Part 2:A Roundtable Discussion On A Year of Triumphs, Trials, and Lessons in Advocacy and Podcasting

Speaker 1:
0:03

Welcome to Indobattery, where I share about my endometriosis and adenomyosis story and continue learning along the way. This podcast is not a substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis, but a place to equip you with information and a sense of community, ensuring you never have to face this journey alone. Join me as I navigate the ups and downs and share stories of strength, resilience and health while navigating the world of endometriosis and adenomyosis, from personal experience to expert insights. I'm your host, elana, and this is Indobattery charging our lives when endometriosis drains us. Welcome to Indobattery's one-year celebration. Thanks for ringing in your two of this podcast with me. Like every great birthday, my guests and I celebrate with two episodes. Join us as we continue our roundtable discussion on the Year of Trials Trials and Lessons in Advocacy and Podcasting. This is where we left off and where we're going. I think you're being protective of everyone, which is we need that so protective.

Speaker 2:
1:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I know we all are. I mean this is advocates and people who just know the gravity of the level of harm that can be done just in a comment that a provider says that it's understandable why we're overprotective of our community.

Speaker 1:
1:24

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's something that I'm learning more about how to really become not just an advocate for endometriosis but be an advocate for the words that are spoken into the endometriosis community and how they can, even with the best of intentions, can be just as harmful. And I am learning a lot about that. And I think the thing that having knowing people who you trust recommend people, that's huge and I think for me I have. Again, I didn't really know anyone or anything. I started this night absolutely knew one surgeon that did endometriosis surgery and that was my surgeon. That was the only person I knew. I didn't know any other doctors. I didn't know any. I knew my pelvic floor PT and that was the other clinician that I had met that knew endometriosis or even knew the word endometriosis and what it entailed. So for me it was very much so. Whom was recommended to me through other people that I trusted, and I think that it's taken a little bit of weight off my shoulders to not have to find people that I felt like I trusted as much. But it's because when you have that core group of people that you know have the best interest for the community, saying you need to talk to this person. You're like, okay, I understand that a little bit more, but getting to know them and what they do speak into and what they have their expertise in makes a huge difference. Because you hop on a podcast and you're like so what do you want to talk about today? It's not going to fly. You can't just pop on anytime and let's shoot the buries because it doesn't work that way. It's not usually going to go very well in the conversation. And so I've learned a ton from all of you.

Speaker 1:
3:12

Kim, I remember the one time you came on. You're like you can ask for a refund when they didn't give service to where it was. Like they didn't, they did what for you. They get a refund. And I was like I never even thought about that.

Speaker 1:
3:24

And that has been so informative and talking to all these different advocates and all these different people is that I have learned and grown in my own health journey in in vitriosis, and so one of the things that I've learned the most is how strong the community is and how much we need more community. But also within that community, I have grown to have better expectations for my practitioners. I've learned that it is not just endometriosis causing needs pain factors. I've learned hormones are my worst enemy right now. There's other enemies at play here. It's not just the endometriosis, although that is what drove a lot of that hormone imbalance for me. So, amy, what is something that you from doing, all the podcasts that you've done and all the people that you've had on, what are some ways that have impacted you the most in your journey? What are some things that you've learned?

Speaker 4:
4:19

Well, you know, kind of like what you were saying is.

Speaker 4:
4:21

I think that something I've really learned is, well, first of all, that we're all individuals, right Like first of all that, what works for one person is not going to work for another person, and I know we hear that a lot and we see that a lot on social media.

Speaker 4:
4:35

But I think when you're having a platform, having a podcast, it's like really being cognizant of the fact that what has helped me may not help another person. In fact, it might harm another person. So I think you know, always trying to educate from a viewpoint of I'm not trying to make any decisions for you, I'm not trying to tell you what to do. All I'm trying to do is give you information, and it's never going to be all the information right, because I don't have all the information in the world, no matter how knowledgeable you know one could become, after 115 episodes of my podcast, it is still not all the information that we need to live with this illness. So I think you know, whenever I'm advocating educating, always coming at it from this information is to guide you. But whatever you decide is the best decision for you and I support that and also realizing that for myself right.

