ENCORE: Why you're so tired and what you can do about it

A quick note: This is an encore presentation of one of my most popular episodes. If you've been feeling completely worn out, this one is for you. (Originally released as Episode 23A on October 30, 2022.)

If you’re feeling exhausted, unmotivated, and wiped out, the reason may surprise you... especially if your doctor says everything is OK.

In this walking workout, we'll talk about why all the tension in your day-to-day life—from the news, from social media, from our never-ending to-do lists—is literally forcing your body to live in a state of constant low-level stress.

And that constant stress will wipe you out. No joke.

This episode features background walking music, a bell at the halfway mark, a few intervals, and some energizing countdowns to get your heart rate up.

Slip on your walking shoes and let's talk about some simple ways to reduce that strain and get your energy back. If you want to feel like your old self again, it's time to go walking and talking with Helen.

Grab your free guide to fitting walking into your busy day:

https://walkingandtalking.show

Transcript

I just don't understand why I'm so tired all the time. You know, I'm sleeping enough and I'm eating right. And I just. I just feel so tired out and unmotivated. I wonder what could be wrong?

Hi, it's Helen and we have made it to season three. I've been gone for a little bit. I will explain that after we get going, if you're walking outside with me today, just started a light, moderate pace going to warm yourself up. And if you're doing this indoors, whether you're just marching in place, or if you're doing it on a treadmill, or if you're not even walking, if you're doing housework or sitting in the car driving, just take a deep breath in through your nose, everybody.

And exhale through your mouth.

I don't do that just a couple of more times, get that breathing going.

Relax, those shoulders, relax your hands.

If you're walking indoors or out, you're just going to hold onto that warmup speed. Shake out your hands, shake out your shoulders. Give 'em a roll forward. Give 'em a roll back. Another deep breath in through your nose.

Big big, big, big, big. An exhale all the way, emptying out those lungs.

And just hold onto that pace.

Today, we're going to be talking about the reasons you may just be tired and worn out that you haven't thought about. And I have some tips for you and ways for you to get around that. Hold on your pace.

I didn't realize I had been gone so long from podcasting. There's a lot going on and we're going to talk about lack of motivation and just feeling overall tired, which is my middle name lately. Hello, my name is overall tired. What is your name?

And so I haven't had the time or the desire or the motivation to record more podcast episodes because it does take some work up to set everything up and take everything down and. Uh, cats, you know, everywhere. You know how that goes. Plus my room, the air conditioning doesn't work the central air, so I get hot and

No excuses. I am back and we've got some great episodes coming up. Next episode, we're going to talk to one of my friends who is a hypnotherapist, and she's going to give you some great tips on hypnotherapy and actually explain a bit more. What hypnotherapy really is pick up just a little bit of pace.

Nothing too hard. We're just going to warm it up. Cut. Pick up a little bit of pace. Nothing too hard. We're just going to warm it up right now. Another deep breath in through your nose.

And exhale through your mouth. I think I should do another. Walking meditation episode. I'm going to add that to my list. So you're still warming it up. We're going to go for about another minute or so. Shake up that tension from your shoulders. Shake up that tension from your hands.

And then make sure that your feet are kind of relaxed every time they hit the ground. If you're walking with us indoors and you're just marching in place. When we work harder, when we go faster, you can bring your hands over your head. You can bring your knees up. You can step bigger side to side, like the all step touch from aerobics.

You know, just keep your body moving. And if you're cleaning, when I say go faster, you can clean really fast. And then your housework will get done. And half the time

okay, so now we're going to pick up a little bit of pace. Still warming it up, but just a little faster. Going to go for about three minutes. Another deep breath in.

Just settle into the walk, relax, enjoy the way your body feels when it's

I've been talking to people and listening to what people are saying and online in person. And everybody seems to have the same thing going on. They can't focus, they can't get motivated to do anything. They feel really tired unusually tired. Even if their labs come back perfect. Like mine. They're like, what is wrong? Why am I just not feeling like I used to.

And let's face it. We've had an onslaught of negativity for the past. I don't know, six, seven And I am not going to take sides. We're not going to go into anything at all like This applies to every single person, especially every single person in this country.

This applies to all of us. And this has affected all of us in ways that we don't even imagine. Hold onto your pace.

If you think about When specially when you're on social media, You see posts from people who are your friends, who you like, right. And who are your family? And you like them. And they start sharing posts that to you are completely insane that are completely negative. They don't make any sense. They're mean, and just, not at all, like the person that, you know, And in the back of your mind, I mean, even though your momentarily might get angry and you'll scroll away, don't you think that wears away at you, that chips away at your sanity? Because this is someone that's been important to you in your life, and you start to feel that anger and resentment, even if it's like deep down there,

Hold onto that pay I've got about a minute left.

It destroys you from the inside and you don't even know. And that constant barrage really makes you tired. That constant negativity really makes you tired. And that's something that I don't think a lot of people have been addressing.

Deep breath in through your nose. Now we're not going to be negative here. We're going to be positive. Especially once I get to the part where we're going to come up with some solutions. Shake out your hands. Eh, just go a little bit faster. We're going to keep the music as it is. If you're listening to the version with music.

Shake out those hands again, roll out those shoulders. So for a moment. In your mind, kind of go to that thought, go to the feeling. Think about what it is that you experience when you go on Facebook, what it is you experience when you go on Twitter, maybe this is why people have flocked to Instagram, because there was less of that. It's pictures

So we're going to be holding this pace and we're going to be building from there. We're going to go for another three minutes, but. We're going to build on about halfway through. Take another deep breath in. Did you miss me when I was not nagging you? Or were you just happy that Helen is not telling you to go faster and to breathe?

Shake everything out. And I want you to really connect with your body.

Feel the smooth movement and just how good it feels to be alive. We're lucky we're alive. We're lucky that we're out here doing that.

So I'm going to tell you a story. I actually a couple of stories, but you know, I have friends and family who were quote unquote on the opposite side of where I'm at and I don't Don't care at all. But I started to see all these negative posts and I started to see things that were really mean-spirited. And again, on both sides, I'm a Democrat, maybe more centrist, but. I don't ever talk about the other side in a negative way, because I don't care. I don't care if you are a Republican. I don't care if you're a Democrat. I just want you to be a nice person. When I started seeing these posts.

Where someone in my family talked about Democrats and said they were "libtards"

I thought to myself. Well, you know, I'm a Democrat, right. And you like me. Right. And I help you all the time. Right. Why would you post something in public that directly reflects on me. Hold onto your pace now.

And that kind of thing. I'm sure you've experienced, no matter which side you're on. That kind of thing. Really takes a toll on you and it hurts you inside because you start to look at these people in a different way. You start to actually not like them anymore. You start to disrespect them. You start to wonder what in the world is wrong with this person?

And that chips away at your psyche and that chips At anything that you knew from before, like you thought this person was like this. And that person is like that. And it really does mess with your mind. Okay, go just a little bit faster.

Another deep breath in through your nose.

And exhale through your mouth.

So that constant negativity of your family, constant negativity of your friends saying things that are out there and then you start to take sides. So you start to feel like, oh, all they're saying is this. And all of those people are saying is that I'm going to find quote, unquote, my tribe. And then we're going to talk about this and why they're wrong.

And again, what that's doing is it's separating us. First of all, again. But it's also getting you stuck in a whole nother thing in negativity, when you get together with people in, let's just say camp A. And you're going to talk about what's wrong with people in camp B. And if you're in cam B, you're going to talk about what's wrong with people in camp a and then you're still going to be surrounded with negativity. You're not going to be talking about unicorns and kittens. You're going to be anger, anger.

No, that's not right. You're going to be angry. About the quote unquote, other side. Hold on to it now just a little bit faster. And then we're going to step it back in a few seconds.

Five more seconds.

And then just slow it down a little bit. We're just going to mosey on down. I'm not too slow. We're not going to mosey anywhere. I actually, honestly I say most, mostly all the time, but I really don't even know what mosey means. So there we go.

Let's hold onto this pace. Not too fast, not too slow. Then we're going to pick it up. We're going to go two minutes faster.

