Living Outside the Box in Paradise

Keesha Parker thought she'd have to wait 35 years and retire in order to move to paradise. Instead she transitioned her counseling practice from traditional in person therapy session to exclusively online sessions. That decision gave her the freedom to live anywhere, and she chose to move to the Caribbean Island Paradise of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Now she continues to help her clients while also dedicating 2 days a week at one of the ten best beaches in the world!  Hear how she did it, the challenges she faced - and overcame to live her life like she tells her clients to think: Outside the Box.  

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Transcript

Dawn: 0:02

Welcome. You are listening to the overseas life redesign podcast where you'll hear fun relaxed and inspirational interviews with people who are really living the dream. I am Dawn Fleming an attorney turned Alchemist and your host for the show coming to you from the tropical Island paradise of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Listen to conversations with courageous souls who stepped out of their comfort zone and designed a new way of life. They'll share their experiences, wisdom and offer practical steps you can take to redesign your life overseas. Listen, and you'll believe if you can dream it, you can achieve it. Right. I'm here this morning with Keesha Parker and we're excited to do our overseas life redesign podcast here today. Welcome.

Keesha: 0:50

Thanks for having me dawn.

Dawn: 0:52

I usually like to start with how did this all come about? How did you decide to take the plunge and move overseas? Have you lived overseas before or is this your first time?

Keesha: 1:03

No, I actually lived in the same city my entire life. I had never lived more than 20 miles away from.

Dawn: 1:12

Oh wow. So this is a really big move for you.

Keesha: 1:14

This is a huge, huge move for me.

Dawn: 1:19

Would you like to share o n what prompted it?

Keesha: 1:22

um, I started going on vacation in 2004 and my motto was you never go to the same place twice. Never. Um, there's too much out there in the world to see. And so every year travel, travel, travel, and it was always somewhere different. Never consider going to the same place twice. And in 2013 I was finishing my master's degree in counseling and I wanted to take a, like a graduation celebration trip. So I'm looking online at different places and something came up somewhere. This Isla Mujeres was mentioned. So I started researching it and book the trip for there in January, 2014 and that changed everything.

Dawn: 2:13

Wow. Okay. I know this is a life changing place for sure. It's not the first time I've heard that. So can you describe more in detail what happened?

Keesha: 2:24

Well, actually that trip a Norther was here and so I spent a lot of the time indoors just from the rain and it was flooding. And.

Dawn: 2:35

So the weather wasn't why.

Keesha: 2:36

It wasn't great, but I was like, there's just something about this place that feels different. So booked another trip nine months later, the first time I've ever traveled the same place.

Dawn: 2:47

The same.

Keesha: 2:48

Yeah. And I don't know, it just, everything changed and I quit traveling to other places. It was just, Isla, Isla,Isla. U m, a couple years ago I went to B elize for a week and I felt screwed.

Dawn: 3:03

Really I'm so sorry,

Keesha: 3:07

I'm on my phone, like trying to figure out how to squeeze in a third vacation that year cause I had to,

Dawn: 3:12

Oh my, I heard really good things about Belize, but it just wasn't working for you.

Keesha: 3:17

It's not working well. So that's how, um, vacation Isla,

Dawn: 3:25

okay.

Keesha: 3:25

Came about. Um, I had really believed that I was going to have to wait until retirement age to be able to ever make that happen.

Dawn: 3:34

Okay.

Keesha: 3:35

Uh, every time I left I cried on the ferry,

Dawn: 3:38

Not the first time I've heard that.

Keesha: 3:39

yeah, it was just sobbing. And so the plan was when I hit retirement age in 30 years, 35, um, that's where I wanted to live. And I was so scared that it was going to be so different by then we might have a Walmart.

Dawn: 4:01

We kind of do.

Keesha: 4:03

Yeah. And so it was about May of last year, I was sitting in my office and I had a little bit of break between two clients and so I'm on Facebook scrolling and someone mentions this Facebook group for therapists. So I join it. It's for therapists that work hundred percent online. I'm like, what? What? So I spent a few months following that and just seeing how people were doing it, I took a course on step-by-step. how do you.

Dawn: 4:41

Set up your own type of a practice?

Keesha: 4:42

How do you turn your entire counseling practice into being a hundred percent online? So after that I spent some time traveling to other places of Mexico, because when I'm m aking a decision, I want to be sure a hundred percent sure. So I traveled and nothing, I was ready to go everywhere I went. I was ready to go home when the trip was over. So last December came for a little bit, tried to live more like a local, not the touristy areas.