Speaker 4:
5:37

Like, sometimes we're going to make decisions that other people don't, maybe you don't think are the best decisions for us, right? But we all have to make our decision of our treatment, our lifestyle, our life, based on where we are right now and the knowledge that we have. So I think that's something that's just in general, with advocacy. And then I think something I've just been learning, you know, is we're doing different series, like we have a series coming up in 2024 on interstitial cystitis. We have a series coming up on pain, which was. They were so much work I just want to put out there.

Speaker 1:
6:11

Yes.

Speaker 4:
6:13

But and I want to have more like hormone experts on to talk about hormone replacement therapy that's something that's become very important to me now that I'm in perimenopause and I've had lost my ovary and just having a lot of like symptoms from low hormone output. So I think something that I'm learning and I it's like again it's like you know it, but I'm really learning it is that it really is the full body disease. Right, like it is absolutely a full body disease and there's so many different reasons, so many different pain generators, there's so many different symptom generators and like even I'm five years post-ecision and I'm still frigging out reasons for why I have certain symptoms right, Whether that's low hormone output or SIBO, or a tight pelvic floor, or like a up-regulation of my central nervous system, or there's just every year it's like I can get deeper and deeper into other pain generators.

Speaker 4:
7:13

Right and so I think it's just constantly having that present is. It's not just for most of us, it's not just endometriosis and that's really hard. That's really hard because it's like if it was just endometriosis, maybe it would make life a little simpler, right? Right, because it wouldn't be like, okay, how do I deal with endo, but also now, how do I deal with like all the endo fallout, right, like all the endo dominoes? So that's something I'm really committed to exploring in my podcast and I think it's something that I just keep learning more and more about the different co-conditions that people have had in conjunction or that people have in conjunction with their endometriosis, and how complicated it can be to really improve your quality of life. It's hard.

Speaker 1:
7:58

It is hard.

Speaker 1:
7:59

It's really it's hard, it's so hard it can be consuming. Honestly, it can be very consuming to try to figure that out and I think for everyone it's different for everyone in the path to get to wellness is different for everyone, I think. For me, I didn't know half of these terms when I started and that's why I'm like I'm glad I'm learning these, because I you can't speak into something you don't know and that's. I think that that is, I'm putting pieces together. As I go with my journey and my health and the things that I'm learning. I'm like, oh well, that makes more sense to me now. Oh, I can research this now and and then I can speak into the space a little bit better and our passion drives that right.

Speaker 1:
8:49

The things that interest us more and our passions, the things that we didn't know previously, that now we're like, oh, that light bulb just flipped, I'm going to research this more and then you speak into it resonates different with different people at that point. And so, but, kathleen, you've just started your podcast. Are there things that you've taken away that have either helped in your journey or just that you maybe didn't even know because you've been doing this a long time in the advocacy sense, but not necessarily in the podcast sense and so you're so kind of fresh. Is there anything that so far that you've like gleaned from what you've been doing?

Speaker 3:
9:26

I think it's sort of echoing everything that Amy had said there is so important and I think for me I drew on the experience from dealing with individual queries that come in through to the charities and on the helpline that I would have volunteered on for years. And certainly in the case in Ireland where it can be very practical concerns, it may be not just that you're unable to access particular treatment or particular clinician or particular type of busy or whatever it is. It can be something as practical as are there any supports available, like for college students?

Speaker 3:
10:03

or are there any financial supports available or write up as to where it's? Like you know, a lot of people in Ireland wouldn't know about pelvic physio. We don't have annual gynecology exams either. There's a lot of things that are different in this country in our healthcare system and I think all those queries over the years have sort of built up to what I would like to get across. But also as well to keep an in mind that advocates have taken a bash in over the last number of years and we're always being seen as hammering home excision. We do this and we're recommending surgeons and all that.

Speaker 3:
10:38

None of that's true. We know that as advocates we're pumping the information out there for people to make a decision, and I have people come to me looking for me to make a decision for them. I can't do that. None of us can do that.

Speaker 3:
10:50

All we can do is give people the tools and the information to put the pieces of the jigsaw together.

Speaker 3:
10:55

We can certainly guide them as much as we can, and I think the resources and guidance thing is important, because I think when you give people access to accurate information and give them the signposting towards further people to speak to or for their clinicians to look at or for their services to dive into.

Speaker 3:
11:16

They can make those decisions themselves when they're empowered to do so, because, as Kim had mentioned earlier on as well, that we're often disempowered when we sit in front of a clinician. A lot of us have suffered trauma and that's been disbelieved for so many years that again giving somebody that piece of accurate information and giving them the signpost to go on and learn more, it's so empowering again, and I think that's one of the things that I hope to get through in the podcast not just a case of practical tips and tricks on how to survive in this country with endometriosis, no endometriosis but also to allow them the tools that I was given back in the day, where I could then go and learn and develop further and then start advocating not just for myself but for everybody around me as well. I'm hoping that I can get that across.

Speaker 1:
12:13

I think you will. Just in the last 10 minutes or was it 30 seconds of speaking, I'm like, oh yeah, kathleen's right, you're so wise and you're so well spoken. I think you're going to do fabulous. You've been doing it for so long. I mean the advocacy part of it. You've been outspoken.

Speaker 1:
12:36

It's not that you haven't been speaking about endometriosis. It's now that you're making it in a version that streams across your speakers and you've done a beautiful job at communicating all the different correlations and all the different avenues of endometriosis that are taken. I think it's so hard to beautifully articulate the disease. That's not so beautiful, and I think that you do that so very well and have for a long time, and I think that's why it was really important for me to have you on today, because I've gotten a lot of valuable information from you and I think something that I really have learned is that the international piece of endometriosis is very different for every country.

Speaker 1:
13:26

And I didn't really I mean, I lived in a bubble, if I'm being honest. I truly was like this little bubble of this little girl in the middle of the United States and Colorado, like trying to speak about this stuff, and it has opened my mind to just how challenging endometriosis is to navigate in other countries and I'm realizing sometimes as hard as it is to navigate here in the US. Other countries is almost more challenging in some ways, because they have the private healthcare and then they've got the public healthcare and that's something that we don't necessarily have here. I mean, we definitely have, like, the Medicare and things like that, but it's different, right? It's a different take altogether. So I just the way that you have navigated, speaking about endometriosis, you're gonna do amazing things in your podcast and I'm excited to continue listening to that. Plus, you have the best accent out of anyone I know. So there's that, thank you.

Speaker 3:
14:26

I need to learn to speak slower than I think. That's the only thing.

Speaker 1:
14:30

Why Just speed it up, girl? We got things to cover here, we got things to go. So I have had so many people say Kimmether man, I learned so much from Kimmether when she was on your podcast. She's so well spoken and she doesn't give herself enough grace. That's me speaking right there. That was me in that moment because you are so well spoken. But what is something that you have taken away from doing the podcast for your own journey?

Speaker 2:
15:03

It definitely has challenged me to approach evidence-based research quite differently than I've had professionally and just historically, endometriosis has been almost like a twilight zone for me when it comes to research.

Speaker 2:
15:21

I worked in research for 15 years before becoming a nurse practitioner and there's a very standard approach to research.

Speaker 2:
15:31

There's a typical way to look at the literature and then you draw conclusions based off of the best evidence available, and endometriosis was totally different.

Speaker 2:
15:43

So part of the podcast and choosing to do a podcast that will touch on the topic really made me have to kind of turn on his head how I would typically just read research articles and basically say, okay, this is the best of what's available. So this must be accurate and this must be appropriate to be able to share and with this disease, you can have incorrect information from even your most reputable sources and I just had never encountered that before. So when we chose to do the podcast even though we're not doing a lot of like trying really hard not to be a heavily scholarship focused podcast we are going to bring up these conditions and their associated conditions and we want to ensure accuracy. So I take it very seriously how I'm analyzing research in this area and ensuring that I'm including a wide variety of voices in that. Another thing, too, that I've learned, which definitely gives me fire to keep going, is the importance and what was also a need for more BIPOC in this space Just people of color speaking into this space.

Speaker 2:
17:05

It was something that I was looking for and just couldn't find a lot of that, especially within the podcast space, and it has been probably one of the main things that people have shared as being particularly important for them to have that diversity of voices in this space, because there are a lot of Anthemetriosis podcasts out there and I think they all serve their role in different ways and they all have their mission and their approach and for us, we are choosing to be really intentional about speaking about the black experience Brandon as a black man, me as a black woman and not shying away from sharing the nuances that come with that.