If you're outside, always be aware of your surroundings, always be aware of traffic, always be aware of cars., try to walk on the opposite side of the road that you normally do. If you can go to a park or like a hiking trail, that would be best because then you can really free your mind and you can really enjoy the walk.

But you You got to do what you gotta do. Okay, we're going to go a little bit faster for two minutes. You want a border on the little bit uncomfortable. So back to me, just kidding. I started to really resent my family members and my friends. And for awhile, I was, rolling with it and I was just, skimming past their posts. Then I would see something that was so terrible. And it just blew my mind. I would really start to actually not like someone that I've liked for years and years and years. And this has happened with friends as well. And it was that whole thing of having this anger, holding this anger inside your body, that you just, you don't really know what's there is that, that tension, that constant tension.

It wears every part of your being out. Hold on your pace. It's a little bit uncomfortable.

Because it's not just, oh one time, you know, you see that and it goes out the window. You see Over and over and over again. So you see these posts from your family and friends on Facebook. And I don't know about you, but I joined Facebook because I wanted to keep in touch with people. I don't see that often. I want to see about their kids, their grandkids. I wanted to see their pets. I want to see what they were doing.

And then everything changed. Whenever I went on Facebook, it was negative, negative, negative us versus them. There were no puppy videos. There were no kitty videos. It was just this sea of negativity.

And then it would turn on the news and it would be negative, negative, negative. Okay, we've got about 15 more seconds while under your pace there. And then you go on Twitter and it's negative, negative, negative.

And everywhere. You go. You're surrounded by negativity. And how do you think that affects you?

Okay, slow it down just a little bit.

This is not like some kind of scientific or unscientific thing. It's just common sense where. When you're under a constant low-level stress. You're going to feel it. You're going to feel it in your body, whether you recognize it or not. And that constant stress. Isn't good for you. That constant stress.

Plays games with your mind. It plays games with your body. Your body knows that your mind is under stress. Even if you push it or you sweep it under the table. Your body is still under stress. And you are wearing yourself out. Okay, we're going to go a little bit faster again, another two minutes. Deep breath in.

And go.

So maybe when you get back, just kind of. Think about even make a list or, you know, my favorites, sticky notes make a list of the places where you're exposed to negativity throughout the day. You'll be surprised. And I'm going to give you some suggestions about how you can make it less negative.

The amount of negativity that you're exposed to on daily basis. Is pretty horrendous. And then the shows that we watch on TV, I was watching. iZombie for a while., and I read serial killer books. So I'm reading serial killer books. I am getting all this negative. Stuff on Facebook. The little TV that I watch is negative.

And I go on Twitter and it's like, oh, the world is collapsing. And how am I supposed to feel? Where is my happy energy going to come from? Hold on to that pace now. And think about that with you too. It's, what do they call the information? Diet information diet. You're feeding yourself and through no fault of your own, is overwhelming. And it's. Not doing you any favors. Hold on to that pace now, deep breath in now we're going to not talk about the negative stuff. So I want you to kind of clear your mind and breathe. Roll those shoulders, still going a little bit faster.

We're going to roll them backwards. Gonna roll them forwards.

Shake out your hands a little bit.

And then we'll extra feed. A lot of times we scrunch your toes up and then we hold tension in our feet. And have you ever gotten a massage and you didn't know that? Oh my gosh, that part of me was so tense. Well, that's where apparently you hold tension. I hold tension in my body. My. But cheeks. Yeah, I don't know. Don't ask.

And then slow it down just a little bit now.

. We're going to hit some intervals in a moment.

Not yet. Another deep breath in. So we're going to come up with some coping ideas. You already, you know, know a lot of his coping ideas, but when you, think about what's going on in the world, you need to kind of back everything down and you need to figure out what you should be doing and what you shouldn't be doing and what is best for you. This is not about what's best for your significant other.

This is not about what's best for your family and friends. This is what's best for you. And this is what you have to do for you. You have to do this so you can build a life that you want to live in a world that you want to live in, and you can only do so much. Go faster now for about one minute. I want you to really pick up that pace.

Maybe a little bit more uncomfortable. If you're doing this at home, bring your arms over your head.

