A (2:27)

Yeah, I actually got into all this because of my own experience. And so seven years ago, I gave birth to my fourth son and I was unexpectedly hit with postpartum psychosis when he was just 10 days old. I suffered from postpartum psychosis for 18 months before I got help and got diagnosis. Went through therapy and everything after hospitalization and medication, the whole nine yards. And struggled for another eight months. It was right about his second birthday that I got clarity again. And I felt like I found myself again. But it was very short lived. Just two months after his second birthday, I found myself in complete paralysis. I was unable to speak. I couldn't move my body, couldn't feel my body. I literally was laying in the hospital just blinking. And they told me it was my postpartum depression coming back. And I knew that wasn't right. I knew that this time there was actually a physical symptom to what was going on. I just started this process of advocating for myself, searching for the answers, and discovered that what I was struggling with was instability of the skull and neck in combination with genetic disorder. And that I needed a really rare surgery and that this surgery, only a few surgeons in the world could perform at the time. And I ended up in Barcelona, Spain.

B (4:02)

Wow.

A (4:03)

For my surgery. And I mean, I go into my book more about my journey of how I got there. But there are a few things that I really want to point out. And one is like I had so many doors shut my face in the process. And doctors who didn't believe me, y doctors said it was just depression. And I knew it wasn't this time and searched for what was beyond that. When I did the consultation with the surgeon in Barcelona, it was the first time anyone told me I was a textbook case. Said, you are textbook for this.

B (4:37)

Wow.

A (4:38)

And he gave me a price. Yeah, it was a really big price.

B (4:43)

Okay.

A (4:45)

And my husband looked at me and he just said, we'll sell the house. He looked at me, he just said, we have it in equity. We'll sell the house. Because what is a house without a mother? We just fought so hard for your life through postpartum psychosis. Like selling the house is nothing.

B (5:01)

So you sold the house and got the surgery.

A (5:04)

So we sold the house, and at the 11th hour, a buyer came in and bought the house. We had to pay for the surgery in full before I went. Yeah, we got the funds from the sale of our house the day before. We had to wire it to Barcelona. We wire it and we're moving out of our house in March of 2020 when I get an email from the school saying the school shut down for two weeks.

B (5:28)

Yeah.

A (5:29)

And I was like, oh, boy. I mean, we don't Want to think it? No. Want to speak it out loud. Don't want to jinx ourselves. But a couple days later, I get a phone call from Barcelona and they said, just real sorry, but your surgery is being postponed. The hospital's been shut down and we are living in a one bedroom basement apartment with four boys, two bunk beds in the family room. We've sold our house to pay for this and now in limbo.

B (6:00)

And you've already wired the money?

A (6:01)

Yeah.

B (6:02)

So it's just in esc. You know, they're holding it now?

A (6:05)

Yeah, yeah, they're just holding it.

B (6:06)

Oh, God.

A (6:07)

And it's just like we don't know how long it's going to be.

B (6:11)

Yeah, yeah.

A (6:11)

We don't know how long the hospital's going to be shut down. It was just this in the waiting. Pain of being in the waiting.

B (6:19)

Yeah.

A (6:20)

I'm living well, I'm.

B (6:21)

Physically. You're still.

A (6:23)

Yeah, yeah. I'm living in a lot of pain. I have a migraine 24 7. I live in sunglasses and a hat. I'm in a neck brace around the clock. If I even take off the neck brace to like, I have to shower in it, sleep in it, everything. And when I take off the neck brace, put dry pads on it. If I don't have it back on within a few seconds, I black out.

B (6:47)

Oh, my gosh.

A (6:48)

I'm having seizures from the instability in the neck. I have no filling. I can't gauge temperature.

B (6:55)

And this was all pushed off by doctors here, your main doctors.

A (6:59)

Yeah, yeah. There were a couple specialists here that could have taken the case and they declined my case. One was over insurance and it's just really of shame, honestly.

