Latest / Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease / 111 // The Magic of an Introvert Retreat

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111 // The Magic of an Introvert Retreat · Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

• 0:00
  Imagine some time away by yourself or with your best friend.
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  You go away, you wake up when you want or when the sun wakes you up,
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  go to bed when you want or when the sun goes to bed if you're tired,
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  come back feeling so refreshed after walks in nature, cups of tea with the sunset.
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  Books, just a super relaxing time.
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  That is what I do every single summer. I call it my introvert retreat.
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  And I get questions all the time about what do you do and how can I have one?
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  So that's what we're going to talk about on today's podcast.
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  This is the Health with Hashimoto's podcast. I'm Esther.
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  And yes, this introvert retreat does pertain to Hashimoto's.
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  It also pertains to just regular life.
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  I find especially it's women who want to do this.
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  I have not had a lot of guys, I don't think any guys asking me how to do it,
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  but women, they hear about my time away and I want to do that. It sounds amazing.
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  So first of all, how would it pertain to Hashimoto's stress?
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  When you are stressed, your immune system is, it's under a significant burden
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  And the more chronic the stress and the higher the stress, the more of a burden that is.
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  And when your immune system is under that stressful burden, it doesn't work as well.
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  It goes a little haywire and it attacks things that it shouldn't.
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  And when your immune system starts to attack things that it shouldn't,
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  we call that autoimmune disease.
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  When yourself is attacking yourself, autoimmune disease.
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  All autoimmune diseases are diseases of the immune system.
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  They are your body, your immune system getting confused and attacking yourself.
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  Now there's a lot of names for different autoimmune diseases,
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  and they do differ slightly in some triggers, especially that genetic trigger.
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  We all have a genetic disposition for certain things. That doesn't mean that
• 2:03
  you are going to get that thing.
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  It just means that you have that gene. The gene still needs to turn on or off and you can impact that.
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  I do have an episode about nutrigenomics that's using nutrition to turn on and off genes.
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  Episode 15 is about what if your genetic testing, your 23andMe or whatever kind
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  of testing you get, what if that reveals that you have a risk for Hashimoto's?
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  And I talk about things that you can do in that case.
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  But stress impacts your overall health.
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  Stress itself is not bad.
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  What's bad is the chronic stress and staying in that fight and flight and freeze state.
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  We want to shift into rest and digest as much as we can, because that is where we thrive.
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  That is where we are most healthy when we are in the rest and digest,
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  that parasympathetic nervous system.
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  We want to be there. And going away for a couple days, it gets me in that parasympathetic nervous system.
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  I absolutely love it.
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  I want you to be able to experience an introvert retreat if you want to.
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  So let me tell you how I made it happen.
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  I have four boys and we have been homeschooling from the beginning.
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  My oldest is a senior this year, so that means I've been homeschooling for 13
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  years, which seems just crazy to say.
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  And when I had multiple kids all starting homeschool, I found myself telling
• 3:33
  my husband I just needed to go away for two days so I could plan things.
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  I could not think for long enough to get everything planned, to get their goals done.
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  Every year I would make their, I look at their strengths. And of course,
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  your biggest strength is often your biggest weakness.
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  So I look at their strengths and their weaknesses in multiple different areas.
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  How are we going to to work on that? What do they need to work on for academics?
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  What curriculum are we using? How are we setting it up? What is the schedule going to be?
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  I try to get everything done in the summer so that in the school year,
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  it's literally just open the curriculum and go.
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  I do not want to plan every week. I just want to open up the book and do the next thing.
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  There are so many ways to do homeschool and the way I do it might not be the
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  way that you do it. The way that you do it, if you homeschool.
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  It might not be the way your friend does it. There's no right and wrong way.
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  But I found myself wanting just a couple days away so that I could think for
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  an extended length of time.
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  And I was not getting that, you know, when I had four tiny little boys running around.
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  So my husband was like, why don't you go up to the cabin for a couple days?
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  My family is very fortunate to have a cabin in the family.