Bring your knees up. You can slap your knees too. Like we used to do an aerobics, right? Bring the knee up and slap it. Bad knee, bad knee, bad knee. I used to say that to my class. I think I've always been a little weird and a little off. But my goal is just make people,, have a good time and laugh, even if there were. Sweating at the time and in spin too. Deep breath in.

And exhale feel that push. If you're cleaning scrub really hard right there, you scrub it, scrub your heart out.

If you're a serial killer ring, killer ring, killing you serial kill even faster.

.

And now we're just going to slow it down.

If you are on Facebook, you can actually unfollow people rather than unfriend them. Because if you unfriend friend of family member. And then you go have Thanksgiving dinner with them. They're going to know, and that's going to be a very unpleasant Thanksgiving dinner or a birthday or a wedding or bar mitzvah or whatever you're doing.

Unfollow is the magic unfollow. You can really clean up your feed and you can put people who. Post positive things or who posts things that you want to see? You can put them under close friends., and you'll see those posts first you can spot check on them if you want to see how they're doing on their wall, but.

Almost going to guarantee you, if you have already unfollowed them. There's not going to be any point because they're just going to post the same nonsense over and over again. And nothing really is going to benefit your life. None of that negativity is going to make your life better. Make your day better.

Okay, one more time. We're going to go faster for one minute.

And go, I want you to push it this time. And as you're walking, think about like you're pushing that negativity away. So you're taking a deep breath in, you're filling yourself with positivity. And you're exhaling and pushing that negativity away. Uh, if you

One more time, deep breath in kind of imagine you're filling yourself with positivity and light.

And they're going to exhale, exhale, all that negativity out. Hold on your pace. I'm not into the, you know, all the light and this and that, but it does really help you visualize when you kind of see light and positivity coming into you. And then you kind of see the negativity going away that really helps you visualize it and helps you breathe it out and puts you in a better space.

You're kind of faking your mind out. So whether it's more holistic or whether it's just practical. Envisioning it. It really helps you hold on to a push it now, push it.

Two. One. And relax intervals are good. What we're doing now, we're going a little bit faster, a little bit slower, cause intervals will get your heart rate up and then we'll slow it back down against your body. Has to actually work harder to bring everything back to what we call, homeostasis.

So everything kind of brings it back. And they're going to push it up again. And then bring it back again, and then we're just going to go for a longer period. Take another deep breath in shake out your hands.

So, if you're on Facebook, your goal is to create better feeds. That's probably easier to remember. So create better feeds. That's your goal. When you get home is to create better feeds, go ahead and follow those people. It's kind of like you're, purging things you don't need anymore.

So you're an unfollow them. You're gonna, you're gonna purge their points of view because it is not doing you any good. It's miring you in this negative space. So we're going to go ahead and create your better feed. On Instagram, you can follow more positive accounts and you can go back to unfollowing people who just don't post anything of value to you. If you're like in business, for example, you need to learn certain things, but you know, there's certain things that you don't need or you've changed your mind.

You're not interested in, handicrafts anymore, and you want to learn more about something else. Follow people. Who bring something good to your life. Get some funny memes. People who just bring you some positivity. And then unfollow people who don't contribute anything anymore. Even on Instagram, you may not see a lot of negativity, but you're filling yourself with useless noise. You're filling your brain, that space in your head.

With stuff you don't need anymore. Okay. One more time. We're going to go faster one minute.

I follow a really cute account. There is a woman who is a foster. She fosters cats. In San Diego and she has these two rescue dogs and these rescue dogs foster, these kittens who come in, it's so cute because of these giant dogs and they just adore the kittens. They lick the kittens, they cuddle with the kittens.

Because these kittens don't have parents. And so as you know, cats are kind of not welcoming to other cats, so these dogs are perfect. And every time I see the video, it fills me with joy. Hold on to that pace. Now I want you to give a little bit of a push. Think about what fills you with joy when you see it and push it faster now go towards that thing that fills you with joy, run away from that stuff behind you that

Does not fill you with joy. It fills you with something more like shit. It doesn't fill you with joy. Hold on to it. Now. Push Five. Four. Three. To one. And slow it down a little bit.

