So that's the first step to healing your mental health is going back to being certain about your plan and your goals and working backwards from your goals. What the thing is, you be, you're now at every moment during your day. That's source that God that's presence. That's spirit. Okay, so if you don't know how to connect, I think it's kind of like bullshit advice for people like just breathe and meditate. Like there's a there's a whole strategy to that and traumatize people actually have a hard time learning how to meditate that takes time. So, one thing to do is to just do the five senses check in if you can't meditate is for some people who experienced a lot of trauma and didn't actually get a lot of oxygen to the brain growing up, when they breathe oxygen to the brain can be traumatizing, because it's new to the brain. Right?
Welcome to thrive by design, the podcast for ambitious independent jewelry brands, looking to profit from their products, get ready to make more and sell more doing what you love, without spending every single waking minute doing it. Hey, and if you're a creative fashion or product based business, I want to welcome you to the show. I'll be dropping big tips on launching, growing and scaling your business. So you can spend more of your precious time using your creativity to make money. You ready? Alright, let's do this. Welcome to the thrive by design Podcast, episode 330. Hey there, it's Tracy Matthews, chief visionary officer of flourish and thrive Academy, the host of the thrive by design podcast, the author of the desired brand effect in the head mentor to our premier coaching program momentum.
I don't know why I wanted to say all those things. Anyway, continuation of Mental Health Week is happening today. I'm calling it mental health week because I know for a lot of artists and creatives and people who have small businesses are who are working really hard around this time to try and fulfill orders and do all the things. You're probably heading up on shipping deadlines right now. And it is hectic and frantic. And so today I'm having a really interesting conversation with Michelle I Gomez, who is an expert at helping creatives, especially emotional sensitive creatives who struggle with mental health, to reframe their mental health into mental wealth. And so we had a really interesting conversation, I will introduce Michelle soon. And before I do, I just wanted to talk a little bit about my book, the desire brand effect, which came out in November. I want to thank everyone who's picked it up. It is getting amazing, amazing reviews. And I'm just so grateful for you. Thank you so much for buying it and reading it and telling me what you think like I love hearing from you. So if you've read the book, and you want to share what your big takeaway please find me over on Instagram at Tracy Matthews and why and or you can find me over at flourish underscore thrive. I would love, love, love, love to be able to hear what you think. And I'd love to hear your stories and shares and if you haven't purchased it yet, it is available now on Amazon. It's called the desire brand effect stand out in a saturated market with a timeless jewelry brand. And it's going awesome. So I just want to thank you we hit all of our goals in November and this is a great holiday gift. So if you need a last minute gift for the jewelry designer, friend in your life or family member, please pick it up. Also, we are about to wrap up enrollment for our January cohort of our momentum program. And what a better way to kick off the new year with some planning invigoration, some outside eyes on your business. This is an opportunity for you to work with me and my team of coaches to help you up level and elevate your business to reach your multiple six figures or even seven figure goals as a jewelry maker and creative artist who is thriving and healthy and wealthy in the new year. So this program is a one year program. I really like to call it a three year program with a one year commitment because our most successful brands join the program for two to three years or even longer. We've had people in there for longer. And they're doing amazing things just like Twyla who came to us to help us grow her online sales and she had an immediate uptick in our online sales and grew those by about 72% In her first year and it's now three years later and the girls crushing it. When she came to us she had a six figure business that was a one woman show she was exhausted because she was doing a lot of in person events and wanted to leverage the power of the internet a little bit more ANNA journey she started hiring some people in that first year that she was working with us had to scale back a little bit during the pandemic. But now this year, she's having her best year ever. She's almost doubled her sales. From her first year, she has a multiple six figure company now, she is crushing it and has three employees. And they are she's having so much fun because she's enjoying the process of leading them. And you know, I can't personally take credit for her success. But what I can say is that she's used a lot of our systems and frameworks in her business to help optimize what she's doing. And a lot of creatives when they hire a team to help support them, they hate it because they feel like they can't hold the person accountable. They try to be nice, they don't know how to give feedback and actually train people properly. And we teach you how to do that. So while this program, you know, started out as a program for online sales, it's really about building a business that supports the founder and the owner and the creative in charge. And my desire is so that you can step into your role as chief visionary officer of your business, and so that you can do the parts of your business that you love the most. So if you're interested, and really scaling your success next year, and you want to have, you know, reach some really big goals pick up maybe an extra 10 to $20,000 in revenue in month, and you already have an established business. Please check it out, head on over to flourish, thrive academy.com, forward slash momentum, you can fill out your application right there, you can read a bunch of the case studies on that page. We'd love to support you. We're starting our next cohort in January. So let's do this. Alright, so I'm gonna do a quick introduction of Michelle, she is awesome. You're gonna love her energy. She's so much fun. She was so much fun to talk to.