B (7:12)

Well, so let's ass sword. So you look, you know, great now, right. You're. You're really kicking it now. So I imagine, you know, it's come full circle and. And you've turned all of that pain and suffering and experience into helping other people. Right. So. So that's. At least that's come out of it. And I can tell you very passionate about that. So. So tell, tell me about, you know, you fast forward. How long till the surgery happened?

A (7:39)

So the surgery ended up happening in June of 2020 because I had a near death experience in April.

B (7:45)

Okay.

A (7:46)

The day I was supposed to have.

B (7:47)

Worse before it gets better.

A (7:49)

Yeah. The day I was supposed to have my surgery, I was at physical therapy and I had a near death experience. And basically I was after I was floating above my body and it all went black. I heard a voice and it Just said, it's not your time yet. You need to go back. And I was like, hello. Don't know if you notice that body is full of air. Also in a lot of pain. I don't think I want to go back. And they're just like, you have a choice. We can't make you go back, but you haven't fulfilled your purpose. And I made a choice in that moment. I chose that if I could get myself to breathe again, because I was really not sure I could, that I would come back to this body, even with the pain, even with the neck brace and the crutches and the paralysis, and that I would choose to live life with these conditions versus headbutting them. That I was going to be on a mission to show my boys that you can find joy in every circumstance, that there can be purpose and passion still in life, even if what you're physically able to do is very limited. And so I did, and I ended up having that surgery. I just really. A few short weeks later, because of that near death experience, they bumped me up to the top of the list, and I was able to get in in June, I spent six weeks in Barcelona in the middle of pandemic.

B (9:24)

And the kids were where.

A (9:25)

And the kids are back home with grandma.

B (9:28)

Okay.

A (9:29)

So they spent. My husband came for three weeks of the trip.

B (9:32)

Yeah.

A (9:33)

And then he went back home because we have four kids. They were ages 2 to 7.

B (9:37)

Okay.

A (9:37)

They were real young. And. And he had work. And so we flew out a friend that was willing to travel during COVID I was like an all expense paid trip to an apartment in Barcelona. Would you like to come babysit me for three weeks? And God just met me in that apartment, though. And we had such precious time together in those three weeks that she was with me. And then I come back, and it was terrible traveling because at the time it was really difficult to cross countries. During COVID I had a lot of medical paperwork and I had to take three flights.

B (10:18)

Yep.

A (10:19)

And it was a lot on a body who just endured surgery at the point of flying home. I'd only sat up for a total of two hours at a time. And it was a 26 hour trip.

B (10:29)

And this is after six weeks. You only sat up twice for two hour totals. Yeah.

A (10:34)

Yeah. So I'd sit up for like two hours in the morning, and then I'd be down all day. And then I like, sit up and, like, for dinner for a few minutes, and then I'd be down and I could barely be upright still. I had Just had surgery a month prior. I was four weeks post op.

B (10:52)

It's a crazy story. So, so I, you know, this, I mean, we could spend all day talking about this. It's, it's so crazy. But I want to make sure we get to the, the new part and the part where you're helping people. Right. So, so let's talk a little about how's that now transitioned into your business and your practice and you're helping people and, and this methodology. Can you give us the summary of that transition?

A (11:17)

So I was told, you know, only expect so much out of life. This is your prognosis. This is as good as it's going.

B (11:23)

To get disabled, basically. Yeah.

A (11:26)

And they're like, you're going to be disabled for life. Just settle for good enough, settle for being happy that you can be a mom again. And, and for a little bit, I bought it. I did. I was just grateful to be alive. I was grateful to be walking without crutches. I was still in my neck brace most the time, but I was experiencing life again and I was just grateful for every experience.

B (11:52)

Yeah.

A (11:53)

And then I realized on one really painful day that who said I couldn't heal? Like, who decided that this is my life? Because I didn't. I just accepted it. And I realized that I had made chronic illness slowly an identity and that as long as that was my identity, I would never experience health.

