Welcome to the Small Steps Podcast. I'm your host, Amy Soon. I'm a nutritional therapy practitioner, blogger at Small Eats, author of Not at My Dastal Lunch, designer, and avid learner. In my nutrition practice, I help you cut through the health and wellness noise to find what works for you.
This podcast is here to educate, inspire, and empower you to grow, try new things, and live a life you truly feel good about once in all of a sudden time. Each episode has small steps that you can try and see how they work for you. You can find all the show notes, small steps, and other episodes at small-eats.com. Slash podcast.
Remember, the materials and content within this podcast are intended as general information only. They are not to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Well, hello. It's been a minute.
I'm your host, Amy. It is a Small Steps Podcast. It is episode 89. And this podcast is more just to give you some updates and insights about lack of shows happening and also to acknowledge things that are happening in the country and also in the world.
So yeah, this is what this podcast is about, shorter podcast, probably than usual. But here you go. First, I want to say something that's really important to me is that I want to say very clearly that Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter, the health and healing of Black Lives Matter, Black Voices Matter, and especially in the context of this podcast and the work that I do, Black Voices in the wellness space matter.
I haven't talked about this in a while on the podcast explicitly, and I wanted to take this time to explicitly say, a major reason why I started and created this podcast is because the mainstream wellness world across many platforms and mediums didn't look like me or didn't show anyone else, for the most part, besides an attractive, cishet, thin, white man, or white woman with a certain level of financial access and privilege, and that isn't me. So I think I talked about this more on the episode about being bivacial. I'll put that in the show notes if you want to hear more about that. If you haven't listened to my intro or in the first podcast, definitely go back and listen to that.
Why I started this podcast is I wanted to meet those people. I wanted to find those people in this space because I knew they existed, but I didn't know where they were. I knew they were out there. So I started this podcast to meet and talk with more people that look like me or look less than mainstream folks that I didn't really feel super connected with anymore and also to share those people with you.
It's been extremely important for me in my own healing, which I talk about in the episode about what I've learned from a year of podcasting if you want to listen to that, because it's been really helpful for me to take up space and connect with other people in the wellness space that aren't the dominant narrative. And I know from talking with other people, whether that's in this podcast and out in the world, the hearing and listening and knowing that other people that look like us are out there and are doing less work and are practitioners that you could work with or look to on Instagram, like that is such a relief for folks when we find more people that look like us or who share the experiences that we have. When I started this podcast about two years ago, this wasn't as big of a thing. And now in since that time, a lot more of us, when I say us, I say folks of color, I say people that haven't been traditionally gotten the spotlight in mainstream wellness, we have started podcasts, we have started platforms, we have started communities, more people have started these.
If you haven't listened to any of the podcasts that I've done with, I've brought them on to interview them, I've definitely done this with Plus 100 Alfred, she was episode 36, she has the website platform podcast, bounce black girl, I highly recommend that you go listen to her podcast. So many great guests, so many other awesome women of color. Also talked with Kayla Neda of the Wellness Glow Up, that's also a podcast on a website, we talk on episode 58 of this podcast, these will be in the show notes. Another person who is so great, has not been on the podcast yet.
One day the starting line is Dr. Shina Young, she's a mental health professional, and she also started a great online community for BIPOC healers of color called Kindred Medicine, and she also just recently started a podcast. So that will also be in the show notes. Other people that are doing great work, she will be on the podcast soon, is Shore Dabadi, she does the Redefining Health and Wellness Podcast, it's a great podcast.
Other communities that have popped up, diversifying dietetics, which is all about diversifying the registered dietitian world, still pretty white, a lot of the recommendations in their education, very white, doesn't really talk to everybody else. Nia Wellness, which is based in yoga, Reclamation Ventures, which is also based in helping wellness professionals, more specifically yoga folks. There's also Dive In Well, which is a whole community around helping those that aren't usually in the mainstream wellness world, take up more space and how to create allyship across white folks and other traditionally marginalized folks, also the cosmos, which is focused on Asian folks, all these people who have been shown out to be interested. So I wanted to say that there are people out here doing it and taking up space, and that is another big part of why this podcast exists.
