Episode 6 - Michelle

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Hello, and welcome to the Quiet Women Podcast. I'm your host, Stephanie Sumner. On this first episode of 2021, we'll speak with Michelle Cauley. While she still has some Quiet Women tendencies, she used a battle with infertility to transform into a self-aware, empowered, and fearless female who is living her life for all to see. The insight she brings from her own journey to find healing and happiness is inspiring and also timely as we plot our own path forward for the coming year. Hi, Michelle, and welcome to Quiet Women. Thank you so much for joining me today. Hi, thank you for having me. I invited you because you are someone who I've always considered to be very quiet. I mean, we worked in the same office for what, like 10 years or something, and I never really knew that much about you. Um, you just weren't one to talk a whole lot. But you chuckle. But watching your life play out on social media the last several years has been really fascinating to me. And it's like you've broken out of your shell. And so that's what I just wanted to talk to you about and and hear your story.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Yeah, I um when we worked together, I was not the same person I am today. Not even close.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Let's start talking about being a quiet woman and what does being a quiet woman mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

So when you first reached out, I was um really curious about it. And I actually went and I listened to your episode, the very first episode of Quiet Women. And one of the things that came to mind as I was thinking was that it's almost as if we are badass women, but it's behind the scenes. Like we don't really know that we are until something happens. There's like a shift or a wake-up call that ends up um encouraging us to really take ownership of our lives, possibly for the first time, and to really start living authentically us, whatever that means to us as individuals. And I think by us living authentically, we're able to step into our power and we end up living more confidently, more courageously, and we're willing to be vulnerable.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

You put so much rich context into it. When you said we're badass women who don't know it yet, like, yeah. What was that obstacle that you had to overcome that shifted you out of your quietness?

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Well, it was uh having to face infertility um when I was in my mid-30s. We started trying when I was 34. We waited uh over a year and a half before I was like was willing to accept the fact that it wasn't going as planned, even though we were extremely we thought we were extremely healthy. Um, and so we ended up seeing a reproductive endocrinologist. I can never say that last word, but an R E basically, a reproductive specialist. And I was diagnosed with low ovarian reserve, which means I had you know a low egg count for my age and for my physical health. Um, and but my spouse's um health was fine, and so the um RE suggested that we went through three rounds of timed intercourse with injections. Uh, and what's kind of funny about that, but not so funny, is I can't stand needles, and I was being asked to basically inject myself um for a 14-day period one time a day, if not multiple times a day, um, which was crazy, but I did it.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

That shows, I mean, how badly you wanted to have a child.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah, I did it. Um, and you know, three months later, nothing happened. We kept upping the dose and um nothing happened. I wasn't able to produce the number of follicles needed. Um, so the next recommendation from the RE was to consider an I IUI, or as most other people are familiar with, an IVF um going through IVF. And that there was no guarantee. Right. And at this time, you know, I kind of hit pause on things and looked at the bank account, was like, holy cow, yeah, no, there's no way we can afford a very expensive procedure like this. From a financial standpoint, we would have had to have made a lot of sacrifices and it would have taken longer. At this point, I was almost 36 years old. So definitely, you know, a year past the 35-year mark. I mean, there were some other factors involved. Like I didn't want to inject my body with any more man-made drugs. I also realized that no matter what option we chose, none of them, no matter how much we spent, none of it guaranteed that we would have a child of our own, whether it was biological or not.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Yeah, that's gotta be just such a difficult decision. And then like look and see all of these other couples that have no trouble at all.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Yes. Yeah. It's and a lot of times the question that would pop in my head was why me? Or why not me? You know, I remember driving down the street, and there was a woman walking down the road who had a cigarette in her mouth. She had at least two kids um around her and she was pregnant. And I was like, you know, at that point, I was emotionally distraught. Um, and I was like, why her and not me? I had been able to pretty much do anything that I set my mind to up until that point. And so the idea that everything that I felt like I could control was no longer under control or no longer within my control.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

So what did you do about it?

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Well, I took into account all of those things. I also realized that um getting pregnant or trying to get pregnant would not really improve my marriage. Um, and I also realized that I had been living up to the checklist, and you even mentioned this in your um first episode, the checklist that society gives us of like, okay, go to college, get married, buy house, have kids. And I realized like, why is that checklist something that we deem as successful? And I'm even using air quotes around successful, um, versus other life paths. And so I spent quite a few months kind of just rummaging through all that and filtering it and trying to like come at this infertility at a couple different angles, and nothing was working out. And so I started researching what it meant to live um child free. There are it's also called childless. Um, and I really, I ultimately, it ended up being my decision at the end of the day. I decided to pursue living child-free.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Did your husband support that?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Yes, he wasn't as gung-ho about um having children as I was. And so I think when infertility came into the picture and when things weren't quite working out, he was like, this is really your decision. Um, and so I think he was slightly relieved when I finally made my decision.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

I know you talked about the why me, but like, did you feel like you went into any kind of depression? I mean, I can see how constant failure could drive you there when you had achieved, been used to achieving anything you put your mind to.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Yes, most definitely. I think that, and I didn't even, I'm glad you brought it up because I didn't even mention that part. That was probably the biggest hurdle was the anxiety, the frustration, the shame that I felt, the guilt of not being able to give either of our families a grandchild. Um I was mad at the world. I I really I started to shut down emotionally um and really became a shell of myself that was, you know, it was very it I kind of went into protective mode um because I was in so much pain um that I had never experienced before.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

And, you know, we each coped with it differently. My um husband, who's now my ex-husband, he would drink his evenings away. That was his way of numbing the pain. And my way of dealing with the pain was to pour call my poor mom and be and just pour my heart out, crying in tears, driving to work or wherever I was headed. I talked to my friends, I um started cooking more. I was using some of my creative outlets to like cope with it. And I also um I think the darkest days brought me to um find yoga um and really use the practice of yoga, not just the physical practice, but all eight lens of yoga to help me cope and really move beyond infertility to where I am today. The decision only took about six months before I was like, okay, this is the direction I want to go in. But it really took me probably, let's see, I would have been 36 at the time. It wasn't until I was probably 39 or 40, so a couple years before I really started to feel like I was embracing it and really living into it, if that makes sense. Like I it took me those three or four years to heal. Wow. And then it's been three years since then that I've been moving beyond it and really living into this idea of child free.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

How else, other than yoga, how have you sought to heal and embrace that decision?

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Becoming more familiar with the eight-limbed path of yoga and you know, which means using meditation, really doing uh self-study in depth. You talk about the introspection and the mindfulness, that was huge for me because I had never really done that before. Um, I hadn't really examined all of those things to figure out what do I need? What did what's gonna support me? What's going to create the life experience that I desire the most? And then how do I live into that? Because up until then, I had just been doing whatever I thought society, you know thought was successful, and none of that was working for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Yeah, it's like it's like there's there's a a prescription for happiness, and society tells you what that is, but that doesn't work for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

No, and I think you know, I think a lot of people are they're okay with that, and that's fine, but I wasn't okay. I remember being at a friend's pool one summer, and we were all sitting around, we were drinking, and I remember being there and being like, there's gotta be more to life than this. I wanted to do so much more, and so I started to shift from that to really using the mindfulness and the introspection to figure out what is it that I need. I read a lot of books, and you've talked about Brene Brown, and I read all of her books, I read other books, but I think a lot of like Brene Brown's um work on shame and vulnerability was very inspirational. It really helped me accept who I was, my journey up to that point. It gave me the courage to realize that I could make mistakes, I didn't have to be perfect, and that the only people who I truly gave a shit about caring about me and what their opinions of me were were those that were in, to use her terms, in the arena with me. Yeah, I have girlfriends, um, we go camping and hiking twice a year, the four of us. And that circle of friends, those were the people in the arena with me. We opened up, we were willing to be vulnerable, we were able to hold space for one another, we were able to ask the hard questions that maybe your other um friends don't ask. Um, and that was that was huge. I also had I have my good friend Toy, um, who we hike together all the time. We've gone backpacking together, we've hiked in Utah and Arizona, we've been in the Grand Canyon, and she is someone who can listen. And I think being able to kind of, you know, similar to what we're doing now, there's so much depth and areas for growth when we're able to share our story, and when you're able to talk it out, um you hear yourself and you hear the words that are coming out of your mouth, and it's like, oh my gosh, I had no idea.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