Dawn: 5:17

And how long did she stay?

Keesha: 5:21

I t w as 12 days.

Dawn: 5:22

Okay.

Keesha: 5:23

And tested the internet. That was the big biggest worry for me was to make sure that the internet was going to hold up.

Dawn: 5:33

Right.

Keesha: 5:33

Because without that there's no way.

Dawn: 5:36

Right.

Keesha: 5:36

And it worked great. So, and I had to contact my licensing boards and make sure that it was okay. I had to get permission to work outside of the States. I was licensed in both States. Said that it was fine, that I worked from Mexico as long as you know, I kept my license for it in those States, which is Arkansas and Texas.

Dawn: 5:58

So your client population comes from two States, from two States, Okay

Keesha: 6:03

Arkansas and Texas.

Dawn: 6:04

Gotcha.

Keesha: 6:04

The reason I have a Texas license is because that was the plan was to move to Texas to get out of Arkansas.

Dawn: 6:11

Okay.

Keesha: 6:11

I was g oing t o live there until it was time to retire and move to Isla. Gotcha. So when I figured out I could do it a ll online, I just s kipped Texas. B ut kept the license. Y eah. Bigger population a lso to draw from and they're more open to online work.

Dawn: 6:27

Okay. So did you, before you moved down, did you transition to online practice before moving down here? So, or did that happen at the same time?

Keesha: 6:39

I started to expand. U m, Arkansas i s a little bit more difficult as far as working online. You have to go through separate licensing procedures.

Dawn: 6:47

Really

Keesha: 6:47

So, u m, once I got that d one, I started advertising i n other parts of Arkansas.

Dawn: 6:57

Okay.

Keesha: 6:57

So the, and then I had my Texas license, so I was picking up some clients there. So those clients I worked with online and then I had my in-person clients. I let them know in February of this year, okay. That as of may, my body's no longer going to be in this office. We can still work together, but it's just going to be a little bit different.

Dawn: 7:22

And how was that received?

Keesha: 7:25

They were all a little sad. I have this really nice comfy, gray couch that people seem to be super attached to.

Dawn: 7:34

You couldn't keep the couch and just have them all.

Keesha: 7:37

kind of the joke. I was like, I can probably arrange for you to come in and sit on this couch if you want.

Dawn: 7:44

That's funny.

Keesha: 7:45

So, u m, there was a couple of them that wanted in person and that's g oing t o happen and that's fine. What they.

Dawn: 7:52

What they need is a different route.

Keesha: 7:55

Yeah, absolutely. Most of them stuck with me, so.

Dawn: 8:00

Wow.

Keesha: 8:00

They just get to sit on their own couch now instead of mine.

Dawn: 8:03

Well, uh, no traffic. No. Uh, yeah.

Keesha: 8:06

So they, they didn't like it at first, but they now they love it.

Dawn: 8:10

They've adapted,

Keesha: 8:10

they don't have to drive anywhere.

Dawn: 8:13

Just log on.

Keesha: 8:13

Just log on

Dawn: 8:14

There you are.

Keesha: 8:15

A lot of them a sk like, are you coming back at all? Well, I've got more stuff to come pick up. Eventually.

Dawn: 8:25

So It's, the transitions worked better than expected or.

Keesha: 8:29

Better than expected. I had some internet hiccups, uh, the first couple of months of living here, but got that worked out and my internet works better than my clients sometimes.

Dawn: 8:41

Interesting. Yeah.

Keesha: 8:43

So, and I've got back up and back up, you know, um, like I can use my, I got unlimited phone data, which also works great if needed. So,

Dawn: 8:52

yeah, we're on the boat right now. Don't have internet here. We've been streaming using the phone tethered and it's worked out great. U h, we were watching football and u h, yeah, it's, i t's good. So did you have any challenges along the way that came up that were unexpected or,

Keesha: 9:11

Oh yeah. You talking about before I got here or after I got here?

Dawn: 9:15

Well, you can talk about both, actually. W e, we want to hear what the challenges are for sure.

Keesha: 9:20

I'm a type A personality so.

Dawn: 9:23

woman after my own heart. Good.

Keesha: 9:24

Um, I've got to know what I'm doing and I've got to have a plan. So I spent, I got somewhere because I was self-employed. I could schedule myself to start work at noon or one or whatever. I'd be up till four in the morning researching and stressing like, what am I going to do about my phone? What am I going to do about the bank? What am I, you know, just all these things. Um, I've got to sell the house. I've got to sell the car. Um, what about the sectional that I paid$3,000 for?

Dawn: 10:00

Right.

Keesha: 10:01

Which clothes do I keep? And there's just, when you've accumulated so much stuff over the years, it's, it's emotionally draining to think about where's all of this going to go? Because you can't put it on the plane.

Dawn: 10:16

Right. So you flew down, you didn't drive, flew down, you didn't bring a trailer load over anything with you. And some people do that. But um, so you just basically we're coming with suitcases and so all of that. So did you do, have you solved things in storage?

Keesha: 10:33

My office is a little gray couch is still open in case anyone needs it. Okay. But all of the other stuff is in there. Okay. So you're saying I'm still in that office.

Dawn: 10:47

And how does that feel? Does it, does it feel like, Oh, it's still there if I need to go back? Or does it seem like, Oh, I really need to figure out what to do with this or how's that?

Keesha: 10:59

U m, well, I have an assistant back in the States that takes care of a lot of things for me and she's my power of attorney also for anything that I need. So sometimes we video from inside there and it just, it feels weird to see all my stuff. Like I've forgotten about it.

Dawn: 11:17

Out of sight, out of mind right.

Keesha: 11:18

except for my instant pot. I'm still trying to get it down. But it's so big.

Dawn: 11:24

They are kind of,

Keesha: 11:26

there's a lot of other things.

Dawn: 11:27

Did you saw them down here though? You don't want to transport it.

Keesha: 11:34

So um, yeah, it's just a matter of gradually getting things down here. I have a lot of beach decor that in I'm going to bring or sell or I don't know, but I've got the necessities.

Dawn: 11:47

So you sold your home,

Keesha: 11:48

sold the home,

Dawn: 11:49

sold your car,

Keesha: 11:50

sold the car, sold everything,

Dawn: 11:53

a lot of the furniture,

Keesha: 11:54

all the furniture.

Dawn: 11:55

It was just gone.

Keesha: 11:56

Extra clothes knives, blenders.

Dawn: 12:03

Funny. So, okay, so that was one of your challenges is just trying to figure out everything from a logistical standpoint, right, of everything that you needed to take care of before you came. And then what about after you got here?

Keesha: 12:16

Well, and before you come, what I've realized is I think everyone goes through like a 30 day crisis at that point. 30 days before they come. I know I had a big meltdown and I've seen other people. It's just there's some like.

Dawn: 12:28

second thoughts maybe, or.

Keesha: 12:31

wait, what? What am I doing? Just fear of.

Dawn: 12:37

w hether y ou're making the right d ecision.

Keesha: 12:38

This is real.

Dawn: 12:40

Okay

Keesha: 12:40

It's really happening. And everyone around you says like, I didn't think you were really gonna do this.

Dawn: 12:48

So i t's a l ittle p eer peer pressure. Yeah.

Keesha: 12:52

And how did you get through that? U m, well I started trying to talk to people that have done it, but being a therapist, expecting a certain type of response from people. I wasn't getting it from people who had done it. So I had to start reaching out to my therapist friends t oo.

Dawn: 13:10

Good call though. That's smart. Smart.

Keesha: 13:13

So got through it. It didn't last, but you know, a day or two. Okay. But yeah, it was, it wasn't the whole month. No, no, no. There's just like moments. Yeah. And so I'm getting down here wasn't too bad cause I've done it many times before. It was just a few extra suitcases.

Dawn: 13:32

Right. Well I know. Return ticket.

Keesha: 13:36

Yeah. Yeah. I t's the cheapest flight I've ever paid.

Dawn: 13:40

How about challenges once you got down here?

Keesha: 13:43

U m, figuring out where to go for things, how, how do things work? It's just so different here. U m, I made a comment about how expensive batteries were and someone's like, Oh, well if you just have to buy them from this place a nd learning, you get this from this place, t hen that from that place t hen.

Dawn: 14:06

a little bit different than one stop shopping. Right, right.

Keesha: 14:12

Yeah. I'm just trying to figure out who you can trust, w ho you can't. U m, language barriers. Of course. I tried to learn Spanish. T hat's part of what I was doing a t three in the morning before I moved. But it's just, y ou k now, an ongoing process. So it's the little things that you think about, you don't think about until it happens of, well, I need this, but I don't even really know how to ask for it.

Dawn: 14:40

How about, u h, u h, the local community? Have you been able to establish a network of, of, u h, folks here on the Island?

Keesha: 14:47

Oh yeah. Okay. Everybody here is super. Okay. Um, just a matter of, again, figuring out who you have things in common with and who you can trust and. Yeah.

Dawn: 15:03

So, and d o, do you have any pets? Did you bring any with you or, or, u h, adopt any since you've been here? I know that happens a lot actually, a nd people come down without pets and then pretty soon they have some,

Keesha: 15:16

there was a great Dane puppy that I had seen before coming that I really, really wanted to get, but again, me wanting to be 100% sure on everything. I didn't know if I was gonna stay here and if it's a great day, once you get it to the Island and it gets big, there's no way to really

Dawn: 15:37

right. What then. Right.

Keesha: 15:42

So, um, yeah, it's like I'm just still taking time to really figure things out and not to because to me animals are like children. Yeah. I'm going to adopt an animal.

Dawn: 15:52

Take it seriously.

Keesha: 15:53

It's very serious.

Dawn: 15:54

Yeah. Yeah. Well they do do fostering here too, so that's a thought.

Keesha: 15:58

That is true. Okay. That was the landlord. Right?

Dawn: 16:02

Well, and they're pretty accepting. Didn't have pets in this culture? Well that's one thing that we've noticed. In fact, our, uh, orange males had, uh, had surgery last month and our, that was actually here yesterday. He's making multiple, um, house calls here and at the house. And actually there was some Americans up at Oscar's when he got here. Tom was waiting for him and they said, yeah, Oh my gosh, a vet makes house calls. Like how much does that cost? It's like I'm 250 pesos, that's about$12 and 50 cents. They're like, no way. So, but that's, that's what they do. I mean, he's actually said, Oh, he's like one of one of my, part of my cat family. He has 16 cats. Wow. That live with it. His house plus the one that are at the vet. So it's, it's pretty, pretty interesting here. Uh, how much pets are valued in this culture? It's, it's kinda cool. They are definitely like, like family. So,

Keesha: 17:05

and I love how smart they are. I, I watched the dogs around the house and I swear they look at traffic, they look before they cross. Like we were taught as children.

Dawn: 17:16

I know it is funny. We'll be back in a moment.

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Dawn: 19:03

You talked a little bit about, um, anxiety. Did, was there any fear in, in this whole transition or.

Keesha: 19:11

Oh yeah, definitely not have ever even,

Dawn: 19:16

especially, yeah, because you've new, you haven't even moved within the United States, much less out of the country.

Keesha: 19:22

Never more than 20 minutes away. So there was a lot of fear of, I think the biggest is what if I fail.

Dawn: 19:32

Oh, okay. And how did you, how did you deal with that?

Keesha: 19:37

U m, I just, I was like, if I don't, what's the worst that can happen? Okay. U m, if it doesn't work,

Dawn: 19:44

y ou g o back to where you were before. Y eah.

Keesha: 19:46

Yeah.

Dawn: 19:46

No harm, no foul.

Keesha: 19:47

Right.

Dawn: 19:47

You still have your couch?

Keesha: 19:49

I still have my couch.

Dawn: 19:54

I mean we're laughing about that, but I can imagine that does give you some level of comfort to say that, you know, it's, I can go back to that old life and if this one doesn't,

Keesha: 20:04

I don't think I would go back to hometown anyway. R ight. If anything I've looked at, you know, maybe other countries.

Dawn: 20:11

Okay.

Keesha: 20:12

And that was early on. U m, I feel like there's like a three month crisis here for people to, o kay. U m, there's the three month Mark. They get restless, they've got to kind of find their place. They start doubting things. They weren't really prepared in the beginning.

Dawn: 20:29

Do you think that's just here or did you, did you find that in the community of people that had moved, like you were talking about the therapist group that had, uh, was working remotely, did, does that.

Keesha: 20:41

a lot of those that are working remotely or just working from there.

Dawn: 20:44

just in the United States?

Keesha: 20:47

Yeah, I think anywhere. Just that adjustment and that, that preparation I gave was hard. There was, there was times that I looked like maybe this isn't it, but I realized like that's just part of going through the transition. The acclimating.

Dawn: 21:03

Okay. Do you have, u m, any recommendations for other people that might be considering a move like this?

Keesha: 21:11

Do your research.

Dawn: 21:13

Okay.

Keesha: 21:16

um, I had heard the saying over and over vacationing is different than living here, but it k ind o f made sense but it once you've actually done it there, there's no way to really describe, u m, that living here is very, very different than vacationing here.