In addition to sharing topics about health and wellness with you, that's a huge part of it. So I haven't talked about it in a while. In explicit terms, I wanted to make it really clear. Also for myself, I'm continuing my lifelong work of learning about social justice and oppression, and learning my own internalized oppression, which does include anti-blackness, and creating and supporting change as it happens.
I've been donating to funds, talking with folks, talking on this podcast, sharing things that I learned, sharing the resources that I learned and people that I've learned from, and I will definitely continue doing that in the future. Moving forward, this podcast is definitely going to keep bringing on people who have been underrepresented in the wellness world and sharing their magic and small steps for health and healing. That is definitely still going to be a major part of this podcast. It is very important to me.
I'm gonna have an increase to focus on the diversity of people on the podcast. While I think I've had a more diverse lineup than like what's considered mainstream, I know that I can do more and I can do better as far as bringing on more people who are black, queer, fat, neurodivergent, gender fluid, and non-binary, and any intersection of those or other things that I haven't mentioned based on race and other identities. So I will continue to make sure that the lineup moving forward is diverse and talks to lots of different experiences and different ways of how we look at health and wellness and how we heal. This podcast will also continue to talk about the many systems and forms of oppression that affect us all, especially in our health and wellness.
Health and wellness, which I've talked about a lot, a lot over this podcast is that it has become this strains aspirational, never-ending hamster wheel of self-improvement where the emphasis is on how we can get our diets to be cleaner, which you know if you listen to this podcast for any amount of time, that's not what we're about here, how they can make the thoughts more positive and how you can make your butt tighter or leaner, whatever the fuck, we're not really here for that. Our health and wellness can also be, yet if you want that to be like that, like that exists, that's a part of the wellness and industrial complex, and also, health and wellness can be stepping outside of those systems, untangling from how much they've been a part of our lives because a lot of us it's been most of our lives, figuring out how to take care of ourselves in different and all ways that are actually deeply meaningful and important to us, figuring out what rest looks like for us, healing from trauma, whether that's actual incidental trauma or that's intergenerational trauma, that's interchild stuff, all those things, healing from physical manifestations of prolonged stress and and improving our relationship with food and whatever that means, reincorporating traditional foods that maybe we left behind because the white wellness world told us that those weren't healthy, there are so many things that are really important and this podcast will definitely continue to talk about those. And I will continue to talk more about these things in social media whenever I feel like it's ready for me to come back to social media, I haven't really been on that. So whenever that time feels right, I don't know exactly when that is, I will come back to it.
So if you're open and down for all of this, I can't wait for you to listen to what's next with the podcast. I'm really working on things here and there, we're gonna talk about this in a little bit. I'm really excited that you're here and that you wanna keep listening and unlearn and learn and do all these things and think about stuff. Whether that's the most comfortable or not, I'm really glad that you're here.
If you're not down for this, if you feel like, nah, this isn't really what I want, this is really not what I'm interested anymore, maybe this doesn't really speak to me or directly apply to me anymore, maybe this is where we part ways. There are lots of other health and wellness podcasts out there that don't talk about this, that maybe talk about other things. There are a lot of other places out there that you can totally find what you're looking for. So if this is where we part, totally cool, no hurt feelings, I hope you find the podcasts or the places and spaces that work best for you.
And if you're still here for the ride, we're gonna keep going. So something I mentioned at the very beginning is it's been a minute, it's been a minute since I have uploaded a podcast. It's been a minute if you follow me on social media that I've really said anything, like I appear, I don't physically appear on stories anymore, but I share things and are minimally on stories that aren't mine. So where have I been?
I don't know if you really care, but it feels important for me to share this with you because I wanna be transparent and talk about this because it feels important. So after the protests, the uprising, the increased awareness around racial inequities, unfortunately a lot of black folks dying, I took a pause to see what would be helpful for the podcast, for social media, and also I checked in with myself. And if you haven't heard episode 87, in which I talk about the things that I've been thinking about and processing and working with through Corona Times, that can give you a little context to where I was before all the uprisings and protests happen. If you didn't listen to that shortcut, your girl has been feeling pretty tired and pretty burned out and has been trying to rest more.
