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 Radically Resilient Health Podcast

Small Steps Conquer Mountains with Special Guest Mena Spodobalski

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Evoke Fitness owner, Mena Spodobalski, shares her joys and struggles toward radically resilient health. Health doesn’t always have to seem radical. The best workout that you can do is the one you can do. Celebrate the triumphs of what you are doing instead of focusing on what other people can do that you cannot. 

Connie Wray: (00:00)
Welcome to radically resilient health with Dr. Carolyn Dolan. I am your host, Connie Ray, radically resilient health is a podcast about how you can change your health. And it’s not necessarily a radical change. There’s small things that you can do to continue on that path. I’m very much looking forward to our guests today. MENA alky is the owner of evoke fitness in Reno, Nevada. She is a fitness guru here in our town, and she is quite loved by so many women. I think what makes her so unique and special is that she is constantly sharing her health journey. And that means the good and the bad. So we’re here to talk with her today, along with Dr. Carolyn Dolan MENA. It is so great to see you and be with you and podcast with you today. And I just wanna personally say, I’m so glad that you and Carolyn have met. I’ve known the both of you now for several years, and I’ve just been talking both of you up. And I think it’s wonderful that you’re here to be a part of this podcast because I really see you as living those same values that Carolyn talks about in radically resilient health. So welcome to the podcast.

Mena Spodobalski : (01:10)
Well, thank you so much for having me. I am very grateful to be here and, um, admired both of you ladies for a long time. So this is really great.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (01:18)
Yeah. So MENA and I finally officially met, we’ve met maybe a few years ago at some events here locally, but we finally started working directly together recently as I was pulling myself out of the COVID funk and realizing how important it was for me to have a fitness community and somebody who made sure I was showing up and keeping me on track with my fitness health. Um, and so that’s how we reconnected most recently. And I really admire what you’ve been doing with the community and women who are going through some really challenging times with your evoke warriors. Um, we have some mutual friends, um, in that community L and how you really just glow with this, this energy of connection and empowering,particularly other women in taking care of themselves, even through difficult journeys, um, both using fitness, you know, as your primary vehicle, but really holding onto a community and the importance of that connection. And you have a personal story that you’re gonna share with us a little bit about your own health journey, um, that we’re really looking forward to that, but it’s just been a real pleasure and we look forward to sharing your story with others, and your connection. We, this is totally perfect. Actually we share a love of little four legged creatures we do

Mena Spodobalski : (02:53)
Somebody just came to the door, so they’re, they protect me at all costs.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (02:59)
Yeah. So we have our, our dog, we are a lover of dogs for sure, but, um, anyways, welcome to the podcast and I’m really thank you. Um, excited to have you, um, so why don’t we start with, you’ve given a little bit of background of who you are and then you can share a little bit about your most recent health, um, journey.

Mena Spodobalski : (03:19)
Okay. Well, I’m just gonna tell you why I got into fitness in the first place. Um, I was one of those, people who did not enjoy exercise. Um, I hated PE you know, I didn’t do any sports in high school and as I got older and had children, I realized how hard it was to get that weight off. You know, I stopped nursing, but I was still eating like I was nursing and wondering why I couldn’t fit into my clothes anymore. And part of my, my mom’s side of the family, I there’s some heavy, uh, people in it, um, with some genes that, you know, really affect their weight. And I just did not wanna be that person who needed help getting off of a couch or who couldn’t play with my kids or my grandkids, or, um, you know, not putting my help first.

Mena Spodobalski : (04:09)
So I decided, you know, in my thirties to start exercising and I absolutely felt in love with it. I was like, felt so empowered and felt so good. And I thought, I want everybody to feel like this, like first off, what the heck was I waiting for? Why did I wait so long to do this? Um, so as I started losing weight and feeling good, other moms that drop off would be like, what are you doing? And what’s going on? And that’s kind of how my fitness journey started. So I started, I got certified. I started teaching boxing classes, um, started teaching some group fitness classes, absolutely fell in love with it. I, I just loved the whole energy and the vibe of it all. And, um, at the time I was looking at gold gym and they were like, you have such a great following with your group fitness classes, you should become a trainer.