Dawn: 21:35

Did you think you heard Diane's podcast? Uh, I think, uh, she was episode six. She talked about a beta test where she came, she had a, I think it was a six week window and she basically pretended like she was, was living here. Did you think about doing anything like that or are you just decided to,

Keesha: 21:57

I thought about it that it was already in the middle of my time frame of getting down here. Um, I think it is good for people.

Dawn: 22:04

Yeah. I thought that was a really innovative way to, to sort of test the waters and see if that was something,

Keesha: 22:13

I think even at six weeks, a lot of people say six months because I feel like you do need to get past that three month, whatever meltdown it is that I've seen people go through and I even, it's like I even kind of prepared for it. I saw people that had just moved here before me kind of acting different. Huh.

Dawn: 22:33

I hadn't heard that before. So, uh, so you, you think that's a pretty important milestone getting, getting past that three, three month mark. Interesting.

Keesha: 22:43

Because you had your honeymoon period when you get here and then things sort of settle in and challenges start happening and, and I've talked to other people that's lived here longer and they say like the first, after the first year you're clear. Okay. That first year is so hard. I don't, I don't feel it so much at six months. Occasionally something's frustrating. But overall it's just like, okay, I've got this mastered.

Dawn: 23:12

So do you have plans to travel either back to the United States or to other parts of Mexico or, or beyond? Or are you gonna kinda just hunker down here for awhile or have you thought I've given it some thought

Keesha: 23:24

eventually. Um, I'm really happy here. I've spent eight hours out of the last six months, not on this Island and I was kind of forced to go to Cancun and I didn't want to. Okay. I'm, I'm pretty happy.

Dawn: 23:38

Pretty happy.

Keesha: 23:39

Yeah. Yeah. I've just been focusing on work.

Dawn: 23:42

And what do you do for fun?

Keesha: 23:45

Go to the beach.

Dawn: 23:48

Well why did I not know that? Right.

Keesha: 23:52

There's no main thing cause I sit in the same spot every day that I do go and I, I try to squeeze in, I have like two full beach days a week and try to squeeze in some other time.

Dawn: 24:06

Where's your favorite spot?

Keesha: 24:07

I can't tell you.

Dawn: 24:13

Oh, there's lots of w hich part of the island. You don't have to tell me exactly where. Yeah. Okay. A ll r ight. Well i t's big. It's a big area. So,

Speaker 2: 24:23

and I love cooking. I do a lot of that. That was a challenge. Um, figuring out ingredients at the store. substitutions, what the Spanish names are for thing.

Dawn: 24:35

measurements.

Keesha: 24:36

Yeah.

Dawn: 24:37

Baking temperatures.

Keesha: 24:40

My things, my brownies are coming out okay. But I'm not really, I'm still sure about that whole temperature thing. It's the little things that you would never think about that come up.

Dawn: 24:55

Is there anything you particularly miss?

Keesha: 24:58

The little bit that I do miss people have brought to me. Okay. Jelly beans. Ranch,

Dawn: 25:06

you can find jelly beans in Mexico.

Keesha: 25:10

I've got like a flavor list.

Dawn: 25:14

That's funny. Yeah. And that's w hy people come down here so frequently. It's so, it's so nice. Actually. We're waiting for our mail. Y'all just came back with o ur, our mail snail mail. That w hat little snail mail we have. I didn't think I've picked it up in more than three months because it's not, there's not a lot there. You know, there's a few things, any aha moments, a e piphany's b ut that have come up since you've made this move.

Keesha: 25:41

U h, I've had a lot. U m, one day I was sitting in her mind, undisclosed chair or tree that we're not g oing t o talk about. And I was just looking around and at my work I was always trying to get people to think outside the box. O kay. U m, a lot of my clients came with struggles with social norms, whatever it might be, family relationships, whatever. Like it's okay to not be like everyone else. So I'm really big on thinking outside the box. So I was sitting there and I was like, I am living outside the box. Wow. Wow. Okay.

Dawn: 26:28

Took your own advice.

Keesha: 26:30

Just the, again, you know, people think that we're crazy for moving to Mexico. It's so dangerous down here. And you see all those YouTube videos where that's the caption and then people talking about how great the food is and how friendly everyone is and it's just, it's paradise. And a lot of people want this. They just don't know. They don't feel like they deserve it or that they are capable of being able to do it.

Dawn: 27:07

That's, that's, that's good. I, uh, I like that. I think, uh, I think that's probably pretty true. Or, or, yeah, they, they just don't even have the ability to imagine how they could pull something like that.

