Latest / Crafted Connections / EP 24: On-the-Go - Jennifer Fisher

Transcript

EP 24: On-the-Go - Jennifer Fisher · Crafted Connections

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, welcome to Crafted Connections.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Kaelin Calhoun, and this is a podcast all about storytelling and building genuine community.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Here we'll dive into the art of storytelling, unpack strategies for making meaningful connections, and hear from incredible humans who are using their story to create impact.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: So grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and let's craft some connections.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, welcome back to Crafted Connections.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's great to have you.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: I collect stories from folks in in my network and in my community, and I and I share them.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: I also kind of tell my own experience of uh enhancing my storytelling, enhancing marketing, like leaning into my business, uh life stories, kind of in spo stories, what have you, but it's all circled and surrounding stories, right?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a big believer that community is built through connection and connection is built through storytelling.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, in order to have a strong community, you gotta lean into your stories.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's what I do here.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I get on the mic, I interview people, and I share my own.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: So we are doing something just a tiny bit different here on Crafted Connections.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: So typically I'll release an episode every Thursday-ish, and it'll be either a solo episode where I'm speaking on a topic related to storytelling, related to business, related to lifing, or I will interview a guest and we will have a lovely conversation.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about their story, we'll talk about their their situations, they'll talk about we'll talk about their experiences to kind of connect you with them, to connect them with you, to you know, connect them and me a little bit more.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a lovely time.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: But we are going to do something I'm calling an on the go episode.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: So back in April, I attended the Grow Conference.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I am the fractional chief content officer for Grow We Wo, which is a women's organization that's all about empowering women, changing the status quo of what it's like to be a woman on this planet in this world, building community around that and and learning together, succeeding together, collaborating together is where it's at.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been able to do that with them for oh my gosh, what is it, September?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been nine months now.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Nine months I've been working with them, doing some really, really fun things for the women in in our community.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I brought my podcast equipment to the Fort Wayne conference this year, 2025.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I set up a booth and I interviewed women and I asked them a few questions, and it was really fun seeing and hearing all the different answers that I got.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna feature all the individuals that I interviewed that day back in April.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, I love these women.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: There were about gosh, I think I did about 14 interviews that day and to share stories on the go.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I hope you enjoy.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Take a listen and uh see you on the other side, my friends.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: What is your name, my friend?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jennifer Fisher.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, can you give the good people two sentences about you?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Who are you?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: I am an occupational therapist, and I am just looking to get this conversation on menopause going in our community because it is not happening as much as it should.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Love that.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Love that.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so essentially I am gathering little stories here at the Grow Conference today.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Are there any like stories, moments, or breakthroughs in your life that were really impactful?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Can you pick one and just tell me a little bit about it?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I'm an open book, so I have to talk about everything.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so as I started my own journey with what I didn't realize was menopause.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Perimenopause, I should say, right?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was that transition into, and let me say that can start in your 30s for everyone that is unaware.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: The changes can start earlier than you think.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know what was going on.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: My doctors were not providing much guidance for that either.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was really researching on my own because I'm an information nerd and I need all of the information.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, my background's occupational therapy, and our focus is really kind of a holistic approach.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: How life impacts your function.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And perimenopause was making me not function very well.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't just hot flashes, it was the cognition, it's the brain fog, it's the attention, it's those pieces that have been most impactful on my everyday life.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And hot flashes and low sex drive, while important, are not making or breaking my daily life.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just felt like, again, the conversation should be happening, it shouldn't be this difficult.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't all be in our own silos figuring out what's going on with our own selves, our own bodies, our minds, when the information's out there.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so here I am trying to figure out what to do, how to share that conversation, how to get women talking and feeling comfortable talking, validating what their experiences are, and then really helping kind of support through that, whether it's through information or whether it's through direct coaching is kind of where I'm headed, or direct OT.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's a couple different things really with nervous system regulation and things like that that falls a little bit more under my occupational therapy hat.