Mena Spodobalski : (05:00)
So they, it paid for my certification at the time. And, um, I started training and that’s kind of how my journey began. Um, and I would just take on, you know, moms from the school and, um, you know, sometimes we go to a park and just work out after we dropped off our kids. Um, and that’s kind of how I started and then fast forward three years and I get this up to buy a gym and I’m like, what? Buy a gym. That was totally not on my radar. It wasn’t, you know, like the dream that I wanted. Um, but I’ve always been a believer that everything happens for a reason. And, um, that if you’re paying attention, God always gives you signals. And I felt like that was one of the signals.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (05:43)
So it’s only been three years since you’ve owned. Um,

Mena Spodobalski : (05:46)
No, I own it for nine

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (05:48)
Nine, and

Mena Spodobalski : (05:48)
It was three years after I got, certified that the community came. Yeah. And I was scared to death about doing it, but my husband was like, you’re looking at it the wrong way. You’re thinking, what if, what if, what if, you know, what if it fails? What if people don’t come? What if the insurance is too much? You know, that, that was my thought. And he’s like, what if it’s successful? What if people like it? What if, you know, you can affect all these people’s lives. And I’m like, okay. Yeah, I like that. And you know, now we’re nine years in and it hasn’t been an easy road. There’s a lot of ups and downs being a small business owner. Um, and even just being a woman too, you know, people definitely, um, some of the corporate corporate part of it definitely looks at women a little bit differently. Um, even though they say they don’t, but there’s been a lot of up and down, but I wouldn’t change a lot. I’ve been doing this for 13, 14 years now. I wouldn’t change those last 14 years for anything. Um, not only have I gotten to meet some amazing human beings, but I’ve gotten to touch a lot of people’s lives and have a small impact on them. And in turn, you know, like evoke warriors,

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (06:56)
And tell, tell people little bit more about, m, evoke warriors, we just mentioned it, but I think the story of these women is really powerful.

Mena Spodobalski : (07:06)
So evoke warriors is a program that we launched last year in February. Um, it’s a program that I had been thinking about for a little bit over a year after I had finished with another program, I, I felt like something was still missing and I still wanted to be a part of something like that. So, you know, with the COVID I had a lot of time to think and put things together. And so we developed, evoke warriors to help,, anyone who is battling cancer or has battled cancer, take back their lives after what they go through with the treatment and even just the mental aspect of what cancer does to someone. Um, so we take men and women through a six month program where they learn to eat healthy and they learn healthy habits and exercise the importance of exercise to avoid a cancer recurrence, more and more researchers coming out about that.

Mena Spodobalski : (07:55)
Um, and comradery and community. And, we were super excited last year we had, it was our very first year we had 28 people apply. Originally. I had said, I was only gonna take 15. We ended up taking 21. Cause it’s really hard to say no to people. Um, especially people who you just like, they need this so badly. Um, so we ended up taking 21 people for our first program. We had male participant, everybody else was women and it was remarkable. It really, um, you know, we learned a lot of things that we wanna do differently. Some things that we wanna change, but overall, um, it was life changing, um, for them it, it was just this amazing bond that was created in the gym. And that’s the best thing about fitness and exercise is that you’re like in this space that you find comfort and safety and in that comfort and safety, you’re more willing to share your experience and your stories. And some of these people who didn’t talk about their cancers or talk about the effects it had on them and their families, you know, when they’re exercising, when they’re squatting and doing pushups and suffering together and sweating together, they share these stories and it’s really remarkable to watch their cough and grow and for them to start making connections with each other, um, that they wouldn’t have otherwise had

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (09:21)
Each individual has such an interesting story, but this challenge of both being healthy and struggling through an illness like at the, at the exact same time is something that as far as where my journey was radically resilient health is not the absence of struggles or even illness or injury, but rather using all those fundamental tools to help you through, um, those challenging times. And so then it, you had a successful evoke warriors season, first season, amazing, um, story with them. And you can learn more about them at, at your website, is that correct?

Mena Spodobalski : (10:00)
Yeah. They can go out evoke lawyers.org and have all their bios and all their stories and pictures of them working out in the gym and community things that we did together for bonding. So yeah, if you’re interested in learning more about that, visit the site and, um, and find out about the program.

