Episode 13

full
Published on:

21st Oct 2019

013: How women can find balance in all areas of their life through holistic, natural, and healthy practices with with Carolyn Crews

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Last Updated: September 2, 2024

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013: How women can find balance in all areas of their life through holistic, natural, and healthy practices with with Carolyn Crews

“We naturally tend to want to take care of everybody else and feel like that’s our job and our role.” A working mother of two, Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), holistic health enthusiast, Certified Reiki Practitioner, and Active Deployed Army National Guard spouse Carolyn Crews shares the importance of incorporating self care into your daily activity. She shares the benefits of Reiki, how stress can be the main cause to many health issues, and the importance of accomplishing at least one thing that uplifts you every day.

Connect with Carolyn on Instagram @carolynccrews, visit her website http://holisticcrews.com or email her at carolyn@holisticcrews.com

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Transcript

Jen Amos 0:00

There's no need to wait on your service member to share a second hand information anymore. Welcome to holding down the fort, a podcast show where we put military spouses and children's needs front and center so that they can make informed decisions together as a family. Because let's face it, we know who's really holding down the fort. Let's get started

all right. Hi everyone. Jen amo is here with holding down the four podcast show and I am super excited. Every time I get to do another episode, it means that I get to interview another incredible person in our community. So let me go ahead and introduce to you Carolyn Cruz. Carolyn has had a passion for healing and helping others from a very young age. Her mission with Reiki and holistic wellness is dedicated to empowering individuals in the achievement of optimal health, balanced and harmonious healing. Carolyn's primary focus is on pain management, stress relief, with a goal of returning her clients to their authentic self. She's a grateful mother of two loves skiing, traveling, finding adventure in unexpected places, and the ultimate healing power of a good belly laugh with friends. Carolyn believes that the power lies within all of us to heal ourselves and live fuller lives physically, mentally, emotionally, and soulfully. Aiming to create a healthier, happier world, one person at a time. Carolyn Cruz, welcome to the show.

Speaker 1 1:37

Thank you so much. And I was so excited to be here. Thank you so much. Yeah, it's

Jen Amos 1:43

my absolute pleasure. Why don't we start with you sharing? How did you hear about the show? And more importantly, why did you choose to be on today?

Speaker 1 1:51

Yeah, I first heard about the show from you reaching out to me off of Instagram. You saw one of my Instagram posts that I posted about my children's father deploying the military here. And he's currently deployed and sent a little post about that. And he reached out to me and offered to have me on the show. And for that I'm so grateful. Because yeah, I am a mother and I have lived this. We're living in this crazy world today. And all I want to do is be able to help serve others in ways that have helped me kind of get through the chaos and the craziness that life has brought.

Jen Amos 2:36

Just as we were talking about prior to the call. This podcast show is really about walking the journey of this crazy life together. It's not about some expert. It's not Yeah, it's not about some expert like standing in the corner and saying hey, do this and that it's more like I'm going through this too. And this is what I've learned along the way and I want to share it with you so we can we can continue to grow or heal or what have you together and really just get through this crazy thing called life.

Speaker 1 3:05

Absolutely, absolutely. We're all on this journey together and if we can help each other and whatever we have helped us then all the better.

Jen Amos 3:13

Yes, I completely agree. Well, Carolyn, for people who are just getting to know you for the first time. Why don't you share what let's say a typical day looks like for you. More importantly, what keeps you busy and most excited about life nowadays.

