Episode 79: How Do You Want to Show Up? Health Scares, Taking Time to Reset, & Showing Up Authentically

Podcast

Episode 79: How Do You Want to Show Up? Health Scares, Taking Time to Reset, & Showing Up Authentically

“Show Up Fully is about the magic and the hot mess….and there's so much in between those two spectrums. That's what showing up is to me, it's showing up in a way that authentically aligns with who I am at the moment” - Carla Contreras

This episode has been six months in the making. There have been a number of things that have happened in the past year, including two health scares, that required me to pause and shift my focus to my health and my family. 

So much of my identity has been wrapped up in posting on Instagram and sharing with my community, but when my health wasn't there, showing up became almost impossible except for my brands and 1:1 clients.

Lately, I’ve been leaning into self-sourcing and letting myself move through these experiences without adding on the extra layer of content creation, unless it feels totally aligned.

Here are four journal prompts that have been extremely supportive during this time in my life: 

1. How do you define Showing Up?

2. What does showing up mean to you?

3. How do you want to Show up this season?

4. What does it mean when you don't want to show up?

Join me on today’s episode to catch up on what’s been going on behind the scenes and discuss some key takeaways from this past year. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

Moving through the feelings that come up when you’re visible in your brand 

The tools I’ve been relying on to navigate uncertainty 

Realizing where I was living out of alignment with my authentic self 

Learning to love the magic and the hot mess (and everything in between) 

What showing up means to me during this season of my life 

Please tag me @chefcarlacontreras on Instagram so I can continue the conversation with you. Use the hashtag #showupfullypodcast

Eat Well,

xo Chef Carla

PS: Join my Summer Mindfulness & Mind Map Workshop with Meg Burton Tudman here

Curious about my Health Coach journey? Listen to this episode

Resources Mentioned: Oprah’s Podcast

About Chef Carla Contreras

For the last 24 + years, I’ve worked as a trained chef in: Restaurants, hotels, as a chef instructor at three culinary schools, and personal chef in New York City.

Since 2013, I have been sharing my gift of content creation with publications and brands like Better Homes and Gardens, The Wall Street Journal, Shape Magazine, justBobbi.com, Nutritious Life, Well + Good.

In my personal brand, I not only show up for the hard things, I own them and then share them with the world, like my $38,000 lesson I learned in my business and evolution of a Digital Entrepreneur over the last ten years.

In my online courses, I bring my years of experience as a trained chef, content creator, health and life coach, and meditation teacher to help you with you shift mindset around cooking & the content creation process. Learn more here

Find + Work With Carla:

Online Courses & Books: Learn more here

Instagram: @chefcarlacontreras

Full Transcript:

00:00.00

Carla Contreras

Hey, it's Chef Carla and welcome to show up fully. This is a podcast that shares what it's like to show up for your real life, the magic and the hot mess, plus actual tips and journal prompts for you. There’s short podcast snacks and full length interviews with creatives and entrepreneurs about how they show up in their lives. If you don't know me, I'm a food stylist and content creation coach, you can find me Chef Carla Contreras across all social platforms, and more information in today's show notes.

00:00:48

This episode starts off with a deep sigh. And if you can, I invite you to take a deep breath with me. And you can keep your eyes open. And especially if you are doing something that requires focus, keep your eyes open. If you have the ability to relax or rest for a second, you can close your eyes. And what I'm going to invite you to do is take a deep breath in your nose and a deep breath out your nose or mouth. One more time, deep breath in your nose. Deep breath out your nose or mouth. One more deep breath in your nose. And a deep breath out your nose or mouth. I have been procrastinating this episode, I have been spending the last six months not posting not recording. And there were a number of things that have happened in the last year, including two health scares, that really required me to rest, to pause, to focus on my health and to focus in on my family. And that wasn't easy for me. It wasn't easy to not share all the things.

00:02:24

Now some people and there's no judgment either way. Share pictures of themselves in the hospital share pictures of themselves, in situations where there's pain or discomfort. And for me, there's a podcast that I share with my clients with my content creation coaching clients. And if you don't know what that is, is basically any part of content. So I do a website strategy or Instagram strategy basically on being visible in your brand. So with that visibility, comes a lot of doubt, comes a lot of insecurity comes a lot of I don't know if I'm good enough to do this. And part of that is me using my life coaching skills, my health coaching skills in order to support my clients in moving through whatever feelings are associated around being visible. And sometimes I send them a podcast by Oprah. And I'll put in the show notes. And in the episode basically she says if you don't know what to do, stop. And that's what I did. I literally did that for six months now. Did I work with my brands? Yes. Did I work with my one on one clients? Yes. But did I post publicly on my podcast on my Instagram? Minus brand work? No. And if you're curious, this is the reason why I literally listened to the advice that I give to my clients.