Keesha: 27:20

Yeah. Yeah. I spent a decade traveling and just being envious of everybody that I saw that worked at restaurants or stores or they're so lucky. So I definitely do not take it for granted ever. Every single day there's gratitude.

Dawn: 27:44

cool. Well that's, that's pretty cool one. So, so you, but you said you have more other e piphanies that y ou, that you've had.

Keesha: 27:53

Well, that was just.

Dawn: 27:55

a big one.

Keesha: 27:55

Yeah, that was the big one. And then from there, I'm just kind of expanding out professionally of what I want to do. Um, my, my counseling business is thriving and I love it, but it's not good to just do that 40 hours a week and it's so,

Dawn: 28:18

so really the, uh, opening up of other possibilities for you.

Keesha: 28:22

Yes, there's a, this is a beautiful place. And so there, I'm in the works of building a course for people who want to live abroad. Um, I've started a coaching business for people that want to live abroad, that were exactly where I was of I want to do this, but is that even feasible?

Dawn: 28:48

A nd I don't want to wait 35 years.

Keesha: 28:49

I don't want to wait 35 years to do it, and then, you know, that 90 days before you do it of what do I do with all this stuff,

Dawn: 29:00

Right. That comes up a lot. Um, as I interview people, the stuff.

Keesha: 29:07

you don't think about it until you're standing in the middle of it, right? This is all your stuff that you've accumulated for possibly decades.

Dawn: 29:22

yeah. And it's, it's not really the stuff, right? It's the meanings, sentimental part of the stuff. Well, not only that, I think, um, how much the stuff defines you as well right there. There's definitely the sentimental stuff. There's the momentos that all of, but then there's like, well, but I drive a Lexus. Right? Or I, you know, whatever it is. Um, the identification that you have with the things,

Keesha: 29:55

my Jeep Renegade was very sexy. She really was. I got compliments every day as I drove her around. And I joke all the time, I traded in that Jeep Renegade for it. And even when I'm out and driving and it's pouring rain and I'm so, I'm still happy, I'd still rather have that golf cart makes you happier than the Jeep Renegade. Loved because of the location.

Dawn: 30:23

Right. And you don't have to go far in the golf cart. It's a small Island, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's the stuff. Mmm. Interesting.

Keesha: 30:38

It's a big part of our identity. and there's just something about American culture saying we need to have all this stuff. Yeah. They might use it someday.

Dawn: 30:51

Right.

Keesha: 30:52

I love being a minimalist now.

Dawn: 30:55

So that was an easy transition.

Keesha: 30:57

It was for me. Absolutely. So, and I still feel like I've probably brought too many clothes and could downsize some of it.

Dawn: 31:05

yeah, I feel you there. I've donated a couple of, I know some good places that take donations too. So if you share that guilty as charged. Yeah. Even when we've gone back to Florida and cleaning out the storage unit, who are the clothes that you set aside? You're like, why did I keep this stuff right?

Keesha: 31:26

Um, one thing that I have some friends that just moved down to Mexico too, and they're asking, you know what, what to pack? And I'm like, bring some smaller clothes if you're one of those people like me that kept them because you might fit into them one of these days because you probably will when you move.

Dawn: 31:44

Right. Weight loss.

Keesha: 31:46

Yes. I didn't even try, I didn't even realize it and had just checked the way when I first got here and then I think three months in. I was like, Oh m y G od.

Dawn: 31:59

Bonus. Yeah. Right. No, a nd that does happen a lot. I see that time and time again, people are just more active. T hey're eating healthier. U m, and the heat too. Y eah, w e just started as hungry, u m, in the heat, you know, i t's, it's warm. You don't want it too much or you go to sleep, you know? Yeah.

Keesha: 32:18

I call it the all you can eat taco, sweat your butt off diets.

Dawn: 32:24

That's good. I like it, but I have to publish that one. Well, good stuff. Um, is there anything I didn't ask you that, that you care to share?

Keesha: 32:37

I can't think of anything.

Dawn: 32:38

Okay. Well, thank you so much for your time Keesha, and I'm really excited to have an opportunity to meet you in person. I know we've been messaging a little bit on Facebook and it always blows me away how small this Island is and how many people I'm friends with on social media that I haven't actually met in person. So you life just gets busy and you know you is probably the best place to run into folks. It's our Walmart. Well, awesome. Again, thank you so much for your time and sharing your story. We really appreciate it. To connect with Keesha: Counseling: http://www.coastalcounselingservice.com for Coaching and Retreats: http://www.lotcoach.com.

: 33:16

Thanks for having me.

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