Speaker 1 3:27

Oh man, well, currently, my life is a little bit busy. I I actually work as a nurse anesthetists as well. So I do anesthesia. If anybody's never heard of a nurse anesthetists. I do that part time. And then also have my holistic wellness and Reiki practice business. I am a mother of two middle schoolers. So I'm constantly shuffling the kids around to all their activities and things. And in the midst of all that really prioritizing self care, maintaining my own wellness and health and lifestyle that I want to have for myself, as well as I'm trying to also do the work and life stuff that is, is necessary at the same time. My day today was the I feel like all those things in one basket. Well, yeah, I worked at the hospital all day today. And actually my son is homeschooling this year for the first time. So he was feeling a little stir crazy from being at home. So I brought him with me to the hospital today for the first time, which he loved, even though he said and hung out in a waiting room all day, and then just finished dropping the kids off at their taekwondo practice for the evening came home to do this. I have a Reiki client after our interview, like to do a Reiki session for her and then go pick the kids up do some self care For myself, and hopefully go to bed early tonight. I'm a little short on sleep this week. And oh, yeah, I feel it today now that it's Friday, so Yeah, gotta get caught up.

Jen Amos 5:09

Yeah, I agree. I was just we were talking prior before recording about how I've been going to the gym every week and every day of this week, and it's only today when I'm really beginning to feel it. So I think we're gonna power through this together, Carolyn and and have a good show regardless. Absolutely. Well, you know, you're really just like how you mentioned prior to the show that this is one of the first podcast shows you you're able to be on, which I am I feel super honored that I get to interview you on your first podcast show. But also, this is my first time speaking to someone who does Reiki. And so I was just curious if you can talk a little bit about it for people who don't know about it. And what are the benefits of Reiki?

Speaker 1 5:54

Absolutely. Reiki is something that I really knew nothing about. Up until a couple of years ago, I was kind of like most people I tend to meet like, what is that, and I don't even know how to pronounce it. But what it is, it's a form of energy healing. And it's kind of under the umbrella of energy healing. So some people have heard of healing hands or healing touch. But Reiki originated in Japan. And it's a way to bring energetic balance to your body, just through gentle light touch through the hands. And it can be either hands on or hands off. Similar to how acupuncture works, a lot more people are more familiar with acupuncture, and how it clears blockages that are energized, we in the body, restoring that balance, restoring that flow, that lifeforce that is running through our bodies all the time. And, but never made sense to me in the past, because I've always been very scientific based. And I have a very scientific mindset. And I work in medicine. And you know, there's not a lot of, quote unquote research out there yet that is broadly accepted on Reiki. And it wasn't until I experienced a session myself, that I witnessed such a tremendous change that I couldn't explain it, it has completely changed my life. Since then, I immediately knew that this was something that I had to do, I wanted to just go get trained in order to be able to do this, because it's something that we can use on ourselves, as well as providing it for others. And I really, really love that because I was like, you know, people can become a massage therapist or whatever, but you can't give yourself a massage like that for you. But with Reiki, it's something that I could still get the benefits of Reiki like I did in my treatment, I can do that for myself and have it kind of in my self care regimen. You know, we we, we really do a great job of trying to take care of our physical bodies, and our physical health, our emotional health, mental health. However, we also have an energetic self too. And we are energetic beings. Actually, everything around us is energy. That's just basic physics, we are made up of energy. And an example I like to give is like person can walk into the room that just the law of light, kind of like you can kind of feel like you start feeling good just by being around them. Like they're smiling and they're happy. And they're carefree. And you just like they just bring this kind of positive energy to the space. And the opposite happens to like if you're around somebody who's just kind of that Debbie Downer who's just really stressing and really negative. And it's just like, Oh, hi, just like I'm starting to feel your stress, you know, like ya have this energetic field, and there's so much energy around us that we don't even recognize collectively yet. And so, what Reiki does is it it works on all levels, it works on the physical self, it works on emotions, it works on your mental health, and also spiritually, too. And it's not a religious thing. That's not what I'm talking about spiritually, but yeah, and so after seeing the benefits for myself and see and now working with clients, and seeing what it's done with them every single day. I mean, I'm still kind of a skeptic in some ways. You know, I'm still that like, I don't know if it's Just working, I don't know, if they're enjoying this, I don't know what they're gonna get out of this, I don't know. And then I will see the results or they will see the results. And they'll have a profound experience or I'll have, you know, something going on with me physically. And I'll do Reiki on that spot for 10 minutes. And then my pain is gone for the rest of the day, things like that. Yeah, it's example after example. I'm like, wow, this is amazing. And the moment that this came into my life, I was like, why don't why doesn't everybody know about this, like, this is something that people should just a know about and be What if everybody had this ability to be able to have this for themselves anytime they want. I mean, that would cut down on pain medicine, even just like Tylenol and ibuprofen, it would bring down the use of antidepressants and anti anxiety pills, you know, are going to alcohol or your there's so many different things that Reiki can help with that more the root cause, and not just treating the symptom. But yeah, that's just a little bit of how Reiki came into my life. It was so unexpected. But once I experienced it myself, it's completely now changed my life. And now I'm so passionate about sharing it with others and educating others about it and bringing healing not only healing to them, but now training them to be able to have it for themselves. And habits so they can share it with others, whether it's their children, their pets, my kids love Reiki. They were huge skeptics, too. They're like, Mom, my son was like, Mom, it's like voodoo. Like, whatever you think, like, that's fine if you feel like just try a treatment. And we did one treatment with him. It was both of them. And they now asked for it all the time. Like my daughter will even text me like Mom, I need your Reiki today. So yeah, it's amazing. I love it.