Connie Wray: (10:16)
That’s what I think is so important. You know, , during the pandemic you saw a lot of people, myself included when the gyms were shutting down and that was our outlet. This was our exercise. This was something Caroline, Carolyn and I talked quite a bit about it was what are we doing to still keep ourselves going and staying active? And it really dawned on me how much the, the gym was, not just a workout place. It was a community for me, it was this group of people I’ve been working out with the same people for, you know, 12 years. Now these are my, these are my tribe, right? This is my group. And you know, I had friends say to me, oh, well, everyone’s getting a Peloton or doing this. And I’m like, I need community. Like we started doing things where we were working out, outside and getting together because that is what we needed. And I think that is going back to what radically resilient health is. Sometimes it’s not so radical, it’s friendship, it’s community, it’s bonding. It’s having a group of people that are supporting your journey along the way.

Mena Spodobalski : (11:17)
Exactly.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (11:19)
Which brings me back to your personal journey. So you finished a, you completed a very successful, meaningful first season of this abor evoke warriors. Um, but tell us a little bit more about your most recent journey. Um, as far as health in recovery.

Mena Spodobalski : (11:36)
So, you know, like a lot of P people during the pandemic, they put off their, um, you know, visits and their doctor’s appointments and, um, their screenings. And I was one of those, you know, I had had my last, um, gynecological, visit early 2019, then go in 2020. And then this year I’m like, oh my gosh, it’s the middle of the year. I need to go, you know, to the doctor. So I went in for my typical exam and, you know, thinking there’s just, everything’s gonna be fine. And my doctor says, Hmm. You know, I noticed that you’ve got some fibroids going on. Have you had problems with that before? And I’m like, oh yeah, like 17 years ago, you know, I went in, they did a DNC, cleaned the everything out and it was fine, you know, in and out of the, um, surgeon’s office.

Mena Spodobalski : (12:23)
And, never thought about it again when she said, well, you know, I think I, we probably ought do a sonogram and just see what’s going on in there. It’s been a while since you’ve been in here, let’s go check it out again. I’m oblivious. I’m thinking, oh yeah, it’s just, you know, normal, no big deal. So, um, she calls me back into her office after the sonogram. And she’s like, so you’ve got some pretty hefty sized fibroids in there. Have you been having, you know, she talks over all these symptoms and yes, I have been having all of, of these symptoms, but I was attributing it. I’m 52. I’m thinking I’m going through menopause. That’s why I’m having heavy periods. That’s why some of these periods are lasting two weeks. That’s why I’m always tired. Um, everything’s kind of sporadic. That’s why I’m all, you know, I used to get up five times at night to go to the restroom.

Mena Spodobalski : (13:11)
Well, I drink a lot of water and I’m getting older. Maybe this is all you just part of the deal. And it turned out that that wasn’t really part of the deal. I was having some very extreme symptoms. Um, and she found out that I had about five or six fibroid tumors that were the size of oranges. Um, so pretty huge. Your uterus is about, is supposed to be about eight, milligrams. And mine was about 400. She said I had the uterus of a four month pregnant woman. So I had been lugging this around. She’s not sure how long it could have been a year. It could have been two years. Um, and it was putting some pressure on my, , bladder, uh, taking, you know, fibroids grow from just taking all of the blood supplied to grow. And so she said, you know, that’s what was causing all the fatigue.

Mena Spodobalski : (14:01)
And she said, let’s get that out. So I’m like, I’m still at this point thinking, okay, so I’ll just go into the office. They’re gonna clean me out. Everything’s gonna be great in and out. No problem. And the word, it still like chokes me up a little bit, because then she said you to have a hysterectomy. And it’s kind of like when they just, somebody tells you something and, and you hear it, but you don’t hear it. That’s kind of how I reacted. I was like, she’s talking about the hysterectomy and how she’s gonna do it and what it needs to be done. And the whole time I’m like, wait, what is she talking about? Like what happened to just the D and see her? Like, how big of a problem is this? Like, can I just not move on with my life?

