In this Episode
This week, I had the enormous pleasure of talking to Sharon and Lauretta Gavin, owners of the Detox Barn in Suffolk.
This was one of my favourite episodes to record as the sisters are also a comedy duo and bring a much needed dose of ease, fun and clarity to the complex world of wellness.
You’ll find some fantastic, thought-provoking tips and ideas to help you on your journey towards greater wellbeing, no matter where you are on the path right now.
I know you’re going to want to follow them on Instagram and find out more about their retreats after listening to this episode so all the links are at the bottom of this page. Enjoy!!
Our Conversation
From Dermatomyositis to full health (Timestamp: 03.00)
Sharon shares the emotional journey of being pregnant and diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease and how that affected her ability to care for a her beautiful baby boy after he was born.
Her story is remarkable and makes the link between lifestyle and wellness one we have to take advantage of if we want to feel our best.
Also very interesting in this part of our conversation is Lauretta’s story from the same time. Lauretta wasn’t struggling with an illness but still experienced massive benefits from their choice to give up alcohol and shift to a plant based diet.
Deciding to move towards wellness (09.30)
We talk about the effect of the information we take in and how it shapes what we see as possible for ourselves.
I found this part of the conversation enormously interesting because it links so strongly to my work as a mindset coach. Hearing Sharon and Lauretta talk about doctors saying she would just have to accept her “new normal” along with the fear associated with forums around the illness was really powerful and it’s easy to see how someone might give in to the inevitable need to accept sub-optimal health based on the information available.
Very fortunately, Sharon chose a different route and she and Laurette found their way together.
Well to Thriving (12.42)
Sharon shares how the lifestyle changes they made had an impact on her levels of happiness, energy and enjoyment of life.
How good do they feel? (13.50)
In short, pretty good most of the time!
Plenty of sleep, exercise in the morning, lots of light, mindful living and really good food is the recipe they live by. Sounds good to me!
Striving and Gunning for achievement - what impact do these things have? (15.20)
This part of the conversation was fascinating as we all reflected on the difference between life on the treadmill of achievement and life where you prioritise today.
The "woo woo" bit (18.00)
You ever noticed how things just sort of work out when you stop pushing so hard?
We talk about that.
Is it worth it? (20.36)
People perceive healthy lifestyles as a sacrifice. Lauretta talks about conversations they’ve had with people who think Sharon’s illness might have gone into remission anyway and then they’ve put in all this work for ‘nothing’.
But Lauretta wasn’t sick and she saw massive changes in her wellbeing too.
Giving up Alcohol (21.20)
If you’re considering giving up alcohol or concerned about your intake, you’ll want to listen to this part.
If you’d like help breaking free of alcohol, take a look at my Habit Reboot Package, a 3-month package in which you’ll receive coaching, therapy, hypnosis and a series of other healing modalities to help you get free of alcohol for good. (NOTE: Even if your goal is to cut down on drinking, I will work with you to have at least 6 weeks of our 3 months together alcohol-free)
The best and worst strategies for de-stressing (27.56)
It’s amazing how unproductive some of our de-stressing strategies are.
Sharon and Lauretta share their simplest strategy for handling situations where they feel emotionally triggered or need to de-stress. They also talk about the two worst things many of us do to unwind.
The two worst things you can do when you want to feel better (28.07)
Sadly they’re the two of the most common things we turn to when we’re stressed and needing to relax.
If you’d like a clue as to what they are…we hadn’t finished talking about alcohol yet…
Getting started with healthier food choices (33.36)
There is so much confusing information out there about food and what we need to look and feel our best.
I asked Sharon and Lauretta to help us figure out how to get started and what to pay attention to. Again, their advice was refreshingly simple and easy to follow.
How your choices stack up to create patterns (36.54)
We talk about how our choices form patterns and how starting the day with good choices has the capacity to set us up better for the rest of the day.
This is certainly something I’ve found to be true in my life and I’ll be talking about that a bit more next week in an episode about the power of Morning Routines.
Making sense of complicated food rules (38.23)
I had a bit of an a-ha moment while the ladies were talking about the patterns created by good food choices.
Complicated food rules have driven me crazy for years and I have spent so much time trying to make sense of what’s “good” and “what’s” bad that I lost the enjoyment of eating healthily. It became another “to do”.
Sharon and Lauretta help distill some of the confusion and make it simpler to enjoy the art of eating healthily rather than making it a chore.
You're already so healthy - why do a juice fast? (45.02)
I was curious about why the sisters would even need to do juice fasts if they’re already eating so healthy.
Their answer helped me understand the benefits of completing a juice fast and, even though I’ve tried them before and didn’t like them very much, I’m inspired to try again, based on what they said.
What are the best pieces of advice they offer guests at the Detox Barn retreats? (54.07)
Lauretta shares great advice about starting new habits so they become a natural part of your life. This is similar to advice you’ll have heard if you listened to the Goals and Habits mini series on the Big Happy Life Podcast but I think we benefit from regular reminders.
Getting in Touch with Sharon and Lauretta
Next Week
Inspired by the conversation with Sharon and Lauretta about how habits stack up, I’ll be talking about the value of a good morning routine and how to set up a morning routine that shapes the rest of your day.
I’ll also talk about some of my favourite products and resources and tell you more about how and why they work.