Speaker 2:
17:53

That's another transparency area that we always kind of struggle with. There's just how transparent to be in that area and how to be mindful and responsible about that. But I'm slowly but surely learning how to do that in an effective manner and in a way that's honoring, of course, for other people of color. That helps them be seen as well.

Speaker 2:
18:16

But also delivering information in a way that is still relatable and worth listening to for anyone. So if I'm speaking about my experience, that is maybe considered something unique, to like the experience of a black woman in this Anthemetriosis space. I think it's remarkably important for my white or not like those who do not identify as people of color to hear those stories and to know about that perspective and to be curious about it. So we try to incorporate that and we don't even have to be remarkably intentional, because as long as we're being our authentic selves is going to come out, and in hopes that that also just creates curiosity for people too. But yeah, I didn't think much about that when we started the podcast.

Speaker 2:
19:14

We just was like we'll just be a couple that is gonna say we don't know what we're doing, we're navigating this thing, but let's all do it together. We didn't really think about the responsibility but, also the honor of really being able to help bring some diversity into the space, so it's something we take very seriously and it's definitely one of the things that keeps us going with it too.

Speaker 1:
19:43

Yeah, there's a lot to learn about that. I feel like I started the same way of like, well, I'm just gonna be myself, I'm gonna tell everyone, but you do have to be so aware of those things. And I look back now and I'm like I really learned a lot in every episode that I recorded, because I wasn't aware of a lot of this stuff Prior to recording. Again, I lived in that bubble and I'm very good at my bubble, but beyond that bubble, I needed to be able to pop the bubble. You know what I mean. Like I just had to.

Speaker 1:
20:14

I had to be okay, being uncomfortable, and I think that was something that I learned Very early on. Well, to be fair, I was very uncomfortable, even hearing myself in the microphone for the first time. I don't know if you all were very uncomfortable with that, but I was very uncomfortable hearing my own voice. I was. I still am not super comfortable editing myself because I don't like the sound of my voice. No one does like, so I tell everyone that comes on like you will not like the sound of your voice, just gonna throw that out there, but to everyone else it's fine, it'll be fine, you know, but it was so uncomfortable for me to step and speak into the microphone and the first time I did. I don't know if you guys will remember this, but you do remember that Saturday night live skit where they were talking about sweaty balls.

Speaker 3:
20:59

They're made from a secret sweaty family recipe.

Speaker 1:
21:03

Do you remember that Kimethers over here laughing? That's what we had to do to break the mold of like making it funny and getting used to like that sound, and so I think like Moving from this step of getting comfortable hearing ourselves to then being comfortable being uncomfortable, talking about topics that aren't really that comfortable to talk about and being vulnerable, has been the most impactful for me, and I think that if we can continue doing that with valuable resources that we have, I think the podcasting world with Indymetriosis is just gonna bloom even more so. And the thing that I have also learned and I am shocked by all the time is just how much support we get from practitioners and people in the Indymetriosis community willing to come on and talk about their expertise. That's something I did not see coming. I don't know if you all experienced that. I know I'm sure, kathleen, you've met a lot of these people as well, so it was probably a little bit easier, but I didn't know anyone.

Speaker 2:
22:13

It's funny because for me I it's kind of been the opposite only because I am really trying hard to bring in Industries and fields outside of Indymetriosis into this Indymetriosis space. So most of the time it's me as part of, like, getting to know the person is. So this is what Indymetriosis is. Like, you know, like because they most they they're not in this space at all, are they? You know some, but they're not in the thick of it, like with like they're, they're not. They haven't been in in this for eight, for years and decades because we're trying to pull in people who are like relationship counselors or sets, therapists or individuals who are supporting people dealing with infertility, but not just specifically working in Indymetriosis.

Speaker 2:
23:09

So I Definitely think that you know there are people there, they're willing, but I feel like I'm Having to kind of pull them into this Indymetriosis Space and then tell them why their voice would be very important in this space, like why we need to hear from you and because we can't just keep talking about and though with people who already know this information, I mean to bring in other professionals. It's also that why I am so excited about Amy's Spanish podcast.