Mena Spodobalski : (14:41)
I I’m not, I don’t wanna have surgery. And, um, I go, wait, did you just say, I need to have a Hyster? Like I need to have a hysterectomy. And she goes, yes, you do. And I’m like, well, you know, I mean, I can handle the periods and I can handle getting up at night. I’ve been doing this for so long. It’s not a big deal. Why don’t I just wait, let’s just wait and see what happens. And she goes, they’re only gonna get bigger. Your other organs can stop becoming affected, and then you’re gonna have a bigger problem. So let’s get this out now. That’s kind of how the whole thing started and, um, I got a second and third opinion and they all agreed that that was the best route for me. Um, so yeah, I just went through, I’m going four weeks on Monday.

Mena Spodobalski : (15:28)
I just went through that whole surgery thing I have had, um, you know, I’m kind of, I’ve had a couple of surgeries in my life, but nothing like what I always hear from my warriors and other cancer, people and even friends and family, um, I’ve been very blessed that I’ve been healthy. Um, I take good care of myself. And so this was just something that I’m like, could I have done something different? What did I do you like, did I need to eat better? Did I need, you know, what caused this to happen? And there’s really nothing. It was out of our con my control, but having surgery was a big deal. And it was, um, just a really hard thing for me to wrap my head around that I was gonna be down and out for six weeks and, you know, not be able to work for two to three weeks. I was like, what are you talking about? Um, so it’s been a little bit of an adjustment.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (16:19)
What are the things that you feel like, um, you’ve used during this time to really get you through it? You know, we, we talked with, um, Mike Fraley, we interviewed him, he’s one of the, of yoga pot. And he had had a shoulder surgery. And so yoga was all yoga, mountain biking stuff. Those were all really big parts of his life that he could not do. And, he mentioned he, he just found ways to make whatever he needed to be a part of his life. So he would do the, what was the class called Connie restorative yoga, where he would just,

Connie Wray: (16:55)
You know, it was more breathing. It wasn’t just

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (16:57)
The breathing work.

Connie Wray: (16:59)
It was really just focusing on breath and, and, and mind which,

Mena Spodobalski : (17:03)
And have more meditation you

Connie Wray: (17:04)
Need, right. During that time when you’re going through some sort of traumatic surgery or recouping. Yeah.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (17:10)
So what have you found, man? Um, it most recently, so, and you’re just coming out of this sort of acute phase that you feel like has been supportive, cuz it’s a major change for you.

Mena Spodobalski : (17:19)
Yeah. You know, the biggest change was that you’re not allowed to really move a lot or do a lot of mobility things. And so, um, although I really wanted to, you feel, you feel okay, you feel good, you know, and what the doctor said is because you don’t have a gaping hole that you can see on a regular basis and you’re feeling good. You think you can do all these things, but you can really have a lot of setbacks if you do too much, too soon. So I found that reading was really, um, great. You know, I would sit and read a lot, caught up on a few, you know, fun shows that I watched played a lot of card games with my family. And I really just tried to just chill out, you know, let my body do what it needed to do to heal. Um, I tried to avoid any kind of narcotics and anything that, so, did some ibuprofen, the first week, the second week I did the vital, the VI connect, uh, vital con

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (18:16)
Oh, Vitakinetics, vitamin

Mena Spodobalski : (18:20)
Vita. I kept wanting to say vital. Yeah,

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (18:22)
Well they are vital. Yeah, they

Connie Wray: (18:24)
Are. They’re

Mena Spodobalski : (18:25)
They’re vital. And um, you know, lots of liquids, um, trying to eat lots of really healthy foods. Um, and just avoiding anything that would cause me a setback. I no alcohol, no, anything that I felt that was gonna possibly to deter me from getting back to my life. I’ve really tried to avoid that.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (18:46)
Yeah. I would. I’ll tell you what. I would have a hard time. If someone sat me on my butt and said, don’t move, don’t do anything. I like to come. I’m a comfort eater.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (18:55)
So that would be… I tend to manage it pretty well, as long as I stay active and you know, I avoid buying those things and having those in my house, but that would probably be my first, my first go-to I’d have to really work towards, but you really have, um, a lot of good connections with than this community that we’re sending you lots of love. And I’m sure you weren’t, people were really keeping check on you to make sure you were taking care of yourself from what I was observing. Yes. Making sure you’re not doing too much. Um, yeah, so that was pretty amazing, cuz that’s a really hard task for someone who really is in the Connie can speak to this too. Somebody who’s really thrives on serving others. It’s really hard to be told to sit still.