Jen Amos:

Yeah, and I think it's one of many ways to find healing. And sometimes you just don't know is it's good for you until you try it. So

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no, that's why I offer all of my clients a free one hour session their very first time, whether it's a in person session or a distance session, only because I just want to share this with others. I love, like you said at the beginning, helping and healing others. But I just want to share this. And if it were me, I wouldn't want to just pay however much for something that I don't even know what it is. So I love to just offer that first session for free just so people can see for themselves and try it and just go from there. It could be something great. It could just be a really wonderfully relaxing hour. I mean, who couldn't use that? So,

Jen Amos:

you know, I imagine for someone who's a massage therapist, it takes a lot of energy out of them like and it's physically draining to massage someone. But it sounds like with Reiki, it's a little different because it energizes both parties that are involved. So

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absolutely, yeah, and I am not using I'm not using any of my energy. During this session. I'm literally acting as a channel for that. So it's kind of like a piece of bent like hollow bamboo, like the energy just kind of flows through it and out to my hands to the client or to the other person. So I'm not using any of my own energy. I'm actually receiving the Reiki as well during a session. So I actually feel amazing after giving session. Much betters so we both everybody benefits. Yeah, harm that can come from Reiki. It's all good.

Jen Amos:

Yeah, I like the example of if someone walks in the room and you feel like they kind of light up the room versus someone walking in and you kind of feel like there's this dark cloud in the room. I don't think there's a better way to explain that energy from other people like in that vibe. I think vibe is a good way to call it to exist. Like it's really there. Like you can't see it. You can't you cannot touch it, but you can feel it and, and I also like that you come from a scientific background, because for anyone that's a skeptic talk to Carolyn about her scientific background. And and she'll tell you firsthand that this, this is not a joke. So

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lately, and there is a lot more scientific research coming out on Reiki, which I love. And I'm always up to date on the latest scientific studies that are being done to and so I love how that's growing and evolving. And the same thing kind of happened with net meditation. That's really what got me into starting to meditate was I saw an article that said Harvard study showed the benefits have we're blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, I need all those things. And Harvard says so then maybe it will you know, probably good. So yeah, I need I need to see proof of things in order to buy into them. Yeah,

:

yeah, I think nowadays, that's what everyone needs to. And so that's why I like doing this show. Because for people who are maybe initially skeptics of something or unaware of something, to have someone in our own community share firsthand how it's affected them and how, like in a positive way, and how they can share that makes it more likely for our listeners to be like, you know, I think I think I will try that. I think I will look more into that. So I appreciate you, sharing to us about Reiki today. I learned more now than I ever had in my life. So thank you.

