career at the time and making it to that next level that I said, you know, I've got to take a step back. But then I had been going down this path of, of wanting to start a podcast about a year ago. And I was like, you know what, like, podcasts are  like super saturated right with everything and like, what value am I going to bring? Which now I think about is so normal for all folks who do podcasts to question themselves, like, what value can you bring? Will you have that community? Are you just going to be duplication? And the answer I got was like no. And I say the answer because like, I got like feedback from other podcasts, people that I listened to and respected admire. But then I got like this internal confirmation from like my gut. My unction was like, you know what, no, like, you have a story to tell. You have advice to give, you have things that you have experienced in life that other people haven't. And even if they have, they didn't process it the same way. They didn't learn the same way. Your story is uniquely woven in a way that there's isn't. It doesn't make your story better, it just means that my story has purpose just like theirs. And maybe my story has purpose for someone else that their story doesn't have purpose for. And so I got that revelation. And then I started getting like these pings and likes on my Facebook page from like Best You Year, like I'm talking old stuff, right? Like, and I'm like, who is looking at these writings from like 2016, who is even sharing them. And folks who are going in and sharing stuff like over the past six months, and I was completely taken back because I was like, huh, like there's value here. And even if it's one person sharing, or one person liking, there's value for someone, and that makes it all worth the while. And so it became very clear after I had to sort of process this whole I've got a story to tell. Then I started getting like these signs from other people saying of course, we all felt this way as podcasters. And then having people like that I didn't even know go into Best You Year by happenstance to find it and start liking and sharing things. And so I said, you know what, I'm going to take Best You Year blogging, and I'm going to make it a podcast. I love writing. But I think that connecting with people in a different way is going to be much, much more meaningful, I guess for me, because I'm really all about that connection...that two way and even though I'm I'm talking to you now in this podcast and it feels one way like we are in this together and we're going to have moments where we can actually talk to each other. You're going to be able to write to me. I'm going to be able to talk about and share different things that you have to say, etc, etc. But my point is there is value in this connection, and helping other people, in helping you, in helping each other have the best year that they can have. So I'm gonna pivot for a moment because I talked about  the mini health crisis that led me to start Best You Year blog. But there's also this really important facet to me that I wanted to talk about that really goes hand in hand, which was gathered from years of observing others, whether it was through the eyes of myself, being a leader and leading organizations, leading other leaders, being a friend, being a daughter, a work colleague, being just a person who got to share space with another person that I didn't really know well...and I watched people and observe people. I love watching and observing people not to judge them, but just to learn, and really understand who they are...I am so fascinated by people. And I started taking a much deeper note of people that I was having access to, and watching them, some of them struggle in their life journey with reaching their goals. And then of course, me, you know, super ambitious, super determined, being hypersensitive to my own experiences when it came to, you know, those big goal areas in my life that I had set, whether it was career or love, relationships, self care, money, you fill in the blank, right? I started noticing, there were two camps of people. And that first camp were people who didn't have clarity right around what they wanted. And so they were stuck in these patterns and routines that were just not serving them. And then there was a second camp, they knew what they wanted in life, but they were stuck in thinking patterns that really were blocks to helping them move forward. So they could make a plan to achieve their goals. And I would literally watch beautiful people, intelligent people become derailed, or were stuck in life by major life areas, because of belonging to one of those two camps. And so I got real with myself, and I noticed where I wasn't living my best life, and I wanted to do something about it. So I tested, I learned and failed... a lot. I'll say that. I rinsed and repeated this cycle in a number of areas. And I'm still learning through the process, until I've been able to sort of crack a bit of the code. And I say, just a bit of the code because we never crack it all. And I wanted the opportunity to take the wisdom I had gained and pay it forward through helping other people break through. So they could live their best year yet by accomplishing their goals. So I'll take a step back. I think the saying goes, a journey of 1000 miles starts with one step forward. And that's the premise of this podcast, focusing on accomplishing small things on a daily basis that ultimately add up to the best year you could have... cycle through that enough times, and you have a recipe for a life that you can feel good about. Because you're going to break through those walls, you're going to move those mountains, the things that have held you back in the past are no longer going to hold you back. And you're going to achieve some semblance of a life closer to what you feel is your best one. So that's exciting, right? So let's talk about structure. So this podcast is going to be about 30 minutes with a drop every week on Saturday morning. We're gonna start with something funny because I'm a huge Joel Olsteen fan. And I love to find humor in everyday life. So I'm going to be talking about real life funny scenarios that have happened to me, or someone I know to