Mena Spodobalski : (19:40)
It is. And it’s really hard to take help, you know, um, that too, one of my trainers, Lisa put together a meal train for me. And I remember when she first said that I was like, I don’t need a meal train, like say that someone who needs it and you

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (19:52)
Said that to me, I offered to bring you some food and you were like, I know how to meal prep.

Mena Spodobalski : (19:58)
Yeah. I’m like, I don’t need it. It’s fine. But you know what? She’s like, no, just let us do it. And I tell you, it was just a huge help because I wasn’t allowed to cook. I wasn’t allowed to empty the dishwasher. I wasn’t allowed to do any of those things. And she sure, you know, I’m used to food prepping, for the week and I could have easily done that, but it was so nice. And just so kind of people to come and drop off something and some people would come in and say hello for a few minutes. Some people would just leave it on the doorstep. But just to know that people wanted to help and were willing to, you know, do something for me. Um, that first was hard to, to take that, but it certainly was, um, a wonderful thing to have, you know,

Connie Wray: (20:41)
Was it a struggle for you? It seems like the shoe was on the other foot. Right? You have these evoke warriors that you’re mentoring and you are really helping them find that connection and that rebirth, so to say of from after their illness and then it was like the shoe was on the other foot, you know, this was a traumatic experience for you. Like you’re, like you said, you know, you’ve been so healthy and taking care of yourself. Was that, how did that play out for you? That kind of on the other foot?

Mena Spodobalski : (21:10)
Yeah. You know, I’m used to, yes. I mean, I’m used to like being the helper and being the one who gives to people and um, and I love that. I love to give to someone and I, whether, you know, it’s a kick workout or whether it’s make me a meal for someone and I was just listening to them. That’s, I’ve always been that person. And I, I love that. I love that role that I play. Um, so it was really hard to be on the other shoe. And because I’ve worked with so many cancer survivors and knowing what they’ve gone through, I had guilt feeling that I needed help or a feeling that I was the invalid or the one that was, it was my turn to take it easy and be taken care of. That was hard. And I would feel like a, oh, you know, I mean, mine, wasn’t that big of a deal.

Mena Spodobalski : (22:01)
I really shouldn’t complain. Or I really shouldn’t be, you know, nervous about my surgery when they had to have mastectomy or they’d had to have all these things that they’ve gone through in chemo. Like this is nothing. And actually it was one of the warriors that said, this is your journey and this is your battle. And it doesn’t make it any different from someone who has stage four cancer to someone who has stage one, it’s still traumatic. It still changes their life. And you start to wrap your head around that. So she said, don’t, you dare compare your journey to ours. And I’ve always told people that. And I’m like, why is that so hard for me? Like, I need to listen to what they’re saying, because that is true. Like we all have our own journeys and our own battles. It’s not right for us to say that mine is harder than yours or yours is tougher than the next per. So it’s been a little, you know, to sit back and let other people take care of you and check up on you. I I’m so grateful and feel so much love and support. Um, but you do need to take that in too.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (23:04)
My, um, we interviewed a very dear friend Leah Quinta and she’s a single mother of four now. And we often talked about as she was going through her divorce, you know, everyone’s pain is their pain. You can’t compare pain, pain is, is pain. And, and I’m mostly speaking towards psychological, emotional pain, but you know, even physical pain is physical pain. I mean, one’s a little bit different about what that story is, but it’s still, it’s still a challenge. And we recently, um, my husband had to have surgery and he’s an orthopedic surgeon and he’s in the, he, he is in the similar to you. He’s very much a giver in trying to help people. And so it was a real challenge for him to have to be. I mean, I, I actually think it was really positive for him in the end. First of all, I was really worried about him psychologically, what was gonna happen when he had to stay home and not do anything.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (24:04)
Yeah. Um, but we ended up working through that, you know, him accepting help from others and me helping take care of him during that time, but as a healthcare provider and, and particularly for you, this gives you an entirely new perspective and maybe empathy towards the people, um, you’re working with. And I know for Chris, it really has, you know, how people manage what they’re going through in recovering. I mean, it, it can be the right thing to do for whatever your health condition is and still be difficult and challenging. And just having that connection of empathy and understanding of what someone’s going through. I think for him as a, as a healthcare provider, um, is invaluable. Um, and something you just don’t get, unless you’ve kind of gone through your own process, whatever it is. Um, well, we’ve just, I love what you’re doing for our community. And I’m so honored that you were willing to share your story. Um, and we mentioned the evoke warriors dot, um, website, if anyone else, at least locally is interested in that program, but where else can people get ahold of you?