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's really kind of a balance between these two loves right now.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot more to menopause than people imagine, and I think it takes a system approach where you're going through your whole system and really focusing a lot on lifestyle management, traditional diet, exercise, and movement, stress, sleep, all of those things really play a factor, and I think women need connection.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we women are talking about it, even though the broader society may not be.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so women need spaces to have these conversations, they need safety to be able to share their story, and they need some guidance on what to do about it.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: And even, you know, in our quick connection, we spoke five minutes ago at your table, and I was just like, Oh, well, I'm 15 years out, and you're like, You may not be.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm 32, and if some people see signs in their in their 30s, like the average age of menopause is 52 in the US.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Perimenopause symptoms, which is what nobody talks about, and really is the important piece, in my opinion, because I would argue when people start noticing the changes that, oh, I'm getting older, which start around 30, right?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: You get in your 30s and you're like, oh gosh, my joints hurt, oh, I'm more tired.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the signs that perimenopause is starting because menopause is your loss in hormones, but it's not our body runs on all kinds of hormones, not just our sex hormones we think of, estrogen, testosterone, progesterone.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, our whole body runs on those, and so as those start in the tank, we have receptors in our entire body, so every body system is impacted.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so that looks different for every woman, and so again, nobody knows that.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so that joint pain is related to the anxiety you're having, the rage you're having, the depression, the motivation, all of those things are connected, your GI system in addition to changes in your period and all of that.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so, again, it's time to start talking about it.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to start finding some solutions that are useful rather than the kind of fluff.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: In the menopause space, certainly hormone replacement therapy is one of the main topics, and there can be a place for that in women's lives, but it's not for everyone for many reasons, whether you want to but can't, or whether you just don't want to and want to do natural approaches.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, that hormone replacement is just one piece, really.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're talking about all of the pieces, and I think with the way our world is right now, I think stress management is a huge piece.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And when you talk about nervous system regulation, that's where you're talking about from a nerdy bio standpoint.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's where we get into.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so with OT, you're talking about sensory integration, you're talking about nervous system development, and really that's to me kind of the key for all of us to just take some deep breaths and uh let things go and focus on what needs doing.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Our society just isn't made for that right now.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's what's making this transitional period so hard for our generation.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, people have been going through it for generations.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that we're not having more conversations by now is maddening, and so again, I was frustrated we shouldn't all be doing it.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's on our own.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: The information is out there, let's find it, let's share it.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm super grateful for your work.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: And would you mind answering what does alignment mean to you?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Alignment.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh, so many things.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: So again, for me with OT as my background, alignment to me is really kind of biologically in our bodies and our brains.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's the it's the balance between all of the pieces that make us us.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so that can be, you know, again, physically in our body, mentally in our mind, emotionally, socially, in our environments.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's to me, it's kind of everything.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so I see the world in this big, complicated, complex way.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think it's all interrelated, and I so alignment to me is really trying to balance all of those pieces to make us really function at our optimal space.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining me.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you feel so good, and I really am grateful for you sharing your story.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for letting me have this.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: This is great.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't it fun?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: So there you have it.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: It has been women like these women that have put me back together.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: I know I've shared.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: I really had a beautiful Dululu era that was a lot of throwing stuff at a wall and a lot of tripping and falling and failing, frankly.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: A failing that I would not have been able to put myself back together from without women like the ones that you just heard, right?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Women like the ones I met at the Fort Wayne conference, ones I'm going to meet at the Anderson conference and speak to and connect with.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, just women outside of those circles as well, uh, have really, really put me back together.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm super pumped for this series.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoy and find yourself in some of these stories.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yay! Thanks, friends.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Crafted Connections is lovingly produced by Calhoun Creative Consulting, a strategic storytelling firm dedicated to helping people and brands tell their stories in a way that resonates.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and connect with us on Instagram at Crafted Connections Pod.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Keep creating, keep connecting until we meet again.