Imagine being so caught up in the grind of corporate life that one day you realize, you can't fit into your clothes anymore. That's what happened to our guest, Mina , an expert in well-being who decided to turn her life around. Mina's transformation from a stressful corporate life to a wellness guru is inspiring. Our chat explores her journey to fitness, stress management, and the importance of staying organized in every facet of life. She's also the host of the popular show 'Wellness of All Seasons with Mina,' where she shares her insights and methods to help others.
Menopause is a natural life phase that brings a whirlwind of physical and emotional changes in a woman's life, often paired with stress. Yet, it's a topic not often addressed with the gravity it deserves. In our conversation, Mina guides us through the challenges faced by women during menopause and how lifestyle changes can mitigate symptoms and manage stress. She sheds light on the importance of male allies during this time, and how their understanding and support can contribute to a healthier society.
But the journey of wellness doesn't end there. We delve into the power of forgiveness, especially during challenging times, and how self-care practices like good sleep, nutrition, and physical activities can dramatically enhance our well-being. Lastly, we discuss the interconnection between physical, mental, and spiritual health, and financial well-being, reinforcing the belief that a holistic approach to wellness is the key to a healthy and happy life. So, tune in, as we redefine the wellness narrative one topic at a time. IG @mina_q2021 Podcast: here Podcast episode on Menopause: here FB: here
Imagine being so caught up in the grind of corporate life that one day you realize, you can't fit into your clothes anymore. That's what happened to our guest, Mina , an expert in well-being who decided to turn her life around. Mina's transformation from a stressful corporate life to a wellness guru is inspiring. Our chat explores her journey to fitness, stress management, and the importance of staying organized in every facet of life. She's also the host of the popular show 'Wellness of All Seasons with Mina,' where she shares her insights and methods to help others.
Menopause is a natural life phase that brings a whirlwind of physical and emotional changes in a woman's life, often paired with stress. Yet, it's a topic not often addressed with the gravity it deserves. In our conversation, Mina guides us through the challenges faced by women during menopause and how lifestyle changes can mitigate symptoms and manage stress. She sheds light on the importance of male allies during this time, and how their understanding and support can contribute to a healthier society.
But the journey of wellness doesn't end there. We delve into the power of forgiveness, especially during challenging times, and how self-care practices like good sleep, nutrition, and physical activities can dramatically enhance our well-being. Lastly, we discuss the interconnection between physical, mental, and spiritual health, and financial well-being, reinforcing the belief that a holistic approach to wellness is the key to a healthy and happy life. So, tune in, as we redefine the wellness narrative one topic at a time. IG @mina_q2021 Podcast: here Podcast episode on Menopause: here FB: here
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Mentally Strong Podcast. I'm Colm Sutherland. On today's episode, my guest is Mina Konder. She's known as an expert of well-being. She spent over 20 years working in the corporate world helping her colleagues to lose weight and have a healthy lifestyle. She decided to follow her passion and help more people stay fit, increase their energy and be healthy. She is the host of wellness of all seasons with Mina. I hope you enjoy the episode. Hi Mina, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:
Hi, colm, thank you for inviting me.
Speaker 1:
It's my pleasure and I'm happy to have you on. I think what you do will work well with my listeners. Women have a three to four times more likelihood of having multiple sclerosis, so I think living a healthy lifestyle and having tips on how to deal with health issues specific to women will be very helpful, and I'm excited to hear what you have to share. Maybe you can take a minute and tell people who you are and where I'm talking to you from.
Speaker 2:
Great, let's do it.
Speaker 1:
All right. So how did you get into the health and well-being field?
Speaker 2:
It's a long story but it comes from my own experience. It's now 20 years. Before that I started to be passionate about well-being because when I shifted from being a student to working a full-time job in a corporate world, the first four years were tough because the change of the environment, stress level, etc. I found myself developing emotional, eating, gaining weight, struggling with seasons from winter to summer to autumn, and it was a cycle for me. I experienced a UU effect because I was gaining weight on winter and trying to do everything to lose it for summertime and it was horrible until I could not continue anymore this life.
