Shannon Beer

Tony Winyard 0:00

habits and health Episode Four. Welcome to the podcast where we give you ideas on habits you can create to improve different areas of your health and habits that can become automatic that you do actually do every day. Today's guest is Shannon beer. Shannon is studied at King's College London. She's an MMU certified nutritionist. And she's also an expert in fitness and various other avenues around health, which we're going to explore in deeper detail in this episode. If you do like this episode, why not share it with someone who you feel may get some real benefit from it? please do leave a review for us. You can join their habits and health Facebook group start some discussions in there. And right now it is time for this week's episode with Shannon beer.

How are you Shannon?

Shannon Beer 1:07

Are you?

Tony Winyard 1:08

Oh, well, I'm kind of envious because you're in Bali at the moment. And I'm here in rainy England. So yeah, I think you're in a much better place.

Shannon Beer 1:18

Yeah, I'm in Bali, because I don't want to be in lockdown in rainy England..

Tony Winyard 1:23

And how long have you been in Bali?

Shannon Beer 1:25

I've been here for a couple of months now. Yeah, I kind of escaped Europe as soon as the restrictions started to get more invasive. And yeah, I guess I'm stuck in Bali for now. Just waiting until the world is back to normal.

Tony Winyard 1:41

I can think of worse places to be stuck in

Shannon Beer 1:45

Not a bad place.

Tony Winyard 1:47

Are you originally from England?

Shannon Beer 1:49

Yes, that's right, as you don't tend to spend too much time back there.

Tony Winyard 1:54

And were from in England.

Shannon Beer 1:56

I'm from Essex, Colchester.

Tony Winyard 2:02

In the realm of health, your bio is pretty impressive, I was going to read everything out, it would take quite a while. So if you want to tell people what it is that you do.

Shannon Beer 2:12

Yeah, sure. So I am a nutrition coach working predominantly online. And I would say that I would almost describe myself as more of a health coach than a nutrition coach, because I like to help people to achieve their kind of idea of health, which is far more than just physical health. And it involves far more than just changing someone's nutrition behaviours. So I like to think of health as quite a broad constructs is also somewhat subjective as well. So I'd say that I help people to mostly nowadays, it's kind of improving relationship with food, improving relationships with that body, and figuring out where they want to go in their life in regards to how can their health support what it is that they want to do. So choosing a direction of things that are getting clear on things that are important to them, and then figuring out how their health can support those things and moving towards more sustainable changes. So sometimes that involves weight loss, sometimes it's a weight neutral approach. And I've recently been collaborating with Dr. Gabrielle from daru. And we have conceptualised a comprehensive coaching framework, which utilises skills drawn from motivational interviewing, acceptance and Commitment Therapy, cognitive behavioural coaching, to help move our clients towards flourishing health, which again, is that broader idea of health, which expands far beyond the physical domain to include someone's social, emotional, psychological well being, as we're talking about social connections, having a healthy relationship with yourself. And yeah, we're kind of pushing that a little bit more. And we've been fortunate enough to run some webinar series. I've recently also produced a webinar series on body image, which is, has turned out to be something that's pretty comprehensive, funnily enough, I had intended just to do a couple of webinars. And then once I got started, I'll say, well, there's so much to discuss, and it's now kind of turned into this five, five part webinar series, probably with more to come in the future. We also run the comprehensive coaching community group. So what we're hoping to do is bridge a number of gaps that we see within the industry between health and fitness, coach and client to improve the dialogue, and also just the dialogue between different coaches as well because we find that there are so many camps within the fitness industry. You know, like the pro diet, or the anti diet, or the Pro, this, the pro that whatever. And we're we're trying to help people come together, learn from each other, explore different perspectives in order to best serve the people that we're trying to help, which, you know, is our client. So, yeah, we also run the community group there, which is really cool is that we've got a number of coaches in there now. And it's just nice to have a bunch of people all working towards the same thing. And then we can kind of bounce off each other and as you say, learn from each other, and then have kind of open conversations in order to to bridge those gaps that we mentioned.

Tony Winyard 5:42

Wow, what is this so much to explore in what you just said? So let me start by what got you interested in nutrition in the first place?