And just like, ooh, lots of stuff happening as I balance or try to balance all the things. When I checked in with myself, honestly, I needed some space. I needed space to process, to feel just to be a person. I also had some of my older traumas that are my traumas pop up and I needed to just focus on those and get through those and get some support around those.
So I decided that that was more important than being on social media at the level that I have been on social media or talking about the podcast or recording podcasts or figuring out all that stuff. I just slowed this down as other things continued that I just haven't been talking about in the social media sense. Like I've been doing a lot more social justice work within my day job, which I can't really talk about here or on social media. And I've been checking in with a lot of people in my life inside and outside of work.
And oh yeah, there's this pandemic happening. So the more that I say that out loud, the more it's like, oh, you know, like just dealing with all of this stuff and trauma and checking with people in Corona. And like, it's a lot of stuff. And my brain definitely said, oh, you have to just do everything, right?
Like you know how to do that. Ooh, well, my body said no. I started outlining a series for the podcast that will come out soon, which I'm excited about because it talks all about social justice and how to continue doing the work after the more news-worthy things fade. And when I was working on it, I also, as checking with myself, it was a bit too much for me to do at that time.
Being in it, dealing with it on multiple fronts, it was just a lot. And so I gave myself, which is not easy for me, which is especially if you listen to episode 87 and probably the first episode, which I talk about like how I got here. Oh, that's not super easy for me to give myself permission to focus on my care and my rest and to set really strong boundaries around my social media and time, how much I'm working. So I just kind of like slowed all of that down so that I could recover and heal and get some like stuff back, get some of my capacity back, so that I can keep doing this work.
Social justice work, this work here on the podcast, this work with my clients, all of that. It's important to know if you don't already or remember, because I have to remind myself of this all the time, that this work, whether that's social justice, whether that's unlearning, whether that's all the things, it's lifelong. The systems of oppression that people are seeing more clearly now or more recently have been an existence for a long ass time. It will take time to see, understand, dismantle, and then create something new that's liberatory and supportive for all folks.
And if we are in it for the long haul, that means that my care, your care, everyone's care is important. It's always important, but it's important to say because your brilliance is needed for this work. And it can be really fucking hard to be brilliant if you are tired, exhausted, or in need of your own support and healing. I want to state that because some of the stuff that's out there right now really emphasizes that if you have more privileges than other people or if you're less marginalized or if you're not a person of color or you're newer to this work in general, that you should be just, nose to the grind and stone, doing all the stuff, checking all the boxes, learning all the stuff, immediately now do it action and that you basically don't deserve rest.
And that message can be really deeply hurtful and dehumanizing. We are all deserving of rest. And taking away someone's humanity, whether that's directly saying that, of like, you don't deserve to do this or just calling someone trash in some way, shape or form, that is another way that Shane Blayman guilt perpetuates itself and that is the way that systems of oppression work. So the more that we are less human, the more that we're not actually deeply doing the work to dismantle systems and create new different systems that don't just continue to recreate other systems with a different face on them, with a different name.
So the idea that it's important to take care of yourself in order to take care of others, completely applies here to. We've all heard the whole, like, put the mask on yourself before you put it on someone next to you, blah, blah, blah. That applies here too. It's not just for your own self-care to do whatever else you need to do or to prioritize yourself over your care, over some other things.
And also it's important to know, especially in the lens of doing social justice work or moving towards allyship, if you're not okay, the chances that you might harm someone else go up and that's not what we want. We are not doing this work to harm other people. We're doing this work to support enough lift and help people heal. And so those are things that I just wanted to say because those feel important and a lot of things on social media are screaming right now.
There's a lot of pain, there's a lot of anger. And all these emotions are valid. There's a lot of pain and suffering that has been not acknowledged and not given space to be discharged for a long time. And the way that a lot of people are doing that isn't always the most helpful.
Now that people are doing it on purpose but there's just a lot, there's just a lot going on right now. And so it can be really confusing to figure out how to do this work, what to do, what's next, what's wrong, what's right, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, which is why I wanted to create this podcast series that's gonna come up soon. It's very, very possible to continue to take smaller steps in social justice and your health in anything while you're doing the larger care that you need as well. And it all really depends on what's happening for you in the moment and in the context around the moments before.