Twitter is a little more of a challenge. Although we just had a change in Twitter ownership. I don't even know where. That's going But before we talk about that, I want you to pick up your pace for two minutes, not a full sprint

I use Twitter to learn things. I like how everything's like posted concisely in tweets. I don't have to read really long articles. But again, if you see too many accounts,. Let's just say it's something that, that matches with your political view, but it's a constant onslaught. And then what they're doing

They're bashing the other party all the time. In your mind, in your soul, in your head. You may like uncle Tom. But you know that he says some things you don't really care for. But then when you see people bashing and bashing and bashing, then you start to get a little defensive of uncle Tom, or aunt Jane or cousin, Fritz.

You feel protective of them hold onto that pace. But yet you're angry about what they post and now you have got a big, massive confusion going on in there. It's like that song, Ball of Confusion.. That was from the eighties. I don't remember who it was, was it love and rockets.

That's going to be our theme or ball of confusion. Okay. We've got about 45 seconds. Push a little faster

You could see, all of these things cause you stress in different ways, whether it's conscious or subconscious. So you're going to try to cut these things out. Push these things down.

Another deep breath in.

And exhale.

When you are anywhere with family members, you go to any kind of event. Somebody brings something up, don't engage. Even if it's something that you believe in. If they're going to bash something a lot, again, that's going to bring you into a negative space. Wait, five more seconds. Gotta push it. Five.

Four. Three, two, one. Slow it down a that's going to bring you into a more negative space and you're there for something positive, right? You're there for wedding or you're there for Christmas and Santa is coming or whatever you're doing. And then somebody brings something up and without you really being aware of it, it's going to put a damper on the whole joy that you have for being there.

So, no matter what they want to talk about, put the brakes and that lead the room. Take someone aside and say, you know, I really don't want to talk about this right now. I want to to see what's going on. And just lay those ground rules for people, other people I think will appreciate it. Once you start changing the topic, once you start bringing that positivity.

Uh, other people will start to do the same. At Walmart time, we're going to go two minutes faster. And I want you to really push this one.

Push it strong. Push it hard.

People don't know how to change and you are going to set the tone. If everybody you'll probably notice this. So if you keep the sink clean, there's no dishes in the sink. Most of the time. Your family members will put dishes in the sink. I mean the dishwasher, what am I saying in the sink? That's the whole point of not doing it.

Hold on your pace. But if you start leaving dishes out, They're going to leave the dishes out. If you leave your laundry on the sofa, they're going to start leaving the launch on the sofa. It's the same thing. If you start saying negative things all the time, if you start talking about something that's kind of negative or kind of bashing other people are going to join in and jump in because it's like a communal thing.

Oh, they're doing it. So I guess it's okay. So change the topic, change the subject. Bringing something more fun, bringing something more light. We've got just over a minute. I want you to push it again.

Stop. Posting negative stuff. I'm going to tell you I'm cutting it out. But I actually said start posting negative Woo free for all. That is not what I meant. So I cut that out. You're going to stop posting negative stuff yourself, and you may want to, but don't do it.

Do you know why. Exactly the same thing back to the dish situation. You start posting it, you open the flood gates and then someone starts to post the opposite. And then you just get into a big fight with people and oftentimes it's people you don't even know PB don't care about. And what does that do to you?

Those thoughts live rent free in your head. You get tired, you get worn out. Hold on your pace. Now actually now let's not, let's push it faster. We got 10 more seconds. I want you to really push this now. Push it.

Push it.

Almost there. Push it.

And slow it back down. Not a lot. We're still going to be working a little bit deep breath in.

Oh, an exhale. Any tension?

Post positive things. You're going to post things that make people smile. You're going to post things that make people laugh. You're going to post things that inspire people. You're going to set the new example.

You know what I was always thinking. If we. People humans. I thought this years ago, if we stopped talking about negative things in the whole world, if everybody just. I mean, I understand there's wars and things going on that we can't control, but if we, for the most part. Started spreading more positive messages.