Shannon Beer 5:50

I think I was interested for just my own interests wanted to know how I could be healthy. I just had this kind of my thing. I started listening, actually, to Danny Madden's podcast, the secret nutrition podcast. Back when I was at university, he and I were studying more at the time and was totally disinterested, but just kind of had nothing else to do was like, Well, I'm stuck here. What am I actually interested in? And I remember actually a conversation with a lecturer who said, you know, if you're here, and you're not reading up on these things, in your spare time out of your own interest, and you're in the wrong room, and I thought that I'm in the wrong room. That's all what am I reading up, you know, in my spare time, and I was always things related to nutrition. So just interested in for my own kind of purposes, and then heard about the Mac nutrition course that you could do online, and also has the idea in my head that once I finished university, I wanted to go travelling, I thought, Well, wait, what's the harm in doing an online course, you know, as I travel, kind of getting to do two things at the same time, sounds pretty good to me. So I started studying under a menu to become a registered nutritionist. And that was when I started to work with people as well. And I think it was when I started to get feedback from people on, you know, how much of a difference it made in their life to have more energy to feel better about themselves to improve their health. Yeah, oh, this is actually really fulfilling, you know, to be able to help people with with these concerns. And it's just kind of gone from there. And I just haven't stopped travelling and haven't stopped coaching. Just kind of going with the flow, I think.

Tony Winyard 7:41

And one of the things I was thinking of as you as you were talking now, and also what you were saying Previous to that about, you describe yourself as a nutrition coach and a health coach. And, and I know you've got qualifications as a nutritionist, I believe, and I get the feeling there's a lot of confusion in the public about what is the difference between a nutrition coach, a nutritionist, dietician, Could you explain some of that to maybe help people with the confusion around all of that?

Unknown Speaker 8:17

Yeah, yeah. So a dietitian is someone who would have completed a bachelor's degree in dietetics. And would work with different populations on different concerns, I think the issue with the time nutritionist is that it's not protected. So you can have quite the average person just calling themselves a nutritionist. And if that the client doesn't do any research, or just doesn't know, then it's going to be very difficult to actually know who, who knows what, and who's capable of dealing with what so? Yeah, I think that is one of the the issues that we face is, as I say, it's not a protected time, and you can come across people who may or may not be the best choice, but then you've also got people who did you know what they're doing. So I think there's a lot of grey area as well as to who can cover what and who can help with with what, which is why I think it's important to, to not stop learning, you know, and to always pursue ways of developing your knowledge and developing your skill set. So that's kind of where we've had with the comprehensive coaching framework and have gone down the motivational interviewing routes and the acceptance and Commitment Therapy route because it turns out that there's a lot more to helping someone with their nutrition than just knowing facts about food. They know that's that's like a tiny piece of the puzzle. And a lot of people that I work with nowadays know, you know, they have a general idea of what would constitute A healthy diet, but the struggle is putting it into practice and not understanding one's own obstacles to doing that, or getting caught up in the process. So that's kind of where I see my role. But as I say, there's a lot of grey area or a lot of kind of confusion over over who can do what so I guess the best way to answer that would be to just be careful. Do your research before before signing up with someone if that's what you're interested in.

Tony Winyard 10:33

And you mentioned a couple of times Motivational Interviewing I, I've been reading this recently. And I love this book. I mean, I've probably read it about four times now. I'm holding up a book called Motivational Interviewing in nutrition and fitness. For people who have never heard of the term, could you explain what it is?

Shannon Beer 10:53

Yeah, so motivational interviewing is a communication style that has been described as a way of being with someone to help them explore their ambivalence about making a change. And what I love about motivational interviewing is that I find myself using the skills and the techniques with everyone that I engage with, you know, I don't think it's just a skill for coaches to learn either how to have better communication with their clients, I actually think it's a fundamental skill for anyone to learn anyone who has to communicate with anyone else, which all of us. And what I love most about it is that you're, you're helping someone to, I guess, almost understand themselves, because they're talking about a change that they may want to make. But they're also exploring, potentially, the reasons that they find the change difficult. And you're there as a guide to help them discover the direction that they want to go in. And you have no agenda other than simply being there to listen, and to help the person that you're engaging with, explore their own desires, I would say. And what we're doing there is, is listening for, for those, those indications of the direction that someone wants to go in. And we're helping to strengthen their commitment to making a change by highlighting their strengths, and reflecting what they've said back to them too. I guess, as I say, help someone determine their their actions. And I think this is so relevant to coaching, because often the style can be quite directive, you know, you told me you want to lose weight, or you need to do this. And that's very rarely effective, ever, you know, especially not for long term sustainable results. So just being able to meet the client, where they're at, and helps you to guide them into their own change, I think is one of the best things about motivational interviewing as a really, really forces you to actually listen to what someone's saying, and not to make assumptions not to put words in someone's mouth, listening with the intent to make a reply, but listening with the intent to understand and then help, which is why I think this is such a useful skill.

Tony Winyard 13:20

And how would you say that ties in with habits

Unknown Speaker 13:24

Well, I guess, to decide what you want to engage in, you know, if you're unsure about a change that you want to make, being able to talk to someone about that, and you know, someone who's very helpful at helping you can really, I guess, highlight where it is for you to make a change in your life, if that's something that you've been considering?

Tony Winyard 13:47

Because, you mean, we've before we started recording, you would mention about self awareness and stuff. And it's often people aren't aware of the good habits they have, they concentrate so much on the bad things that they do.

Shannon Beer 14:00

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think being able to be aware of, of your strengths is is something that can be really beneficial. And I think the reason that I think self awareness is so important is because it's very easy to look at social media and see are, you know, I need to have a morning routine, I need to journal every day to meditate, I need to do all these healthy habits. And if you don't understand the benefits of the habits, whether they're even relevant to you, there's going to be no point, you know, trying to go jump through hoops to develop this habit, if it's not something that is even going to add anything to your life. So I think they're starting from a place of self awareness is crucial, because it's only worth doing something if it's, you know, relevant to you and it's going to benefit you in some way.

Tony Winyard 14:46

And suddenly, when you just say that it made me realise the the word should put so much pressure on people.

Shannon Beer 14:53

Yeah, exactly. Those kind of imperatives I think, are really harmful, especially if we're thinking about Flexibility comes to mind in terms of like psychological flexibility is being able to detach from those kinds of stories that we tell ourselves, I shouldn't be doing this, I should, you know, exercise this many times per week, I shouldn't be doing this many steps per day, it's like, we need to be able to remove ourselves from from those kind of expectations, and always remain aware of what's relevant to us, and what's helpful at any given moment.

Tony Winyard 15:27

So have you ever worked with people who have really struggled with that?

Shannon Beer 15:31

I think a lot of us struggle with that, for sure, just being able to identify your biggest obstacle can be quite hard, let alone putting strategies in place to begin to address those obstacles, or even understanding what direction to go in in the first place. So, for example, I work with a lot of people who have struggled with fairly restrictive eating behaviours, or a little bit concerned, quite fairly dissatisfied with their body. And the problem is, if they give that up, they don't know where they want to head, you know, what if my, you know, if I'm not so focused on my body? Where does that leave me? What Where do I how do I feel good about myself now, you know, so I think establishing that that direction that you want to go in is super crucial to give you something to move towards not just something to move away from, because most people I think, or with a bit of help, can I identify, okay, I can see that this behaviour is unhelpful for me, but I don't know what I want to move towards. So I think he kind of need bofur, which is where that self awareness is, is really important, but quite difficult to get, you know,

Tony Winyard 16:46

nearly touched upon there about body image, and you talks about the webinars you've been doing on it, and how deep you ended up going into it. And so it's it's commonly seen as a very much kind of female thing, but it kind of seems to be getting more and more guys are having problems with this as well.