I agree wholeheartedly, and I think the value in having female friends that you can trust with your vulnerability is necessary for happiness, and and and having being able to release all of those feelings and thoughts inside of you without fear of judgment. Um, you need that. And you know, I I love my husband, but he can't offer the same kind of support my best girlfriends can.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Yes, it's true. I mean, they I think they offer support in a different way, but it's not, yeah, it's just it's not quite the same.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Yoga was kind of the um the origin of where your healing began, but I know that you've expanded that. Can you talk about how you've evolved?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Yeah, so when I um became certified as a yoga teacher in early 2017, I started teaching. Um, and for anyone who's ever started teaching yoga or probably anything, being in the front of the room and having 10, 20, 30, 50 people staring at you and expecting you to guide them through a 75, 90-minute physical practice um is very intimidating at first. I was very shy, I was very timid, um, timid, and I didn't really speak a lot. I was very behind the scenes. So me having to almost carry a dialogue for that long, for 90 minutes, was just unheard of. If you can find a really good yoga teacher who has done their work on themselves, who does a lot of self-study, who practices regularly, who is continuously seeking out advanced training and knowledge, and who also is able to really weave the philosophy of yoga into the class in ways that are accessible to you, that you can relate easily relate to, that is a powerful teacher. And I had two of those. And so a lot of the training that I've done and a lot of the work I've done has really helped me kind of live into that idea of being able to inspire people on and off the mat to live big and live authentically as only they can.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

That's awesome. Can you talk a little bit about how you are inspiring people off the mat?

SPEAKER_00 19:57

One of the ways is when I started my advanced teacher training um three and a half years ago, I met two women. So all three of us had gone through infertility, and we really talked about the emotional challenges that we faced and felt like there had to be another way, a better way. Um, and we wanted to share how each of us had used yoga, meditation, breathing practices, mindfulness to kind of cope and um thrive, if I can even use that term, uh, through infertility, that we actually started um drafting a business plan. And we launched a year later as ORCID Experience. An ORCID provides support to individuals and couples facing family building challenges through mind-body practices. Um, we have a website, um, orchidexperience.com. We offer a package of classes and um meditations and breathing exercises, journaling exercises. It's called the Paths, and it's an online program that individuals, anyone can purchase, and it helps them with where they are on their infertility journeys.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

Doing that kind of um coaching support, does it dredge up the pain again?

SPEAKER_00 21:58

It can. There You know, we've um my business partner Jen and I um I mean we've been working on the bus the business for three years now. And I think you know there are moments when we'll have conversations and it's like, oh, you know, that hits me, that makes me feel really raw, or it brings up certain um kind of flashbacks to things that were unpleasant from when we were in the midst of it all. And you know, there are those moments, but there are also these moments of healing that we're able to share with each other, but we're also able to share with our broader community. So it's actually been very therapeutic for us to share our stories, to hear other people's stories, and um to support others.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

And I'm sure, I'm sure they find it incredibly valuable to see that that there is a path to happiness um with or without children.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Yes, I think you know, a lot of times there's a lot of um shame associated with infertility. There could be a variety of reasons for why you're unable to get pregnant or keep a pregnancy, and thankfully, people are starting to share their stories, and I think when we can do that, we realize we're not alone. And that is powerful.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

What gave you the courage to start posting on social media and more openly sharing what you'd been through?