Speaker 2:
23:43

And her plans to bring in, like menopause specialist, hormone specialist, like nutritionists, like I'm like, yes, yes, like, because, yes, we have fantastic Indymetriosis specialists who are so kind and are always so willing to Speak with us so that they can help get that education out there. But I came into this community really and it didn't take me long to notice that it was almost a bubble a bit, and I would love to just start poking holes in that bubble and bring bringing in those those experts and and people who can speak into this space for us, because we're still 100% human. People dealing with many other things also Just endo, like trying to keep our marriage afloat right, are Trying to support our, our partner, because but but we're sick at the same time, you know. So I love that there are the endo clinicians, are that way, but it's a little bit different for the ones who are not in this, in this space. They're not so willing because they just are uncomfortable Jumping into into this new arena.

Speaker 1:
24:52

Yeah, I've experienced that I, you know I've had a couple people on talking about their own areas of expertise that aren't actually part of endo but maybe correlate in some way or another, whether it be because of you know, eds or all of those kind of play a part, right, like it's not necessarily endo specific, but they do play a part. But I will say that there have been times that people have been like I don't really know if this is an endometriosis type Podcast. I'm like well, it's actually more of like a whole life podcast because we're trying to navigate of a chronic illness that Involves our mental health, our finances. It involves our, our relationships and our work life. And how do, how do we manage it? Is it okay for an employer to do this? Is it not okay for an employer to do this? How do we? How do we ask for time off when we can't function? Things like that that we don't always think about.

Speaker 1:
25:47

I get very clinical Sometimes and that's my brain wanting to learn more about the disease itself. But really I think we have to Step back and say, okay, we really do need to learn more about every facet of everything that could involve us in life. It may not be for everyone, but if we are experiencing something and if we are wanting more information on something, chances are other people in the community are as well, and that's something that I Strongly feel like. I'm learning and growing in that and I'm doing. I want to do more of that. That is a responsibility that I want to take on going forward within the endo battery side of Navigating, really living up to that. 12 spoons, let's fuel, let's recharge your battery, in In your finances, let's recharge your battery. And how do you manage your time effectively when your brain fog is taking over? I don't know. But let's learn, you know, and I think that's something that will be beneficial for a lot of people. But we all have.

Speaker 1:
26:49

The thing that I love about having all of you on today is the fact that you each have a different dynamic on your podcast and you Lend your voice differently, and I think that's why I wanted to highlight these podcasts today is because they are different and you can get information from any of these podcasts and it will be received and it'll be brought to you differently, and I think that that is okay and you will learn something from each of us, I'm sure. But I really think that the more that we spread awareness of other advocates and other people speaking about endometriosis and other life challenges, the better the whole community will be in the support that we can give to one another. And I just and that's the reason why I wanted to have all these lovely ladies on today is because, yes, we all have a podcast, but we're not in competition. We are really feeling a cup of information, but also we are fueling a cup of just humanity in what we're doing and in bringing the humanity to this chronic illness. I'm excited to hear where we're all going collectively with our podcast, because I think that a lot of really great things are happening with all of us.

Speaker 1:
28:07

I know, kathleen, you just started. What are we going to see from you next?

Speaker 3:
28:11

Well, I hope that I can sort of build on the shoulders of everybody who's come before me and what a great team we have here and such great inspiration, and I think you know, just echoing back what everybody said, there's so much room for different voices.

Speaker 3:
28:26

You know, I need to make sure that I include all the marginalized communities within Ireland. I need to make sure that I include all the topics that are relevant within Ireland but are also relevant worldwide as well. Certainly, from the queries over the years, the majority of people don't really care about the theories of endometriosis. They don't really care for whether it's caused by one thing or another. What they usually need in that moment of time is a bit of comfort, somebody to listen, somebody to bring back that focus to them again and, I think, allowing them that sort of space to take on small bits of information at a time, be that how to book a pelvic fizzy appointment or how to find a dietician or how to find a GP to actually listen to you. So I think, using the, you know, inspiration from everybody and making sure that we don't keep this a very insular and parochial community, we need to expand it, we need to blow it wide open.

Speaker 3:
29:22

You know, I should be able to listen to any of the guys here and sort of go yeah, that's relevant to my life here in Ireland and you should be able to listen to mine and say, yeah, I've taken something away from that. The social care system might be different, but it's given me an idea to see what resources might be available in my county or in my country. So I think, even though we are a very tight community, I do think we risk becoming very insular, and I think the more external factors we can bring into that, the better, and be that through variability within the populations that we speak to, variability in the professionals that we speak to, and variability again in the sort of patient community, if you want to describe it that way as well too. Everybody's got a very individual story and a very individual you know path to treatment and a very individual sort of outcome as well too. So there's your room for absolutely everybody. So I'm hoping that I can bring that.

Speaker 1:
30:17

I think you will. I think you will. Amy, you're already doing your podcast episodes, but what else is coming along for you? Because you've got some really good stuff coming. I know you do, I just know you do.

Speaker 4:
30:32

Well, first of all, I think I'll be podcasting for the next like 10 years because I absolutely love it, even though it is so much hard work and I really just do want to put that out there that it is hard work to have a.

Speaker 4:
30:43

You know. You know it's hard work to have the podcast, not only to find the guests, to schedule the guests, to learn about the guests, to make the questions, to be there, and then you know you don't feel good, then you're. You know it's a lot of spoons, a lot of work, but I just feel like there's so many topics too. I've already done 115 episodes and I have a hundred like I literally have another 115 lined up. You know, like I have a whole list of like people that I want to come on in 2024 and then 2025. And you want them all to come on at once. But that's not possible. You know you can only have I don't know 25, 30 episodes a year. So got to speak to face them out. But there's just so much to talk about. You know, and it's what we're saying, there's just there's so much to talk about. I'm really branching off into co-conditions. I've just been doing a whole series on disability. It's still going on. It's like an eight-part series about identifying as disabled or dynamically disabled, asking for accommodation at work, like finding the best way to do it, like finding the confidence to say like I'm disabled and I identify as disabled, if that's what a person chooses to identify, as you know. So I think there's so many like offshoots to go down. I really want to go down the whole hormone replacement therapy, not just for perimenopause, but also because we have so many people that go into surgical menopause or even, like me, I, you know, I'm not in surgical menopause, but by losing an ovary it tanked my hormones and I was not prepared for that. I was not prepared for how to find a doctor, for the symptoms I would encounter, and that delayed, you know, that caused me suffering and that delayed me getting the treatment that I need, because I just had no clue about it.

Speaker 4:
32:23

So lots of different things I want to explore on my podcast. Lots of different world voices. I have a World Care series where I'm interviewing people from different countries. You know, people from Kenya, nigeria, india, jamaica, bolivia, bringing on voices from different countries where the care and the social and cultural barriers are different from you know what I've experienced and hearing those voices. And then have my Spanish podcast coming out, yes, which I'm just so thrilled about, and I feel like I've taken like everything that I've learned in these five years from the English podcast and I've you know I'm making a really great podcast in Spanish. Of course, again, it's not perfect and it's not going to be the best podcast in the world, but I try to hit a lot of topics, both to do with Endo co-conditions and patient voices, and have a lot of different representation from Spanish-speaking countries, lots of different guests from lots of you know, over a dozen countries. I feel really excited about that.

Speaker 4:
33:25

And then my audiobook is coming out in March 2024. From my actual book that I wrote, which is Finding a Piece of the Devastating Disease. So I'm here to stay. You know I'm in the spoons every day trying to. Sometimes there's no motivation, so you just watch TV and you're like I think I'll be motivated tomorrow and just yeah, working with the spoons the best you can.

Speaker 1:
33:49

Absolutely so. True, I know that, kim, with your, you've experienced that too of like trying to do the podcast and try to work, and Brandon's working, but what's coming up for you guys, because you're navigating a lot of schedules as well. But I know that you have great things coming up. We do.