Shannon Beer 17:01

Yeah, yeah, that's so that's so important to be aware of, because much of the research, unfortunately, has focused on the female population, whereas men are also under similar pressures in terms of, you know, achieving this muscular, our ideal very lean with, which can be quite debilitating in a similar way to the way that women are affected. And I believe that the the rates of body dissatisfaction within men are rising as well. And there has been a lot of work recently calling for the recognition of body dissatisfaction as a public health issue, because it does affect so many people, worldwide, men and women, and the consequences of that can be huge in terms of the the physical and psychological impact on one's quality of life. So, I do think it's a really important issue to address particularly for for coaches who are working with people who want to change their body composition, besides they are likely to be the prime kind of people that suffer with a lot of these issues, you know,

Tony Winyard 18:18

what is, I mean, when if someone has a real issue with with the whole kind of body image thing, and they just unable to what what would you say are the hardest aspects of working with someone who's got a real problem with body image?

Shannon Beer 18:32

I think the the hardest thing would be for someone who doesn't recognise that it's a an internal problem, in terms of body image is more about how you relate to yourself, the thoughts, the feelings that you have about your experience within your body. More So then, simply how your body looks. So you can perceive your body to be a certain way, which can be totally different to the actual, like physical reality of your body. You know, for example, people feeling fat has nothing to do with actual levels of adiposity. So I think the said the biggest issue would be for someone who doesn't recognise that there needs to be internal work in order to improve how you feel about yourself. And that has nothing to do with weight loss. Fortunately, for me, because of the type of the content that I put out, when someone works with me, they've already had that realisation, they come to me with the expectation that there is additional work alongside any physique change. And I think without that awareness, it's very difficult because, you know, try telling someone who really wants to lose weight is really hung up on their body that hang on a minute weight loss isn't the answer. You know, we actually need to do this, this and this. That's going to be a very difficult message to to get through and I think It does take a lot of kind of a lot of time, I think, to come around to that idea and a lot of patients and I guess, again, increasing self awareness once once a month, and is willing and able to engage with the idea of, Oh, you know, I need to address these other things. That is, we see so much more progress. So I think that's why I would love for people to talk about this more. So that is, you know, people people know, because that's the kind of feedback I've had from these posts that I've been doing is like, Oh, you've kind of touched on something that I knew deep down, but didn't actually know why I felt that way, or whatever it is, like, people know that they can look back past photos and think now, I looked great back then why didn't I feel good about myself at the time, you know, I've had so many conversations with clients around things like that. So people do know that deep down, but can't quite put words to it. And when you discuss that, say, Oh, that makes total sense to me now, okay, I'm open to this idea. Whereas again, if we're just promoting physique changes to make you happy and improve your life, you know, nobody's going to be open to doing anything ever work. So I think that's why it's really important to discuss these things.

Tony Winyard 21:19

Because in a media reception of an obsession with the whole calorie thing, and, and so on, and I just put so much pressure on people, isn't it? And so I guess, most people would just, and the whole comparison thing on social media and so on, as well, it just kind of compounds it, I guess.

Shannon Beer 21:36

Yeah, it's the comparisons are really quite dangerous, especially in terms of, you know, like body comparisons to these these photos that you see that a manipulated and unfortunately, the the research indicates that even when people are aware that the photos are manipulated, or still doesn't affect body dissatisfaction in terms of, you know, helping people to feel better about themselves, they still feel bad, even knowing that these photos are manipulated. And appearance comparisons can be a big cause of body image distress, and even fitness comparisons and eating comparisons. So I think that puts a lot of responsibility on on us in terms of kinds of content that we put out, because you don't know whether it's actually helping anyone, whoever is causing harm. So I think that's that's super crucial.

Tony Winyard 22:30

Before you mentioned about you have been working with to make sure I get her name correctly. Dr. Gabrielle fundera is Yeah, I'm fascinated how the two of you came together, because she's she's based in the States. And so I'm wondering how you first got together?