Speaker 2:
I remember I wanted for a vacation and 10 days later, when I wanted to come back, I was obliged to buy another jean because I could not wear my own clothes and it was shocking for me. When I came back, I looked to myself in the mirror, naked, without clothes, and I did not like my body. I did not like what I have seen, what I saw, because it was not my body before, when I was a student, and I could not wear my own clothes anymore, and I compared the new jeans with my own clothes and I noticed a huge difference. And when I noticed the difference. I said to myself. I looked in my eyes and I said no more this. And I decided to wear the same jeans and I gave myself one month to lose the weight I gained and to come back to my own clothes. So it was tough because I was working at the same time and for women wearing the same jean every day, it's not possible. But I decided to do it. I was changing only the top and wearing the same jeans until because I decided not to buy other clothes in the new size and I started to look for everything to lose my weight. I learned a lot about nutrition, fitness, stress management, my new organization and started to work hard on myself physically, mentally, everything.
Speaker 2:
Less than 30 days later, I started to have the new jeans, start to be a little bit large for me, so I was very happy about it and this motivated me to continue and I continued to lose to follow my approach, which was paying attention to what I eat, about my sleep, about my stress, about my fitness. And after one month, I free myself from the new genes. So I started to put on my own clothes and when it happened, I started to have feedback from my colleague, because when I started working in this company, I was slim and when I gained weight, you know, people don't tell you, they just notice from the change, but nobody talk about it but one I lost weight. I started to have feedback from my colleague asking me wow, you lost weight, what did you do? Et cetera. So since then I decided to keep my body shape all the time and never come back again to the weight I gained. And it was.
Speaker 2:
I shift from XS size to M size. It's not a lot, but it was huge for me because it was the first time I was wearing M size, medium size. I was always in the smallest size. So since then I became passionate about nutrition, fitness, well-being in general and more than 15 years I was keeping the same body shape. And at work I was always helping my colleagues, giving them tips to lose weight, to sleep well without taking drugs, how to organize themselves, how to prepare their meals, et cetera. And after COVID, because when I was giving advice, my colleague told me all the time you can become coach instead of contention working with us. And after COVID, I knew some tough situation at work and it was time for me to change. So I decided to do it full time since November 2021. August 2022, I decided to create a podcast to help more women spread awareness about well-being, and I can coach women as well to help them lose weight, et cetera.
Speaker 1:
Just to clarify, because you talked about weight, would I be correct in saying it was more about how you were feeling about yourself than anything else?
Speaker 2:
I did get your.
Speaker 1:
That's okay, it's so much. No, it's okay. So Mina is in Paris, france, and French is her first language and we're speaking English, so sometimes I'm probably gonna say something that you might not catch, and my French is not that good. So you talked a lot about weight, but it was to me it sounded like when we originally spoke. It's more about how you were feeling about yourself. You no longer liked who you were and you wanted to change into the person that fit with who you thought you were.
Speaker 2:
For me it was all about being myself, my well-being because I was always having a healthy lifestyle, et cetera. And the change I knew during the first year working a full-time job changed my life and how I was organized and I didn't like it because it does not resemble to how I was functioning. And when I changed, I understood what was happening and I changed everything and I started to have my life as before. So that's why I understood that sometimes in life we can, in some seasons of our life, we can struggle with some issues and we can modify and adjust and live again the same way.
Speaker 1:
Which was a good segue, because the name of your podcast is Wellness All Seasons with Mina.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
So talk to us about what you mean by wellness and all seasons.
Speaker 2:
Yes, because, as I have said, it was from my own experience, because I found myself struggling from season to season and after it was the season of the year when I was now in this problem of weight. It was from winter to summer to autumn. It was a cycle of struggle, but after, when I shift from working to doing what I do, I noticed that it was the seasons of my life as well, because so the seasons the name of my podcast comes from two kinds of seasons the seasons of the year that we know each one and especially regarding well-being of women, it can be form of men as well and also the seasons of women, generally speaking, because as women, we knew seasons in our life a teenager, after, when we start to have our period, after pregnancy, professional career and after we shift to many positive periods. So we have seasons in our lives and that's why I created the podcast to talk about all these seasons, and I invite guests to talk about our challenges as women during these seasons.
