Claudia Skowron: Stay In Your Situation
“Very few people when they hit that bucket list item, go back and say, you know what? I wish I didn’t do this. Very, very few, if ever. Right. You don’t do that. You say, God, I wish I would’ve done it sooner.” — CLAUDIA SKOWRON
Claudia is someone who prefers to go by many hats. By day she works an adolescent/young adult mental health therapist in private practice. Outside of her professional career, she enjoys sports/exercise, dinners with friends, and above all, TRAVEL. 2019 was the year of battling several major health conditions while still trying to live life to the fullest.
Claudia has been a featured TEDx speaker, presented at the IABH Conference, and most recently received her certification in Clinical Neurofeedback. She takes her academic knowledge, paired with her personal experiences in overcoming health concerns to impact those around her.
Connect with Claudia
Email: cmskowron@gmail.com
Instagram: @meet.claudia
Show Notes
[00:04:27] The Start of Claudia's 2019
[00:04:55] Recovering from a Concussion
“I struggled with horrible post-concussive syndrome, which literally messed up my life for a while. I mean, it was very bad. I was extremely dizzy. And still, I'm struggling with some of that stuff now. It's been, I mean, almost a year, but, yeah, just super dizzy, like confused.
I couldn't find words. I remember talking to one of my friends on the phone, and I was eating a salad, using a fork, and I don't know why. I was looking for the word fork to explain that to her. But, I'm looking for the word fork, and I'm like, you know, that thing that you eat a salad with? And she goes, what are you talking about Claudia?
I'm like, you know that thing, that thing that you tensile that you eat a salad with? She goes, you need a fork. And I'm like, Oh my God. But that like hit me, cause I'm like, Oh my God, I like what is going on? I can't find words. So that was really scary. I feel like super duper lethargic, and I mean that on its own level when you think of lethargy, you think of being tired and just, you know, fatigued.
But this is like you felt like you got hit by a bus, and every muscle in your body weighed 500 pounds. You couldn't get up. And it's the simplest things that, you know, took so much effort and energy, having conversations with people or like getting up and going to the bathroom. So that's how 2019 started.”
[00:07:20] Hashimoto's Diagnosis
“Hashimoto's has been a big struggle, and that's an autoimmune thyroid disease. And so again, it makes you just like a super, super lethargic, really fatigued, and that's been a real struggle. For me, normally and naturally, I'm super active. I'm traveling a lot. I'm in the gym five days a week. I mean, I have a ton of energy.
So all this stuff happened, and I did not feel like me. And I mean, as you can imagine, that makes you feel incredibly depressed, really lonely, super isolative. You're trying to explain this to people. And the hardest part is. People expect you to get better, right? And after a couple of months, if you're not getting better, you really kind of notice people that are truly there for you.
And I don't mean that in some sappy way, but you really kind of figure out who is there for you and if he's not there for you. So I guess, you know, the silver lining again of 2019 is, you know, I know my social circle, and you know, those people that are there for me, but, Yeah. So I think the theme here with 2019 is how do you continue to live your life, the life that you had before with all these new struggles that are like significantly getting in the way like significantly out of your normal frame of functioning.”
[00:10:00] Managing Hashimoto's Symptoms - Food is Medicine
[00:10:58] Getting Stuck in a Loop
[00:13:02] What has worked best for Claudia so far?
“I think nutrition is, you know, a big piece of what I'm going through right now. Going gluten-free has helped. I know I can still do a little bit better. I know I'm a lot of people talk about a plant-based diet.”
“I still go to the gym, but I've had to alter my exercises before, you know, I would go to the gym and I would. You know, kind of push it probably a little bit harder than I need to and do like, you know, like I'm going to do six miles in this time frame and like really pushed my body.
No, I can't do that anymore. So now it's, you know, maybe tone it down a little bit, maybe run three miles, you know, and try to go for a nine, 10-minute mile, which before I would have been like, no, you can do better than that. But again, it's working with your body.”
[00:15:55] Mindfulness and Sitting with Your Thoughts
“I think a lot of people don't know exactly what mindfulness is. And again, it's the idea of just giving your space to be right here right now at this exact moment.
Don't try and change anything. Don't try and alter your thoughts in any way. Just be here at this exact moment. And I think, I mean, it takes a lot of practice. You know, I'm still trying to figure it out, and I learned, you know, this stuff, what, ten plus years ago in graduate school, and I in no way a pro, I'm still struggling with it, but yeah, you have to give space for that.”