Shannon Beer 22:46

So I was thinking it was around this time couple of years ago. How has it been that long? Yeah, I think it has been a couple of years. I guess I spent the majority of 2019 travelling and going to different conferences around the world, because I was trying to get myself started. And I fought right. I had just have to show off everything. So I was hopping around different states in Australia, around the US back home to the UK, I was flying between Australia and the UK to make it to all these different conferences, because again, I just thought, you know, what, if, if I go to all of them that at least I can say I tried. So that was kind of a thought that I had in my head. So yeah, we first met in London, when I flew back from Melbourne to to go to a couple of conferences there. And then we had a conversation and I just stayed in touch for Instagram. I saw her again at different conference, a couple of conferences in Australia. And then I was heading to America, again, just floating around and travelling and going to different conferences. And she was based in Colorado at the time. So we I had a spare week or I had a spare a couple of days. So I went to visit her then we caught up and then I saw her again in Florida for a different conference. And then we went to Madrid at the start of last year. So yeah, we've just been kind of hanging out together and just discussing these concerns that we had about trends that we had seen when the industry and we started collaborating first on an article series that was supposed to be just one article. And then it turned into a series of articles. And then we had just a lot of good feedback from the types of things that we were speaking to. And people were requesting. More from that. And I guess we just kind of developed the comprehensive coaching framework fairly organically, for all this kind of all makes sense. Let's put all of this together and kind of you know, figure out where we're going with this. And then we had some input from different psychologists and experts in those fields who wanted to chip in with what we were doing. And then we updated the framework. And so we had people asking for webinars so we did those and we have people asking for We are at so we did that. So we just kind of going with the flow as well, and just, you know, kind of communicating with the coaches that we're helping and also our clients. So, Arizona, it's all been very just a funny kind of journey, I think where we feel like we're onto something here, and we're just following the friends and seeing where they take us, essentially.

Tony Winyard 25:23

And so who would you say is aimed that and how would it help them?

Shannon Beer 25:27

I think the the comprehensive coaching approach is aimed at everyone you know, it's it's for the the the whole idea behind it is that we meet people where they are at, and we utilise a range of tools and a range of different approaches, in order to best serve the person that we're working with. So in terms of client base, you again, can coach someone who has sports performance goals, someone who has physique goals, someone who needs to do more of the internal work in terms of becoming more flexible with their eating behaviours and improving body dissatisfaction. And in terms of the the framework, were really good, that towards coaches who, who have kind of come to similar conclusions to ourselves in that, you know, there's far more to help than just helping people to achieve certain physiques. And actually, there have been a lot of harmful practices, and wanting to find that middle ground between, you know, the idea that weight loss isn't necessarily conducive to improved health in all circumstances. And we need to be able to offer far more than that. And as I say, we've got this idea of flourishing health, which is really a key part of the framework, because that's what we're moving towards helping someone to experience good health across different domains in their life, and making sure that their health and fitness goals support that rather than detract from that which can can sometimes happen.

Tony Winyard 27:07

Okay, try changing the subject. I mean, again, before we started recording, we were talking about different things and money, you mentioned that you're quite into reading. What kind of reading habits have you got?

Shannon Beer 27:18

Well, I have a bad habit of ordering far too many books, because one of the things that I like most about living in Bali is that there's a website called toggle pedia, which is like the Indonesian you must know about if you lived here for so long, the Indonesian version of Amazon that say, and I didn't realise but they do. They sell a lot of books on there. So it's super cheap. So I've just been getting carried away with ordering. I think so given given that I live out of a suitcase, I think I have almost 40 books on my little table here, which is kind of crazy, really. So that's one bad habit that I should potentially care is stop ordering so many damn books. But like a good habit in terms of reading. For me, it's just always keeping a book on me and notebook and a pen. And finding small pockets throughout the day to to read and my style of reading, maybe a little bit different to the norm in that I kind of read multiple books simultaneously. In terms of I know why I've purchased each book, I know what the topic is that I usually have a reason for wanting to read that book in terms of, I've got this question that relates to my life. And I think this book will help me with that. So I kind of dip in and out of different books depending on what's on my mind, or a conversation that I've had with someone. And that's actually another another tip that I would give is to read with intention, and then recognise that if you're reading to learn, and in order to put those teachings into practice in your own life, the learning doesn't stop when you've read the book, it's more about taking those ideas and putting them into practice or discussing them with other people. And I think that's really when you begin to absorb the wisdom in a book, if that makes sense. Because I do you think that there's a tendency to be like, you know, my my goal is to read 52 books this year, I must read one a week, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick killers, like, what where does all this come from? And the whole point was to get something from this rather than reading for the sake of it, you know. So that's kind of the approach that I've been taking recently is to read with an intention, take notes, talk to people dip in and out of different books, and then kind of formulate ideas in that way. And I think even writing about those ideas can be quite helpful as well.