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Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to this is my dream, honestly, is to share this with as many people as I can. And that's why I love the podcast, because what a greater audience to serve, and especially your audience that you are that are you are speaking to, and that I resonate to, because I am also living in the military life as a kind of holding down the floor while

Jen Amos:

it's happening. So, yes, yeah, absolutely. And what I like about podcasting is typically people can listen to podcast episodes on their own, or they'll put on a headset. And so if they want to delve into a topic that they don't want other people to know, that they're listening to yet, they can easily do that privately. And so it's really cool to have the opportunity to speak directly in people's ears, and hopefully inspire them to take action or at least just become more aware of, it's available for them today. So yeah, no, I'm very glad that you were able to explain more about Reiki and, and all the benefits of it, because it sounds like a really awesome thing that I have yet to try. But now I know more. So that if I

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wasn't happy to give you I'm happy to offer you a distance session if you would like to try it. Oh, tell me what your experience is like so Oh, very

Jen Amos:

cool. Okay, okay. We will we will talk about that problem. Okay. And probably next month, because I have a lot of traveling, and I might need it. So anyway, we will. We will talk about that later. Offline. Very cool. Very cool. Well, anyway, speaking of which, you know, the purpose of this show is to create awareness of education or resources that's available for the military community, particularly military spouses and families that they wouldn't otherwise get from service members or the military itself. And so I know Carolyn, today, you want to talk about how women can find balance in all areas of their life through holistic natural and healthy practices, self love, and self care, mindset and daily scheduling. So my first question for this topic is, do you feel like finding balance in all areas of your life, especially for women? is a common? Like, do you think there's available and accessible resources and education around that today,

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there are a lot of resources, and there is so much education out there. However, I feel that it's still such a problem that women tend to, I don't even like calling it a problem. But it's, it's something that women are still struggling with, I feel like, especially those who are trying to balance work and life and travel or children maintaining the home. And also, it's like, we just naturally tend to want to take care of everybody else. I feel like that's our job and our role to take care of our significant other, be the best at work and be independent and be fully educated and doo doo doo doo doo and be there for everybody. But it seems there's a huge lack and neglect in taking time for ourselves. And speaking with whether it's hanging out with moms at the pool and talking to them, or wherever, you know, there. There was one instance this summer where I met another fan while the kids were off swimming, I met this mom at the pool. And we were talking about all this stuff. And I asked her I was like, when was the last time that you took some time to relax. And she just kind of like looked up for a minute. And she was thinking about it. And I can't remember. She honestly could not remember the last time she just took a moment. And so and this is something that I've struggled with for the past decade, at least kind of started since my family started. As long as I can remember, I've just yeah, go go go go. And it wasn't really until I hit kind of my own little personal rock bottom that I knew that I changed the need and I I was just completely burnout, I'd completely burn out, my body had taken a toll I was, I've dealt with all kinds of health issues over the years. But now looking back, most of them were stress related, or due to my poor diet or nutrition or ways that I was trying to cope. So there was a need in my life for change. And that I also witnessed that for others. And so once I was able to find that balance for myself, and now be in a place myself that I can handle the craziness that life is, in a way where I'm really feeling my best, I'm feeling the best that I felt in the years. And it's like I said, I'm still very much on the journey. It's, I'm still, I'm still going through it. We're still we're all in this all together. But I really want to help other women find that balance in their life.