All of us, the world would be a whole different place. The world would be as so much more positive, energetic, happy, motivating place. So I know we're not going to do that. I know but you can do your part and you can do your share. And you can just take one minute. Wait, hold on. Your paces are speaking about one minute. You're going to be just a moderate, not too fast, not too

You're going to take one minute to think before you post something. You're going to take one minute to think before you like something that is negative. And you're going to just spread the positivity. And don't let anyone rain on your mental improvement parade. Okay, we're going to go a little bit faster for two minutes, and then we're going to start cooling it down.

Feel free to tell people too, that. If what they're saying is hurting you, what they're saying is bothering you and don't get into arguments with them. Just say, you know, this is not what I came here for. I like you. I don't want to talk about this. This is going to upset me. This is going to make me think less of you. I don't care what you think about me.

I'm happy in my beliefs. And say, I want to talk about what are you doing with Hold onto your speed now. What are you doing? What are your cats doing? What are your dogs doing? Are you traveling?, what are you cooking? Do you have crafts? Are you painting? I want to know what you're doing. That's exciting and new. I don't want to hear you harp on the whole same old, same old, same old, especially when most of the time they haven't even verified anything that they're harping on.

They're just spreading nonsense over and over and over again. Tell him I just, I just can't, I can't do this. You can even say. My counselor told me not to engage or blame it on someone else. My doctor told me my blood pressure is Hold on that pace Almost there. I got less than a minute. Push it now. Push it faster.

And push the negativity away and think of ways, you know, while you're walking out, think of ways that you can cut people off at the pass. And it is hard. It's a habit change for you because you're going to want to jump in. I want to jump in. I hear something dumb and I just want to tell them why they're wrong.

But I realized I'm not going to change them. Nobody cares. My opinion. All it's going to do is cause more negative feelings for me and the other person's off, you know, doing their happy, like, oh, I won the argument, whatever. No, it's just, it's not benefiting you in any way. 20 seconds. Push it.

From now on you have to do things that benefit you. You have to do things that make your life better. You have to do things. That make It worth getting out of bed for right. You can draw the line. Push it.

And then relax You can draw the line, you can set the boundaries, you can decide what information goes in and out of your head. You can decide to raise your kids with positivity instead of negativity. They're always listening. You know, when you're saying things about uncle Fred, they're hearing it.

And then what you're doing is setting them up for failure, with their relationship with uncle Fred. So every where that comes out of your mouth, you've got to think about it and everything your post. Do you want to think about it?, I'm not trying to be bossy. Like this is what you have to do.

No. I mean, I'm recommending, I'm recommending that Slow it down a little bit

I'm recommending. That you take the small steps towards making your life and your bubble.

A little bit of a more positive and better place to be. Deep breath in through your nose.

Exhale through your mouth.

You know what don't turn on the news. Find something else to listen to. There's tons of workshops you can put on earphones and listen to binaural beats. You can listen to ocean sounds, try to fill your life with things that are positive. And yes, we do have to do somethings, you know, to change. The politics we have to be aware of wars, but we can control how much of that we take in.

In life, we can really only control for most of us. What's in our immediate surroundings. Slow it down a little bit more. So you can control. What goes on in your mind, you can control what goes on in your life. If you have to isolate yourself from people for a while, those people.

Isolate yourself from them and find someone fun to hang out, to go to a comedy club, watch a happy show. And I did. Um, download a new book from Kindle unlimited. It's a really like old fashioned kind of story. And it's light and silly and you know, it may be, I need a break from all the serial killer books. Maybe that's also bringing me down and making me tired.

And I would love for you to let me know if you try You can go on my Facebook page,

I went to look at it because I don't It's new it's walking and talking show is the Facebook page. And the Instagram created a new one, separate it from my other account is yourwalkingpodcast. Tell me maybe what worked for you, if you have any other tips, because I want to know what it is. That you're going through and what it is that work for you slow it down a little more

I want you to you take a deep breath in through your nose.

Exhale through your mouth.

If you're outside walking, when you get back to your house. Do a little bit of stretching, stretch your calves, stretch front of the thighs, stretch the back of your thighs. And don't forget to roll your shoulders throughout the day and take a few deep breaths.

And let's keep on walking..