She's a life and business coach who helps ambitious multi passionate creators get paid multiple, six figures without sacrificing their mental health. Through her holistic and trauma sensitive approach to coaching her clients gain better emotional intelligence to heal in order to create the life love and six figure businesses that they love. So let's dive in to this episode with Michelle I Gomez. All right, so I'm really excited to have another guest who specializes in mental health for creatives on the show today. Welcome Michelle Gomez.
Hello, Tracy Matthews, thank you for having me. I'm so honored
that we can just call each other by our first and last names the entire thing.
No, so amazing. Tracy Matthews.
That's so funny. Anyway, you know, Assad, who's a mentoring artists and designers and makers, in particular in the jewelry and handmade industry for a very long time. We both probably know. And I've experienced that sometimes with creativity, not always that there is a roller coaster of emotions, and sometimes mental health issues that come along with being in a space where you're innately creative. And I want to kind of dive into this in a sensitive way today so that we can kind of talk and give some actual support to people who might be struggling with confidence or anywhere from like confidence as a creative all the way to, like more severe. I don't know I hate to put it this way. But diagnosable conditions and how we can actually deal with that and use it to to fuel our creativity instead of drain it. Does that sound good?
That sounds amazing. I'm all for, you know, putting a positive spotlight on this and seeing our mental health struggles as fuel to power, our creativity, as you say.
It's going to be awesome. Okay. So Michelle was introduced to me, because we were looking for some people, we had some people actually request this in our community, like how do you deal? And so I'm really excited to have you before we kind of dive into stuff because we started diving into this in the in the pre show part. But I just want to just tell all like, tell us about a little bit about your journey. How'd you get involved in supporting creatives with mental health and all the things?
Oh my gosh, so I'm supporting them in their mental health was always there, but I didn't know that. That was called mental health. So Tracy, do you mind if we do a coaching drill right now?
Yeah, sorry, answer that question.
So I want to look up the definition of mental health. Like do not remember it off the top of my head. Let's start with that. And then I'll tell you my journey. Okay, that sounds so I'm reading it from Oh, you just cut off there. Okay. Got you back. Alright, so I'm going to read this from Wikipedia, which is sourced from the World Health Organization, okay, this is the legit resource. Right. So here it goes. Mental Health, defined by the World Health Organization is, quote, a fate of wellbeing, in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities and cope with the normal stresses of life and work productive productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.
Yeah.
So are we on the same page now about mental health? Yes, awesome. I just love to define words because a lot of times we use language and we don't understand what we're really seeing. So I want to make sure that you and I are on the same page and that all of your listeners on the same page with us, so we can go through this journey. So I said that I was coaching on mental health for a long time and I didn't realize it until I looked up this definition right. So um, I started coaching my my career is a coach started with solely coaching like women identifying artists, like when I see artists, a traditional kind of artists that you think of, right someone like at the studio painting, drawing, making jewelry. And I was basically helping them with their state of well being so that they can realize their own abilities can cope with the normal stresses of life can work productively and fruitfully and able to make a contribution to their communities to their business. Now, I didn't know I was doing this, I was just naturally natural at it. Have you ever found yourself just being in a zone of genius without knowing that that was your zone of genius?
Oh, all the time? Yeah, all the time. And, you know, we we approach it over here a little bit differently, because we call it more about mindset work, but it's all the same thing. It's like how do you overcome what it is that is holding you back to be more productive, or to share your gifts or to do all the things without letting those stories or whatever it is that's holding you back? Like run your life? Right? And so for me, like, I feel like my zone of genius is like helping people get back into their creativity when they're when they're feeling stuck or lost their mojo.
Hell yeah, that's that's your zone of genius. Because believe it or not, you probably hit rock bottom and lost your creativity. I had to find it
100% And more than once
hmm. And you know, it's not that we don't ever get out of that cycle it's that we go through the ups and downs and we learn how to better regulate with the ups and downs and better regulate our relationship to money and creativity. Right because we are not money we are not creativity we are soul we are source we are spirit. And we just need to reconnect right? By regulating our emotions by remembering who the SAR Do you mind if I Chris on this podcast, go for it. To remember who the fuck we are. So I was helping people to remember who the fuck they were. Before they started losing money before they were told before the age of seven that they would never make it right before. They were conceived in the in the womb. And, you know, somehow, an embryo stage felt like they weren't worthy. Right? So I would do like regressions I would do like really deep stuff with my clients. Um, how did I get into this? Well, I started my first arts event planning company called Creative unions event design in 2017. After I hit rock bottom had less than $10 in my bank account, moved from Baltimore, Maryland, where I went to school and lived in work for eight years, back home to Miami, Florida, to my mother's house, who was not the best situation right? For my mental health living with with a narcissistic, emotionally abusive parent. So I had less than $10 in my bank account was drunk in high fantasy, like, at the same time, like drunk and by on the beach, like, if you're listening to this podcast, by yourself in the bathroom or whatever, I want you to raise your hand if you've been there. Even if you're alone, right? Like, raise your hand if you've been there, right, like rock bottom, not knowing what the fuck to do. Yes, oh my god, it's so many times. And I had six figures in debt from art school. And I had no job and less than $10. So I was at the beach. And I asked God, I asked, yeah, my Yeah, I asked the spirit guides, I asked the spirits of the ocean to help me and I said, What can I get? What can I do to get paid to do what I love? And I've had 12 plus years of experience all kinds of experiences in the art world and are still unhappy, even with two degrees from the best art school in the country. Right. So this voice came to me probably the weed and alcohol speaking. So why not see weddings as art exhibitions? Then I started to Google business plans that Same day, I got home, sobered up, started getting free business planning templates, free coaching from business coaches that were not artists, coaches online, attending webinars just getting as much free information as I could. And I'm like, wow, this is so much more valuable than art school education. And this is free. So I built my first business sold my first $10,000 art exhibition that I curated for a wedding. And lo and behold, artists are like, how did you do that? What's an LLC? How do you get paid? What's the business plan? And then I just said, and then this voice came to me one day, as I was running the event planning company, said, Coach, you need to coach Coach B need to coach artists that are not just artists. Okay? And I was like, Who is that? Like? What does that mean? Like, if you're an artist, it's not just an artist. Basically, I was coaching multi passionate creators, I like to call them creators, but I didn't figure out that they were creators until this year, three years into my coaching business. So I actually identify more as a creator. Why? Because that's, to me, in my opinion, that's more powerful. Because I'm not just limited to Canvas, paper, jewelry, things that I make with my hands, I create my business, I create my relationships, I create my job, I create the money in my bank account, I create everything, everything. And that's just like, more powerful for me. So for the past three years, I've been coaching creators to build to get paid to do what they love without sacrificing their mental health in the process. They built multi six figure businesses on their way to seven figures.