Speaker 1:
So one of the challenges you brought up that we had talked about, that you feel strongly about, was women in a corporate workplace with a lot of, I guess, male dominated.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
What tips or what advice, or maybe share your story with how that worked for you.
Speaker 2:
Thank you for asking this question because, as myself knew tough situation at work before shifting, doing this full time, I understood that sometimes workplace can be unhealthy, can cause a lot of problem to our well-being, and I wanted to know how is it going for others. And when I posed my question, I received a lot of answer. Many people wanted to talk about it and I think I did the maybe more than 15 or 20 episodes about this problem, because people wanted to express themselves about the problem and many guests told me that because of the environment at work, they decided to shift to create their online business because they wanted to make everything around their well-being and not the opposite, because in the workplace their well-being is not taken into consideration, especially for women who knew their period of pregnancy, after the period of menopause and our well-being is not as 20s, when we are still starting. So as women, we knew many challenges, for example, pregnancy At work. There is nothing I'm talking about France, because I'm in.
Speaker 2:
Paris. They consider that being pregnant is not an illness and you can meet deadlines as everybody, etc. It's okay, but sometimes we can understand that stress being pregnant and living in stress and deadlines is not always great, especially for a new. The first birth, for example. The first pregnancy. There is emotional well-being, there is a lot of things happening for women and also during menopause. There is nothing done to help women to live this period because they don't know what is going on physically for women. I love when I listen to men talking about menopause, but I think there are some experiences that only women can know during menopause. The one, the most important thing is, for example, hot flashes. Men can talk about menopause but they can't experience hot flashes and it's physically. It's not something that men can talk about.
Speaker 1:
So let's go there. I will bravely go there for a second. Is there anything you could say or describe to me as a man that would help me be better prepared to support a woman who's going through menopause?
Speaker 2:
Yes, I can tell you, I draw my own experience, because it was on December 2021, because I have 22, no, 52 years old, and suddenly I start to have this problem of hot flashes. Because for me it was Wow, it's okay. I was in my 51 and I have never talked about menopause, even if I know that it's normal for women at certain age. But for me, as I was doing my workout, having a healthy lifestyle, I said now, all these problems that I read in magazines are for women who drink or smoke or did not move their body, and I was thinking that I will not have these hot flashes and all these problems and not problems, but some challenges for women. So when I started to have these hot flashes, I started to think, yeah, I can have the same thing. And it was new for me. It was challenging because it was winter. It started to have winter here. And how can I describe this? It's you are normal. Suddenly you feel that it's like fire. You have to put off everything, your clothes and start to make some, having some fresh air and less than 30 seconds it can happen for just a few seconds, and suddenly you are very cold. You feel that you are very cold. So it's you, not you me, women. So transitioning between from very, very hot to cold in a few seconds and imagine, to put off everything and to cover again, and it can be many times a day, and sometimes night as well. Fortunately for me, it was only for three months and now everything is okay as before.
Speaker 2:
And when I discussed because this pushed me to have guests experts in menopause and we talked a lot about it I have an episode about it and as I was in a period of transitioning, emotionally speaking, there was many things going on as well, and this did not help me to leave this period without hot flashes. Because I asked when I started to experience this. I started to ask questions to my mother, my sisters because I have other sisters older than me and I asked their experience, how they felt this period, and I confirmed that it's not all women who knew this problem of hot flashes. There are women who don't experience hot flashes. Each woman is unique, so each woman has her own experience, but there are a lot of women who knew this problem of hot flashes. It's not a problem, it's a physical experience. So when men talk about menopause, I think he can talk about it. But this experience about hot flashes, it's specific to women and only women can leave it and feel it.
Speaker 1:
You said you did an episode on it. What was the biggest learning you had from that episode that you could share?
Speaker 2:
So there are a lot of things to think about. For example, have enough sleep, check hormonal balance or imbalance, have healthy food, manage stress, manage emotions. So it's a holistic approach to there are some food that women can start to eat during this period, for example, flaxseed, avocado, omega 3. There are some supplements to take Vitamin D, vitamin C, magnesium, zinc. There are some supplements that women can take so as to leave this period smoothly without struggling.
