Christina Tidwell 6/7/21 Christina Tidwell 6/7/21

Stuck On What You "Should" Be Doing For Your Health?

Stuck on what you “should” be doing for your health? In the quest to feel better these “shoulds” can leave us feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and guilty as we feel like we’re always one step behind. In this post, learn how I counteract these “shoulds” so we can tap into your own innate wisdom for sustainable healing!

STUCK ON WHAT YOU “SHOULD” BE DOING FOR YOUR HEALTH?

There is so much information out there about what we “should” be doing for our health.

“I should eat this certain way for my Hashimoto’s.”

“I should wake up and 5am and exercise.”

“I should love to cook and make fancier meals.”

“I should take this supplement if I want to get better.”

In the quest to feel better these “shoulds” can leave us feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and guilty as we feel like we’re always one step behind.

I’ve been hearing this come up a lot with my clients so I wanted to dive deeper into how what we feel we “should” do for our health can really get in the way of actually creating a life that feels healing and sustainable.

While all of our shoulds will look different based on our own experiences and healing journeys, one thing that can be really helpful is to do a mental inventory of all the “shoulds” that come up in your head around health. Once you become aware of what these are, you can ask yourself: Who and where did that come from? If it didn’t actually come from you and what’s serving your body, I encourage you to rethink it and check in with what feels true for you.

Tune into the video below to learn more about how I counteract these “shoulds” and how to tap into your own innate wisdom for sustainable healing.

Now I’d love to hear from you! Let me know in the comments below what “shoulds” come up for you around your health and healing journey.

If we haven't met before, I'm Christina Tidwell and I'm so excited that you're here! I am a RN & Functional Nutrition Practitioner that helps those with autoimmune disease, hormone imbalance and gut issues heal without overwhelm so you can feel better in your body in a way that honors your unique needs and feels sustainable for the rest of your life.

If you suffer from:

Fatigue and energy crashes
Brain fog
Poor digestion
Painful periods and PMS
Symptoms of autoimmunity
Stress and overwhelm

...and aren't getting the support you need, I’m here to help guide you! My job is to clear the overwhelm, help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and co-create a sustainable path forward to help you reach your goals and feel better in your amazing body. When we work together you can’t fail.

In my health & nutrition coaching programs I support you in the quest to get back into balance by listening to your story, understanding your needs, getting to the roots of imbalance in the body and co-creating a sustainable path to healing together. These sessions weave together functional nutrition and science, lived experience, breathwork, mindset shifts, and intuitive guidance for a unique and full-spectrum approach to nutrition counseling and holistic health.

I always offer free 20-minute discovery sessions to get clear on your major health concerns and identify what’s standing in your way. Click the button below to set up your free consultation and we can create a plan of action specifically for you.

Book your free Discovery Session here

Christina Tidwell 3/2/21 Christina Tidwell 3/2/21

The 5 Components of my Flare-Up Toolkit

When it comes to autoimmune disease, I believe we should focus on progress, not perfection. Although we’d rather be symptom-free, flare-ups happen. Having a “Flare-Up Tool Kit” in place anytime symptoms come up can help guide you through without falling into overwhelm. Tune into this video to learn the 5 components of my flare-up toolkit!

THE 5 COMPONENTS OF MY FLARE-UP TOOLKIT

When we are working to try and achieve some sense of healing with autoimmune disease, a flare-up of symptoms can feel like a really disappointing setback. Especially if we have been feeling good and have noticed improved symptoms and quality of life, a flare-up can make us feel like we’re back at square one.

When I was first starting out on my healing journey with autoimmune disease 15 years ago, I imagined that I would change my diet, identify and fix the root cause issues going on in my body. Then, I would be “healed” and done. I had a very linear perception of what it meant to be healed and this outlook didn’t have any room for setbacks or flare-ups. I felt like I had come so far and done so much good work that if I had a flare-up of symptoms it meant I was a failure, that I had done something wrong or hadn’t tried hard enough.

Coaching hundreds of individuals through healing journeys, and riding the waves of my own, I have since learned that every single one has an upward trajectory, but the line usually has many ups and downs along the way. This is normal. It can be tempting to read stories of those who have “healed” themselves from autoimmune conditions by simply cutting out gluten and wonder why the process hasn’t looked so easy or linear for us. While that may be the experience for some, for most people healing is a process of learning, growing, experimenting, and recalibrating over time. When it comes to autoimmune disease, I believe we should focus on progress, not perfection.

Although we’d rather be symptom-free, flare-ups happen. Having a “Flare-Up Tool Kit” in place anytime symptoms come up can help guide you through without falling into overwhelm. Tune into the video to learn the 5 components of my flare-up toolkit, and if you need more support you’re always welcome to book in for a free discovery call where we can create a plan of action specifically for you.

If you suffer from:

Fatigue and energy crashes
Brain fog
Poor digestion
Painful periods and PMS
Symptoms of autoimmunity
Stress and overwhelm

Book your free Discovery Session here

Christina Tidwell 2/9/21 Christina Tidwell 2/9/21

A Personal Update from Me

I was sitting down to write some new content recently, and I just felt really stuck and really blocked. I kept thinking to myself, “What do I want to share? What do I want to say?”. And when I asked myself these questions, what kept coming through to me was: just be human, just bring the human.

Check out this post for a personal update from me on some big changes that have happened in my life over the past few months, an update on my own healing journey, some exciting updates in my work, and how I’m planning to show up online.