And I became one of like, the fastest growing coaches in the country at some point, like making like $30,000 Cash a month, you know, and then one day Tracy like, I hit rock bottom again, like you'd think like, wow, she's like, making $30,000 she like, you know, like Drake Started From The Bottom. Now she's here, right? No, I lost it. I lost my mind. And then I sought out a psychiatrist, and I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, too. Hmm. Okay. Yeah. So let's talk about mental health.
Let's do it, you got some experience, and I can, I can feel you on a lot of those things. You know, I have a mother, she passed away a long time ago. But we think that she was probably bipolar, as in a marriage with someone who's bipolar, and I understand mental illness on a on this on a personal level, through my experiences and stuff like that. And obviously, I also work with creatives and creators, I love that definition. And, you know, I love the definition of you calling it a people at creators because we can co create whatever it is that we want, if we can just if we just believe and take the actions to get there, right. And so anything is by design, and I feel you on that, you know, it's like the cycle of when we in my belief is this. When we get distracted from our flow, or misaligned with our creative gifts, or out of touch with our co creative abilities, that's when we start hitting rock bottom, it's like we get sidetracked somehow, maybe but because we're too focused on the tangible things like the money instead of the impact, or we're too focused on doing what we don't want to do, instead of leaning into what we want to do, right. And so we get sidetracked. And it becomes a thing. So let's do this. So my first question for you is, besides like, tell us your background is like why do you think that there's a correlation? Why is it like this stereotype of the correlation between creatives, creators, artists and all that stuff in mental illness? or mental health?
Yes. So I just want to preface with the fact that I am not a licensed therapist. I'm not a trained professional in mental health. I just happen to have a lot of people who trust me with their money, their souls in their hearts, to coach them without this kind of license. Training on their mental health, because I'm, I am a life and business coach. I'm not a therapist, so I can answer that question based off my case studies and my research, so I've coached hundreds of artists, and well, now I have to stick with the word that I use now creators. Um, the correlation I find between creators, creatives and mental illness is that simply put, they were not supported in their zone of genius, and in their ability to create or being artists at a young age and is what I consider a complex childhood trauma. Complex childhood trauma, and trauma and general acute trauma complex trauma is the root of all mental illnesses. Okay, so when we're not taught how to regulate our emotions, we are put under prescription drugs to do the work for us. Mind you, a lot of us are on prescriptions for things that we don't have. We're given prescriptions for epilepsy, schizophrenia you know, depression and anxiety. And this might be very controversial Tracy, but I don't believe that we are those things. What I really believe is happening at the core root is this a dysregulation, dysregulated nervous system is occurring, there is not a balance between left and right sides of the brain. This is why they say that right? That artists are like, more right brained or creative, right? Is it right brained? Right? Yeah, yes. Because there's a dysregulation, we need to use both sides of the brain to function, we need to be balanced, we need to have masculine feminine energy, we need to have yin yang, right. And when we're dysregulated in any of those arenas, we are unleveled we're unbalanced. And we do things to the extreme, right, we might go into the studio and work nonstop for 12 hours without sleeping. Because our brain is functioning at the extreme in an imbalanced situation. That's a mental illness, not prioritizing our, you know, our sleep, or eating, you know, so when we're not taught how to take care of ourselves at a young age, we are repeating our parents, mental health disorders, patterns, emotional, you know, regular, you know, our emotional, their emotional patterns, right? And we didn't, we didn't know better, we didn't know better. We're just kids in an unsafe world, like imagine, you know, like we're born writing, because it's scary as Skok, right? To just like, get out of the woman, like, have all these lights on you and you don't know what to do and you're like, at the mercy of your parents to take care of you. So if that was not a safe environment, of course, you're gonna have mental illness.
Yeah. No, it's interesting, too. Because, you know, people who grew up with alcoholic parents are in codependent situations, or, you know, with parents with mental disorder, obviously, there's a degree because there's like high functioning people who have HIV use the word disorder, but like, they're dealing with their own mental health issues. Narcissism or, you know, just the fact that I think in certain generations, like, my parents were so young, when they had me that they just weren't, like, mentally equipped to have so many kids before the age of 30. I mean, they had six kids before they were 30. And they had meet my sister when they were 19. And me when they were 23. And it's like, that's young. Like, I remember what I was like, in that age. And even though I was really responsible, because I grew up in a situation that I did, that kind of forced me to take on a more parental role at a very young age and be very responsible when I should have just been out playing. And it also kind of led to maybe, I'm gonna say, like, internal like, like a drive or something that probably might not even be there if I was about to say dysfunction, but I don't necessarily think it's dysfunction, but a drive that might not necessarily be there. If I didn't feel like I had to do all these things to cope as a child. Right? You're so
right, you're so right, Tracy, and a lot of my clients, they're the highest performers actually become coaches, like you and me, because they're so driven by like, a trauma response that like, help them hit their success, that they want to help others so desperately to get out of that situation or just like, please don't do it the way I did, let's do it better. Right, and, you know, overperforming high achieving, you know, capabilities can come from what is called the flight trauma response. So disassociating like literally being in the clouds having your your mind racing at 100 miles per hour is all a way to cope with not wanting to deal with the memories that come up when you slow down. Oh, my slow down you remember like, Oh my God, my parents were bipolar. Holy shit, like, no wonder I feel You know, I get what's called muscle armoring. Like, you, when you get triggered in your muscles go up. When I hear someone screaming, I'm like, oh my god, I'm like, you know, so um, yeah, I really do think we every human has hundreds of 1000s of trauma responses firing up in their bodies every day. And better mental health is about regulating those trauma responses and remembering who the fuck you are remembering your truth. Remember, you're remembering your spirit, that you're not your business, you're not the amount of money you have in the bank account, you're not your drive, you're not your results. You're not, you're not whether or not you're not your wins your losses.
Also, you're not your art. Exactly. It's just something that you made
this thing I just made, it could burn in a fire and I wouldn't care. Yeah, whatever
it's not. I think that's a really important distinction. Because my boyfriend, Jason does mindset work for our community. And he's he, you know, we've been doing work together as a couple and individually to heal our own traumas so that we can show up better in our relationship and in our career and stuff like that. And one of the distinctions, you know, that he's cuz he's every month, he's on a call, he's like, coaching people through these, you know, through their things that seems so real. And he's like, you know, you have to remember, like, this is just something you made, this is not you. And so if someone you know, and I think, especially for beginners, I think once you get more experienced in your art, and you start making money, and you you understand that like, Okay, some people are just gonna say no, like, it's not really like a reflection on who you are your talent. But when you find the right people, and they say yes, like, you just need to kind of lean into more people like that. But I know from the beginning, like that fear of rejection or fear of not being worthy is like a real thing for people when they're first trying to sell things, and it's not going how they want it. And so I think the even just the belief of that, even if it's not really a truth, can sometimes prevent people from moving forward. Right.
And that's a freeze trauma response when they cannot move forward. Because moving forward and actually getting paid for your art, your body might see that as the threat even though your brain knows it's good for you, right? It might see it as a threat, because you're afraid of mismanaging your money. Losing the money. Because you're so attached, your ego is so touched that money. Yep. So, um, we see money as trauma, like as a threat. And we're trying to protect ourselves from what's threatening. Basically, what is threatening is what is considered to be unknown. So our brain treats money and other things as if it's the tiger in their room. So we came from ancestors that were in tribes trying to protect themselves from tigers and bears. So lie, right? We're not in tribes anymore. There are no tigers, and bears, oh, mine. But our brains are still functioning in that way as if there's a tiger in the room. So I told one of my clients the other day in my mental health course. And challenge, you know, I told her next thing, you see the tiger in the room, turn it into the tiger from the cereal box. And pretend like he said, You're a girl. Yeah, Tony, the tiger. You're great.