Mena Spodobalski : (25:15)
Um, they can email me@mannaevoke.com and I am happy to answer any questions about the warrior program or if they wanna start their own fitness journey. Um, even they have some questions about what has worked for me with, you know, healing from the hysterectomy. Um, just reach out, I’m happy to help and answer any questions that they may have.

Connie Wray: (25:37)
I just wanna say, MENA, thank you so much for your honesty in, in the way that you approach the, the job that you do. I don’t think of it as a job for you. I feel as the, it’s just this passion that you have. And that’s one thing I think the three of us share is that we see the value of fitness and taking care of ourselves. And when we find those bumps in the road or things are kind of out of order, we, you know, that is what radically resilient health is. It is that you’re gonna have these bumps in the road. How do you handle those things? And, you know, I, I can tell you in my experience, when we lost our daughter to suicide, we didn’t go to the gym for that first week. And I remember it was more just trying, we were in a very dark place, but asking our trainer who was also a dear friend of ours, you know, we wanna come back, but we’re, we felt nervous.

Connie Wray: (26:31)
And I can’t tell you how powerful it was to just get on the bike, just get on the bike. We got on the bike and we looked at each other and we were just like, this is what we needed, like we just needed. And it was great to be back with that community. We understood that it, you know, they were gracious to us, but it was just that fitness for me is also a, an outlet for stress in my life. And when my most stressful moment was happening, it was taken out. And then I realized how important it was to put it back in there, even though it was like, at that point, I couldn’t even put one foot foot in front of the other, but I knew that this is what we needed. And that night after we left the gym, my husband and I said, we gotta go every day. We’re just gonna go every day for a while, cuz this is it’s helping us. And I see what you do with the evoke warrior is that, you know, every day can be a challenge when you’re coming off of cancer or struggling with it. Now every day is a challenge. And when you have something that just takes away, that’s what it did for us. It took away that real deep darkness that we were in at that moment. And it was perfect.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (27:44)
I have to share this past, or two weekends ago, I participated in a pain symposium where, some expert speakers talking relating to pain and I gave a talk on macrophages and nutritional components for healing and that acute inflammatory pain state. And there was a speaker who spoke about fitness. I mean, obviously this was physical therapists and, and people who were professionals in this industry, but she was speaking to some of the most recent research related to pain and in fitness. And I think when you are going through these struggles, anything is better than nothing. And you know, you and Blaine, didn’t go to the gym and do your like total normal workout. During those phases of times you, you really were just functioning and same with MENA. I mean, I know you said you sat, sat down and you were playing cards game, but we, you know, you were up walking and as soon as you could walk with your dogs, you were doing like something you were doing, whatever it was that was going to be able to be safe in that moment.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (28:56)
It, um, a lot of times people ask me, well, what’s the best thing. What’s the best exercise you can do. And, and, and the research is showing, honestly, it’s whatever you will do that brings you joy or what absolutely. It, it doesn’t have to be tennis. It doesn’t have to be CrossFit. It doesn’t have to be Pilates yoga. It can be any, and all of those things or whatever, it could be walking the dogs if that’s what it is. Yeah. You know, and that alone has so much value. Even everyone’s looking for the perfect, the, we were talking about the spin bikes at home, you know, that wasn’t gonna be, what’s gonna work for me because I needed something more than sitting at home in front of a computer screen. But for some people, if that’s what’s gonna work for you, do it, please do it.