SPEAKER_00 24:02

That was a process. You know, I think the first two years that we were posting on social media, it was kind of above the surface. Like when I think about vulnerability and I think about our ability to connect with others, there's multiple layers. So a lot of times society lives on the surface where it's, you know, common pleasantries. How are you doing? Oh, I'm kind of I'm fine, thank you. Um, you know, when we meet somebody new, we ask, you know, so what do you do for a living? Do you have any kids? Um, where do you live? Like that kind of stuff. It's not until we allow ourselves to be seen that we actually start to get below the surface. And when we can get below the surface and be vulnerable, we're better able to connect with others, but you have to be willing to go there and you have to be willing to be seen, and that's where like it took us a long time to get there. Jen was like, I think we should do this yoga challenge on Instagram, and I was like, You're crazy. I've never really posted a lot of myself doing yoga posts on Instagram, it was just not something I did, and I was like, Okay, sure. So we did it together, um, and we really enjoyed it, but the one that was during National Infertility Awareness Week was it was so powerful in that everyone that was involved, you know, they had the option to choose how much they shared and how much they didn't. And a lot of us shared some very raw, very emotionally charged um information out in the open. And it was amazing to me how supportive that group was of one another, and how even those that weren't necessarily facing infertility or had never been involved in it, there were others who were friends, who were family members, um, who were supporting those of us who had gone who had like been in the depths of infertility, which just kind of shows you how strong of a community there can be.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

And the value of getting below the surface and allowing yourself to be seen. Yes, because you can find that support. Yes. If if you don't, if you don't share it, it's like you're you're you're treading water and you can't be saved.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Yeah, I mean, there's so much depth and value in being seen. You know, I think a lot of us play it safe and we allow ourselves to kind of live behind this false facade of we have it all together and you know, nothing's everything's perfect. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. Um, when the reality is, is that nobody has it figured out a hundred percent of the time, and we're gonna make mistakes, and you know, I think if we can own that and accept our flaws at the same time, really embrace the gifts that we have to offer, that's where there's so much growth and so much just beauty in being us and really living into who we are as individuals.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

One of the things that has helped me is recognizing that everyone that looks perfect really isn't.

unknown 28:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Nobody's perfect.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

Nobody's perfect. And you know, the the woman on Instagram or Facebook and every post is, you know, their perfect life. Like, there's a lot that's not being posted.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Well, we one of my teachers, um one of the things that she used to say was that you know, social media is a reel of our highlights.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

For many, not our low levels, our highlights.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Yes, it's our highlights, you know, it's our greatest achievement achievements, it's our ability to hit a perfectly vertical handstand and hold it. Um, it's you know, our happiest moments. It's never the emotionally challenging um experiences.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

How has your life changed as a result of the decision to go child-free?

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Hmm. I, you know, one of the biggest changes was using the mindfulness to really figure out what made me happy. Um, you know, we keep going back to society's demands and the limitations and agreements that we've kind of subscribed to. Um the last three years or so, I've really figured out what I want to do, um, like what kind of activities make me happy. I determined who are the people currently in my life that are really adding value um in powerful ways. And then where are the places that really make me feel fulfilled, challenged, inspired, that um just light me up. And so when I'm able to do all three of those things at once, that is when I'm know when I know I'm living like the good life. That's when I feel fulfilled. Um, and for me, those are you know, hiking, it's um spending time with my friends and family, it's practicing yoga, it's inspiring others, it's um challenging myself by exploring and going on new adventures. Um yeah, it's all of those things. Um, I think for many of us, we have no idea what makes us happy.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

It's funny because I just wrote down how did you find what makes you happy? It's it's hard. Like, what what was the process? What's the trick?

SPEAKER_00 31:17

What's the trick? How do I get there? It's funny because I actually I I talked about this um during one of my classes, yoga classes, a couple years ago, and I had a student come up to me afterwards who asked me, like, that's you know, that so resonated with me, but how do I figure it out for myself? And I was like, you know what? I said the way that I did it, and maybe this will work for you, is I really started to pay attention to what are the moments where you feel lighter, where you you've got like this um you're grinning from ear to ear, where you feel a sense of contentment, and almost like a I don't, it's almost like this inner peace is washing over you, and you're really paying attention to how one, your body is reacting to the input you're receiving from your external and your internal environments. Um you're listening to your inner wisdom and tuning into the insights that are kind of bubbling up from your gut and who you also might be, what you also might be receiving from source energy, the universe god, whatever you want to call it. Um, but really tuning into that and figuring out what makes you happy.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