That reminds it. My grandfather used to do that all the time. He's like, how are you doing, grandpa? He's like, great. And he was like, on the table like that. Want to break my desk. But so funny. That's great. Yeah, that's amazing. So I don't want to go too far into this. But just for people who are unaware, I, this, this interview is actually going to be backing up another interview that we're talking about trauma and psychedelics. So I, I want to just clarify like, What do you mean by trauma? And like, what does that mean? Because it could be a wide range of things. Right?
So trauma is an injury. Simply put, it's an injury. And when it's so bad, that it causes emotional distress, that's where the trauma response kicks in, that trauma actually like is embedded into our bodies in our brains. So, for example, someone might say that they're a war veteran, and they went to war. And that was traumatic. Right? They come back with PTSD. No one else can say that they were in school. And their parents or their mom or dad didn't pick them up on time and they were left alone for hours. That could be trauma as well.
That's happened to a lot of people I know, by the way.
Yeah, right. And God bless those parents. Kids who are doing the best they could with the tools and knowledge at the time, right? Um, so trauma is being thrown out there a lot nowadays. And research is showing that, you know, someone who went to war versus someone who wasn't picked up on time from school can really have the same kind of effects on the brain. Yeah, as crazy as that sounds.
I mean, there obviously are like levels like, you don't want we don't we don't necessarily want to group like, you know, my mom screaming at me, like, because I didn't do the dishes or something as the same kind of trauma like that, that can be really jarring and created create a trauma response, as someone who was like sexually abused. I mean, there's degrees, I think, for sure. But sometimes the body like you're talking about fight or flight when you're talking about the tiger might not know the difference.
That's That's what I mean, right? Yeah, you're right, there's different degrees of trauma, and they all need to be appropriately looked at. But the body, like, Okay, so the body of someone being rates, and the body of someone being yelled at for not doing the dishes, they can actually be having the same kind of chemical reactions when that trauma happened. So for example, if you were yelled at for not doing the dishes, and you do muscle armoring, and you freeze, and you're like, and then you have a lot of racing thoughts, you're gonna die. You know, I'm going to die. Oh, my God, I'm gonna die. I mean, it could literally feel like you're gonna die. Right? Especially the parent was that abusive? The same as being raped, like, and I know this from experience, because I've been in both situations, and I can look back and see like, oh, wow, like my body was actually producing the same kind of responses and chemical reactions in both situations. Even though one is like much more deadlier than the other makes sense?
Yeah, totally. And so I think that distinction is important, because I don't want you know, people who are like, had severe abuse or sexual trauma to be like, that's not the same, like it's just your it's about the reaction from your body and the this what your cells remember, because it like this, this is all going down to this like very granular, cellular level that like filters into your psyche and your emotional response. And so remember, this isn't really interesting story. And, you know, when I was a teenager, I was taking French I only took it for one semester, and then move to Spanish, which is another sidebar. But we used to traumatize our teacher and drop like books really quickly on the ground, because he would jump up like crazy, because he had shell shock from being in the Vietnam War. And we thought it was funny, but like, how horrible is that, like, this guy has been? We I didn't do it. But like, you know, the boys did it in class. And I'm saying we because like, we all laughed, and I felt now I feel bad, like understanding like, oh, my gosh, that's a real thing. But I think and I think the point being here is that probably every single person listening to this podcast has experienced some sort of trauma in their life. It's just the degree of the trauma and how you you've healed the trauma that matters. And so that kind of leads me into the next segue, like, what are some of the tools or steps or questions we can ask ourselves to kind of move beyond this to get into a place that's more where we can use our traumatic experiences more as fuel or? or integrate them or, or get to a place where we can like, be a little bit more productive?
Wonderful question. Oh, let me think for a second. Um, so let's start with safety. Mm hmm. When we have trauma responses, fight, flight, freeze or fun, which I talk about and teach in my mental wealth network program. When those things kick in, our bodies don't feel safe. So the first thing we need to do is know what what safety is and where it comes from. Safety comes from certainty. I just learned this this week since hiring Moe Hassan, who is a very well known business coach and world's best corporate trainer who coached Justice Ginsburg, and the CEO of Horizon and things like that. So if you need a new coach, you're on my level. So we graduate right with coaches, right? Like, there's levels to this game, right? So I've been working with him and he's helping me develop the mental wealth network, which I shared with you in the past, which is a program that's going to teach creators how to have more mental health and how to prioritize their mental health. So the first thing we're going to teach in that program is, how to feel safe, and how to feel safe is to be completely certain right? You can be in an really unsafe situation. And remember certainty in the moment your brain will like literally do it to figure out like how you're going to get out of that unsafe situation. Let's say you're being robbed, right? Like, you go into fight flight. Right? One of the trauma responses to get out, right, you need to freeze you need to think and then you need to look around the room and you need to escape. Right? So um, safety's first. And safety comes from certainty, knowing where the where the door is to exit and knowing where the robbers penises he can just like, hit him in the nuts surname before he, you know what I mean? So certainty is safety. If you're not certain You're not safe, I repeat, if you're not certain, you are not safe. So if you don't have a business plan, you're not safe. No wonder creatives are stressing out because they don't have a freaking business plan.
Yeah, that's such a good comment or topics to talk about. Because one of the core foundational aspects that we do in our momentum program with our designers is like every quarter, we're doing strategic planning. We call it a success vision plan. But it's about envisioning what you want to create, really dialing in the details of what needs to happen, and then using that as a clear path forward instead of just being like, Oh, what do I show up and do today?
Exactly. So you're actually helping them heal traumas, without even like consciously saying it to them, right? This is why we're such great life and business coaches. Because business planning takes life coaching. So my approach to coaching is 80%, life coaching 20% Business Strategy and Consultation, because everyone can look up on Google what a business plan is. Yep. My forks fit simple questions for my clients business plan is what are you selling? Are you selling it to Why are you selling it? And are you selling it to your ideal client? That's it. When you know those things, you don't have to wake up feeling unsafe and putting out fires in your business? Yeah, like, I'm safe. Because not because I'm going to get $144,000. But because I have a plan for the next 60 days on how to secure $144,000. And I'm very certain that I'm going to get it. No ifs, ands, or buts. Mm hmm. And if I don't quite hit it, it's okay. Because I created the game. And I'm not my wins or losses. I win because I created the game. Okay. So that's the first step to healing your mental health is going back to being certain about your plan and your goals and working backwards from your goals. What the thing is to be, you're now at every moment during your day. That's, that's God, that's presence. That's spirit. Okay, so if you don't know how to connect, I think it's kind of like bullshit advice when people like just breathe and meditate. Like, there's a there's a whole strategy to that. And traumatize people actually have a hard time learning how to meditate that takes time. So one thing to do is to just do the five senses, check in if you can't meditate, because for some people who experienced a lot of trauma and didn't actually get a lot of oxygen to the brain growing up, when they breathe oxygen to the brain can be traumatizing because it's new to the brain.
Interesting. Okay.
So instead of, you know, like, I don't think as coaches, it's right of us to just say like, just breathe. Like that's kind of like, like, like, bypassing, like spirit. Like just just to submit to God, just breathe. No, you got to give your claims tools. So one way that they can gain safety to them brief is to do the five senses, check in that. Ask yourself, what do you see?
What do you smell? What do you chase? What do you touch? What do you hear? That's gonna help your heart rate go down. That's when you're going to be present.