[00:17:39] Situational Awareness of the Body
[00:19:54] Separate Acceptance from Change
“You really kind of have to separate acceptance from change. And a lot of people have it crisscrossed where we try to accept the things that we actually can change.
And then we tried to change the things that, you know, we have to accept. Right? So it's uncrossing crossing your wires. So for me, it's, you know, what do I have to accept right now? Well, you have to accept that you have this diagnosis. You have to accept that you know, your antibodies are elevated. And right now, at this moment, you have to accept that you're feeling ridiculously lethargic, and you know, you can't snap your fingers and get out of it.
What can you change? Okay, well, you know what? I can change my mindset. I can change my support system around me. I can change my nutrition. And that's how you create those small changes. And again, I think a lot of us have it crisscrossed. And that leads to so much frustration, but that's a hard thing to do because who wants to accept that?
Well, this is how I feel now. And I don't know, is that ever going to go away? Is that not? And I think what really helps me is acceptance does not equal approval. I accept what I'm going through because I have to, that's my reality, but in no way do I approve of what's happening to me. Right, and that helps.“
[00:21:06] What Can You Control?
[00:23:17] Being Transparent
I Don't Want To Talk About It by Terrence Real
[00:26:29] Stay In Your Situation
[00:29:07] Being an Active Consumer
How to Configure Your iPhone to Work for You, Not Against You by Coach Tony | Medium
[00:30:51] Light Exposure
Currently used Wake Up Light
HumanCharger (Light Headphones)
Bonus Bluelight Blocking glasses - Gunnar and Felix Grey
[00:35:36] Fish Oil and D3
Currently used Fish Oil and D3: UnoCardio 1000 | WHC
Recommended Podcast: #83 – Bill Harris, Ph.D.: Omega-3 fatty acids
[00:36:44] Self Experiments - Fasting, Sleep Tracking, and Habits
Recommended App: Zero Fasting
Read More: Wearable: Meet Whoop and Oura Ring
[00:40:14] Wearables and Stress Measurement
Everything You Need to Know About Heart Rate Variability (HRV) | Whoop
[00:42:34] Neurofeedback
What is Neurofeedback? | Psychology Today
What is Neurofeedback? | EEG Info
Neurofeedback: A Comprehensive Review on System Design, Methodology and Clinical Applications
[00:45:52] A Different View on Positivity
“You know, all these positive messages, you know, positive quotes. You know, this is the travel story that I'm doing this, which is. Great stuff. The problem with it is there is such a thing as too much, and so, you know, it makes people feel like they can never have that. Right. It's this unrealistic, very idealistic level of positivity and happiness.
Then, the take-home message here is that there is such a thing as too much, and I think we have to be very mindful of, have I crossed over into too much positivity, which is now actually inversely going to cause low mood, depression, anxiety, that kind of a thing. So I think the goal is, you know, we want to feed into positivity for sure, but we want to leave room for unpleasant emotions too.
You know, that's part of the human experience. We have anxiety. We have frustration, and we have sadness. We can't pretend like that stuff doesn't exist. We can't dismiss it. We can't turn our heads to it because it's there. And for people that do that, they'll rebound, and then I'll get you twice as bad later.”
[00:49:34] Motivation is the Easy Part
[00:51:19] Travel - Costa Rica and Iceland
[00:53:06] World Citizens
Recommended Book: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
[00:57:08] Travel Logistics
[00:59:35] Currency of Time
“Very few people when they hit that bucket list item, go back and say, you know what? I wish I didn't do this. Very, very few, if ever. Right. You don't do that. You say, God, I wish I would've done it sooner.”
[01:01:27] Being Open to Experience
[01:04:08] Gifting Books and Experiences
More reading here: Worth Reading: Most Impactful Books of 2019
[01:06:16] What are You Excited about for 2020
“I think, you know, even in even further, so opening up my frame of lens to and taking on whatever opportunities life gives me. You know what I think, too, if I can give back, and if someone can listen to this podcast or if someone is influenced by my Hashimoto's struggles in a positive way.
I mean, that, that's the ultimate cherry on top is this is my story and I shared it and, you know, hopefully, someone got something positive out of it or was motivated or inspired and at the end of the day, even if it's just one person. That's enough.”