Speaker 1:
You've brought up stress and I've heard the word a couple of times and it was a question that's going to have for you anyway. So in your teaching and in your helping people, how do you help or suggest people deal with stress In any season, whether it's just your work stress, the menopausal, stress.
Speaker 2:
Yes, I think it's a matter of organization Because even when I was working, I was noticing that most of my colleagues were stressed and as I was doing on my previous job, I was doing, I was preparing everything for them. For example, it's a constituent group, we it was about preparing proposals to do a project, for example, and they have everything one month before the deadline. So when, when I receive, for example, the proposal one month, I gave them one month before but they didn't work before the deadline they let everything until for three days before the deadline and during these three days they are stressed. So it's normal that they are stressed because they didn't prepare in advance. They let everything at the end and they started to stress themselves. So if we give ourselves time, we know how to organize ourselves, our work, everything. We can't leave stress in our daily life and I think it's a matter of self-awareness about our capacity to deal with the urgency, which sometimes can happen, and with our life daily. If we have everything in place, a system that helps us to to do things, and we are organized, I think we can't be stressed. And also, what is happening now is that most of people missed it.
Speaker 2:
Task are multi, they do many tasks at the same time and they are stressed because they did not notice the accomplishment of the what they want. And it's normal. If you do a lot of things at the same time, you are not focused on wanting to finish, and this add stress to. But if you focus on only wanting until you finish it and you start another thing, you don't feel stressed because you have the result of what you want for the the thing you are doing and you are not stressed about it. You can start another thing. And there is also the problem of putting a lot of things on the list, to the list every day. And imagine you have 10 things to do and you have only one day. For example, at the end of the day, if you didn't do all the time, you feel stressed because you want to do more, but you didn't do all what you want and you feel stressed. So focus only the most important thing to do that you can accomplish and do it without stressing yourself.
Speaker 1:
I actually heard recently it's the gentleman called it the one big thing. Yeah, he writes down the one thing he needs to do today that are, at the end of the day, this is the one thing I need to get done so that, even if the other nine things on the list aren't done, that one big thing gets accomplished so he can feel good about the day yes, I think so there is also.
Speaker 2:
We can be stressed if we don't have boundaries in our lives, with work or with our relationships, because if we say yes to everything, to everyone, we can't, we can be stressed and we can't be happy so what do you recommend people do if they're feeling stressed and they need to put that stress someplace?
Speaker 1:
I'm guessing you're not gonna say, eat a bag of potato chips and drink a bottle of wine.
Speaker 2:
So so I think, first to slow down, to have some routines, to put in place systems and some daily routines for example, you are morning routines, evening routines to slow down and to focus on what is important for you and to do it without stress. And also to put boundaries because, for example, if you have something to do during your day and somebody else asked you to help them doing something else, if you say yes and you did not do your work, at the end of the day you will feel stressed about what you did not accomplish. So, having systems in place, certain habits and putting boundaries in your daily life and organization, also how you manage your time what about emotions?
Speaker 1:
how do you help people manage their emotions?
Speaker 2:
yes, emotions are key. There are a lot of things to do with how to manage your emotions. It's to let go focus on the present moment, do what is what matters for you and there are other techniques to manage your emotions. Move your body, do some exercise go for a walk, swim, listen to music, dance for those who like dancing, sometimes practice in painting. There are a lot of things. Reading a book, journaling all these things help us to manage our stress, manage our emotions. Write down all the things that disturbs us and make us feel upset sometimes, because when we move our body and we write down what is going, it helps us to be aware of the situation and adjust what we need to adjust do you feel spirituality helps in any of that?
Speaker 2:
for me it's a lot and I respect all the I respect who don't believe in spirituality. Each one finds his way and for me, believing that there is a power who can resolve other things that I can, it helped me to understand that I can't control everything. I'm a little human being in an earth, so there are things that I can't control. And the things that I can't control I do everything to do it. But when I found that there are things that are out of my control, I gave it to do higher power and I named this spirituality because, yes, it helped me a lot.