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  It is not mine. It is my uncle's. My dad actually built it for my grandma.
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  And then, yeah, it has stayed in the family.
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  So I asked my uncle if I could go up to the cabin and it was incredible.
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  I mean, sitting on the lake with a cup of tea and just thinking,
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  just sitting in silence, just being, oh my goodness. Can you imagine.
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  No sounds except for nature. At the time, the electricity was not working in the cabin.
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  It was, it is solar powered and there were some problems.
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  So I didn't even have the electric, electricity noise that, you know,
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  the low hum of a fridge or the buzz of a fan had no noise except for nature.
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  And it was the best. In the afternoons or evenings, I'd go for a walk and in a hike in the woods.
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  I would sit on the porch in a rocking chair with my homeschool books and read and plan.
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  Oh my goodness, it was so just such a gift to be able to just be.
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  As the years went on, it became an annual tradition that I would go on this introvert retreat.
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  I started inviting my sister who is also very much an introvert.
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  And I had the condition that if you come with me,
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  we are not expected to talk because the
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  point is to be alone to just be and
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  just to think and get stuff done and she totally understood that she was on
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  board so if you're going to do a retreat like this find somebody who shares
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  the same philosophy of what you're going to do some of my other friends are
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  like I would love to do that except not the introvert part I want to be able
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  to talk with my friends, but to go away,
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  to be away from all distractions, to even have the electricity off,
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  just did not even have that option.
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  It is such an incredible experience.
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  So for me, I took my sister with me because honestly, for me, it's a lot nicer.
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  I feel safer and it's just more fun to hike through state parks and national
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  parks with a friend instead of alone.
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  If you're are going to go on a retreat like this, I highly recommend time in nature.
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  And one of the reasons why is because time in nature helps with your stress level.
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  Time in nature, especially pine trees, can help different things in your body circulate.
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  I mean, you've heard of aromatherapy, right?
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  The essential oils and how the aromas go to a specific part of your brain and
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  they help different things.
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  There are some scents that help with anxiety.
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  There are some that help with physical things like nausea. There are some that
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  help with your immune system.
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  There are, there are so many different essential oils and aromas that are useful for different things.
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  And we know that being out in nature in the trees boosts your immune system.
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  And there's something about cedar trees or pine trees specifically that increases
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  how your body can fight, I believe it's respiratory illnesses.
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  It's so fascinating what we can learn and what we can experience in nature.
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  So get out in nature. If you're going to do a retreat like this,
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  whether you do an introvert retreat or with some friends, time in nature is important.
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  I would also recommend just from my own personal experience,
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  turning off the electricity.
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  That might not be possible where you go. If you're going to go to a hotel,
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  then obviously you cannot turn off the electricity.
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  But there's something about being on the same rhythm as the sun.
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  I remember the first year that I went and didn't have electricity.
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  I felt like it was so late. You know, I was reading by candlelight.
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  The sun had been down for it felt like
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  forever I was getting really tired and I
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  happened to look at something I don't know
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  if I had a watch or something and I looked and it was only like 8 30 I was like
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  wait what how can it be only 8 30 I feel like it is 11 o'clock at night but
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  when your body is following the sun we get different sleep and sleep is another
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  huge thing for your immune system.
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  If you have an autoimmune problem, then you need to prioritize good sleep.
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  How you prioritize it is up to you. Some people are going to focus on quality first.
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  Some people are going to focus on quantity first. Some people are going to focus on both.
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  But when we are sleeping, that is when your body is healing.
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  It's when it's restoring.
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  It's when things are growing. It's when your brain runs a dishwasher cycle and
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  cleans out all of the broken cells from the day, all of the proteins that are
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  not needed, it literally...
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  Runs this dishwasher cycle. It's called the glymphatic system that's in your brain.
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  It's like the lymphatic system of your body, but it's in your brain and it cleans
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  things out while you are sleeping. It does not work during the day.
• 10:00
  And when you are living without electricity, I would only do it for a short time.
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  I could not do it every day, but it is so relaxing and just a total break from what's normal.