A PERSONAL UPDATE FROM ME

I was sitting down to write some new content recently, like I’ve done every week for the past 6 years, and I just felt really stuck and really blocked! I kept thinking to myself, “What do I want to share? What do I really want to say?” And when I asked myself these questions, what kept coming through to me was: just be human, just bring the human.

Lately, social media and being online, in general, have felt really heavy. Maybe you’ve been feeling it too? I have so many different colleagues, friends, and clients who, over the past year especially, have had to reconsider their relationship with the internet and social media and how it feels.

For me, sharing online has always been two things: connection and speaking my truth. It will definitely continue in that way for me, but maybe with a slightly different perspective. Check out the video below for a personal update from me on what life has been like over the past few months, an update on my own healing journey, some exciting updates in my work, and how I’m planning to show up online.

I hope this helps to remind you to just keep bringing your whole self to this space too. I’m going to keep bringing the imperfect pieces of myself, my journey, and my work into all of this, and I encourage you to do the same!

So thank you for being here, and let's connect! I would love to know more about you as a human. Feel free to say hello in the comments because connection and truth… that's what it's all about.

If you suffer from:

Fatigue and energy crashes
Brain fog
Poor digestion
Painful periods and PMS
Symptoms of autoimmunity
Stress and overwhelm

Book your free Discovery Session here

Christina Tidwell 12/15/20 Christina Tidwell 12/15/20

How to Create a Life That Feels Healing

In this post we look at giving ourselves permission to rest, why we have so much resistance to resting, and how it can actually feel really scary to just slow down. Rest doesn’t necessarily have to mean taking a day or week off but instead is something that we can simply build into small moments in our daily lives. I also share common beliefs that tend to hinder many of us from resting. This is one of the most important pillars of healing that I do in my work with my clients and a big way we start to create a life that feels healing, where our interventions can take root.

HOW TO CREATE A LIFE THAT FEELS HEALING

From time to time on Instagram I will give out what I like to call "Adult Permission Slips," giving people permission to rest without guilt.

Every time I do I get a ton of people saying “Ok! you don’t need to tell me twice!” and also several messages from people saying how hard it is. How much resistance they feel to resting.

While I’m very sensitive to circumstances that we all might find ourselves in that don’t allow for much down time (multiple jobs, homeschooling, caring for others) as a coach I see the opportunity here to get curious about the resistance. Because that’s where the good stuff is.

So why do many of us feel resistant to something as benign as resting our bodies and minds?

By rest I don’t mean you have to lounge around all day or stop caring for your family to take a day long bubble bath. That’s the first part that gets misunderstood - the idea that rest can only come from vacation or pushing pause on life rather than it becoming part of our life.

We've come to associate the idea of rest with taking a vacation, and this idea that we can only really rest or turn off when we escape from our day-to-day lives. And then people start to think, well I can't because of XYZ… so many different reasons start to come up. What I want to first introduce is the idea that rest is available in lots of different forms. We need to shift away from the idea that we can only rest if we're taking a week off of work. Or that we can’t rest until we give ourselves the opportunity to do it at some set time. Rest can come from five minutes of breathing. Rest can come with laying down for a moment when we feel that our body needs a break. Rest can come from just a few moments of silence. Rest can come from sleep. It can come from taking a day off or taking a mental health day.

It's something that we want to build into our daily lives. We are human beings, not machines, and we've come to live with the idea that our bodies should be able to handle so much. And then we operate from this idea that we can only really rest when we have these long stretches of time. It doesn't have to look like being in a bubble bath all day and completely ignoring the needs of your family and anyone calling for you. Rest is accessible in many different forms.

Rest is simply giving ourselves moments of care. Of laying down for a few minutes. Of meditating. Of being in silence. Of breathing consciously. Of slowing down. Rest is something we build into our day. Because we are human beings not machines.

When we investigate with curiosity we may discover that when some random person on the internet (me) says to rest, and you feel triggered, it’s because there is a belief there that rest is for everyone else but not you. Or resting is lazy. Or in order to be worthy, successful or loved you have to produce and achieve, and resting doesn’t fit into that. If we hitch our worth to productivity then who are we if we take moments of rest and BE without doing?

Coaching hundreds of women dealing with autoimmunity I’ve seen how these beliefs can literally making us sick. Which is why I care enough to challenge you here if you feel resistance to pausing. Because I want to help you create a life and day that is healing, not something you constantly want to escape from.

Some common beliefs I hear that come up around this are: Everyone else can rest, but not me. That's not for me. That's not available for me. I have actually dealt with this myself too, and the idea of, if I rest then who am I then? What am I doing? Because our worth can oftentimes be tied up in productivity or achieving. We might have that belief in our head that resting is lazy, that we shouldn't do it, that we need to continually be achieving and doing and pushing to feel worthiness.

This is one of the most important pillars of healing that I work with my clients on, in one-on-one coaching, where we start to explore the idea of how do we create a life that feels healing and where our healing interventions can take root.

You deserve to rest and recharge, even if it's only for a few moments. So if a few moments is all you have, start there. Rest can look very different for each of us. Drop any expectations around it or ideas of what you “should” do to rest, and just ask yourself what’s available to me today?

I hope that is helpful for you andI would love to continue this conversation because it is has been so important for me in my own life, as well as for my clients! Tune into the video below to learn more.

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In this episode we'll be talking about giving ourselves permission to rest, why we have so much resistance to resting, and how it can actually feel really scary to just slow down. Rest doesn't necessarily have to mean taking a day or week off but instead is something that we can simply build into small moments in our daily lives.