Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Meghan Jaskinia. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Meghan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

My most unexpected problems, or speed bumps, were my own obstacles of life. I had an idea of what I wanted my business to look like, then life happened. I continued to go through these experiences and they would guide my to a completely different path.

A spinal cord lesion brought me out of the career I went to school for, a detour in a different career path led me to taking the leap to creating a wildly different life purpose than planned.

Late onset postpartum depression led me to redesigning a business beyond just food. I thought I had fixed my issues through nutrition. I reversed the symptoms of a spinal cord lesion and thought that was it. I made the choice to become a health coach. However, time and time again, I was shown ways that put my health AND happiness at the forefront of my approach to life.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have taken my own personal healing journey and created a realistic and simple approach to having a healthier and happier life with The Conscious Living Approach. Healing from a spinal cord lesion that left me with zero motor function in my left hand turned me to the approach of healing with food. Once I reversed all of my symptoms with food, it was a snowball effect to waking up to other areas of my life that needed more attention.

I began healing a 9 year eating disorder that led me to recognizing a lot of mental and emotional distress that formed many unhealthy habits and living blindly to the life I was living. I numbed myself through food, alcohol, screens, unconstructive work schedules, and toxic relationships.

I wanted to live life as my “dream self”, I had an idle way of how I wanted to show up but I was completely lost as to how I could do that. I wanted to be all of the things for all of the people, yet everything seemed chaotic and unattainable. A long journey of trying and failing, trying and learning, trying and growing, is what sparked my idea of developing an approach that other people could relate to and accomplish.

Long story short, I began to put the puzzle pieces together that showed me the power of show up for myself first. I rebuilt my own approach by becoming more conscious to the food I was eating, thoughts I was thinking, and my daily habits. The ultimate goal was to discover things that allowed me to FEEL my best. With that goal, every approach became a no brainer, I no longer second guessed myself. From there, everything else was able to fall into place.

When I showed up for myself, I was able to show up for every other area of my life. Mamahood, my marriage, my relationships, our home, our finances.

I am proud of this work because I used to have zero faith in myself. I would see these healthy and happy people and tell myself many “once I….” statements that kept me stuck in negative patterns. By being put in a place where fighting for myself wasn’t an option, I was able to discover my own strength. From there, I now get the privilege of being other people’s cheerleader as they discover their strength. When we all begin to live life more consciously, we can create a much healthier and happier world to live in…with ease.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When the spinal cord lesion was discovered, the first answer I was given was that is was either Multiple Sclerosis or a glioma. During the process of running an unbelievable amount of tests to find more answers, doctors warned me that my ability to have children may be very challenging some day, if even possible. I buried that gut wrenching news way down as I focused on healing myself. I was something I couldn’t face or accept. I was left with a brief diagnosis with the answer that I would likely develop MS at some point.

After months of healing and reversing the symptoms and the lesion shrinking in size, I started to rebuild my life. I started a new job and I began thinking what life was going to start looking like. Things started to feel a little off and I had the thought to take a pregnancy test to rule that out with the sad belief that it wasn’t probably likely anyways.

To my surprise, the second blue line appeared. My body shook with so many emotions. Emotions from the entire experience with the lesion, the buried news that it may never happen, the reality that I was going to be a mom. This was another piece that sent me from a traumatic health experience, to motherhood, navigating building a new career, and my own healing experience. I constantly had something thrown my way but the life I am living now if beyond the dream life I ever imagined for myself. I continued to pick myself up, I continued to show up, I was willing to try something new time and time again.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When living a life in constant stress, anxiety, waiting for the other shoe to drop, I had to bring myself to a place where I felt safe being happy. I had to learn how to be grateful and trust that happiness was here to stay. I could enjoy life, I could find happiness, I could bounce back from discomfort that life throws at you.

My mindset was a scary place to be. It created a massive amount of tension in my body. My stomach was always in knots. I never left the fight or flight mode. I had to learn to regulate my emotions, to relax my body, to comfort my own mind that was trapped in toxic thought cycles.

By unlearning these things, I have opened up so much space for my life and my career. Things began flowing a whole lot easier when I loosened my grip little bit.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.healthyandhappywithease.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthyandhappywithease/