Rewilded Wellness

Healing Happens in Order — Safety Comes First

If you’ve been trying to heal — doing all the tests, chasing protocols, supplementing diligently — and yet feel stuck, reactive, or like nothing is working, you’re not imagining it. Your body is responding exactly as it should: with survival, not repair. The missing piece? Safety.

Most healing approaches assume: “Do the right thing hard enough, and the body will follow.” But biology doesn’t work that way. Healing unfolds in an order dictated by the nervous system — by safety — not by protocol intensity.

Here’s how it really happens:

1. Safety First

Before you detox, supplement, or chase labs, the nervous system has to feel secure.

This isn’t just a feeling — it’s biological. When the peripheral nervous system is flooded from chronic stress, too many interventions, or trying to “do everything at once,” the body shifts into hypervigilance. Digestion stalls, absorption falters, blood sugar swings, and even “good” interventions feel like a...

I’ve been sitting with something that feels important to name, because I don’t think most people realize what they’ve actually been missing — or why so many of us have felt stuck, hesitant, or quietly exhausted on our healing journeys.

For a long time, I thought I was the problem. I wanted support. I sought it out. I read the books, learned the language, followed the advice. And yet, again and again, I couldn’t bring myself to fully step into the help that was offered. Something in me stayed braced. Watching. Calculating. Holding back.

It wasn’t a lack of commitment.

It wasn’t laziness.

And it wasn’t an unwillingness to do the work.

It was discernment in a body that didn’t have the capacity to tolerate one more experience of being rushed, overridden, or asked to perform wellness.

It was because the support itself didn’t feel safe enough to enter.

Most wellness and healing models assume a level of capacity that many people simply don’t have — especially after years of stress, env...

Why the word/term “dysregulated” isn’t helping anymore

I want to name something gently, because language matters — especially in healing spaces.

The word “dysregulated” is starting to lose its usefulness.

It’s become a blunt instrument.

A catch-all.

A label people try to fit themselves into — often at the expense of nuance, context, and dignity.

At this point, “dysregulated” is being used to mean:

-stressed

-tired

-overwhelmed

-reactive

-burned out

-traumatized

-behind

-“not healed enough”

That’s… almost everyone.

When a word means everything, it ends up meaning nothing.

And worse — it can quietly turn into a judgment.

I see people scanning themselves constantly:

→ Am I dysregulated right now?

→ Is this a sign I’m not healed?

→ What do I need to fix next?

That question alone can put the nervous system into more stress.

Here’s what I want to offer instead:

Most people aren’t “broken".

[Another problematic over-used term, but we'll address that one in a minute].

A...

If your healing journey has turned into an endless chase for the next NOVELTY — the next protocol, supplement, gadget, hack, pathogen, idea, or insight — and something in you knows you’re caught in a cycle you can’t seem to exit…

Keep reading. 

There is a reason the most important work on a healing path often feels boring, uninspiring, or even suspiciously underwhelming.

And it has nothing to do with a lack of willpower, discipline, intelligence, or “doing it wrong.”

It has everything to do with how a nervous system shaped by chronic stress, uncertainty, and overstimulation learns to survive.

Modern nervous systems are trained on novelty.

New protocols. New supplements. New theories. New trends. New hacks. New people promising the missing piece. The next thing. The better thing. The faster thing.

Not because these things are inherently bad — but because novelty activates. It lights up dopamine pathways. It creates a sense of movement, hope, and possibility. It gives the system so...

Healing isn’t always a straight line. Many of us have moved through acute crises, exhaustion, or illness, only to find ourselves in a quieter, less obvious phase — functional but not fully restored. This is what I call the Slow Rebuild Phase, and it’s one of the most important, yet least talked-about stages of recovery.

Listen to the full episode:

• Spotify 

• Apple Podcasts 

• YouTube
  
  

During this phase, your body is doing two things at once: repairing and protecting. Your cells, gut, hormones, and nervous system are recalibrating after prolonged stress or survival-mode living. Even if you can work, move, and care for others, there’s a subtle hum under the surface — micro-flares, fatigue, digestive irregularities, emotional sensitivity — signaling your system is still cautious.

Why this phase feels confusing
Many people think that feeling “better but not fully better” is a sign of failure. In reality:

• Your metabolism is pacing itself, conserving energy for repair.

...

Your body has been working harder for you than you’ve ever worked for it — and now it’s asking for support.

And if you’re someone who has spent years piecing together supplements, diets, protocols, lab tests, podcasts, and practitioner after practitioner… I’m going to say something that might feel unexpected:

Of course you’re tired.
Of course you hit your limit.
Of course things feel like they unravel the moment life gets hard.

This isn’t failure.
This isn’t “not trying hard enough.”
This is what happens when a body has been adapting for too long without anyone naming the pattern underneath.

And it’s the pattern I see every day.

Some people come to me after years on thyroid meds — through pregnancies, postpartum, stress cycles, and survival mode — and they’re confused why they still feel depleted.

Others come after being put on minerals without tending to the gut terrain, and they’re frustrated because their system couldn’t use what they were given.
Some have spent a decade soothing the...

Trusting the Unseen: Embracing the Quiet Growth of Healing

A Message from My Heart: Trusting What Your Body Knows

If you’d like to listen to the full episode, you can find it on:
iTunes
Spotify
or YouTube
*I hope it offers you support and insights on trusting your healing process.

Many of us are walking through a landscape that feels unfamiliar—like we’re on a journey with no clear map. If you’re feeling exhausted, confused, or like you’re moving through fog, I want you to know: You are not alone in that.

From my own experience, I’ve learned that your body knows what it needs, even if your mind is arguing with it or trying to push you to do more. For years, I have worked with hair tissue mineral analysis, trying to understand how to support others—and honestly, I’ve realized that I haven't always been able to do that as effectively as I want because I was still caught in my own process.

What I’ve come to see is this: When your body perceives safety, it begins to remember how to heal. But ...

*This blog post is adapted from my podcast episode exploring the critical distinction between integration and correction in the healing journey.*

Listen on iTunes HERE 
Listen on Spotify HERE
Tune in on YouTube HERE 

For years, we've been conditioned to view our health challenges through a correction lens. We see symptoms as problems to fix, imbalances as defects to correct, and healing as a linear path from broken to fixed. This correction mindset has us constantly searching for the perfect supplement, the ideal protocol, or the magical diet that will "fix" what's wrong.

But what if our symptoms aren't actually problems to fix? What if they're messengers carrying information about what our system truly needs? What if our mineral imbalances aren't random malfunctions but intelligent adaptations to our unique life circumstances?

Understanding the Difference

When we approach health through correction, we operate from what I call the "fixing mindset." This perspective sees the body as a ...

I can still remember that hike with my friend. She wasn't just any friend—she was the kind of person who truly listened, who carried this remarkable calm with her everywhere. A yoga teacher and breathwork facilitator, she embodied the practices she taught.

When we started up the trail that day, I was a mess. My breathing felt labored, and that familiar tightness was creeping into my chest. After decades of respiratory issues and a history of asthma, I recognized the warning signs. My body was preparing to betray me again, or so I thought.

"I don't know if I can do this today," I told her, explaining my breathing concerns between strained breaths. We were walking uphill, and I was already struggling—not just physically, but with the mounting anxiety that comes from feeling your breath become unreliable.

This was during that impossibly difficult period of my life—living in our mold-infested home, trying to grow my business while raising four boys on my own. Stress wasn't just...

Episode #224: Minerals & Your Nervous System [+last episode of A JOY TO BE ME]

Listen on iTunes HERE
Listen on Spotify HERE
YouTube HERE

Rewilded Wellness: A New Chapter in Health and Healing

Welcome, to what marks both an end and a beginning. This is my final episode of "A Joy To Be Me", I will be transitioning to a new name and a renewed focus: "Rewilded Wellness."

A Journey Through Time and Transformation

It feels like a lifetime ago when I launched "A Joy To Be Me" in February 2020, just before the world changed with COVID-19 lockdowns. For those who've been with me since my first podcast, "The Vibrant Health Podcast," you know this journey has been years in the making.

The past five years have been transformative, leading me to pivot and stake my claim in a new territory of wellness. Two years ago, with episode 160, "The fundamentals for human health are so sexy," I began shifting the podcast's direction. Now, I'm fully embracing this evolution with the new name, "Rewilded ...