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Yeah, I love that. I think that a lot of us tend to underestimate how damaging stress is to our bodies, like our mind and our physical health. I think years ago, when I became a business owner, for the first time, I was anxious and stressed and I didn't sleep like quite often. And I remember I had my I had eczema breakout. So I have an autoimmune disorder, my skin breaks out. And even if I sweat or anything, like it'll irritate it and spread, like even more. And it got to a point where my entire hand was my right hand, which is my dominant hand was covered in eczema that I couldn't even like shake hands with people anymore, where I had to kind of, I had, I had to take a step back and really evaluate my life at that time. And one of the first things that I that I decided to really drop is like over stressing myself, like I started to cut out little things here that, you know, like, at the time, I didn't realize how much of a people pleaser I was like how much I wanted to be there for people and support people. Even even if it didn't get me any clients at the time, I thought, oh, karma always comes back. So if I put good out in the world, I'll get good back. But I think my approach at the time wasn't really like the best use of my time to like, really get anything out of it. But I remember that once I just started to cut out a lot of things and reduce stress and allow myself to meditate in the morning, I remember I would I started again, to have it where I'd spend hours first thing in the morning, just meditating before I really started my day, my skin really started to clear up and today I feel very happy. Like I'm very grateful that I haven't had a major breakout like that in years. And I realize a lot of it had to do with stress. And so I think early on, we think that dress because it doesn't show right away, or we think it doesn't show like we think that we can put up with it to get to like our end goal or whatever we want to accomplish in the short term. But in the long run, your your body really suffers from it. So it's a very common thing that I do also agree that a lot of women tend to struggle with because we we are I think society almost pressures us to try to be at all where with I think General generalizing, I'm totally generalizing. But what I find with most men is they're kind of allowed to be single task type people, they're allowed to focus on like one thing, like, just make the income do your job. But for women, we wear so many hats. And so yeah, naturally, it's hard to find that balance and therefore stress is involved. And it's really a toxic thing to have in our lives. And we need to we need to understand that. So

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yeah, exactly. Couple years ago, I started getting really sick. All of a sudden, I started having a lot of GI issues that kind of came out of nowhere. But I also ended up losing 20 pounds unintentionally over about six months or so. And so both of these things are going on at the same time. And I literally thought I maybe had cancer, I was like, nothing is changed. Like I have no idea what's going on. I don't know I'm losing all this weight. I'm not trying to I have all these stomach symptoms. And I kind of wish you could just like go to CDs and get like a CT scan and just make like a tumor somewhere. But that was the time that I found iron beta, which if nobody's heard about if you haven't heard about AI or beta, which I wasn't familiar with it, it is the science to yoga, and traditionally out about 5000 years ago and India was where it when it originated. And actually back then yoga was more the spiritual practice and AI or VEDA coincided with it as the kind of health care like health care system, but the way that people maintain their overall health and wellness, through diet through lifestyle, through practices and their lifestyle through daily schedules, and different eat all kinds of different things, whether it's what you put in your body, how you are scheduling your day, different self care practices, that means that restores balance in the body.

Jen Amos:

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And once I learned about it, I was like, Wow, this makes sense to me. And I've done every fad diets and fad, whatever. That that's gonna I was married to a personal trainer for 10 years. So yeah, we've done all the health care things and all the health and fitness things. And but there's so much confusion I felt about which one was best, keto best is gluten free is plant based vegan. There's so many different, every every little group says like, mine's the best mine. So yeah, and it gets confusing. It gets confusing. And I Aveda kind of encompassed all of that, but in a way that's individualized and personal. And not every person has the same body type. And not every person requires the same thing. What works well, for me, might not be the best thing for your body. And our bodies are going in and out of balance in different ways all the time, whether it's seasonally, whether it's whatever periods you're at in your life. It's always changing and evolving, just like nature is always changing and evolving. And so I tried it, I learned I learned more about it. And I tried it for myself, and within just making some simple dietary changes based on my personal imbalances. But I discovered within two weeks, all of my GI symptoms had completely stopped. I had my my vitality came back, my energy level did I wasn't feeling sick anymore. And I stopped losing the weight. And I was like, like with literally within two weeks. I was like wow, this is incredible. So yeah, and then from there, incorporating meditation, like you said, meditation has become, it's a daily practice for me. But had I've realized that we're living in like, our lives are like a dimmer switch is an analogy that I heard once where our, our culture in our society right now is on the stress overload and and that's not new, like everybody's always talking about like our cortisol levels are too high and we're always in this fight or flight. Like our dimmer switches set too high and we're constantly living in this state where that light is on right all the time and we're just go go go go are stressed and where and what meditation does, or just a regular meditation practice even just five minutes The day even will kind of dim that dimmer switch to a level, the slower and that's where you begin living. And instead of living on this high, bright all the time it dims it, then then a stressful things come up, you don't respond in the same way you don't, you know, internally and externally, you know, your hormones don't respond the same way your endocrine system doesn't respond the same way. But also you feel better, you feel more at peace all day, instead of just in those five minutes. So, meditation has become a vital, vital part of my life in many ways. And these are practices that I liked, that I love to share and teach with others and to other women and to other to my clients, between deceased simple lifestyle changes in terms of diet, daily practices, self care, scheduling time for yourself, like literally putting it in your calendar like this is, this is like, if you have an appointment, like if you've paid for an appointment, and you are supposed to be there, like you show up. Yeah, do that for ourselves. To make that appointment with ourselves every day, at some level in some way, whether it's picking, you know, going to the gym or doing something that we enjoy, it doesn't have to be that it can also be just making a list of things that really truly make you happy, really, really enjoy, and have that list of maybe 10 things that like you can sit down and just like Daydream for a minute, and just think of 10 things and just really light you up in some way. Make a list and write that down. Every single day. Let's try to hit one of those things on the list. This one Yeah. And it could even be just like enjoying our nutritious, delicious meal. I just love eating really yummy food. Nursing, or it could be like, like you said the beginning like laughing really hard with my kids, or my friends, like make time to find something that's going to bring that light into your life and into your day. Because we do I mean, we just need to schedule that time sometimes.