Tony Winyard 29:43

What would you say, in books that you've read recently? Is there a book that instantly comes to mind? It's really sort of impacted you?

Shannon Beer 29:51

Yeah, I mean, all of the books that I've read recently, I think, because as I The more I read, the more I know what I'm looking for, and I've kind of quite curious pattern and interested in a number of different things. But some books that I've read recently you would be anything around through the speaking, psychology philosophy, those sorts of books really interests me. So I'm reading one now about therapy called, maybe you should talk to someone. Yeah, I think that's what's cool. Maybe she talked to someone about a psychotherapist talking about the interactions that she's had with different clients. And she's also going through therapy at the same time. So it's kind of speaking to like the human condition, and problems that we all face. I'm also reading the art of loving by Erich Fromm about again, he's a belief he's a psychoanalyst maybe, about what it means to love someone I've read recently the master in his emissary by Ian McGilchrist, which is about the distinction between the left and the right hemispheres and the ways that they attend to the world. So both hemispheres are involved in attention, but they do so in different ways, with the left hemisphere being very narrow and focused and focused on manipulating things for its own needs. Whereas the right hemisphere is more about broad attention. And just kind of the impact that's had on Western societies particularly interesting. also exploring more about the idea of religion and spirituality from as someone who would have, I would have referred to myself as pretty hardcore atheist in the past. And now I'm like, Oh, well, maybe there are some some benefits to this, and how do we reconcile that with our scientific understanding of the world? Yeah, just a number of different topics. But I think the overarching direction, or the common thread between the more is that I try to understand myself, other people and the the kind of world that we live in, and that's my overarching, really broad, you know, reason for choosing these books. So they all feed into that in different ways.

Tony Winyard 32:09

It sounds like you've got a really good strategy of getting the most from a book and being quite intentional about what what it is you want to get from each book, and how did you develop that kind of habit?

Shannon Beer 32:18

I think it's come from just living more and knowing, yeah, having questions in in real life. So why do people behave like that? Why, you know, why do we struggle with these things? Why are these problems occurring? I don't understand. It's every time that I don't understand something, I have questions about it that I want to read more into it. So for example, talking to friends about their relationships, and thinking, Oh, you know, what does it even mean to love someone? And what about different kinds of love? And that would be why I pick up a book like that. So again, it's kind of all relates to things that are happening in my life or conversations that I've had with people. And I think, yeah, just being interested in in particular things. And then the best thing about a book is that, you know, you've got so many, like, years of that people put years and years of work of a lifetime of thought development into a book, and then you have the opportunity to pick up on that and absorb all of those teachings. It's like, Ah, my understanding of the wall has gone from this to slightly bigger. There's still so much that I don't know. But at least like I kind of feel like I have more of an idea or Yeah, I guess it works both ways more on less of an idea at the same time, but it's, yeah, it all relates to back back to things that have happened, or just questions I have from real life, if that makes sense.

Tony Winyard 33:45

I mean, we've talked a couple of times in the in the episode so far about sort of habits and what on the subject of habits have you can you think of things you've had to work basically hard at regarding habits in your in your life?