kick us off and break a bit of the ice. And that should get us nice and amped up to have a quick share of my daily routine. So yes, I have a daily routine. And no worries, if you don't have one, we'll talk about the importance of it. It's all stuff that we already know, right? The hard part is just getting started. And it can be a little bit intimidating. But I hope to share with you a little bit of some of the stuff that I do in my daily routine that really helps me set my day off right, focus, balanced and grounded. We'll talk about what I'm reading. You know, the things that are really like game changers that are making a difference in my life, and in how I view the world, and maybe something that will help you as well. So I'm excited because I've always wanted to be in a mode where I could share meaningful things that I was reading or I'd come across with others. And then the best part is we get to spend the rest of our time going deep, because that's where I live, folks. I'm a very deep cerebral person. We are going to spend a lot of time going deep on barriers in your career, things that are going to help you break through in a number of areas in life. We're also going to talk about how to help get you to that next step in your career. We're going to talk about mental health.... such a big, big topic, such an important topic. I know I joked around earlier. Actually, it wasn't a joke. When I was talking about my experience in the New York City Marathon and how I did not listen to my doctors. And I will say always listen to your doctors. Do not take my story as health advice. I'll say it again, do not take my story as health advice. Please listen to the advisement of a qualified, accredited, educated, health professional on all things. But mental health is such an important topic these days, and I want to do a really good job of giving it justice. Another topic that's near and dear to my heart is self care. It really goes hand in hand for me with mental health. We're going to spend a lot of time in that space as well. And of course, one of my favorite subjects is relationships. So we are going to talk about relationships. And with a drop every week, as I mentioned on Saturday, through the platforms of Apple iTunes, Spotify, Google podcasts, or your podcasts platform of choice, subscribe, please, please subscribe so you don't miss an episode. I want you to join me, as I share wisdom, tips and resources that I've learned in my journey... I've come across. In either case, I'm hoping that this will help you achieve some of your biggest dreams as it has for me. On the real, I'm still digesting some of this stuff, and I'm still applying it right to get to that next level in life. So in that theme, I...we are going to keep it 100 on this podcast. There's no magic formulas here just practical wisdom, that if applied appropriately, can reap results that will have a positive impact to hopefully your thought patterns and ultimately your life. We are counting all wins on this podcast people, even the small ones because a win is a win. You'll never convince me otherwise. I love to win. And I want to hear about those wins even yours. So hello audience participation time, you can write me at best year@yahoo.com and it would mean the world to me to hear if this content is working for you.. share your wins, what topics you want to talk about, you want to hear about. My goal is to get us together across that proverbial finish line because of course life is all about growth. And once we cross one finish line, we are right on to the next one, knowing that we truly are never finished. And I am excited to announce that I will have a guest co host come in and join me once a month. This person is an awesome human being. He is my brother in more than one sense even though I really don't have a biological brother, he is my brother. And I can't wait to introduce him to this community as well. And then add on top of that, I plan on bringing in some pretty special guests who have not only faced but moved some major mountains in their life. So these aren't celebrities folks, these are people just like you and I. They are my like daily she-roes and heroes... some of you may know... some of you may not know but they're going to share some of their secret sauce, what they've gone through and how they've been able to move some mountains to inspire us to live our best year yet. So what's coming up in our next episode, we are going to hit the self care button. So it is fall season. For anyone who knows me and if you could see my face right now which maybe one day you will if I if I ever bring this to video. I am so excited. I love the fall time..I am in it. I literally woke up on September 2 it was our first evening with like cool crisp air.... I woke up like it was the freakin scene from I think it was whatever Disney movie where she's like singing and the birds are chirping and she opens her windows and I think it may be Cinderella, like literally bounced out of bed with a spring in my step. You can tell I'm a fall baby. I love everything pumpkin spice latte and no, I am anything but basic. I love apple fritters. I love apple cider doughnuts. I love the fall. But fall is a reminder to me of what's to come and for some of us that's the holidays can be tough for various reason for myself. Holidays are a constant reminder of being away from my family or not being with my person. It can be a really challenging time for us for many reasons, even if you just look at the past year and a half of what we faced as a world and as a country, with all the losses. Christmas this year is going to look a lot different for a lot of people. And so my hope is to send us sailing into that change of season with self care in mind, because I know that is the only way we're going to be able to get through it is to get our minds right. So now, if any of this hit you just right, and you're like, yes, Jennifer, I am so in on this journey. Then please hit subscribe on your podcast platform of choice. Apple, iTunes, Google podcasts, Spotify, you name it, I'm on it. Follow me on Instagram on Best You Year. Write to me at best you year@yahoo.com and of course stay tuned for next week as we kick off self care! Thank you for listening!