Jen Amos:

Yeah, I like how you mentioned to make a list of 10 things that really uplift your day. And then if you can accomplish just one of those, then then you've you've conquered the day, I think it kind of goes back to to like how a lot of us are overstressed. And we think that we have to do it all. But for you, you're just asking for one thing. And I think that's a really great way to get started in getting balance back in your life, especially if you're listening to this and you feel like you're kind of out of balance right now.

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And it could even be like music, like I love listening to these couple of songs. Let me just blare music for half an hour and dance like nobody's watching and have a lot of friggin fun by myself dancing like, like an idiot in my bedroom. Some of my favorite music, that half an hour of whatever you whatever it is. Yeah, and completely shift things for you. So yeah, it's so important. So important.

Jen Amos:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Carolyn, I feel like we provided so much tips are ready on how women can find balance in all areas of their life. Do you have any more tips or resources for us that maybe need more

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I do want to say that I have an upcoming retreat that I'm running for women at the end of October for this purpose to to help them bring balance in their lives. It's going to be an incredible weekend of kind of learning some of these things that I've been talking about today. But and practicing them and experiencing them and enjoying each other and some time away and a beautiful place in the mountains. However you really find importance in maintaining what you get out of that retreat after you leave. Because you can go to these events we can go to a see someone speak or listen to a podcast or whatever. And like oh, this was great. I love this and then you go back home and life just kind of keeps going and it's the same. I really want these experiences to be something that will continue on after after these retreats. So community is so important to me and it's so important. I think in all of this because we all need each other. We All mean to, we need that community and it's something that's we've kind of lost touch up a little bit was kind of really isolated in our world. And so having that community continue that's loving and supportive and we can continue to encourage each other and have that support after you go back home so that this is something that really can start changing your life for the better. So I have that coming up.

Jen Amos:

I like how the most important thing you mentioned, after the retreat is maintain the community, if you're going to look to change and sustain a change or a good habit once you have attained it and worked hard for it. Like the only way you can do that is in community of people who are doing that with you, they say that you are the associate you are the sum of the people or the five people you surround yourself with. But you also are the sum of communities you surround yourself with. So even after a retreat, even if you may not physically be with the people anymore, you can still maintain like a virtual community to keep that going and to connect with people who are going through the same thing. Like I know, for me, for someone that's new on the East Coast, and I haven't really made any local friends yet. I don't feel I don't really feel lonely because I've established a virtual community of people who are in a similar situation as me. And so it doesn't make me feel like I'm alone. And I can kind of maintain that I can maintain a social life and prevent these feelings of loneliness in that way. And so I just wanted to add that, because, yeah, at the end of the day, the only thing that is sustained, the only way you can sustain anything is community, like after like, for example, I'm doing this six week challenge with the gym. And there's a lot of people who have gone through it, but and people have gone through diets, but if they don't maintain it afterward, if they don't be in community with people who maintain it, then of course, you're naturally going to go back to like your old habits and your way of eating and, and stuff like that. So So just something to keep in mind. Yeah, and I wanted to

:

exactly buy your dream. Yeah, thank you so much for adding that. And I think we're so fortunate to live in the world that we do today with the with the internet, and all the connections that we can make with people all over the world is so easily at our fingertips. And I really love what you said about that, because it's so true. And even 10 years ago, I couldn't imagine having these communities with people who are all over the world. And like with you, like I never would have met you. Yeah, not have been, whether it's social media, or any kind of other online platforms. It's an incredible gift that we are able to have in today's world. And I think that we should take advantage of that for the greatest good. And so yes, so I have created my holistic wellness business, it's called holistic cruise. And not just because Cruise is my last name, but cruise as an we are a crew, we are a community, we are here in wanting to have the same thing and be able to connect with people who are like minded. And so, you know, I'm in the process of creating these platforms that we as a holistic crew can come together and have that community support people who know what we're going through who can support us in doing that, and make friendships and have connections and we're not in this alone. We're not alone. Yeah.

:

Absolutely. Well, Carolyn, I think we had such an incredible conversation, learning about Reiki and learning about your story, and where you're at in life right now. And we've really appreciated the knowledge and tips on how to find balance in all areas of your life. For people that are interested in learning more about you or connecting with you and learning more about your retreat. How

Jen Amos:

can they do that?

:

Yeah, so I'm most active at the moment on Instagram. So you can find me and follow me on Instagram. It's Carolyn's sea cruise. and my website is holistic cruise.com. And you can find all the information about my a little bit more about me and my upcoming retreats and Reiki on that website. And then there's going to be a Facebook group, starting on about the holistic cruise Facebook group starting for exactly what I was just talking about, not just people who's going for the retreat, but just as a community for absolutely anybody who wants to be a part of this and once they start having this more in their life, so and then there's gonna be some more things coming up. In the future, but those are my main things. And if you want to get a hold of me personally and reach out, I would love to talk to you. Anytime you have any questions, if you have any, you know, want any support with anything or just want to connect in any way, just shoot me an email. And I will get back to you. I would love to hear from you. I love people and talking with people. And so yeah, and I'm here for you. I'm totally here for you all. And so yes, just reach out my email is Carolyn at holistic cruz.com. Yes, I'm super excited to hear from you. So don't hesitate to reach out, you know, or just say Hey,

Jen Amos:

say yeah, just email say Hey. Yeah, awesome. Okay, well, Carolyn cruise. It's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today. And for our listeners. If you did not catch that the first time on how to get a hold of Carolyn, don't worry. We'll have all that in the show notes. Because I'm super generous that way. And with that said, we thank you so much for listening. And Carolyn, I want to thank you again for being on our show. And I look forward to connecting with you all in the next episode. Take care now.

Unknown Speaker:

All right, thanks, everybody.

Show artwork for Holding Down the Fort by US VetWealth

About the Podcast

Holding Down the Fort by US VetWealth
Do you want to do more than “follow orders,” think outside of the box, and manifest your dreams? Then you’ve come to the right show! The award-winning podcast, Holding Down the Fort by US VetWealth, has returned for Season 9 to highlight motivational stories of personal growth, financial awareness, and autonomy in our military community. The show is hosted by Jen Amos, a Gold Star daughter, Veteran Spouse, and Entrepreneur.