So it's it's just a matter of being aware.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

Yes, I I think that's it. I mean, I think a lot of things, there are so many benefits that come out of being aware, tuning in, and really listening. It also takes at times, it might take journaling, it could also take stillness. Um, a lot of people, you know, including myself, it's really easy to keep going, going, going, pushing, pushing, pushing, and it's really hard to sit still in silence.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Absolutely. It's so much well, it's easier. It's easier to go and autopilot and not think about yes. Yeah. And I also I find that um that in stillness is kind of where I find prayer and self-discovery and just letting my mind be quiet and still is when I tend to have my eureka moments or um realizations that I had been ignoring.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Yes. I and you know, I think um for many of us, we also one, we don't get still often enough or long enough. We also don't get quiet. So if you move throughout your days, think about how much noise there is. You know, there's always beeping and notifications, and there's interruptions from others where oftentimes there's a fan running, or the TV's on, or music's playing, um, you're listening to a podcast, or there's road noise, or whatever it might be, there is a lot of noise out in the world. There's a lot of noise in your mind, a lot of chitter-chatter that goes on in the mind. Um, and we can get easily distracted by that. But if you can slowly move into stillness and start to get quiet, if you can do that long enough, usually it takes about 15-20 minutes. Um if you can get to that point, things start to quiet down, and when we do that, that's when that inner wisdom starts to bubble up. I like that. I've yeah, it's huge, it's huge. They say that um, oh, what is it? That the ego speaks first and the loudest, but that the soul whispers in like the quiet stillness.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Ooh, I got chills. As you have embraced your freedom and happiness, you bought a camper. And you don't you call that home now, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:13

The hope is to eventually move into it mostly full-time, if not completely full-time, and to travel around the US exploring as many parks and um open space as I possibly can. That's like the next phase of living into this idea of um child free. I have no idea what's around the corner, other than I am I can only imagine that there are going to be countless adventures ahead.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

So what is next for you?

SPEAKER_00 37:02

Hmm, well, you know, it's taking the travel trailer around and exploring. And it's funny because a lot of you know the things that we've been talking about on this uh during this podcast resembles what I've shared in the book that I've written um recently.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

Tell me more.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

Yes, tell you more. So I've started um back in May, because I had a lot of free time, like some of us have thanks to COVID, and I had a life coaching client who asked me um about how do I cultivate self-love? And I was like, huh, you know, I think I can help you with that. And like I gave her some tips and some journaling prompts and stuff, and I started to realize like when I was going through infertility, when I was shutting down and kind of closing off, even before that, but especially with the shame and all of the emotions that are wrapped up in infertility. Um, I did not love myself. And so I had spent, you know, the past couple years really figuring out how do I like holistically embrace who I am as an individual, all of my flaws, all of my quirks, and all of my gifts, um, so that I can, like we said, live authentically. And so I I actually co-hosted an Instagram challenge, yoga challenge, um, around my birthday and about centered around self-love. And that kind of fueled, along with the life coaching client, that really fueled like this idea of um wow, there are a lot of people who don't love themselves, and there are a lot of people who have a lot of anger and a lot of hurt, and you know, they need some guidance on how to really embrace who they are, um, the darkness and the light. Um, the working title right now is Love Thyself First and Always. I think it'll help mostly women really kind of live into who they are and to love themselves holistically, um, wholeheartedly, so that you know they just I think they'll be happier.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

The the book is so exciting. I'm I'm thrilled that you have made that commitment and are so close to launching. I that's that's a big accomplishment for sure. One thing that I was thinking about as you were talking is, you know, I know self-love is important. You hear a lot about it, but it's hard for me because it seems kind of selfish because I tend to put other people before myself and and their needs, and um and so doing the work on myself feels almost like a luxury. And I know it's it's not, it's necessary, but it's it's hard to accept that I need to do that. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_00 41:00