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  I think that is what I love the most about this retreat. It is such a break from what is normal.
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  I go without my kids. I go without my husband. I wouldn't mind having my husband there.
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  He is not an introvert. We would not be sitting around reading books.
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  He would want to be on the go, which is awesome when I'm on vacation with him,
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  when I'm on a trip with him.
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  If I am on my introvert retreat, I have things to do. And those things involve sitting.
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  This last year, I read so many books.
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  I devoured some nonfiction books, some fiction books. I was rotating throughout
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  the day so that I wouldn't get bored.
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  But even then, I read so much that I uttered a phrase that I don't think I've
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  ever uttered before in my life.
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  I told my sister, I am bored of reading which
• 11:00
  is just crazy I was not bored like
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  with what I was reading I was just like
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  I had just sat and my eyeballs were done
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  but you don't have to read if you don't want to read my sister takes art supplies
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  or one year she couple years she brought her camera and she would go out in
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  the woods and do photography she would I think this year she might have had
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  watercolors and oils or pastels. I'm really not sure.
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  I didn't pay attention because I was doing my own thing and she was doing her own thing.
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  We come together for meals, not doing them together, but making our own thing
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  and then eating together.
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  That's just how we've worked it out. If you're going to go with somebody,
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  again, get on the same page of expectations.
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  We were very, I was very clear with her before she came the first time.
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  And I said, this is what I eat. This is what I do.
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  This, do you want to come? So it has worked out great.
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  And another thing that you have to have in place before you do a retreat like
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  this is a plan for the kids.
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  If you have a family, you have to make sure that they are taken care of.
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  And I do not take it for granted at all that my husband is so supportive in this.
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  I remember during COVID, he said, are you going to go on your introvert retreat?
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  And I didn't really expect to because everything had been locked down.
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  I didn't think I could get away. And he's like, no, you need to do it. You, this fuels you.
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  So I would not be able to do this without my husband.
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  But you know what? People go on trips all the time and they figure out how to
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  have child care. You know, people go on business trips or whatever.
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  So maybe there's a way, there's somebody who can watch your kids or take care.
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  Maybe you can swap with another friend.
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  Hey, I'm going to go away for two days, just, you know, middle of the week or over the weekend.
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  And then your friend is going to do it. And then you swap kids kids, or childcare.
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  Whatever it is for you, this is such a time that refuels me and it helps my
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  nervous system. It really does.
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  I highly recommend it if you can make it work at all for you to get away,
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  get out in nature, reset, breathe, take long, deep, slow breaths.
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  Just be. Every morning, I would
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  just sit on the on the step
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  with my breakfast or with a cup of tea just
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  be we are designed for
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  rest we are designed to work but everything is
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  balanced in our bodies and our minds everything is in balance and so when you
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  work hard you have to rest hard or play hard and for a lot of people those are
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  the same things so what fuels you how can you reset that's really the biggest
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  part of an introvert retreat is resetting.
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  I hope you can make that work for you.
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  And if you're curious about what I read on my introvert retreat, I am on Storygraph.
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  I gave up Goodreads a couple years ago in favor of Storygraph.
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  I just love the graphs, being able to put in how much I read each day,
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  and then seeing how many books I read and seeing all of the charts It tells
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  me nonfiction versus fiction.
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  It tells me the different types, the different genres that I read, the authors, the pace.
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  There are so many different ways that I can look at my data and story graph,
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  and it just makes me so happy.
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  So if you want to see what I read, there's a lot of nonfiction and then a lot of fiction.
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  I was reading for my fiction, some fairy tale retellings, because I already know the fairy tale.
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  I already know that everybody's going to get a happily ever Ever After,
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  as long as you're reading like a regular fairy tale.
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  If you're reading classic Grimm Brothers, you might not get a happy ending.
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  I didn't read any of those. I read the Happily Ever Afters. And it's so fun
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  to just sit and just lose yourself in a story.
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  For the nonfiction books that I read, I can highly recommend the book Tiny Habits.