Speaker 2:
34:07

And you know, we basically have decided that we're just going to scale our vision depending on just how our demands are in any particular season of life, and that way we don't get discouraged if things have to shift or if things have to pause, like we really are a perfect match, because I'm the project management minded person, brandon is the creative, and the combo basically provides creativity within boundaries. Yeah, so so we have, you know, very clear vision of remaining couple centered, no matter what, empowering them to make informed decisions for themselves and their families. So everything that we do will pour out of that space. We're excited to portray the diversity of couples who are dealing with chronic conditions, partners, spouses, parents of young children, older children, people without children Just as much diversity as we can display. We want to really try to honor that and ensure that as many voices are heard from, because every single couple has something amazing to share, even if it's coming out of hardship. We've been able to just learn so much, so we want to continue with that. And then, with professionals, we're going to continue to very meticulously choose professionals who are committed to offering their expertise that's focused on improving the quality of life, particularly for the relationship unit. We're very big on that being the focus. We try to individually highlight the importance of everyone in the relationship. You know, having the quality of life prioritize, but then also particularly like trying to offer expertise that supports the unit as a whole. And then, with us being still so new at this, we also are kind of keeping things flexible for that and in that regard, we really try to take in the feedback that we receive from other couples, from our listeners, and we do take it seriously. I definitely know when feedback is something that we want to consider versus something that doesn't align with our mission and our ethics and our pillars of how we wish to approach the podcast. But for those who do provide really great feedback, we try to incorporate that into the long term plan. So we hope to one day offer a couple's retreat.

Speaker 2:
36:37

Something also that's been popping up is a couple's focused support group. So we're just going to put them in our you know, put them on our vision board and try to figure out okay, are these things that we can incorporate and scale in a way that remains feasible for us and ensure that, even though this is hard work, that we continue at a pace that keeps us still loving it. So that's why we're okay. If perhaps, we only get one podcast out in a month. We just say you know what, we have to scale it to meet our needs in those seasons and that's okay.

Speaker 2:
37:14

So the one thing that we will not be doing is forcing ourselves to crank out quantity just to get it out. We can sometimes feel pressured to do that as podcasters and that's something that we committed early on to not make a focus If it doesn't organically feel like something that we need to talk about, sit down and record. No, and honestly, people have been really supportive of anything that we can come out and share. So that's also been encouraging to remind me that it's okay to pace myself Because ultimately, I'm going to make myself available not only to our listeners but to my patients, to my husband, to my dog, to my family. I want to be here for the long haul. So that means really prioritizing our health book my health as the one with the chronic illness, his health as the one who is often caring for the person with chronic illness, and then the health of our marriage itself too.

Speaker 1:
38:17

So oh, it's so good, it's so good. I think you made a valid point. We just need to give ourselves grace. And you know, each of you have put so much work into your podcast.

Speaker 1:
38:30

I don't I didn't realize how much work would be entailed into creating a podcast. I thought it was going to be like a couple days a month, but it's like how green I was, I was like I legitimately was like, oh, it's going to be a couple days a month, that's fine, I don't have time for that. It's not. It's almost like a 40 hour work week, sometimes or more. And there's been times that I've had to have boundaries and my husband's had to put boundaries in place because I'm not good at boundaries when it comes to that passion that drives us, and so he's like you got to step away from the mic for a minute, you got to step away from talking endometriosis for a second and you've got to say I don't want to hear endometriosis for 24 hours in this household. And it is a real struggle to do that. It's a lot of work and a lot goes into it, but it's worth it. And it's so true that each of us have a voice.

Speaker 1:
39:17

But you all have been so impactful in my journey with endometriosis, as well as being a podcaster, and so for that I just want to say thank you.

Speaker 1:
39:27

Thank you all for being who you are but being the support that I didn't know I needed in this first year of podcasting, and I know that, moving forward into my next year of doing it because I'm not stopping yet my next year of doing it that I know that this community will rally around me when I'm not feeling my best or when my ADHD I'm sorry all of you that have had to experience is that my ADHD takes over and I'm having a hard time focusing, or whatever the case is.

Speaker 1:
39:55

You all have been so instrumental in this journey up into this time, and I know that, moving forward, you'll continue just with what you're doing, but also in supporting me as a human, not just a podcaster. So I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I'm so excited to see where this year goes for all of you. You have a lot of big things going on, and I'm excited to carry on the mission of advocacy for those dealing with chronic illnesses in general and those dealing with life, for being honest. So thank you for being a spoon that gives to me. Thank you for recharging me and until next time. Everyone remember that these advocates continue advocating for you, but you advocate for yourself and for those that you love.