Oh yes, yeah, you know, I think um as women, you know, we tend to be very nurturing, very um giving freely of ourselves because we have for ages. Um we raise families, you know, we take care of friends and family members who need our support because that's that's innate in us, in most of us, not everyone, but most of us. And so the idea of putting yourself first and feeling like you're being selfish in doing so is no surprise. Um, I think though it's really important because how could we possibly ever support those around us unless we're able to take care of ourselves, unless we're able to nourish our needs um on a daily basis. So for many of us, you know, we tend to do work, take care of family, take care of households, um, and we most oftentimes barely have any time left to take care of us, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

Um, and so the idea of putting yourself first is filling up your cup, your own reserves, nourishing yourself in ways that will replenish you so that you can show up not a hundred percent, but above that for others. Because if your cup is overflowing, then you're able to support others better, you're able to, I think, be an inspiration, you're able to be more impactful because you've taken care of your needs. Um, yeah, I don't, it's it's really hard for us to do. It's it takes discipline, it takes noticing uh when you're getting in your own way or when you're procrastinating, um, the ways in which you know you give of your energy to others versus how you replenish your own energy. Um, and it's it's really you know making yourself a priority and not feeling guilty around that. I think it's really important for us to understand that. It's okay. And actually, it's super important and beneficial for you to take care of you.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

Well, and it's beneficial for the others around you for you to take care of you. And making sure that they know when you are um taking time out for yourself, it's they need to respect that.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

Yeah. You know, I think a lot of us are very self-sacrificing to meet other people's needs. Oh, I know. Yeah. You know, like we at least what I've noticed myself, and I try to I've definitely worked on this, and I try to do this less, is I am have been really good at adapting and molding myself to meet other people's needs. And I think one of the things that I've started to really work towards is I am no longer willing to say yes to things that don't light me up or that zap my energy in ways that aren't fulfilling. Um, because I feel like I have so many other things that I want to put my focus on that, you know, that fulfill me, that make me happy. Um and so by choosing to not mold and adapt myself to people that are any energy vampires or who don't have this nice um give and receive exchange that goes back and forth, um I I have no interest in spending time there.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

Did you have any final thoughts that you wanted to share?

SPEAKER_00 46:02

Yes, I think one thing, and we didn't talk about this, but one of the quotes that I came across when I was going through infertility is by Joseph Campbell, and it's um I'm paraphrasing, but it is we must be willing to give up the life we planned to live the life we are given. And for me, that was a very powerful quote because I was really good at planning and trying to control and achieve things, and when infertility kind of threw that curveball, I had to kind of figure out how to live from a place of not necessarily planning everything out and really living into this life that I've been given, all of the experiences, all of the lessons that are baked into that, and to really receive what is coming to me versus trying to force something into existence.

SPEAKER_02 47:17

Thank you. I like that quote.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

Yeah, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 47:22

You have so much wisdom inside of you, and you speak so beautifully. I feel like you bestow a sense of calm and optimism with your voice and the energy that comes through. So thank you so much for spending this time with me and joining me on this journey.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

No, thank you. It's been a pleasure. Um, I love what you are offering in the Quiet Women podcast, and I'm excited for what the future holds for you as well.

SPEAKER_02 48:12

Michelle's story really touched me. I understand what it's like being a planner and the inner turmoil that comes from recognizing you're not in control. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, she gave up the life she had planned and started living into the life she'd been given. Listening to her embrace her vulnerability and inspire others to live as big and authentically as only they can, is evidence that in our darkest hours, the light of hope and clarity often shines brightest. To learn more about Michelle's yoga classes and life coaching, as well as her book, Love Thyself First and Always, visit her website, Michelle Callayoga.com. Thank you for listening to this episode of Quiet Women. I invite you to join our Facebook community. Search for Quiet Women Podcast. And if you are a quiet woman with a story to share, or would like to nominate someone to be a guest on this podcast, please reach out to me at Quietwomenpodcast at gmail.com. Until next time, remember, your silence doesn't define you. Your unique and complex life is what has made you into the amazing person you are today. I see you. We all see you. And we are here for you, and we cheer for you.