Healing, Growing, and Evolving Your Energy as a Caregiver with Anna Folsom

[00:00:00] Hey, ho, dear ones, I have such a cool episode for you today because we’re exploring what it means to take care of your energy when you are a caretaker. So if you have kids, if you have parents, if you have loved ones, it’s likely that you either are or at some point will be tapped to become a caretaker.

[00:00:22] And so. You really need to learn how to heal, grow, and evolve your energy so that you can take care of yourself first and be the best caretaker you can be to the person who really is relying on you. And I have an amazing guest today who’s going to help me. I’m so excited to share it with you. So why don’t we go ahead and just get right to it.

[00:00:50] In today’s episode, I speak with the amazing Anna Folsom and we reveal how we get into emotional overwhelm, even without knowing it. The simple and powerful first step to shifting out of overwhelm and how to move into something higher to heal, grow, and evolve your energy. We’ll end on an invitation that will have you making consistent choices that nourish your energy so you can live with better health.

[00:01:19] Balance and vibrancy. So please stay with us until the end. Welcome to soul guide radio, a podcast for soul guided leaders, influencers, and entrepreneurs here to bring about change on a massive level. We’ll explore how you can activate your big soul mission, amplify your spiritual gifts, and And clear the energy blocks weighing you down so you can gain unstoppable momentum in life and business.

[00:01:51] I’m Allyson Scammell, your host and Soul Guide.

[00:02:02] Hello, Soul Guide Circle. That is the name of this global community of soul guided leaders and entrepreneurs. In the soul guide circle, we are growing prosperous heart led businesses that are on the leading edge of consciousness. Find the link to join our closed Facebook group at allysonscammell.com or in the show notes.

[00:02:23] Today, I had the absolute pleasure of chatting with one of my soul clients. But also someone I learned a lot from the amazing Anna Folsom. Anna is a certified health and life coach. After finding herself in a place of complete emotional overwhelm, Anna discovered how to turn her life around. Get certified as a coach and began helping others live their best lives through her living with vibrancy programs.

[00:02:51] She’s a wife and a mom to do teenagers, dog and cat mom. And she lives in the Pacific Northwest in the United States with her family, where she loves to meditate, hike. Teach yoga and be in nature. I had an absolutely delightful time connecting with Anna over this topic. I believe in my heart you will receive so much.

[00:03:11] Please enjoy.

[00:03:22] Welcome Anna to Soul Guide Radio. Thank you, Allyson. I’m so happy to be here. Oh my gosh. So I am so excited to be connecting with you on the podcast and we’re going to be talking about keeping our energy healthy and vibrant. and harmonious as caretakers. I don’t think we talk about this enough.

[00:03:46] Definitely not. I mean, think of all of us, even if you don’t have kids. Most of us have parents, some of us have partners, even if you don’t have that, you have people in your life you care about, and you just never know when you’re going to be in a situation where you’re held, caring for other adults, in addition to your children, it really can, it just puts you in a whole, puts a whole different level of energetic toll on your system.

[00:04:17] Yeah, absolutely. And, and I, I know I just had a recent experience where a member of our community was, had cancer and he didn’t have any children in the area to care for him. And so community members stepped in. And cared for him. And, and you’re absolutely right. You know, I mean, these were people that some of them didn’t have anybody else in their life that they were caring for.

[00:04:41] And here they were reaching out to help somebody in their community. And, and it really does take a toll over time, right? Because you put. You, you have so much love and caring that you’re putting out there for the other person. And we often forget then to, you know, refill our own energy coffers and, and take care of ourselves.

[00:05:03] Yeah. And I definitely think as a parent too, I mean, it’s just like, you know, sometimes Anna, I feel and I’m going to record a podcast episode on this. So stand by for it, but I feel like I give all my best energy in a day to my business. And that makes me feel really sad sometimes, because then when I get home at night, and that’s my time to be with my husband and be with my daughter, who’s been gone all day, like, three days a week she goes to school and then aftercare.

[00:05:31] So I haven’t seen her all day, like, it should be that I’m fresh. When she gets home, you know, I’m ready to be tuned into her, but because I’ve given my best energy in a day to my business, by the time evening rolls around, I’m not fresh for her. I’m not present for her. And I, I, I find myself not knowing how to get out of that.

[00:05:54] What would you, what advice do you have for me, Anna, and other people who are struggling with this? Oh my goodness, Allyson. This is, I mean, my kids are teenagers now, but I, when they were little, I, I was working three days a week and I felt the exact same way. I just had nothing to give and, you know, and then when they’re young, they need.

[00:06:14] Need you so much, right? They need you to be present. They got to get fed right when you walk in the door. And then there’s baths to be drawn and books to be read and all of the things, you know, but even with my kids as teenagers, you know, they’re kind of off doing their own thing, but they, the second I walk in the door, right, they’re like, how was your day mom?

[00:06:34] And they want to share their day. And it is, it’s a, it’s a balancing act. And I always go back to. Okay. The, the whole oxygen mask on the airplane thing and the, the flight attendant says, you know, put your mask on yourself before trying to assist others. And it’s, it’s such a great analogy for life because you really cannot give to others when, I mean, when you feel like you can’t even breathe, right?

[00:07:01] When you’re, when you’re so exhausted and so emotionally overwhelmed that you just, Don’t even know what to do for yourself. And so for me, how I start my morning plays a huge role in my overall, my daily energy, right. And then taking breaks throughout the day to do specific things that work for me. And then having a pretty strict bedtime routine of, you know, really trying to get an adequate rest, you know, all those things that are, they’re really simple.

[00:07:32] Right? They’re really simple, but yet we, we’ll do those things for our kids, but we won’t do them for ourselves. So let’s talk about emotional overwhelm for a sec. Let’s talk about when it’s more subtle, and we, we’re emotionally overwhelmed, we don’t realize it because we’ve learned to like live. As a pretty functional, personal person with emotional overwhelm.

[00:07:57] So would you say it’s true that a lot of people are emotionally overwhelmed and don’t realize it, especially if they have a lot of caretaking responsibility on their shoulders? Oh yeah. I I’d say most of us are probably emotionally overwhelmed to some extent, just because of the, you know, modern lifestyle, right?

[00:08:16] It’s always, there’s this underlying low level of stress that’s always happening. For everyone. So yeah, the majority of people for sure. And when it gets to be where, you know, you’re, you, like you said, you’re highly functioning, but you don’t realize that it’s getting worse. Like you’re taking on more and more responsibility in caring for others, whether it’s caring for your children, caring for aging parents, or like I even said, you know, a community, community member, you’re going to start to have physical signs of being.

[00:08:53] overwhelmed. You know, I, I went through that where I had a really bad rash on my back and the bottom of my feet. And that was a real wake up call for me because that is not a normal physical symptom that I had ever experienced in my life. And so I, Started to ask myself, what is going on? Why is this happening?

[00:09:17] You know, so people, people that are becoming more and more emotionally overwhelmed are going to start to have some kind of physical symptom or manifestation of that overwhelm. And it could be. Um, you know, it could be just, just your overall energy, just like chronic fatigue. It could be, you know, a lot of people get a lot of anxiety and, and it results in a lot of stomach problems.

[00:09:45] For me, it was the skin rash thing. So I really think you’ll notice it in physical, in physical ways. Yeah. Yeah. And you also mentioned that it shows up in other ways. Like, you know, when we get emotionally overwhelmed, that’s when we tend to go into poor diet, not getting the exercise and taking those healthy boundaries down.

[00:10:07] I was talking to a client recently and she has a little post it note up that she got from somewhere that says courage over comfort, um, courage over comfort. And it got to me because I think that there are times when we’re just too hard on ourselves, but I also think there are times when we’re too easy on ourselves.

[00:10:32] In the sense that we’re emotionally overwhelmed, so we reach for comfort food and we reach for the couch instead of going to the gym. You know, we, we zone out on our phone before bed, before doing 10 minutes of meditation. And sometimes I think in those moments to choose the, make the choice that’s more nourishing for you.

[00:10:58] It does take courage. And it is comforting, although it’s not real comfort, I think it’s fake comfort. We think it’s comforting to just stay on the couch and have the comfort food and, you know, be on your device instead of meditating, but it’s, it’s not, and it really does take courage to choose. Not to be emotionally overwhelmed.

[00:11:25] Yeah, absolutely. And I like what you were saying about making the nourishing choice, right? Because sometimes a hot tea and a bath is comforting and it is what is going to nourish you when you’re stressed out or overwhelmed, but it’s, it’s, It’s when you make choices over and over again that you know, are not leading to, you know, overcoming the overwhelm.

[00:11:54] That’s the thing is, so if you’re always going down that path of comfort food, right? Or, you know, zoning out on your phone, or, you know, drinking too much wine, or not exercising, whatever it is, if you’re always choosing that, that’s when it becomes. That’s when it’s not nourishing anymore, right? So you know, you might have a moment, like I said, of, you know, hopping in the bath, but if you, if you always are choosing that and never getting exercise and never eating healthy food, then it is going to show up in a way that is physical, right?

[00:12:32] You’re going to feel, you’re going to feel bad. You’re not going to sleep well. You’re going to gain weight. You’re going to have stomach problems, skin problems, you know, all of those things. It’s so. I like that courage over comfort because ultimately you have to make, you know, a series of nourishing choices over time in order to feel better.

[00:12:54] Yes. I love that. A series of nourishing choices over time to help you feel better. And especially if you’re a caretaker, you’re a parent or you’re taking care of adults or both. You really, really need that. Otherwise, you’re just, it’s not, you’re not going to be able to sustain, you know, that your oxygen will run out.

[00:13:17] So you have developed something, Anna, called the Vibrancy Scale to help people, particularly people like caregivers, who really need to be mindful of their energy to make those nourishing choices consistently over time. Can you tell us about it? What is it and how does it work? Yeah, I would love to share this with you.

[00:13:39] So I created this scale as it’s a visual tool that helps people identify where they are in regards to their energy. And so, I think you were, you were saying like, you know, being able to see, like, what are the things that will let you know, you know, when you’re becoming emotionally overwhelmed, this scale helps people identify how they feel essentially.

[00:14:08] And so it’s a scale of one to 10 with one having the lowest amount of energy and 10 having the most. And it’s broken up into three different sections. So on the lower end is where a phase where you need healing. And the middle phase is where you can start to grow and do more of the things that make you feel better.

[00:14:28] And then the upper end of the scale. Is where you’re really evolving into this next best version of yourself. And so the scale gives you keywords to help you identify where you might be. So as an example, on the lower end, you might be feeling hopeless. You might be experiencing illness. Like I mentioned, you have very low energy and lethargy.

[00:14:53] You’re not motivated. You’re very confused, lack focus. And on the upper end is where you’re like jumping out of bed in the morning, right? You’re excited. You’re optimistic. You feel good. You feel nourished. You have energy. You feel positive. You wake up like you don’t feel like you need to have caffeine, although you might still enjoy your coffee, but you don’t really need it to get you going.

[00:15:17] Right. You’re not looking for substances to help you fall asleep at night. You know, this is like. This is the ideal of like how everybody would love to feel when they wake up in the morning. And so the scale just, it, it’s just a great visual that helps people identify where am I and then where, how much better could I feel in my life?

[00:15:41] And so I, I kind of liken it to. If you’re on the low end of the scale, you’re like thrashing around in deep water, right? You’re, you’re feeling like you’re drowning with everything that’s going on in your life, and you’re just flailing your arms, trying to keep your head above water. And this scale, and the program that I have, Using the scale is like a lifeline.

[00:16:09] It’s like that, that red and white buoy that the lifeguards throw when you’re out and you’re thrashing around, you know, it helps people get to solid ground. It helps them calm down. It helps them identify what are the things that are making them feel overwhelmed. And what are the things that they can do to feel better?

[00:16:29] And this is really important for caregivers because the more you give to others, like we were saying, you know, and the, and the less nourishing choices that you make for yourself is going to lead to feeling like you’re drowning. Right. And completely overwhelmed. And it’s so, it’s simple. It’s simple to just stop and ask, where am I?

[00:16:56] It’s something that’s easy not to do when you’re in the midst of the thrashing around when you’re in the stress and you, you have that feeling of drowning. It can be a difficult thing. So it’s just, it’s always having compassion on yourself. and getting into the practice of doing it. A lot of this is just practice of like stopping.

[00:17:19] Yeah. And so I teach something similar in soul blueprint and you were chatting about that a little bit before we hit record. And I love the way you just talked about it so effortlessly. And I was lucky enough to have you as a student in soul blueprint. Yes. And we have in that course, so that’s a course that teaches you about your five spiritual gifts and how to connect to and co create with the spiritual realm.

[00:17:44] And it really teaches you about your energy and how to keep your energy in alignment and notice when it’s out of alignment and what to do to get it back in. And what I talk about. Which is very similar to the where am I is that dominant energy frequency like what is your energy vibrating at in this moment?

[00:18:07] So I would love to know from your perspective, like when you were in soul blueprint. Was that, and you were someone who had already been working in this, developing this vibrancy scale. How was it, how did that help you to actually even get to know how your energy vibrates even better? Oh, this is a really great question.

[00:18:32] And I was just thinking about this this morning because. I was really starting to explore this whole idea that you talk about in Soul Blueprint of your dominant energy frequency before I joined Soul Blueprint. And so when you were teaching about this and how to raise your energy frequency, I was kind of like, My mind was kind of blown because I, it was like, I was already starting to explore the idea.

[00:18:59] And then you had this really amazing way of teaching us about it. And I was like, Oh my God, this, everything is just like, the stars are lining up with this. And so, so blueprint really came along for me at this perfect time, because I was already starting to think about it. So what really I think was the key when you’re talking about, like, where am I, I already had a pretty daily mindfulness practice for the last couple of years.

[00:19:29] And so that tapping into the mindfulness Practices that I was using. I was doing meditation. I was doing journaling. I did walking meditation, a lot of different things and things that I, I share with my clients as well. Those things really helped me be able to ask those questions. Like, okay, what, what am I really feeling right now?

[00:19:53] And I, I hadn’t really done that before. And so when you, when you talk about like your dominant energy frequency and then getting to higher and higher levels, Of energy, you know, just taking that calm moment and asking myself, then I could really start to envision like, okay, right now I’m feeling frustration or right now I’m feeling anger or I’m feeling overwhelmed, right?

[00:20:21] If I was starting to identify them, then I could really say, okay, what do I want to be experiencing instead? So then I. You know, and you, you share a scale that gives words that I identify like these higher vibrational feelings. And I really love that. And I also use like a spiral to as a visual for me.

[00:20:42] And, and it’s great because then I would ask myself like, okay, well. This is how I feel. And that, you know, no judgment on that, but I don’t want to feel that anymore. So what I want to be feeling is energized, or I want to be feeling acceptance or our, or joy or freedom, you know, some of these like really high vibe feelings.

[00:21:05] And then once I, once I could identify what I wanted to experience instead, then I could decide like, okay, well, what’s one thing that I could do right now to feel that way. And we both have dogs and we both love to walk our dogs, which is one of the things that I love about you, Allyson. And so pretty much every time that I go for a walk in nature with my dog, it makes me feel better, right?

[00:21:30] It makes me feel. some freedom. It makes me feel, you know, acceptance. It makes me feel healthy, you know, all of these things. And so I would just ask myself, where am I now? How do I feel? What do I want to experience instead? And then usually, usually I end up outside with my dog. That’s kind of my go to, but I have a lot of other things that I do that, that help.

[00:21:55] Get me from a lower energy state to a higher energy state. And really a lot of that, I, you know, the stuff that you shared in soul blueprint really, really helped me figure out what are those, what are those things that I can do? Well, I love hearing that and you’re an absolute joy to be working with on exploring all of this.

[00:22:18] And it’s really, I think what you and I are talking about is the exact same thing. It’s like this idea of taking stock of where you are now. I use a scale that’s zero to a thousand, but I also like a scale that’s 0 to 10 because it’s, you know, represents the same thing that you can. Now, some of the listeners you’ll be more, maybe satisfied by trying to identify a number.

[00:22:43] So let’s just keep on the vibrancy scale, zero to 10. You’re feeling at a three and you just want to feel like a five. You’re just, you’re just want to feel neutral. You don’t even like, you’re not even a position that you want to feel. A 7, an 8, or a 9. Maybe that’s tomorrow, but you just want to be a 5.

[00:22:59] Just, just being like, Okay, right now I’m a 3. Like, this is where I am. I think so often we’re like afraid of our own emotions. Like, I definitely see it like whenever I talk to my parents, I think it’s their generation. They’re literally afraid of their own emotions. It’s very difficult for my mother, for example, to just tell me how she feels unless it’s like, even if it’s a joyful emotion, I try to do light coaching with them sometimes.

[00:23:30] Yeah. Both my parents. And I just try to get them to be like, well, name that emotion. I remember doing it with my father once. He started sweating. Uh, he had to drink a bunch of water because I was just like, well, name, how does that make you feel? And they immediately give you more thoughts, you know, kind of that story fondling Byron Katie star story fondling, like, well, it led to this and then this situation happened.

[00:23:54] I said, okay, okay. I understand all that. Okay. That situation happened. How did that situation make you feel? Yeah. And it’s really hard for them to identify the emotion. Well, then you get to our generation, Anna, where we’re better at it, but it’s like, it’s still hard, you know, like, like as we’re, we’re getting better with this emotional.

[00:24:16] Know how, but it’s very easy to just be in that thrashing around, and yeah, it’s like we’re a little bit of afraid of the emotion because it’s intense and it’s painful, so we just thrash. And this weird thing, thinking it’s comforting, thinking it’s comforting, just a thrash. But actually, the courage comes in to pause, like you’re saying, grab your life buoy, pause, and just ask the question, where am I in this moment?

[00:24:53] And just by doing that, you’re going to feel yourself feel a little bit of relief, just by stopping. Because that’s going to be easier than thrashing. Absolutely. You know, and once you get that sense of calm and recognition of how you feel and, and accepting it without judgment, right? That’s the key is like, don’t be hard on yourself that you don’t feel great.

[00:25:14] Right. Don’t be hard on yourself that you’re experiencing a time where you might be physically ill or you’re sad. Like these are all, this is like the gamut of human emotion and we’re meant to experience. All of it, right? You’re not meant to feel happy 100 percent of the time, but if you’re always on the low end of the scale, eventually, like we talked about, like, you’re going to start having a lot of problems and some of them are going to be physical problems.

[00:25:42] So get your get yourself the buoy and get yourself to the next level. the beach, right? With some techniques that recognize where you are. How do you feel being okay with it? Getting calm. And then you can start to identify how, okay, now I want to go further up the beach. I want to get further away from this deep, dark thrashing around in.

[00:26:09] And I want to feel incrementally better. Doing those series of nourish, making those series of nourishing choices over time. And then, like you said, you know, maybe you’re at a three and you just wanna go to five. Well, that’s absolutely where you start, right? You’re not gonna go from one to 10 overnight.

[00:26:29] And, but over time, making those different choices, you would be amazed at how, how, how quickly you will get there, making those choices. Yes. So just let’s just take it one step further for the listeners. We’ve already identified that just the most powerful way, or one of the most powerful ways when you’re feeling emotionally overwhelmed is just to pause and just say, like, Where am I?

[00:26:57] Yeah. And for, sorry, I was saying this and then I, I went off on a tangent, but getting back to the thought that I was talking about earlier, for some of you, you’re going to identify with a number that’ll feel good to you to say I’m a 2 3, but for some of you, that’s not going to land as much and you’ll want to identify with the emotion, depending on if you’ve got right or left facing, Arrow in your human design for this.

[00:27:21] So just go with what feels more natural for you. If you want to say, I feel like I’m a two or I feel like I’m in hopelessness. Yeah. Go with what feels more natural, but just name it. Okay. And so then what is something that you recommend they do? After they’ve named it to help them get higher up the scale.

[00:27:42] Yeah. So I have, I have this acronym that I’ve been using and it’s, the acronym is NOW, N O W. So the first, the N stands for name it, right? Like you just said, and the O stands for own it. Right. So own and accept the fact that this is how you feel right now and just be okay with it without judging yourself, without being self critical, just, and it’s really just, you can just say to yourself, I feel, I, I feel sadness, for example, and just say, I feel sadness.