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  Now I have read Atomic Habits multiple times.
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  And I really liked that book. So I wasn't sure that I would need to read Tiny
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  Habits. I was like, this is like the same thing, right?
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  Somebody who is actually a habit coach, she told me that Tiny Habits is better
• 15:19
  than Atomic Habits. So I thought I'd take her at her word and read it. And I.
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  Fully agree. I felt like Tiny Habits is like a step or two above Atomic Habits
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  in how much it helped me and how it will help me help others.
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  I have put together a program. It is text-based right now, and it is in its beta version.
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  I am just running it with a group of, I think it's about 60 people.
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  And when it is ready, I will launch it for my Hashimoto's community,
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  because it is, I've already heard from people that it is life changing,
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  these tiny habits, how I'm encouraging them just via text on their phone a couple
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  times a week, I am helping them change their life.
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  So go ahead and read tiny habits. If you want to read one book this year that
• 16:10
  could change your life, I recommend that one.
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  I also finished a book that I have read before by Dr. Libby Weaver.
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  And you might find it interesting as somebody with Hashimoto's,
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  it is called Rushing Woman Syndrome.
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  And it is talking about how women just keep going, going, going.
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  They're always on, feeling like they're on and feeling like they need to be
• 16:31
  doing stuff and always feeling like they're behind. They're always rushing.
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  I love how Dr. Libby looks at the person as a whole. She is a biochemist,
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  and she's a holistic health specialist.
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  I find her stuff so helpful. She looks at every process of your body just with
• 16:52
  a different lens because of her background in biochemistry.
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  In her book, she talks about different hormones and the impact of rushing.
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  And over and over, she's telling us to slow down and breathe.
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  And it's probably because of Dr.
• 17:10
  Libby Weaver that I remind you so often to take a deep breath from your diaphragm.
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  That belly breathing, diaphragmatic breathing is so important because when you
• 17:21
  breathe with your diaphragm, it massages a huge nerve.
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  It's called the vagus nerve in that goes right through your diaphragm.
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  And when that nerve is massaged, it tells your body to,
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  to relax. It tells your body that you are safe. It helps you get into your rest
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  and digest that parasympathetic nervous system instead of your fight and flight,
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  which is the sympathetic nervous system.
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  And Dr. Libby goes through that in, I believe, all of her books.
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  But the one that I just finished is Rushing Women's Syndrome.
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  It is so good. So if you want to see my books, You can follow me over on Storygraph.
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  I believe I am at estery.rn over there, or just send me a message on Instagram
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  and, or just watch my stories on Instagram.
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  I put my month end, the wrap up every single month. And when I hit a fun number
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  on my reading streak, I put that in there too.
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  I would love to connect with you and find out what fuels you.
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  Like I'm talking about the introvert retreat, but what would fuel you?
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  What is going to help you reset?
• 18:22
  How you lower your stress, help you to
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  come back to regular life feeling so
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  much better so much more you
• 18:32
  refueled re-energized and ready
• 18:35
  to go send me a message over on instagram or even better come to our community
• 18:39
  which is the health with hashimoto's app it is on the apple app store it is
• 18:45
  still not in the google play store but it's available on the browser so you
• 18:49
  can still access it from non-iphones because
• 18:52
  I know there's a lot of you who don't use an iPhone,
• 18:55
  and you still want access to that free community as well as the courses.
• 19:00
  I've got the first one, which is Hashimoto's Decoded 10 Questions for Your Doctor.
• 19:05
  And then step two is Hashimoto's Decoded the Causes.
• 19:09
  And then your final step is the Holistic Hashimoto's Course.
• 19:13
  I hope to see you in the community and in the courses. And I will see you back
• 19:17
  here next week on the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
• 19:20
  This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.
• 19:24
  Please discuss any concerns and plans with your trusted healthcare professional.
• 19:28
  If you found this episode helpful, will you please share it with a friend?
• 19:31
  I'll see you next week on the Health with Hashimoto's.
• 19:35
  Music.