Speaker 1:
You mentioned letting go a few times, other than spirituality. What other methods could you use to let go? Because I find that's a very popular problem, as people hold on and they have a lot of trouble letting go, and I can give examples where people are holding on to stuff that happened 10 years ago and it's just not resolved for them.
Speaker 2:
I can't talk about it because I was going through a tough situation with my work from 2021 until March 2023. It was a period of transitioning and it was a period that was not chosen in the beginning because after COVID, the company was doing everything to push people away not in an elegant way, and it happened to me as well. I had other colleagues that knew the same situation, but I decided to take it in a positive way. But at the same time, it was tough because it needs to go through a process to free myself from the company and holding this problem. It was not easy and during this period, I could not talk about letting go because I was in the situation. So for me, letting go during this period was very difficult to talk about it, and I discussed with a guest and we talked about forgiveness and it was interesting to talk about it and it was not forgiving the other what did for you, but it was forgiving self about what is happening and understanding that it's okay, you can be kind with yourself and move on. And this is what I did, because I started, because in the beginning, I was thinking about why it was happening and I felt guilty about the situation, because I was thinking, yes, I stayed 20 years in the same company, it was my fault that this happened, why I did not change, why, why, why. And I was pushing myself down instead of thinking the opposite. And when I started to think that, it's okay, I stayed 20 years in the same company because I had my own reasons. I have this, this, this, this, and I started to forgive myself about why I was spending time in the same company during 20 years. By doing this, I helped myself to start to let go. So forgiveness is key and it's not forgiving the other, it's forgiving self about what we can hold on. Another thing is moving. My body is going out, going for a walk, doing my workout every day, sometimes just have a good rest, read a book, journaling.
Speaker 2:
I love doing massage, so from time to time, practicing massage and also find someone with whom we can talk, and not only about your problems, what you hold on, but you can talk about other things.
Speaker 2:
Because for me, talking about the problem was not the solution, because I was the one who made me every single night when I talked to someone when I was about the problem. So, having someone in your surrounding friend or a member of your family and talk about the things that you hold on, and not all the time, because when you speak about the problem, it doesn't help to change. So it's better to talk, to share, but not all the time You're to let go, to forgive yourself about what happened and to do other things. Because for me it was tough not to talk, but when I talk I donate more, and it was not a good thing to do. But when I started to work on myself, forgive myself about what was happening, I started to heal, to let go and to move other things to other things. So now for me it's something in the past, even if it's only on March 2023.
Speaker 1:
So a lot of self compassion.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, be kind with yourself, Be kind with yourself, and yes, take care of yourself, take care, self care, and also what I noticed, that during this period I lacked energy. I was someone and I'm someone who is energetic all the time because I have a healthy lifestyle, I'm passionate about well-being, about everything, about my health, etc. And suddenly I start to have some problem with sleep, with energy, all these things, and I think, when there is something in our mind and turn all the time in our head, it's better to write it down, to free yourself, to treat yourself kindly and to pay attention to your health, to your energy, to your sleep, because your health is your wealth, is everything. If you don't have your health, you can't enjoy your life every day.
Speaker 1:
I think that's a great closing line. Everything you've said is very useful, not just for women, but for male listeners too, specifically when it comes to your health. If you don't have it, it's really hard to enjoy life. You've brought up sleep a couple of times and speaking to someone recently, and sleep has such a great effect on how your day goes, specifically if you're having a bad day, and your capacity to handle a bad day is greatly influenced by how you've been sleeping. If you've had no sleep and something goes wrong, it's really hard to recover from it.
Speaker 2:
Exactly. I confirm that because before I can sleep only 5-6 hours and I was energetic all the time. It was not an issue for me to sleep less hours than 7 or 8. I started to know this problem during this period, when I was dealing with the issue with the company and I was sleeping 7-8 hours and when I woke up I have no energy. Why? Because my sleep was not good.