Mena Spodobalski : (29:46)
Yeah. On day three, I went for a five minute walk and it became like every day, like that was the best part of my day was getting to go for my five minute. And then my six minute in it. And my seven minute, that was the best part. You know, it was just like going to the end of the street and back and, you know, and, um, I looked forward to that cause I felt like I was doing something good for myself. And it’s like, you’re saying just one little step and just find the one thing that brings you joy. And if it’s a walk around the block, if it’s walking your dog, if it’s getting on a spin bike, if it, whatever it is that brings you that joy and takes you out of that sadness or that, that moment that is causing you stress and pain, that’s what you need to do. And whether it’s five minutes or half an hour, like just, just do it.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (30:42)
I really loved that piece of research cuz I was like, this is what the best exercise is. The one that you will do my colleague. And I always say that whatever you will do, I mean, yeah, weight lifting is important and, and it certainly has some added bonuses. Sure. But like, if that’s really not your gig going to a gym and lifting weights, then that’s also, okay, you do something else. If it’s tennis, you know, my mom, we interviewed my mom, my mom’s is tennis. And she was riding a bike through the whole interview, you know? So she she’s got her things too. But you remember,

Connie Wray: (31:14)
You talk about never sitting still that’s Carolyn’s mom. She was riding a bike, like a little spinner under her chair while we were interviewing while

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (31:22)
We were in a,

Mena Spodobalski : (31:23)
Oh my goodness.

Connie Wray: (31:24)
I’m like, she’s

Mena Spodobalski : (31:25)
Not, she has some time time too.

Connie Wray: (31:31)
You know, I want, I wanna kind of wrap with this by saying, you know, both of you are really unique because I know Carolyn’s a little more of an introvert as men and I are more outgoing. And, but I think we’ve all found how fitness plays a role in our lives. We all have found that a stress reliever for us is, is fitness it’s and I, I just adore men that you share with people. Like I didn’t even start working out till I was in my thirties. There’s no excuse there’s is no. Yeah. If you’re 60 and have never done anything and you’re tired of not being able to get off the couch, try that walk around, like you said, is it, if it’s just you walking with a friend to, to talk with around the block, finding those moments that you, that bit a physical fitness, I think is far more beneficial than any mental health drug or

Mena Spodobalski : (32:32)
Oh, absolutely.

Connie Wray: (32:34)
Drinking a bottle of liquor or a bottle of wine. It’s it’s, there’s just something about that. It’s a mind body connection that is, so imperative I feel, and I know that, you know, even with my do and my younger daughter, it’s always like, you know, we’ve always gotta be moving. We have to be in motion. It’s it’s good for our mental health. Absolutely. And as we move forward in this world that we live in, we’re realizing that it all starts at the brain. It really does. And you have to engage. That’s what fitness does. I think for people is it, it awakens the brain. It gives you that those endorphins. And we know that we know that it stimulates the things that our body is craving. Absolutely. Um, so I’m just, I’m excited that you were able to join us today to, to share your journey and your commitment to helping those through their journey as well. And again, it’s a Testament to what radically resilient health is. You don’t have to run a marathon today, but you can walk around the block.

Mena Spodobalski : (33:36)
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you for having me. You guys, it’s been so wonderful and I hope that, you know, we just can continue to touch people and, and, and just make a small difference in people’s lives. I think that that is really for me anyway. I think that that’s what life is about.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (33:52)
Thank you so much for sharing your story.

Mena Spodobalski : (33:55)
Thank you.

Dr. Carolyn Dolan: (33:56)
And I’ll see you Monday.

Mena Spodobalski : (33:57)
I will. That is of my sleeve

Connie Wray: (34:02)
Mead. Alki is the owner and founder of evoke fitness. And again, if you wanna find out more information about the evoke warriors, visit them@evokewarriors.org. You’ve been listening to radically resilient health with Dr. Carolyn Dolan. I’m your host, Connie Wray. Thank you so much for joining us. We’ll talk with you soon.

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