00:04:14

And I was like, Okay, it's time to pause. It's time to stop. It's time to regroup. And what's interesting is that through these two health scares, and I've talked about this in other podcasts is that I started to take the health coach training program from IIN It was completely revamped. I started to do that program as I moved through these health scares as I moved through my own process and it's interesting because I am a coach, and I coach other people on their processes that they are going through. And it's interesting because I've really leaned into the fact that content really has little to do with the actual, you know, maybe it's the Instagram strategy, or the funnel strategy or any of these other things. You know, I've taken a million business courses. And that's an exaggeration. But in reality, it feels like I have taken a million business courses, Instagram courses, social media courses, email, writing, courses, all of these different things. But at the heart of this, I feel like the visibility is at the center of it. And at the center of that is for me, my health. And when my health wasn't there, showing up became almost impossible.

00:05:06

In terms of showing up for my podcast, showing up for my Instagram feed, sharing quotes, sharing myself in stories, if you've been around for a while, or if you're new to me, hi, I'm so happy to meet you. But my community that's been around knows that I share selfies, and especially my Instagram feed, I like to share pictures of my kids, I like to share pictures of what I'm doing or what I'm eating. And all of that has stopped. And this is the reason why because my house was not there. And I have taken a long time, it's actually a full year, May 18 is a full year. And I was in the hospital, I'll be honest, here, I was in the hospital, I was in the hospital for my heart. There are many things that I'm working on. I also had a scare with my breast health. So I will let you into a glimpse of that. But I'm not going to share all the details. And here's the thing, and this is a lesson for my own self and my own content creation is that sometimes I don't have to share things. And especially while I'm moving through those processes, I don't have to share them either. And it's interesting because I thought about this a lot lately, the first year that I had two kids under two years old, I decided to take the entire summer off of social media. Now I was posting every single day I was posting, posting, posting, posting, stories, content, everything. And if you look at my Instagram feed, like I literally have 1000s of posts. That's because I was posting every single day. And at that point, I took a whole summer off. And last summer, I did the same, I took the entire summer off. And it was it was wonderful. It literally was it was wonderful. Did I miss my friends 100%. But it was wonderful to not log in to not check in. And I have been doing that a lot lately. I don't even open the app.

00:08:25

And it's really interesting to me to be a person who used to post every single day. And a lot of my identity was associated around posting every single day. And to now really lean into what I'm calling self sourcing, and really leaning into myself. What do I want? How do I want to show up? And maybe these are journal prompts too maybe I could put them in the show notes. And maybe they can inspire you for the summer solstice that's coming up or whenever you're listening to this. How do you want to show up? And people that have come on this podcast? have literally spent afternoons answering these questions? How do you define showing up? What is showing up mean to you? What does it mean when you don't want to show up? And these are questions that I've asked and, you know, I want to caution listeners here. This is not about toxic positivity. This is not about sunshine and rainbows. And recently I added into the description. This is about the magic and the hot mess. This is both and there's so much in between those two spectrums. That's what showing up is to me, it's showing up in a way that authentically aligns with who I am at the moment It's, and that can be really, really, really, really challenging. And I want to honor and acknowledge myself for moving through this process and also to record this episode and share it with you. This is extremely vulnerable. But I'm here and I'm with you.

00:10:20

And we're going to end this podcast the same way that we came in. We're going to end with three deep breaths. So I'm gonna invite you, again, if it's safe to close your eyes, close your eyes, if not, leave them open. And let's take three deep breaths together in your nose. out your nose or mouth. One more time, deep breath in your nose. Deep breath out your nose or mouth. One more time, deep breath in your nose. In a deep breath out your nose or mouth.

00:11:06

Thanks so much for tuning in to show up fully. I am your host chef Carla Contreras. You can find me Chef Carla Contreras across all social platforms, and more information in today's show notes. While you have your phone open, please leave a review on iTunes or Spotify. This is how other people find the show. You could also send this as a text, an email or posts in your social feed. I really appreciate your support, sending you and yours love. Bye

Disclaimer: I am a professionally trained chef and certified holistic health coach; I am also Nutritious Life certified. I am not a nutritionist or RD. I am not a doctor or qualified healthcare professional.

The information contained on this site is my opinion based on research and personal experience unless otherwise stated and should not be substituted for qualified medical advice.

Health-related information is in no way intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any medical or other condition.

Always seek the counsel of a qualified medical practitioner or other healthcare providers for an individual consultation before making any significant changes to your diet and lifestyle or to answer questions about specific medical conditions.

There may be affiliate links used on this site. I only promote products that I LOVE. Thank you for supporting my Latinx & Women-Owned small business!