[00:28:17] I accept that. I feel sadness and it’s okay. Right. So just being okay with it because. like I said, all the full range of human emotion. It’s all okay. But, but what you don’t want to stay in sadness, right? You want to feel it in the moment and then you want to feel something else. And so the W is what do I want to be experiencing instead?

[00:28:42] And this is where I really like. You mentioned this, Allyson, about the, the human design arrows, my vibrancy scale includes both numbers and words. So it’s, it’s really helpful for people with a variety of human design types to be able to identify where they are. Right. To name and own where they are and then identify what they want to be experiencing instead.

[00:29:06] So I want to go from sadness, which is where I am now, to, I want to be able to allow relaxation into my life. For example, that would be one of the things, or I want to feel nourished. So you, you name it, own it, and then describe what you want instead. I love it. Name it, own it, describe what you want said.

[00:29:29] Okay, so that brings us nicely, Anna, to our invitation. I would love you to leave our listeners with an invitation. Okay. Well, I, I invite you sometime within the next 24 hours to do one thing that would Make your energy feel better. So my example was being in nature, walking the dog. It could also look like having a cup of tea.

[00:29:59] In a quiet place for 10 minutes, it could look like writing a few thoughts down in a journal for a few minutes. It could look like taking a bath. It could look like eating a healthy meal, something that you know that you’ve done in the past that makes you feel better and gives you more energy. So I invite you to choose that one thing and try it within the next 24 hours.

[00:30:25] I love it. Okay. So listeners, we’re going to commit to this in the next 24 hours. We’re going to be doing We’re gonna be doing stuff. Well, your heart is calling you to we’re gonna take some deep breaths. We’re gonna pause We’re gonna ask where am I and then follow through on this beautiful invitation from Anna To explore into how we can what do we need?

[00:30:51] What is our well need? What does our soul need to be nourished so that we can raise into something higher? And more vibrant and I, you’re such a joy. I adore you so much. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom today on soul guide radio. How can our listeners, if there’s listeners out there, caregivers out there who are just feeling a bit emotionally overwhelmed and would want to get into your orbit.

[00:31:19] How can they find you? Well, the, the easiest way would be to go to my website, Anna Folsom. com and check out what I have there. And you can also get connected to me. If you’d like to, I do free discovery calls with people and you always get something really amazing out of that. There’s always action steps that I leave you with that would help you kind of get to your next level of energy.

[00:31:45] And I would also love to share my vibrancy scale with you and you can get that by sending me an email at Anna at Anna Folsom. com. Beautiful. And we will leave those links in the show notes and, uh, thank you so much again for sharing your wisdom today on soul guide radio. Thank you, Allyson. I appreciate you.

[00:32:18] And I want to thank you so much to your listener for tuning in each and every week. I appreciate you so much. If you loved this episode as much as I have, go ahead and head over to the show notes. Please, please, from my heart, leave a rating and review. I know you’ve been thinking about doing it and you just haven’t got around to it, which I totally get.

[00:32:40] Go ahead and make today the day. You leave a review, I will read your words on the air, and it’ll be fun to hear your own words being said back to you. I will send you some energetic love and a hug that you will feel. And, as always, until next time, may your soul guide the way. Are you ready to deepen your connection to your intuitive gifts?

[00:33:08] Then it’s time for 10 High Vibe Minutes. The ultimate daily mindfulness practice for soul guided leadership. leaders and entrepreneurs and only 10 minutes per day. You’ll keep your energy high vibe and aligned to your highest dreams while transforming your daily practice into a powerful tool to manifest big wealth and abundance.

[00:33:30] Get free access now on my website, Allysonscammell.com or in the show notes.

Timestamps:

00:01  Intro

03:22  Meet Anna Folsom

05:04  Giving best energy to business

07:56  Recognizing emotional overwhelm

10:24  Courage over comfort

13:34  The Vibrancy Scale  

17:39  Soul Blueprint & energy frequency

22:36  Fear of emotions

26:00  Using your tools

29:47  Invitation & conclusion