B (12:21)

Yeah. I have. You know, this is obviously super unique story, but I have always been fascinated and heard other people and stories about, and I do believe the mind's so powerful that, yeah, 90 sadly go one way and listen to the diagnosis and what they get told by the doctors and the experts and fall for it. Right. And then believe it. Whereas there's a few, you know, maybe stronger minded and willed people that, you know, and generally they're entrepreneurs or athletes or whatever. Right. And they, they, they decide, no, that's not going to be my reality. And you know, I've got a couple of friends that were in, you know, massive accidents or born with a diagnosis, you know, and they totally turn their life around just because they believed. You know, it's crazy.

A (13:04)

Yeah. And the first step is flipping that question from like, I can't heal to who said I can't? Yeah, why can't I? As long as you're saying I can't heal your body, your mind will not create a solution.

B (13:18)

Well, we talk a lot about this in business. If you say you can't make a million dollars or you won't ever. Yeah. It's it's very, very similar.

A (13:26)

Then you're right. Right. So what I found was that I had somehow slipped into believing that I was a disabled mother. And as long as I believed that I was never going to be anything more than a disabled mother.

B (13:42)

Yeah.

A (13:42)

And I wanted to be so much more.

B (13:44)

Well, and what's fascinating by this too is I know a couple of paralympians and pro athletes that, you know, leg replacement or something crazy. But they're more alive and more athletic and Strong willed than 90% of the population that can't exercise and. Right. And it's, it's just the mindset, you know, because physically the person with a full limb should be able to exercise and be healthy. But this person that's, you know, gone through a major car crash or was in the military and lost their legs is, you know, more, more willing and able and, and physical than people that are fully, you know, without disability. So it's fascinating how the mind plays into this and, and you know, I see where now you're, you're coming with that 80% mind, 20% physical. So let's talk now about the, the business side. So you've started, you know, you've wrote a book, took all of this pain and this experience and turned it into good, which is what most legacy makers stories are also like. And entrepreneurs, you know, will be it not as crazy and severe as yours, but, but, but the general trend of past bad experience. How can I now help other people? Right. So how are you helping other people now with this?

A (14:58)

So I took my healing process and I analyzed where did I make the biggest jumps, where did I have the most quantum leaps in my healing and how can I teach what I did? Yeah, I spent about nine months analyzing my biggest healing markers and creating a program how to teach it. And so I've put together this program of how to teach my biggest healing moments. And the thing that makes it so interesting is after my surgery I was actually diagnosed with Lyme's disease and I found out that I had actually had chronic lymes for about 17 years at that point. And I had gone to a doctor in Mexico who specializes in healing limes naturally. And as I started to support my body to be able to detox and literally that is like what they do, they just support the body enforcing a detox. So the Lyme's disease gets out of your cells, gets out of your organs into your bloodstream so you can detox it. And after seeing him for about a year, my lab work started to Drastically improve, but my symptoms weren't. And that's when I realized how powerful my mind was and that my mind was keeping me sick. Because staying the same is safe.

B (16:17)

Yeah.

A (16:17)

I am feeling healthy. That's not safe. That's new. That's different. And I had to figure out how to bridge that gap. And so that's really what I teach. Like, first, how can we switch it from I can't heal, or this is my diagnosis to why can't I heal? Who said it can't be me? And then taking that, bridging quickly on that.

B (16:40)

I imagine, though, you get a lot of, you know, obviously once a client really buys in, maybe not. But in the initial stages, well, the doctor told me I couldn't heal. They're the expert, a medical expert. So I think they're right. And you're, you know, how can you be, you know, they're the medical professional. So do you hear that and what do you say?

A (16:57)

That I do. And I can relate to them because I was there.

B (17:03)

Yeah. Because they especially doctors, are on this pedestal, Right. Very much so.

A (17:08)

You know, and I think I was born with part of my brain missing that doesn't give two shits about that. My husband always says he just loves watching me go at it with a doctor.

B (17:21)

Yeah. Yeah. I'm always the same. I love to argue and debate things.

A (17:25)

I am not a debater, actually. But I will with a doctor.

B (17:28)

Yeah.

A (17:28)

I will go tooth and nail and.