The show continues its partnership with The Rosie Network. Read more at https://issuu.com/therosienetwork/docs/me_mag_2023/16

We continue to showcase US VetWealth's partnership with Blue Water Advisors, which will feature conversations with Scott R. Tucker and Mike Wallace about career progression for military retirees seeking employment in post-military. Watch the most recent "Take A Knee" Live Show at https://www.youtube.com/@USVWTV/streams

Our main sponsor, US VetWealth, is proud to offer Life Insurance and Annuity Strategies for The High-Income Military Retiree. Let's help you capitalize on your above-average health and substantial income-earning potential for post-military life. For a free consultation, https://usvetwealth.com/

In the Fall of 2023, Jen Amos was sought after by InDependent to co-host the 8th annual InDependent Wellness Summit™. In August 2022, Jen Amos' work on the podcast was recognized by Disney Institute and she was hand-selected as the only non-Disney employee to moderate the first Military Spouse Employment panel for the Veterans Institute Summit. March 2022, former co-host Jenny Lynne has voted the 2022 Naval Station Norfolk Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year. November 2020, Jen Amos was awarded “Media Professional of the Year” at The Rosie Network Entrepreneur Awards! The show continued to collect award nominations in the following years. In September 2021, the show made the Final Slate in the 16th Annual People's Choice Podcast Awards for the Government & Organizations category. In November 2021, the show was an Award Finalist for the 5th Annual National Veteran & Military Spouse Entrepreneur Awards. December 2021, the show was a Golden Crane Podcast Awards Nominee. September 2022, the show was a Finalist for the 13th Annual Plutus Awards presented by Capital Group for “Best Military Personal Finance Content.”

Holding Down the Fort has also been featured in multiple media outlets including Military Entrepreneur (M.E.) Magazine, MOAA’s Never Stop Learning Podcast, The Leadership Void Podcast, Lessons Learned for Vets Podcast, Sisters in Service Podcast, Get 2 Vet, Blue Star Families of Dayton & Southwestern Ohio, Legacy Magazine, U.S. Veterans Magazine, The American MilSpouse, VeteranCrowd Network, It's a Military Life, VirtForce, Military Veteran Dad Podcast, and much more.

"Jen has a beautiful way of capturing the essence of her guests. She listens with an open mind and heart to help expand the words spoken- bringing life, connection, and deeper understanding. The military life is never “easy” we merely learn how to adapt the best we know how to. It’s through continuing to build the community up that we will see a decrease in the mental hardships we sometimes face. Thank you for your work to bridge the gaps, build awareness, and give a voice to so many of us. With a variety of guests, there is truly an episode meant for you to hear. I look forward to continuing to support you Jen!" - Candice E. Van Dertholen, Ep. 190
Support This Show

About your host

Profile picture for Jen Amos

Jen Amos

As the co-owner of US VetWealth (i.e. Scott R. Tucker’s “better half”), I assist in creating educational content for military retirees seeking alternative options to the Survivor Benefit Plan and privatized financial strategies for your military retirement.

From growing up in a military family to becoming a Gold Star family member at 10 years old, I have first-hand experience with how a sudden transition to civilian life can impact a family emotionally and financially. 20+ years removed from military life, I started the podcast show Holding Down the Fort by US VetWealth in the summer of 2019 to get a pulse on the community today. I’ve come to find that our families still face similar issues that I faced in my childhood. It’s become a sense of responsibility to do my part in validating the stories and struggles of career military families. By the fall of 2020, I had been awarded Media Professional of the Year by The Rosie Networks' National Veteran and Military Spouse Entrepreneur Awards. Since then, the show has received five more award nominations and has been recognized by multiple media outlets, including the Disney Institute’s Veterans Insititute.

While the show is off-season, I focus most of my time building out US VetWealth’s Military Retirement Blueprint — the only resource for military retirees to learn about SBP alternatives and privatized financial strategies. Contrary to popular belief, retiring military officers and senior NCOs are, what we consider, high-income earners. Our FREE resource provides guides, courses, live training, consulting, and an ever-growing list of content for you to learn about your untapped potential and opportunities for post-military life. Access our free resource now by visiting https://militaryretirementblueprint.com/

You can read more about Jen Amos' work in the Summer 2023 Military Entrepreneur Magazine by The Rosie Network (Pg. 16).