So it is very possible to take small steps towards doing social justice work or taking small steps towards dismantling stuff within yourself and with other folks and also spending time focusing on the care that you need. It's very, very possible. This is a yes and world. This is not an either or kind of world.
That's just how we do here. So all of this to say that the podcast is going to come back. We're gonna have a series that's focusing on social justice and how you can continue to do this work, who you could learn from, how to make this an ongoing practice and more. Very logistical, like how do you set some kind of framework that really works for you so that you can do this work and sharing a lot of resources for who you can work with, other resources, other things like that.
I'm aiming for that to come back in late July as I record this and release this. It's gonna be the beginning of July. Probably come back late July or the August because I'm still trying to actually put the series together, record it, make sure that I have the right energy as far as having any energy to record the podcast, et cetera. So I'm still trying to balance checking it with myself and what I need and getting this series together in a way that I feel really satisfied to share it with you.
Not in a way to make it perfect, but in the ways to talk about a lot of stuff. That's really important to me and making sure I'm saying it in the way that I want to. So in the meantime, I highly recommend listening or re-listening to episode 32 and episode 33. Episode 32 is with Dr.
T Williams. He is my social justice teacher, friend, mentor. I have learned so much from him in all of this work. And we have a pretty in-depth conversation.
It's a longer conversation. It's probably the longest podcast in all the podcasts that we've done. It's just him and I talking. I share my social justice journey.
He's been a huge part of it. So I wanted to bring him on to kind of talk about that with me and talk about the approach that I learned from him that he teaches and why it's different. That is episode 32. And then episode 33 is a continuation, just with me talking about additional things and considerations for how to do the work of social justice and what that can mean.
So there's a lot of things that can keep you tight over until the series comes out. Also, I want to be really transparent with you that I don't really know when the podcast is going to go back to quote the normal format of the alternating interviews and solo shows. I don't know yet. I've went through most of the stuff that I had banked and recorded like a few months ago.
I have one that I can put up, but I don't have anymore right now. And I'm trying to figure out what's the most appropriate thing to do with this time, a lot of questions. And with everything else happening, I'm trying to be really mindful of my own capacity and my own energy, which has been definitely lower. The podcast does take a lot of time.
It does take a lot of energy. And lately with everything going on, I just don't have as much. I wonder why. So I just want to be really honest with you that I'm trying to figure out what's going to work for me and also trying to share that with you.
So in case you are, whether at this time or any other times in the future, going through like you've got a lot on your plate and maybe there's something you have to set down for a little bit knowing that that's 100% okay because the more that I have heard people modeling that, whether that's they took a break on their podcast or they took a break on social media or whatever. Like the more I have heard examples of people really doing that, the way less scarier it has felt to do that and to talk about it. Because taking a break is 100% okay. Hustling usually for the long term is not really sustainable and it's a lot of internalized capitalism and like not always really super helpful.
And we're not robots. We all need to take a breaks. And I actually really haven't taken a long term break except for like what happened in the past like one or so. I haven't really taken a break on this podcast besides two times before in the past almost two years.
So there have been episodes every single week, basically for two years except for before this break. That's a lot. My patterns and my standards are like, no, you must always provide this content at all times. Whether in reality, they're like, I've been tired and it's been adding up to my tiredness and my decreased capacity.
So just putting that out there, if this resonates with you at all or it might resonate with you in the future. So I will definitely keep you updated after the series comes out seeing what's next. If you have any requests on what you would like to learn or you would like to see next or any guests, please let me know. You can send me a DM at small underscore Eats and let me know anything that you're interested in, hearing or guests.
And I will definitely work to get them on the show. So that's it for now. There's going to be a podcast series. The podcast will come back just to cover that series.
It's about five episodes. And that will be in late July or the August. And that will run through. And then after that, I don't know.
And I'll definitely let you know as it just comes out what's going to be next. So thank you so much for listening to the podcast now, forever. Thanks for being here. And thanks for being you.
Thanks for being open to this journey and for taking things once most of the time. And remember, no matter what's going on, you can do it. Whatever that is, whether that's doing the hard work, taking a break, staying no, setting boundaries, you can do it once most of the time.