B (17:30)

I will not drop. But were you like that now? Are you like that now because of this experience, or were you always like.

A (17:36)

I was always like that.

B (17:38)

Well, that helps you.

A (17:38)

Strange.

B (17:39)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

A (17:40)

I did find in the very beginning of starting this business, I was nervous about what will people's. What will my doctor say? What will other doctors say? But I find the people who are ready to work with me, it's because Western medicines failed them.

B (17:55)

Yeah.

A (17:56)

They're at the ultimate low and they're willing to try something different.

B (18:01)

Yeah. Well, I had to say, you know, I started in the health space 15 years ago, and I, you know, I didn't cure disease or anything like that, but I did a lot around, you know, weight loss and health. And we would have some clients just, you know, because of what we were doing on the diet and exercise side, blood pressure and things would improve and they'd come off medication. Right. And then you'd kind of get into it with the doctors because they're like, oh, no, that, you know, or, you know, we used to sometimes do higher fat intake, lower Carb and to most old school doctors in the uk. Yeah, it was crazy to do that. Right. So, so, so, you know, I've had some, some debates with doctors too. But, but I think, you know, you were lucky that you had that questioning sort of, even though you're not into baiting that questioning sort of mentality because it probably helped you get to where you are now. And yeah, and yeah, it's great you're helping clients. So if someone's listening and they, you know, maybe they're suffering a health problem or know someone that is. How, how do they, you know that? How, how do they go about finding someone like you or working from a mindset perspective?

A (19:05)

There's a few things first. If they want to work with me, they are welcome to reach out. I do one on one coaching and group coaching as well. Because your community matters.

B (19:15)

Okay. Yeah.

A (19:16)

Right. And I offer a program where you can just get the program and follow what I teach or you can get more support. So you can find that through my website. Brooke-anderson.com anderson.com but if you're just at the very beginning and you're kind of questioning, you're still skeptical, not so sure you've lost hope because I was there.

B (19:42)

Yeah.

A (19:44)

The first thing you do is start repeating every single day, why can't I.

B (19:49)

And, and this applies to, can this apply if someone's got a bad knee and, or a bad back or, you know, it doesn't have to be this life.

A (19:57)

No. It doesn't have to be chronic illness. It doesn't have to be something so big as mine. For example, someone who's even struggling with like regular headaches.

B (20:04)

Sure.

A (20:05)

Or a joint pain. Who said I have to live with this?

B (20:08)

Yeah.

A (20:09)

Who said as soon as you start questioning it and you repeat the question, your mind is going to start looking for solutions now has a problem it can fix.

B (20:20)

Well, and I, you know, I've noticed not saying everyone, but I do think some people, they kind of like you say they get comfortable being the victim. Like I've met people where, you know, they've had this disease or whatever or chronic health problem and they'll, you know, back when I was in my fitness days, they talked to me about it and then I'd say, so what are you doing about it? And they just go, oh, nothing is the doctor, you know, it just is what it is. And I always remember, I always, you know, I wouldn't go at it with them because I'd try and be respectful. I'd be like, oh, that's you know, real shame. You should look into other options. You know, But I always thought in my head, luckily I've had good health most of my life. But I've always thought, yeah, if I ever got told this is your reality, I've always thought to myself, I would be one of those few that proves everyone wrong and, you know, walks again if I got told I couldn't or whatever.

A (21:07)

Right.

B (21:07)

Hopefully that doesn't happen. But, yeah, it's. It's really fascinating how the mind works and again, how it just, you know, obviously I'm on the business side now and the correlation between that and the health side. So I just want to ask you a few questions more about. Obviously, there's so much to cover here, but in your. In your episode. Right. What are they. Are you diving into more of this and the story and I dive into.

A (21:31)

The backstory a lot.

B (21:32)

Okay.

A (21:33)

But why I am who I am and why I'm. It's so important to me.

B (21:37)

Yeah. And. And like I said, if people are maybe listening, you have some tips in the episode or here where, you know, where do they start? Right. I heard the first thing is starting to question it. But. And obviously they can work with you, but is maybe your book's another good place to start or.

A (21:55)

So my book is a great place to start because I actually go through a process I created with you in there, and I do it real time as I was writing it. And it was just me having to be really honest about skeletons, my closet. When I wrote my book, I was still. I really felt like a fraud, honestly, the week I wrote my book, because the day I wrote this section of the book, I was living with crazy migraine. I was in so much pain, and I was just like, who am I to be speaking about this? Who am I? And I ended up writing 10,000 words that day and creating this process that I have been able to transform to other areas of life and apply it.

B (22:38)

Yeah.

A (22:39)

And so even if you don't have chronic illness, people are victims to their identity in every way. You can apply this process to any area you're a victim into your life with, because what it does is it makes you really analyze it. Like, how is this serving me? Because I wouldn't keep it if it weren't serving me. What's the cost of it? What am I benefiting from it? But what am I ultimately giving up because of it? And it really makes you analyze. And you'll see a pattern in your answers. I immediately saw a pattern in my answers. And it was that I wasn't owning my voice for what I needed. I would just go, go, go because I'm healthy today. So I've got so much I have to accomplish before I crash again. Right.

B (23:24)

Yeah.

A (23:25)

And. But what it was, is my body was creating crashes because I wouldn't take life at a healthy pace for me.

B (23:33)

Yeah. So. So last couple of questions around the legacy side, the book. I think, you know, if anyone's experienced in this or maybe knows someone that has. It seems a great first step to dive into. But. But where, you know, where does the legacy come in? Right. Is. Is your vision now to get this out to the world? Because there's millions of people in pain. Right. So is that really your passion now?

A (23:57)

I have two passions and they go together. My passion is mental health and chronic illness because people that are stuck in chronic illness who have lost hope, you see it so often, they. They give up. I mean, one of the first things like the surgeon asks you, are you suicidal?

B (24:15)

Oh, wow.

A (24:16)

Because, I mean, and I've known people.

B (24:19)

Yeah, because you're in pain every day. Yeah.

A (24:21)

People who just give up because they can't see past.

B (24:25)

And I think it's once you lose the hope, it's not the pain side, it's the fact that you don't believe it's ever going to go away. Right. Yeah.

A (24:34)

And so my legacy is getting this out there, returning people to their self because that's where they find the power for healing.

B (24:47)

Yeah.

A (24:48)

You. Once your mind, soul and spirit, mind, body, spirit align, you will find healing. You don't have to tell yourself how to heal a broken bone. You don't have to tell yourself how to grow a baby.

B (24:59)

We're very adaptable as human beings. Right?

A (25:02)

Right.

B (25:02)

Like you say, the belief part, I think so. So important. Love that. So. So next last question. You've already talked about it a little, but someone's listening. They want to go buy the book, follow you on social media, check out your website, maybe speak to you. How do that?

A (25:18)

Yeah. So easiest place to connect to me quickly is through Instagram, probably. My handle is live at Live Underscore. Even with. Because that is my tagline, you know, like, first you've got to stop headbutting.

B (25:34)

Yeah.

A (25:35)

What you're dealing with. And then you can get my book on Amazon and you can follow up with anything that I'm offering at the time with on my personal website, which everything's linked to on Instagram as well. You don't have to remember all these. But brooke-anderson.com is my personal website, and it links to my book, links to that website, links to coaching and retreats that I'm hosting.

B (26:02)

So love that. And we'll link all that in the show note.

A (26:04)

So perfect.

B (26:05)

Super. I mean, we could have gone for hours, but, you know, it was good. We got to hear the story, the transition, and then, you know how you're starting to help people now, too. So I think it's just amazing how you've turned it360. So good for you. And I'm excited to see more of it. So good stuff, guys. Impactful episode. Hopefully that's left you questioning some things and maybe know someone in your life that needs to hear this. So if so, share this episode with them because it could change their life, too, I hope. And that's a wrap for another episode of Legacy Makers. Take care.