Well, hello there, welcome back to the Happy Healthy Hustle podcast where we explore the
intersection of health, happiness and productivity.
I'm your host Christiane and I'm super excited to be here with you today.
Today we are actually having a wonderful guest on the show.
So I'm going to first introduce my guest and then we're going to jump right in and figuring
out the importance of taking care of ourselves.
So today's guest is Julie Marxsen.
She's a workplace financial consultant with a large financial services firm and has been
in the industry for 10 years.
She provides educational workshops and individual consultations for four or three B clients
and their employees to help them understand their retirement and investment needs.
Julie is a certified financial planner, certificate.
She is an investment advisor representative, registered securities representative and licensed
insurance representative.
And I'm super excited she's here.
Welcome Julie.
Thank you.
Thank you, Christiane.
I'm so happy to be here and just really honored.
So thank you.
Well, of course, now we know a lot about how busy you are with work and the focus of this
show is really emphasizing women in wellness.
So let's maybe kind of like jump in and hear a little bit about you.
What do you feel is your superpower to staying well?
Because it certainly sounds like you have a super busy job.
Yes, I do have a super busy job.
However, a huge advantage of my job is that I get to work from home and I get to utilize
wonderful technology to meet and work with many different people, participants, employees,
investors.
So that's a wonderful thing.
I think if we are going to call it a superpower, I'm going to call it a superpower is that
I am extremely organized and I do write everything down and I really do try and make sure that
my day is planned out well in advance just so that I can make sure to carve out time
for myself amongst all of the different various things that I have to do for work as well
as being a mom.
I have two daughters, a four year old and an almost two year old.
So the job doesn't stop when I shut my computer, then it's in the mom mode.
But I keep my day extremely organized.
And one thing that I do in particular, and I'm pretty religious about it, and of course,
there's times where I may not be able to do it, but I do run very early in the morning.
Usually I try and run at about 530 a.m. before the girls are awake, before my husband's awake.
And running is just such a release for me.
It gives me confidence in myself.
It allows me to think more clearly.
It gives me more energy throughout the day.
And that's highly needed when you're working full time and then having to pivot to be a
mom to toddlers.
So running is just, it's, I don't know, it's like my guiding light.
I've been running for decades.
So it's something that I really appreciate.
And I have to make sure that I integrate into my schedule and I keep it organized.
And I put that in to my daily schedule, and luckily my husband's extremely supportive
and allows me to have that me time.
So that sounds amazing.
So you're found running and that really resonates with you to center you and kickstart your
day on that strong, I took care of myself feeling that I absolutely love that we all
have maybe one sport that resonates more with us than another.
And it sounds like running is yours.
Plus it doesn't even require any type of fancy equipment at home.
Yes.
That's what I love about it.
Really just got to have a good pair of shoes and it's not a huge cost outlay.
So that's the great thing too.
It's a very cost effective being in finance.
It's, I'm always looking for ways to be cost effective and efficient.
I love that.
And your children then are going to childcare during the day.
So you basically come back from your run and then your day at home really gets started.
Yes.
As Margot mentioned.
It's busy.
So as soon as I get home from my run, it's, you know, got to get myself a little bit of
coffee.
And again, this goes into keeping my day extremely organized, but I get my coffee, get the daughter,
my girls breakfast made before they're up.
And then actually also my husband and I try and have five, 10, if we can, 15 minutes of
just time together in the early, early morning before the girls wake up.
It's a really great bonding time for us because, you know, when they're awake, we don't really
get to talk.
It's how do we take care of the girls and get them fed and get them off to school or
get them in the bath.
So that's something that we try and integrate into the day as well.
I love that.
So your superpower is that you integrate the me time into your day.
And you also have the us time, which is when you connect with your husband and you mentioned
five to 10 minutes is enough, but it does really let the day get started on this wonderful
note to where you build this situation of trust and bonding.
And I love it.
So you basically get all that out of the way before you even wake up your children.
Yes, exactly.
And you know what?
I think something's working.
We are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary tomorrow.
Sounds like that's definitely a superpower going on right there.
So, you know, self also connecting with your husband and getting that social connection
going.
I adore that.
So let's maybe talk a little bit that sounds like your happy anniversary already.
I'm going to say this.
You're really doing things properly and taking care of yourself.
And sometimes we wonder, I'm sure she has challenges too.
Let's talk a little bit about maybe some challenges in your life and how did you manage to overcome
them?
I would say that a challenge that I have actually been struggling with more recently, especially
since becoming a mom is being present.
I have noticed that I'm always trying to think of what is the next thing that I need to tackle?
What is the next thing that I need to prepare for?
What is the next thing that I need to do or make sure I pay for rather than just taking
a step back, taking a breath and just focusing and relishing in the day itself.
It is a challenge for me at times just because especially as a working mom and working from
home, there is so much to juggle.
It's you know, when you're working from home, it's not just you're doing your day job.
I'm sometimes and I put this pressure on myself.
I put this expectation.
Well, I also have to keep the house orderly and I also have to do the laundry and I also
have to cook dinner.
And I'm just thinking about all of these things that I need to do rather than just being present
and being grateful for actually being here and having had woken up another day.
So that is something that I do struggle with.
It's been a challenge for me, but I'm focused on really working towards being more present.
I've been trying to integrate meditation, which is nice.
And actually, I work for a wonderful employer and my employer has a lot of great resources
for being well and meditation, and they even do this thing called a midday mindfulness
where you can join into a zoom or a virtual room and actually do some guided meditation
with.
I think she's a licensed therapist, so it's a really great feature.
I work for a wonderful employer that offers those benefits.
So is it something you've been doing for a while, the guided meditation or something
you just recently picked up because you became aware of that challenge of becoming more present?
Very recently.
So I started back in January.
And the reason why I know the reason why I started, I didn't even know that this was
a benefit of my employer, by the way, but I had to go to work.
I had to go to Florida for work.
And this was one of the we do these breakout sessions.
This is one of the breakout sessions was this guided meditation.
I go and I do it.
It was so empowering.
It was 30 minutes.
I felt like a different person after doing this meditation and come to find out they've
been doing these guided meditations virtually for folks at my employer for a number of years.
I'm thinking, how did I not know that I had this benefit?
And it's just great because they do it in the middle of the day.
So it breaks it up really nicely.
I'm so busy in the morning.
I'm so busy in the afternoon.
Sometimes it's overwhelming, but I have this midday meditation that I can access and utilize.
And it just gives me a minute to breathe.
And then it also provides me with the just the appreciation of like, I mean, I'm so blessed.
I have a wonderful job, two beautiful children, a wonderful husband really helps me to reflect.
So it sounds like you're on the right track to overcome the challenge of becoming more
present there.
And meditation certainly is something that it sometimes sounds intimidating to get started,
but the way that you approached it was it was already offered.
It was a free benefit and you thought, we're not try it out.
There's nothing to lose.
And that really seems to be working for you.
How long is the meditation?
Is it fairly short?
Yes.
So it's about 15 minutes, the midday mindful meditation.
But there's benefit that I have at work.
You can actually, I mean, they have other ones throughout the day as well.
But the one that I just do is short and sweet.
Because again, I don't have a ton of time.
But I think the thing to recognize is you don't need a ton of time to just be present.
It really will have an impact on the other pieces and parts of your day.
If you just take even a few minutes for yourself.
I love that.
So there is the run.
There's the connection with the husband.
There's the midday meditation.
You're basically the sprinkling little nuggets of joy through your day and making your day
far more manageable.
Because certainly working from home is a challenge.
And you mentioned your husband early and the bond that you have with him.
I would love to hear who are your influencers in your life where you're feeling like if
it wouldn't be for them, I wouldn't be where I am.
If it wouldn't be for them, my day would look completely different.
So who are they and why?
Definitely my husband for, as I mentioned just a little bit ago, he is so wonderful
in giving me the space and the time to do something like running to give me that just
that me time that I need to feel fresh and clear and to be a better mom.
So my husband's wonderful.
My parents are great too.
I am so lucky.
I live near my parents.
So I live about 20, 25 minutes away and they have always just been my biggest cheerleaders
in helping me recognize that I have the tools in my arsenal to be the best that I can be.
And so they provide a lot of encouragement, emotionally, verbally, and then they're also
just there to help me when I need it with the kids.
Some days are better than others.
In fact, just last week I got a call from their daycare that, you know, my younger daughter
had hand foot and mouth disease.
So these things happen.
I had to go pick her up.
I had to keep her home the rest of the week, but I still had to work a full schedule.
So my parents, my mom was wonderful.
She was able to just hop on over, help me out to help me get through my work day.
And so my parents are just, they're wonderful, wonderful people, really lucky.
I know not everyone wants that.
Yeah.
It's wonderful to have that connection with your family members, especially if they live
close and they can jump in and be the superheroes when you need them at the right time there.
So certainly it sounds like you have actually somewhat a very simple life.
A lot of the things that you mentioned are very accessible to us.
So maybe going for a run, connecting with your partner, reaching out to family members
and building that social connection.
What is maybe one of your biggest recommendations for any working woman who is at home and trying
to manage all the little life that is being thrown at her?
I would say take it one day at a time.
If you try and tackle every little thing that you have to get done or do in the next week,
month, year, you are going to become so overwhelmed.
And I have done this.
Take it one day at a time, one step at a time, one breath at a time.
It will really help manage the anxiety level.
And that anxiety has been something historically that I have struggled with just because I feel
like I have to get it all done and I have to do everything perfectly.
You don't actually.
It's going to be okay.
So that would be my recommendation is one day at a time, try not to be thinking about
your to-do list, but think about what you need to just get done today and it will happen.
And it's okay to lean on other people.
Life will go on and asking for support is certainly something that all of us can probably
get better.
I'm just letting people know I need help and letting them know how they can help really
expressing yourself and communicating your needs there.
Well, thank you so much, Julie.
It was so wonderful to have you here.
I love that you appreciated the small steps that lead to wellness, which is also something
that my wellness program really emphasizes.
So in general, we always want to be very humble with how our body will appreciate those little
breaks, whether that's a five minute stretch break or a little healthy snack you're adding
in.
So doing the mindfulness that you're taking in the middle day, I certainly loved having
you here.
And if you want to reach out and ask any other questions, let me know.
But otherwise I'm going to let Julie go on to her midday mindfulness meditation.
And I certainly love that she shares some of her wisdom of nuggets of joy there.
Oh, thank you, Christina.
So happy to be here.
So before you're hustling off with your day, I have a few fun announcements.
First of all, I have some quick resources for all of us, happy, healthy hustlers.
In fact, I have some freebies, some free eBooks and checklists that you can check out on my
website.
You can download them for free and make your healthy habits checklist to optimize your
wellness.
I also have some eBooks with some health hacks to increase your daily energy or some simple
tricks to avoid gut health issues.
I would love to connect with you on Instagram.
So check out my Instagram at hello.happy.nest or send me a direct message.
And I would love to add you to the VIP wait list for my journey to wellness course that
will be launching soon.
Thank you so much and let's tune in again on the next episode.