Shannon Beer 34:02

Yeah, that's a good question. I think. I guess we've anything it will be consistency, but as I say, when you really understand the purpose of something, it becomes so much easier. So for me one recent example has been with my training, so I'm now in Bali. And before that, I would move around fairly frequently. So kind of hopping from place to place every month, which is quite a lot. You know, when you you work and how things to organise every time you travel is quite a fast paced kind of lifestyle with my training. I kind of found that I wasn't really particularly loving weightlifting, it was just something that I could do. Because I knew that you know, I'd always have those that that equipment that I needed available, but I didn't get too much enjoyment out of it. I went anyway just for knowing that the benefits are good. You know, for my health or my physical health and also emotional health as well, and psychological well being, but I, it wasn't something that I was super passionate about. Whereas now in Bali, I have the opportunity to vary my training so much more. So I had the idea that I would learn Olympic lifting when I was in Portugal, something to try. But again, you kind of need an impasse and coach to learn technical lifts, so didn't really go anywhere with that, knowing that I was going to leave again soon. And now that I'm in Bali, in one place, I've been exploring more of the martial arts. So I think it's because there's a really good gym here. And I've been picking up jujitsu. And I've been really, really enjoying that recently. And it's been extremely easy for me to go to the BJJ classes every single day for six days a week. And now I can tailor my weightlifting to be conducive to improving my BJJ. And all of a sudden, that habit is like, ingrained. But that's easy for me because there's a clear purpose. And my motivation is more intrinsic, which I think is really crucial. So it's about understanding that you don't need to do anything for the sake of it. But having a really good reason to do something makes the habit so much easier to establish in the first place. So I say what is your motivation for making a change is one important question to ask yourself, and why are you wanting to engage in these habits, and you'll likely find the process easier, or you'll choose a different habit. And it's not always the case, there are some things that we may decide that are good for us, and we don't really enjoy doing them. But I think in in circumstances where you do have the option to kind of choose something that's going to enhance your life, then really getting to why you want to do something can make the process so much easier.

Tony Winyard 36:57

And other than buying like a book every day, or however many you said you'd be buying so many books, Can you think of any bad habits that you've just maybe not given up on, it's just too difficult to combat or I don't know anything along those lines.

Shannon Beer 37:14

That's really pretty hard. Because I would say that I for myself, I don't really have any expectations on things that I think I should be doing. So I'm kind of at that at that stage where I just try to reflect on what I'm doing, and figuring out what I need to do more of and what I need to do less of. So for one week, I could do do more of say socialising because I have these opportunities, and people have invited me out. So one week, I may do more of that. The next week, I may be really, really eager to finish a project that I'm working on. So I may spend way more time working and less time socialising. So that's fine, you know, so it's about, I guess, for me, not being too inflexible with Oh, I must do this. This is my habit that I'm trying to establish, you know, I need to do this at this time, every single day. I think that kind of thing can be helpful when initiating a habit. But when it comes to just kind of living a lifestyle and figuring out what supports you and what you need. I think having that ability as well to be a bit flexible. I think that's that's really important. So yeah, I think for me, if I don't feel like I'm, I do have a bad habit of going to bed a bit too late. Sometimes when I get carried away with whatever I'm doing, whether that's reading or hanging out with people going out for dinner, or whatever it is. So you can say that that's a bad habit. And I'm at that stage where I'm okay with that. So, again, it comes down to whether I really want to change something or not. I think that's always always the important questions ask.

Tony Winyard 39:07

How do you? How do you see things developing for you in the next few years? I mean, it's obviously impossible to predict, but where would you like things to go over the next few years?

Shannon Beer 39:19

That's a really great question, because one of my favourite phrases for me is that I'm just pootling along. I'm just tinkering, just go with the flow kind of thing. But I do, of course, have some, some intentions of some things that I would like to be able to achieve. One of the most crucial things for me, actually right now is being able to get into a position where I can take care of my family more so my parents are both stuck in the UK, not having the best time with what's going on, and really wanting to move abroad and obviously, given that I've been travelling for so long as something that I'm all in favour of so over the next few years, I would really love to be in a position to either employ one of my parents, so they can have an online income, or to be able to, for example, invest in a property for them in a different location somewhere like Spain or Portugal, or whatever. So that's kind of a personal goal for me. In terms of working career wise, I guess it's very difficult to answer because I'm one of those people who I just don't distinguish between life and work is all just kind of life to me. So like, oh, what seems to be a problem here? What can I do about this? How can we help with this, you know, and I, in terms of like, the services that I offer, they've all come as a result of people asking for them. So for example, one thing that I started to do towards the end of last year was to offer a mentorship service, because people would ask, do you mentor other coaches? And I was like, No, I don't really, and I didn't think that was a, you know, something that I was able to do, or people would even be interested in that for? Well, if someone's asked, they can give it a go. And that kind of took off and has been going really well. So I'm just like, Okay, then I'm just kind of doing whatever people ask. And I think always exploring, or I know what I'm working towards, in terms of this is my idea of what it means to be healthy. There are so many roadblocks to achieving that, that I'm just kind of working my way through them. And I think just things I would like to do in relation to that. I'd like to pick up back up on my podcast, because that's kind of taking a backseat as I've been working on these webinars, there's likely to be other webinars in future on certain topics that I perceived to be, you know, important. I think bridging that gap between like psychology and nutrition is something that's quite important to me. So reaching out to other professionals, and filling in the gaps there is anything that I just have this overarching aim, and I don't know what road I'm going to go down to get there. But I think as long as you're following that direction, you'll you'll find your way anyway. So it's kind of a very, I guess, broad of the Yeah, I think it's been working all right. so far. until something goes wrong, I think I'll stick to that strategy.