Though it's an interesting way to reconnect. I've done this exercise a lot in writing retreats, like my friend, Laura Bell Gray, I went a couple times to her writing retreat in Italy. And we would do that exercise like every single time and we would start the day with it like 20 minutes like, what do you see yesterday? What do you hear? What do you feel? What do you touch? Like what was the experience like the whole thing? And then it's fine because it gives you tools even beyond like just being present. It gives you tools like for copy and writing and all these other things do
Oh my god. That's a great coach. can you refer me to her because I'm
not a coach, she, she's a writer, and she sells courses. She used to do copywriting for people. And now she just teaches people how to write. But she's amazing on my podcast. Her name is Laura Bell gray. She's a badass. So check her out. Yeah,
yeah. So now, once you do that, let's say you're going through the steps right now, right? I want to I want to coach you site. Because the only way that I know what to do next is to do it with someone so that I can guide them because there's no, like, set of rules for for every one is you have to really do it with yourself. So, Tracy, I want you to remember that safety comes from certainty. So are you certain right now?
I'm I am in this moment. Yes.
Good, because you're here now. Now I want you to do the five senses check in.
I don't smell anything maybe like the mustiness in the room? What do I see? I'm looking at you and the beautiful blue sky outside the window here. What do I hear? The air conditioning running in the background? What do I taste my smoothie from earlier? Mix with my toothpaste. And when I touch I'm feeling my jeans that I'm wearing.
Great. Great. So now that you are know that you're certain and that you're present. And you did the five senses check in? How do you feel right now?
I feel excited. Yeah, clear.
You're excited? Is that what you need to continue moving forward through this podcast interview?
Yeah. Let me clarity is always good, right, you know, instinct present for interviews.
So you're winning right now? I'm accomplishing your goal,
and totally winning. Yeah.
So you're good. I don't think I need to give you any more tools for now. We already just like your mental health right now, by just being aware of these things. That's it. There's more than I mean, there's like hundreds of tools in my toolbox. But it really depends on the client's goals. So those two tips are really great. Beginners strategy to just get you here now.
Awesome. Awesome. Amazing. So where can everyone find you?
You can find me on IG at Michelle I Gomez. And you can visit www dot mental wealth dot network, which is my newest program that I'm launching in the next 60 days.
That's so exciting. Yeah, it's a
membership for creators who want to prioritize their mental health in order to have the life love and business that they deserve.
That's awesome. I love it. Well, thank you so much for being on the show today. I know this is like a, it's a super interesting conversation for me, and also an important one. So thank you.
Thank you. And you know, I appreciate you having me on here. I just want to say that this is abundance right here, like two coaches in the same industry with like, the similar kind of client archetype and target, just like sharing our businesses together and not being competitive. Like this is so awesome. So I want to thank you. And I would love to continue our conversations and keep collaborating. So let me know if you ever need me to come into your programs, and I'd love to invite you into my programs at mental wealth.
Awesome. Well, thank you so much. I definitely will follow up on that. Yes.
Awesome. All right. See ya.
Thank you so much for listening to the podcast today. This is Tracy Matthews, signing off. Once again, if you want to join us to really elevate your brand and business building multiple six or seven figure empire. Get yourself out of the weeds in your business and have more joy as you're approaching and more fun as you're building your company. Then please consider applying for our momentum program, head on over to flourish thrive academy.com forward slash momentum. This is great for ambitious makers who are ready to take their business to the next level. And if you haven't done so yet, please pick up the desire brand effect. I think you'll like it. And if you know someone else who might be interested, please buy it pick it up for them. It will be a great holiday gift, or even a New Year's gift to help them get their business in shape for the next year. This is Tracy Matthews, signing off till next time, happy holidays.
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. It's my mission to help 1000s of creative businesses inside and outside the jewelry space. use their creativity to make money. Make sure that you're subscribed to thrive by design on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and wherever podcasts are played. And we'd love to hear what you think. Please rate and review the show and if you're inspired, please share this with your friends. Cheers to seeing you flourish and thrive.