Speaker 2:
I was the wind-nate mayor. I was agitated. Even if it was 7-8 hours, it was not a deep sleep and it impacted my days every day. That's why I did episodes about sleep and I understood that it's not the quantity that matters all the time, it's the quality of your sleep. If you have a deep sleep, even if you sleep only 6 hours, you can be energetic the day after. But if you have an agitated sleep or only a few hours for 5 hours, it's not enough, because we need enough sleep, especially after 40-50 years. I think we need to sleep enough, enough and deep sleep to have energy.
Speaker 2:
It's related. Energy and sleep are related, and also nutrition, because we can talk about nutrition, sleep, energy and emotions. These 4 things are related Because when you nourish your body and your soul and your mind, you can have good emotions, you can have a good sleep and you can have good energy. If you know how to nourish your 4 pillars, you will not meet any issue with all distance. Because if you nourish your body, if you do your work out, but your head works all the time with a lot of stuff, you can't manage your emotions and you can't sleep correctly.
Speaker 1:
I totally agree 100%. I love the message that you're sending and I think it's all stuff people can start doing gradually to improve on their health. I have 2 questions before I let you go. Both of those are surprise questions. I told you there were surprise questions, but I didn't know what they were. What book or podcast would you recommend our listeners listen to besides yours? What's your favorite book or favorite podcast that you feel compelled to tell people to listen to or to read?
Speaker 2:
It's a good question. Myself I listen to Lewis House, to Melo Robins. I listen to different other podcasts regarding business growth as well.
Speaker 1:
What's your favorite?
Speaker 2:
My favorite. It depends on, I can say Melo Robins I love, but sometimes I shift to others. I don't listen to the same thing all the time or every day. I love have this variety of speakers, of guests, of topics, and it helped me to learn a lot from them. I love recently I listen to. I will check the name, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:
Maxwell. Oh okay, John Maxwell.
Speaker 2:
John, yeah, I loved his.
Speaker 1:
Perfect. And now the next question If you had a podcast and it could be on, forget the topic and you could have one guest come on, if it's a one shot deal, one podcast, one guest, who would you have on One?
Speaker 2:
podcast one guest.
Speaker 1:
Yep, it's a one episode podcast and you can have any guest on you want. A lot of are dead. They'll come back for the podcast if they want. Who would you choose?
Speaker 2:
About my podcast. I didn't get you on.
Speaker 1:
No, no, just if you could have a podcast with anyone you want in the world, on any topic, who would you want to sit down with?
Speaker 2:
Grant Cardone.
Speaker 1:
I did not see that coming.
Speaker 2:
It's far from well-being. It's far from well-being. It's far from well-being. So I will tell you one Because, yeah, it can be shocking or surprising for you, but it's far from well-being and that's why I wanted to talk about it, because well-being comes also from our fulfillment in what we are doing. And what I love regarding Grant Cardone is his experience, what he wanted to do, and his success, because his life was not easy. I don't know if you knew his experience.
Speaker 1:
No no.
Speaker 2:
He was tough. Why I want to talk about it? Because he shifted from not respecting his body by consuming drugs etc. And he started to pay attention to his well-being and started to do workout, to eat well, to be spiritual. By doing this he started to find his way to success. So without paying attention to our well-being, we can experience things that push us down. But when we make our self-care first, we can start to have many opportunities, many things happening in our lives. So your health can help you reach a lot of things in your life, not only financially. I'm talking about physical health, mental health, spiritual for those who think about it and overall general well-being and financial well-being as well, because without finance we can't feel great. Because I'm interested in well-being in general financial well-being, emotional well-being, physical and mental well-being and when you think about all these things, everything is related. They are connected because you can have your health your physical, mental health but if you lack money, you can start to have some problems, emotionally speaking and financially speaking.
Speaker 2:
And it can impact your health physically.
Speaker 1:
Good answer and you tied it back very well to the whole conversation for today, so thank you for that. And thank you for being on today. I really appreciate it and I really appreciate your message.
Speaker 2:
Thank you for having me. I hope that I answered to your questions and did not talk about a lot of stuff that was not in your agenda.
Speaker 1:
No, it was great and I think the listeners are going to really enjoy it. So thank you, thank you.