Tony Winyard 42:23

So if people want to find out more about your, your social media, your website, their webinars is where the best places to look.

Shannon Beer 42:31

Probably the best face would be on Instagram. So that's at Shannon B, underscore, if you want to hear some more about the coaching approach, and just I guess, if you've got concerns about your own body image, or your own eating behaviours, I speak a lot to that on there. I also post the odd travel pack every now and then if you're into that, and book recommendations, so that would be the place for that. I will say got a website, Shannon, www dot Shannon albir.com. And I have a number of articles on there, which may be useful. Also a bookshelf, if you're interested in books, and links to all the things that I offer there in terms of coaching, consulting, mentorships webinars. And we also have, as I said, the the comprehensive coaching community, for for our coaches or even clients as well who want to learn more about that more more detailed integrative approach. And the website for that is btg. Comprehensive coaching.com. So yeah, I'm sure all of that will probably be in the in the show notes below. Yeah, a few different places that you can can reach me there.

Tony Winyard 43:38

Right. Yeah. I mean, though, as you sign up in the show notes, so to find the showing, is there. Do you have a quotation you particularly like?

Shannon Beer 43:46

That's a great question, actually. Because I came across one in the book, The the one on one therapy that I was reading the other day. And it's by Emerson. And again, it spoke to me, because of the fact that I travel, because I got a tattoo recently, along these lines, and the quote is, though, we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not. And my previous favourite quote would have been an Andy Warhol quote, that is, everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it. And I think that's just a reminder to me that, you know, getting wrapped up in thoughts and worries and anxieties, and I guess, not having that presence or that gratitude or that appreciation for the things that we do have. It's very easy to like we all fall into that every now and then, you know, and I think being able to step back and being like that there are there are so many, you know, no matter how bad things feel, there are so many good things in the world as well. So I also have this tattoo on my arm of a floral design that I got done in Lisbon, and it was precisely for that reason to come A piece of PT with me to remind myself again, like us, bring yourself back there, there is so much here. And I think that's just something nice to keep in mind. And this was after spending some time in Krakow and exploring, you know, everything that happened there in terms of outfits back now the star photo Museum, you know, spent so much time looking at all of that, but I was just like, Oh my God, I hate it. And I had this moment where I was walking around the Botanical Gardens. And it was so beautiful. And I was just like, a really mindful moment. And the sun was like, reflecting on the flowers. I was like, wow, Isn't it crazy? How all you know, this place where so much kind of horror and destruction happens. But there's also at the same time, you know, like these these beautiful moments, I think that's kind of a life lesson there somewhere. So yeah, carrying that little piece of beauty for me, with me wherever I go. And not always looking for like external things and remembering that, you know, it's all about how you perceive the situation. And remembering to find the beauty in everything. Because I think is there when

Tony Winyard 46:08

you look for it. Shannon, thank you for your time. It's been a it's been a pleasure speaking to

Shannon Beer 46:15

general Thank you for having me on. It's been great to chat to you.

Tony Winyard 46:20

Next week, Episode Five is with Fran McElwaine. She's a health coach and helps people around different areas around health and nutrition. And we discuss a lot of different things like resistance to change, meditation, how it is we get in our own way. Some of her reading habits as well. And there's a there's a lot more; next week. That's with Fran McElwaine. If you do like this episode, if you know anyone who would get some benefit from this, please do share the episode with them. Why not leave a review for us on Apple or Google Play or one of the other podcast platforms? And why not subscribe so you get the episode every week when it's released 12 o'clock on Tuesdays and hope you have a great week. See you next week.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai