Bangs: Spin Queen, Personal Development Coach, Studio Bangs

Christina chats with Bangs about her journey from dancer, to couch potato, to fitness instructor and personal development coach.  Bangs offered five fabulous lessons learned from 2023, like stop telling yourself you can't!

Hailing from the UK, Bangs is an award winning spin instructor who has guided thousands of people to find their best selves on stationary bikes. Her classes were so popular, people started asking her to coach them off the bike, and so her life coaching journey began. She's an accomplished public speaker, an author and the former fitness editor at ELLE UK. She’s a believer in the power of movement and mindset to change your life.

Instagram: @‌bangsandabun
Studio Bangs: studiobangs.com
Life Coaching: bangstheconsistencycoach.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Greetings from Christina
• 0:48 Theme Song - Talk About It
• 1:08 Introduction by Christina
• 9:30 Hello Bangs! Christina breaks a sweat online!
• 10:33 Dancer turned couch potato turned fitness instructor!
• 16:02 What is a spin class?
• 19:08 Biggie Smalls joins the conversation
• 20:22 The evolution of Studio Bangs
• 25:06 Making the transition to working online
• 29:38 Bangs on Instagram
• 30:23 Personal Development Coaching
• 38:27 Murmuration
• 38:40 Bangs Top Five Lessons Learned in 2023
• 40:00 Choose your discomfort
• 42:17 Your habits anchor you
• 47:44 Journalling
• 54:24 Stop telling yourself you can't
• 57:10 Season for planting vs. bloom
• 1:01:46 Acceptance
• 1:02:58 Mental and physical health are everything
• 1:08:49 Heartbeat Hotline 1(902)-669-4769
• 1:09:21 Podcast Credits
• 1:09:51 Support the Podcast on Patreon

Transcript

S3E3: Bangs

Christina: [00:00:03] Welcome to a Chat with Heart. I'm your host, Christina Martin. I'm a singer songwriter. I live on a dirt road with my best friend Dale in rural Nova Scotia, Canada. I chat with her is just me having chill conversations with people I want to celebrate, and topics that I'm curious about. If you have a question or a comment for this podcast, call my heartbeat hotline 19026694769. To send this podcast even more love, visit me online at Patreon.com/ChristinaMartin. I'm so happy you're listening. Our personal stories have great power to heal, influence and inspire. All we have to do is show up for the conversation.

Podcast Theme Song 'Talk About It': [00:00:49] If we just talk about it, we could shine a light, we could break a dark day. If we just talk about it, we can cut a way, we can make a brighter day.

Christina: [00:01:15] I'm so excited, y'all. I got my work play every day planner in the mail this week. I love it because it has a quarterly goal tracker, weekly habit tracker space to practice gratitude. I think my favorite is the habit tracker. This is the first planner that has kept me from going out twice a year to find a different planner. Yeah, I'm committed to this one. Thanks, Betty Soo. Uh, she was a guest on season two. Uh, a woman of many talents. She created this planner. Work, play every day. Check it out. If you're old school like me and still like to use physical planners. I do use it in conjunction with, uh, my Google calendar. All right, so I'm done with the holiday season. It was lovely. Um, got to see family and friends, which is always a treat. I'm also happy to get back to routine. I love my work. I don't know if you all can relate. I just, uh, I feel better physically and mentally when I'm tinkering away at my passions. I suppose, um, my binge watch. But this is nothing to do with, uh, the holidays. No. It might. I mean, we spent a good chunk of the holidays binge watching, um, episodes of Will and Grace. So that's that's kind of one of the things this past year that Dale and I have been, uh, that's been our guilty binge, I guess.

Christina: [00:02:55] And I don't need to feel guilty about it. It's such a great show. Um, so we're at the end of season eight. I don't know if any of you watched Will and Grace from start to finish. Um, I, you know, growing up, who would have thunk that there'd be a time that we could rewatch the shows that we missed because we could never like going back in the day? I mean, I was not someone who planned my life around a show. I know, I know, other people may have done that. Like for friends. I know my friends every, every week would try to get together to watch friends together. Um, I didn't do that. I didn't watch a lot of TV. Uh, back when I was growing up, I would watch movies, VHS, VHS tapes, beta in some cases. Um, but, yeah, I never would have thought that someday we could just have all these shows that are fingertips. And in any case, um. Yeah. Dale and I have been, uh, catching up on Will and Grace. We're almost done. And we're also the other thing. We've we've been hooked on, uh, on tour and has helped us, uh, keep, uh, smiling, laughing. Uh Smartless. The podcast with Sean Hayes, Will Arnett, and Jason Bateman. Sean, of course, is one of the stars of Will and Grace, and I love watching his work and listening to those three gab on, uh, on the podcast.

Christina: [00:04:24] Smartless. Okay, friends. Uh, 2024 uh, I feel like I'm really getting to the good stuff, you know, I hope I'm right. Like, even if I'm not, I'll keep, uh, I'll keep going. I'll be okay, but. That's the feeling I have right now that it's going to be a good year. Like a lot of energy focused work, clarity, great collaborations, like, I feel really excited right now. That's, uh, it's giving me a lot of hope. And, um. Yeah. Um, another thing I wanted to chat about. Uh, it can be scary to share your goals out loud. Uh, sometimes you want to be careful about who you share your plans with. Um, so that, you know, like, there might be people who just out of jealousy or whatever, stomp on your. Heart and plans. Hopefully not, but it does happen. So you can be precious about your plans and your goals. But I'm going to share with you that I really want to write way more songs this year than any other year of my life, so I tallied up the songs I've written since 2000. That's when I started. That's when I wrote my first songs. Um, and you know what it I mean by my I don't think it's been that much like 23 years. I feel like I should have written more songs.

Christina: [00:05:52] So here we go. In the past 23 years, I've written 160 songs, but I've only recorded and released 94. That's 164 if we're including live and covers and 169 including remixes. But I'm not satisfied. No, I'm grateful. Like, and and you know, there's a lot of work that went into all of that and then launching them. I spent a lot of time on the marketing phase of things, and and there were certainly other things in my life going on. But anyway, at this point, I feel like there are only excuses as to why I couldn't be writing more songs. Uh, only excuses. And the stories that I tell myself as to why I. I can't make time to do it. The truth is, I, I haven't prioritized it. I had other priorities touring, videos, album launch, podcasting, personal growth. All necessary. Not bad in any mean by any means. But. But now I want to write more. It's a big passion of mine. Helps me figure out life stuff. I'm curious about other people's lives, and songwriting is a way I can spend time exploring other stories, other artists work. I want to listen to more music and read more. That has always helped me in my songwriting, and I just want to play with music and words more. So more, more, more. Wish me luck. Uh, if you're following me for free, or if you're a paid member on my Patreon, you'll be the first to know how me writing way more songs is going.

Christina: [00:07:35] Do you have a goal or dream you'd like to share with me? Uh, and my little heartbeat listeners on a future podcast episode? If so, call my heartbeat hotline 1-902-669-4769. Leave it in a voicemail or, uh, send me an email. I can read it on the podcast. You can even attach a voice note. Uh, but my email is christinamartinmusic@gmail.com. Okay. So are you feeling stuck in a slow pile of sand with cat poop all around you? Would you like a helping hand to help guide you, to gain clarity and stay on a healthier path for your mind and body? This is not a paid advertisement at all. I'm excited to have the opportunity to introduce you to somebody I think can help you get unstuck. My guest on this episode of A Chat with Heart is Bangs. Hailing from the UK, bangs is an award winning spin instructor who's guided thousands of people to find their best selves on stationary bikes. Her classes were so popular, people started asking her to coach them off the bike, and so her life coaching journey began. She's an accomplished public speaker, an author, and the former fitness editor at Elle UK. She's a believer in the power of movement and mindset to change your life.

Christina: [00:09:02] I just joined her new online community at studiobangs.com and bought myself a stationary bike so I could spin with her from the comfort of my home, and I love it. This episode is a fabulous one to kick off a new year with. Yay!

Christina: [00:09:30] Can I just, um, say that I really enjoyed the 70s rock ride this morning with you? Congratulations on launching Studio Bangs. Thank you. Yeah, we're going to we're going to talk more about that. Um, but, uh, first I just wanted listeners to know that I was I was at Studio Bangs online this morning. I basically let go of my habits for a couple of days and turned into a miserable human. And then today decided, that's not going to happen. I've got to get back on track. So I started my day with my routine, and then I made the ride with you. Uh, part of that routine, uh, got my heart rate up. I sweat, I sweat, and it was great. And. And then I was thinking, in this ride, one of the first things I wanted to ask you about was how I read that. You said you were a couch potato at some point in your life. And how how did you get like, what was that time of your life like? And then how did you get turned on to fitness?

Bangs: [00:10:33] Excellent question. Yeah. I was the president of the Couch Potato Club. Like big time. Yeah, it's a responsibility I took very seriously. Yeah. Very nice. Yeah, this would have been so when I was young. Young, all through my teens, I was a dancer. And that's very much what I thought my career was going to be at this point. Young me thought that I would now, at this stage of my life, be like a big time choreographer, you know, just like moving around dance studios, wearing lots of floaty clothes, clicking my fingers, you know, just giving big, big, kind of like, colorful hippy vibes is very much where I thought I'd be right now. Right. And so I was always, obviously, as a youngster, very active, uh, creatively, though, never really a sporty person at all. But I loved to dance. That was my life. That was my world. Wow. And I was very, um, intense. On becoming a full time dancer. But in order to do that, you have to make that decision when you're really young. And I would have had to have made the decision at 16 to go to dance school full time, and that I just felt too young to to do it and didn't really have, you know, I just had like the basics of a high school education and thought, maybe I should do a little more education wise before I make that choice. And so I went on to university and I kept dancing in my spare time, but gradually released the the notion that it would be my full time lifelong gig. Yeah. And then I, you know, went to university, left university and moved to New York for a while.

Christina: [00:12:15] Oh, where did you where did where did you grow up though, before New York.

Bangs: [00:12:19] Oh, England. Yes. So, um, in the north of England, in Leeds. And then I moved down south to London and was there for many, many years. And so I moved from London to New York. And once I got there, just, you know, I was fresh out of university, I was interning, I was making no money. I was literally like, I remember there was a day when I walked 80 blocks because I couldn't afford to take the subway. It was that kind of a lifestyle, you know, in your early 20s when you're like, yeah. And so I didn't have the money to do dance classes or be active in the way that I knew how, and I'd never really been a gym person. So gradually movement just kind of drifted out of my life to the point where I just ran. All of a sudden, it had been years and I hadn't really done anything, you know? And I basically reached about the age of 29 and was getting winded going up a flight of stairs, you know, and was like, oh, that doesn't seem like a thing that should be happening now. And at this stage. I then moved back to England and just had a bit of a wake up call where I was like, I just feel really unfit. I just don't feel good. Yeah. And so I decided, okay, I want to get moving somehow.

Bangs: [00:13:34] And somebody had told me that boxing was a really good way to kind of get your cardio up. So, I mean, talk about diving in at the deep end. I just like signed up for a boxing class and kind of the rest is history, really. I just I absolutely fell in love with that. I went once a week, but and it was like me and 30 dudes and just, you know, doing all of this kind of boxing conditioning. And I just absolutely fell in love with it. I just got hooked on the endorphins and could, I think, especially when you have been really unfit for a long period of time, when you get into something and you get hooked, you, you see and feel yourself getting fitter really quite quickly. And in terms of like, okay, week one, I could do ten sit ups by week, you know, four I'm able to do like 25. Like I was just seeing those, um, you know, hashtag gains. Um, quite rapidly at that point. And then at this time in my life, I was blogging and a very eagle eyed PR person had seen me talking about boxing and, like, mistakenly thought that I was really fit at the time and asked me if I would like to run a half marathon and blog about it. And I was so cocky because I'd, you know, listen, I had at least four weeks of boxing under my belt and I was like, sure, I can run a half marathon.

Bangs: [00:15:00] And, um, yeah, I had literally not run since like, primary school. But I was like, sure. I didn't even know how far a half marathon was. I just like, blindly agreed to it. And so began this love affair with running. Okay, which lasted several years, and I ran 13 half marathons and two full ones and a bunch of other little races in between, and that was like very hardcore my life at that time. And I would get groups of women together and we'd train and run half marathons in Paris or Berlin. Like, you know, I was very big in the running game. And that led to people asking how they can train with me. I wasn't actually really trained in anything. I was just a chick who liked to work out. Um, so eventually I was actually writing some newsletters for a spin studio at the time, and I was I really got on with the owner, and I was hanging out with the studio one day and kind of overheard a class happening, and I was like, I think I could do that. And she was like, Thank God. I was hoping you would ask. So she got me trained up as a spin instructor. And here we are.

Christina: [00:16:02] And here we are. I don't know if like, I mean, I took spin classes uh, 20 years ago, my first spin class, I think, at university. And I just loved it. I loved I mean, I, I wouldn't do it by myself at the time because it was so it was these are hour long classes, um, on the bike on. And there were so hard that if I wasn't amongst a group of people, I would have quit. Um, because they but I but how I felt afterwards and was just it kept me going back. Um, I don't, I don't know if I've ever worked out as hard and I've done boxing in high school. I was in a boxing club, never sparred, was too afraid to get my, uh, my teeth bashed in. But. Yeah, but the training was incredible. Um, so do you think we need to explain what a spin? Why don't we just. Some people may not know what a spin class is. I mean, maybe they think you just spin in and, like, until you puke, and it's more of a purging thing, like activity, which you, you know. Um yeah.

Bangs: [00:17:09] Perhaps it is for some. I don't want to rule that out. Yeah. Spinning is just kind of. You're on a stationary bike, and a stationary bike has what we call resistance on it. So you kind of just think of it like gears on an outdoor bike. The resistance is just like a twiddly knob, um, in between the handlebars. And you turn it up to the right to, to make it harder, more difficult, add more pressure under the pedals. You turn it down to the left to make it slightly easier. The type of style of spin that I teach is rhythm based, so you ride to the rhythm of the music. Um, and I do it in a, in a way that is my style is, I guess, quite holistic. I'm very much about, um, empowering you mentally as well as doing the physical, because I don't think you can really separate the two. So I like to coach in a way that is quite emotive, um, and motivating. And, um, I'd say that probably from like those traditional spin classes at like a, you know, a big box gym, um, um, which they are all kind of trained in a certain way, which is more based on kind of metrics and things as opposed to, uh, the style of, excuse me, the style of coaching that I do. So I'd say that's kind of what makes my classes, if the, you know, a different experience for some people. I think that's probably what differentiates me from, uh, I never talk about numbers. I never talk about, um, you know, heart rates or BPMs or any of those kind of things. I'm just. I'm all about the vibe and just, like, feeling it in your body. And I feel like it's a real kind of heart connected, soul fulfilling, uh, activity that I want you to feel really emotionally connected with as opposed to, like, this is a chore of a physical thing that I have to get out of the way. Um, sorry. My dog really wants to be involved in this conversation.

Christina: [00:19:12] Is that Biggie?

Bangs: [00:19:13] This is Biggie Smalls. Yeah.

Christina: [00:19:15] Biggie smalls. Oh. Oh, hey. Biggie Smalls. Well, you're he, like, really loves to be in the meetings.

Bangs: [00:19:24] Hey, listen. Hey, everybody has to go through him. He's like the bouncer of this house. You know, I think that now that he's assessed the situation, he's probably okay with me continuing. Do you think?

Christina: [00:19:35] I mean, I'm cool with it. It's funny. His face is directly in front of yours, and all I see is his ears and his eyeballs and his mouth and. Oh, that is hilarious. Wait, did he do that or did you give me the thumbs up? Literally some.

Bangs: [00:19:49] I think it was me, but I don't know, like there's some update has happened on my computer and I don't know how I'm doing it, but this happens in like any kind of FaceTime or zoom conversation I'm having. I've had thumbs up. I've had like random fireworks and balloons have appeared on my screen before. I don't know how I'm doing it. I'm magic.

Christina: [00:20:07] I thought it was Biggie Smalls, like responding to what I was saying, and that.

Bangs: [00:20:12] Would be amazing. That's like the next step in I. I feel for dogs to communicate with us that way. It would be very helpful sometimes. Okay, I'm going to get you down.

Christina: [00:20:22] Okay so, I mean, maybe this is a ridiculous question. Maybe the answer to, you know, everything that was just online, online. But for you, like, um, what was your audience that was like, hey, can you offer these classes online? Like what led to Studio Bangs, which is not, by the way, all spin classes, which I love. It's it's, uh, let's talk about that.

Bangs: [00:20:46] Yeah. Um, so when I left, the UK was kind of right at the start of Covid. I left there in May 2020, and I so we'd gone into lockdown in London in like March. And at that point I hadn't announced that I was leaving and I'd been teaching there for like six and a half, nearly seven years. And I had I taught anywhere from 7 to 10 classes a week at that those studios. And I had a group of people who just those were my people, you know, for like six years. And it felt awful, to be honest, to leave without being able to say goodbye, um, was really, really heartbreaking for me. And lots of people said at the time, when we first went into lockdown, I don't know if this happened over here, but we were told in London that it would be three weeks. We're just going to lock down for three, three weeks.

Christina: [00:21:50] We all thought that at first. Yeah, and then we thought eventually we thought it would be eight like ten years. It went from like three months. So this is never going to change. We're never leaving our communities. Yeah. Yeah.

Bangs: [00:22:02] So during that period of time, I think we hadn't actually like fully settled in during those first three weeks after I announced, like, yeah, I'm out of here. Um, people started to say to me, oh, you know, I really want to keep riding with you. I hope you teach classes online. But like, at that time, so early in the pandemic, it wasn't really a thing, you know, like, I mean, peloton existed and people were doing that. But, I mean, I was having this conversation the other day with someone of like, when I look back on it now, I think we owe like fitness instructors, just like such a debt of gratitude, because I don't think we appreciate I definitely do now, having just set up my own studio, but we don't appreciate how fitness instructors during that time, seemingly overnight, just kind of started teaching things online and like what it took for them to do that, you know? Right. Yeah. Um, but for me, you know, people would say saying to me, we'd really love to do online classes with you. And that just seemed like I was just like, okay, cool. Like there was no way I was gonna. I'm moving countries. We're in the midst of a pandemic. It just was like, I couldn't get my head around that being a thing in my life. And I moved over here and I found work as an instructor, heading up the studio and whatever. So I ended up doing that, and I would still have people from London reaching out to me and saying, like, I wish I could still ride with you, especially whenever I posted videos of me teaching over here.

Bangs: [00:23:34] And uh, then I moved to Montreal in the summer, just this summer and have because I'm not really particularly proficient in parlaying the Francais just yet. Um, that has become a real barrier for me in terms of trying to find work here. And I was just kind of spiraling a few weeks after I moved here, like, what am I going to do? Because I can't anywhere I want to teach is asking me if I speak French, even though everybody teaches in English. It's very strange. Um, so one day I was out walking the dog and I got a opened up my Instagram and had a message from a random girl on there who said, I'm sure you get this all the time, but if you were to teach online classes, I'd be the first person to sign up. And I think she it's just one of those things where she just caught me on the right day, at the right time, you know, where I just all of a sudden I was like, oh, yeah, I should totally do that. Like. And so yeah, I, a place that I moved into here is two bedrooms and that the second bedroom had just been like the junk room because I didn't know what was going to do with it. And then that day I was like, I should get a bike and put it in that room and I should just make this a thing. And so, yeah, my last few months has been quite the education in trying to figure out how to do all of this and put it all together and get it up and online and running.

Christina: [00:24:54] I mean, I guess the benefit to doing this now or in recent months would be that because there is a learning curve with the technology side of things, I imagine. And when you're.

Bangs: [00:25:05] You can say that again.

Christina: [00:25:06] I'm saying this for as a musician during the pandemic, having to go online and just I mean, the, uh, I went through, I spent a lot of money on testing this and that and went through the, you know, internet issues and. Um, and then it's a whole it's also a whole other experience. When you are, you're doing something to a, uh, to a camera and not in front of human bodies. So, um, I know now now, I want to ask you how how's that feeling for you? Like. I mean, it's still fresh.

Bangs: [00:25:39] Yeah, it's really interesting because, you know, I've my life has been very online for a long time. Like I was, I guess, really quite an early adopter of blogging. Like I started blogging in 2007. And that was, I guess, like by today's terms, I would have been referred to as an influencer back then. But it was still, you know, everybody was kind of establishing their thing. But that's that's what I did for years was blogging and being involved with brands and all that kind of thing. And so in terms of writing, I've been very online. I was very, very uncomfortable for a really long time in, um, filming myself. And, you know, I did I had a little stint where I tried to do a bit of YouTube stuff, and yeah, it was really uncomfortable for me. I just, I didn't like it. I didn't like that feeling. And I kind of made a point with my Instagram. I would say over the past kind of year and a half, really to just get comfortable. I made, I think, a couple of little videos on Instagram and I would get really good feedback from people. People would message me and say, I wish you would do more of that kind of stuff. I love hearing you talk, and I think what you say is really impactful. So that that was nice to get that kind of messaging from people when it's something that I feel I've really struggled to kind of find a comfortability with and a groove with and, and I kind of, to be honest, I credit those videos that I've done on Instagram with kind of laying the foundation of me getting comfortable enough to to do that on the bike.

Bangs: [00:27:16] I mean, obviously I've been teaching at spin for like ten years and I've literally taught quite literally thousands of people. I have no problem being up in front of people. I do a lot of public speaking too. And so I, you know, I have no problem kind of addressing a crowd. But there is something about like a camera being in front of you that is just very odd. But I think I now maybe it's something to do with me knowing that like, studio bangs is my thing and these people are very much opted in for this thing. I really do imagine that I'm right there with you in the room. I just imagine you're right there with me and I'm just talking to you. And so I kind of obviously I see the camera, but, you know, it's just me in that room with the camera biggy's wandering around doing his thing, you know, and it's so there's a comfortability. I think if I had to do it, like in a studio with people watching me do that, I'd feel a lot more self-conscious, perhaps, right?

Christina: [00:28:12] Yeah.

Bangs: [00:28:12] But because it's just me and because it does feel so intimate and it's. I've only just started this thing. I know I've only got kind of, you know, a few members. And so it feels very intimate and personal, and I want it to as it grows, I want it to continue to feel like that. So I'm very much trying to cultivate that kind of a feeling of the intimacy of it, because I imagine people are in the same kind of position, whether you're like on your bike, in your spare room, at your house, or maybe you've kind of taken it, you've taken your phone to the gym and you're using the bike at the gym. But I want you to feel right here with me. I want you to feel really connected in this with me. So I think that is something that I'm really trying to cultivate, but it for sure hasn't come easy to me. You know, just getting that comfortability with the camera.

Christina: [00:29:01] Yeah. Well, it sounds like in a way you kind of imagine you're talking to one person. You are, you have, you know, your mission, you remember your why, you know, and I get all weirded out with that stuff as well. And I have to go back to my why am I doing this? What is the point of this specific post? Just and also like it's I have to remind myself, I don't know if you to just be myself. Like, calm the fuck down and just be, be chill, be myself. I mean, or at least some version of that.

Bangs: [00:29:34] It really has been a process to get comfortable with.

Christina: [00:29:38] Um, @bngsandabun. Instagram. That's your Instagram handle. I love getting I love following you on Instagram. I find every time, every time I'm, I listen to your posts, I'm like, oh my God, this is so helpful. This is just great.

Bangs: [00:29:53] Thanks.

Christina: [00:29:54] Yeah. And, uh, apologies if I don't say so or leave a comment always. I think a lot more people like. One thing I've learned through posting as well is, is there are a lot of people listening and getting it, even though you may not know, they may not hit the heart or the like button. Um, you know, because there's just so much going on and they're distracted and they're moving on, but they're getting it. And, uh, so. And they're grateful. That's. Yeah.

Bangs: [00:30:22] Thank you.

Christina: [00:30:23] Um, I just want to jump back. Just what are the other things that people can find at Studio Bangs? Um, there's. I know there's Pilates, stretching some weights.

Bangs: [00:30:33] Yeah, that's that's my current offerings. Yeah. So, um, one thing I had to learn as I was moving into this online space, when I'm teaching in a studio, the classes are like 45 minutes. Very occasionally you might do a 60 minute. Um, as I was researching moving things online, generally classes were like 30 minutes. People are just trying to kind of fit them in where they can fit them in. Right. And you're also, generally speaking, you're not in an air conditioned studio space. You know, where, um, where you're going to be really comfortable within that space and cool for, for 45 to 60 minutes. So online people tend to prefer 30 minutes. So I, I went with that. Usually within a 45 minute class I would do one. One of the tracks within that is just weights. Right. So you're still sitting on the bike, but you would just do some weights. I didn't want to do that within a 30 minute class. I wanted the 30 minutes to really give you your kind of bang for a buck. And then I thought, well, I can do a whole kind of separate series of just like five minute arms. So again, I just want to cater this to people who are like, maybe you're short on time or you just want to be able to fit in a quick like 30 minute thing here, a 20 minute Pilates thing here, a five minute arm track here. Um, and you can kind of piecemeal this as you want to do it. So, um, yeah, I've got 30 minute spin classes, um, a series of stretching sequences which I'm going to be doing more of, like mobility type of stuff, because that's just playing a bigger role in my own life, in my own fitness journey right now as well. And then I have those five minute arm tracks and short Pilates sequences.

Christina: [00:32:10] I love it, I love it, I like if I think if I only could do Pilates and spin, if that's the only thing I could like, I'd be just. I'm. I'm set. I'm so happy, I Love.

Bangs: [00:32:23] I think that they complement each other really well. You know, like, I think Pilates just really helps to offset everything that you do on a spin bike where you feel kind of you are quite kind of hunched over and in this particular position, then doing the Pilates is just opens everything back up again and gives you that kind of nice breathability within the body. So yeah, I really like the combination of the two.

Christina: [00:32:44] I love it. I'm so glad you did this because, um, I too had been wanting you to start up your studio and because I live in a rural community a lot of and I, you know, want to used to live in the city. I love going to spin classes. And now I might have to drive, you know, 40 minutes one way and back and then back, and I'm just not going to do it.

Bangs: [00:33:04] That's a lot.

Christina: [00:33:06] Yes. So this is really great. And another one of your offerings is life coaching. Uh, for individuals and groups. Um, who is this for? Who is this not who. Do you not want a life coach and and and how can people sign up? Because I think it's great. I think, uh, professional, I don't know, adult development. This is. I think we should all be, like, always signed up for coaching of some kind. Um, yeah.

Bangs: [00:33:36] Yeah. I mean, the people who I have coached have found it immensely helpful, and I think it is I'm glad that it's kind of becoming part of the culture more right that people understand that this is an option and this is a thing that they can do. Um, who do I coach tends to be women 30 plus. And generally people tend to come to me when, frankly, when they're just sick of themselves, you know, when they've just kind of reached a bit of a crossroads in their life where either either they've tried a bunch of things and it's just not working, or they just feel really stuck. Yeah. Um, and they know they want more. They know they want change, but they feel overwhelmed or intimidated and like, I don't know what the thing is. I don't know what the missing piece is. And oftentimes you just need kind of like an independent third party, you know, to just be able to kind of be there and guide you to what that thing might be. So for people who don't know what a life coach is, I would tend I'd say, to be honest, it kind of goes really well hand in hand with therapy. I think I'm very pro therapy also. By the way, therapy I think is like helps you to get to the core, excuse me, core of an issue and help you kind of understand the why. Perhaps life coaching helps you to take action on that now, right.

Bangs: [00:35:06] It helps you to kind of really implement that understanding in a practical way within your life. And I, I have to say, it's just it's something that I love doing. I feel like, funnily enough, it's all kind of connected to the bike because the entire reason I started doing it was that I got so much feedback from people saying, I wish that you could coach me off the bike the way you coach me on it. And that kind of lit a fire under my ass to look into it. Yeah. And so that's kind of how that that's the genesis of that and how it all started. But, um, yeah, I tend to coach women 30 plus. I have this, um, group coaching starting in January for the month of January. Um, and so group coaching, I tend to do kind of a few select times through the year. Um, and then I do 1 to 1 coaching. There's, there's a couple of different packages and ways that you can work with me on that. But, um, my whole coaching is based around consistency because I just really believe in the importance and the power of habits and ritual and being consistent. And I think that really is actually the foundation of being able to kind of achieve anything in your life is just repetition, habit, ritual, um, and embedding that within your life. It's super, super powerful once you're able to do that. And I, I just love coaching people on that.

Christina: [00:36:29] So if somebody if you were to like coaching somebody and then they didn't know before coming to you that they had like massive like, I don't know, daddy issues and you recognize that this was like a actual like this was like a serious, like traumatic thing that needed I don't know, is there a point where you're like, I'm not going to touch that, but you I will continue working with you on these things, but I really need you to seek out like these other specialists for this particular. Like, do you do that too?

Bangs: [00:37:01] For sure. There's some people who I've, I've kind of, I don't want to say refused to work with, but who I've said I'm not what you need, actually. Like and with like all the love in my heart. I'm saying therapy is probably the best option for you, right? Because of something like that. You know, I've had some people reach out and say, I have this and this and this, and I'm like, actually, I think therapy would be the best place for you to start to be able to kind of dig into that and unpack all of that a little bit first. Yeah. Um, because I think there's a point where if somebody has a lot of those kind of issues going on, you can't really make the progress you want to make in life until you unpack those things. Right. You have to seek the appropriate help in the form of whatever form of therapy that might be. Um, and then once you've kind of got a handle on those things, then it kind of opens you up to being like, okay, now that I know what this is, and I have more of an understanding of it now, I can, you know, move forward and do actionable things that I can implement in my life, and then I can come in and help you. But, um, you know, as I said, I love therapy. Maybe, you know, at some point 20 years down the line, I might retrain as a therapist because I just do love it. Um, and I would love to be able to help people on every step of their journey. But I also am like, I know when I'm out of my depth and when something isn't my field and I happily redirect people to to therapy.

Christina: [00:38:27] Now, forgive me, I might sound old here. Um, uh, well, is the Murmuration a newsletter or. It's more than that. Okay. It is. Okay. So it's okay to say newsletter.

Bangs: [00:38:39] It's okay to say newsletter.

Christina: [00:38:40] Oh thank god. Um, so I am a member of, I signed up to get your newsletters, which I also love, and I've been wanting to have you on here for, um, for a while, but the last, um, murmuration that I got, uh, was like, oh, I, I need to, I need to invite her now, like, this is the time and I'm going to I'm going to read through one at a time and then you can comment on these, um, uh, that you the newsletter in the last newsletter you, you had sent the five top things you've learned this year, which totally resonated with me. And in a way, I was like, you know, I hate to see other people suffering, but at the same time I was like, Hallelujah! Like I'm not alone and I'm not, you know, I'm not like, I can I'm not alone there. I'm not alone. Um, and we don't always, uh, growing up, no one sits you down and goes, look, things are going to get rough. You know, things are getting rough. If you really want something, you're going to have to work your ass off. Like, I feel like my memories are all like, you can do whatever you want. And. And if you just show up, it'll happen for you eventually. And, um. And that's not a complete.

Bangs: [00:40:00] Yeah. Nobody gives you the roadmap that goes with it.

Christina: [00:40:03] Yeah. Okay. So, uh, okay, one of the top things you've learned this year was, uh, choose your discomfort. Oh, if you could uh, uh, elaborate on that.

Bangs: [00:40:15] Well, I think if I'm just relate it very directly to my life, the reason that was a lesson for me this year was, you know, I moved to Montreal. I'm in this situation where, okay, I can't find work. What am I going to do? I can't speak French yet. Can't speak French yet. Lord knows I'm trying. Duolingo is my bestie. Um, I can either be uncomfortable in staying here and struggling with doing that, or I have this option of starting an online studio, which I know is going to be really hard because I've kind of resisted the idea for a while because because I know I'm not a very technical person, so I know there's a discomfort that awaits me there. But this bit that I'm in right now super uncomfortable. Yeah, those are my choices. I can either be uncomfortable over here or I can be uncomfortable over here. Right. So I decided I'm going to choose the discomfort of growth. Right. So I can choose the discomfort of stagnation, which would have been what it was if I'd have just chosen to not do this studio. Okay. I'm just going to stay here and be in the discomfort of this struggle, or I can make this struggle worthwhile. I can make it mean something. I can make it. I can transform it into something that is ultimately going to get me closer to where I want to be, but I have to surrender to the fact that it's also going to be uncomfortable.

Christina: [00:41:44] Yeah, yeah,

Bangs: [00:41:45] I just need to make a choice of where I want to be. And that was a big lesson for me this year of like, it's not like you come up with a solution. Aha. Online studio. That's it. And then it's like rainbows and unicorns over here. Right?

Christina: [00:42:00] Right.

Bangs: [00:42:01] That's its own struggle. That's its own discomfort. But I'm gonna choose that time and time again. Right. Because either path is uncomfortable. You just have to choose which one you're willing to stick it out at. Yeah. That was my big, big lesson with opening the studio this year.

Christina: [00:42:17] I love it, I call it you're choosing the path with heart, which isn't the path of least resistance, but path. Um, yeah. Choose the discomfort with that leads to growth. I love that, that's great. Yeah. Uh, number two, uh, your habits anchor you. You touched on this earlier, I completely agree. Uh, what happens to you when you just. You must have days. Or maybe you don't. Where you're just like, I'm not doing a goddamn thing.

Bangs: [00:42:43] Okay this is going to make me sound like an asshole. I don't have those days anymore. I may have days where I don't want to do anything, but it will be. I won't do anything like the work I had scheduled or the cleaning I said I might do. I might not do that, but I will still show up and do my habit. So for me, my habits are I journal every day I work out. Or I should say, I move my body in some way every day, right? I read every day. Um, I try to anchor myself and those are my non-negotiables, because if I don't do those things, definitely nothing else is getting done. Those are kind of the foundations for me of my day. Yeah. Um, that they they're like my North Star. That's that's my compass. That kind of keeps me mentally where I need to be. And they make everything else, um, a lot more manageable for me. So I think particularly during this year of. Frankly, chaos. If I was to think of one word for this, for me.

Christina: [00:44:00] Oh, you poor thing. But yeah.Chaos.

Bangs: [00:44:03] Chaos. Um, the first half of my year was pretty unpleasant. And then I moved provinces. That's a big, unhappy upheaval. Yeah. Trying to get settled in, you know, where there's a distinct language barrier where you're living, uh, starting a studio. Just chaos. Lots of chaos. So my habits during this time have been the thing that have just kind of helped me to exhale, right? It helped me to just kind of, like, relax my shoulders when everything else just feels like, wrought and uncertain and sometimes unhappy. Uh, and numerous other adjectives. My habits bring me home, right? And I that's why I'm such a big proponent of it. Like, if I didn't have my habits in place and my rituals and my routines, Lord only knows what this year would have turned into for me, right? Like, without having those things to balance me and guide me, I would have been all over the shop. So I'm such a big believer and proponent of it because I just I can speak to the power of it in my own life. Right? I think once you have given yourself enough time to really make something, a habit and a ritual within your life, and you're over that hump of it being an annoying kind of chore that you know, that you're like, oh, I have to fit this in every day or whatever. Once you're over that hump with it and it becomes and you and you ritualize it and it becomes. Somewhat sacred.

Christina: [00:45:43] Yeah.

Bangs: [00:45:45] Then it's it's. I will not compromise on that. Like why those have to be the foundations of my day. Yeah.

Christina: [00:45:54] Yeah, I noticed when I don't, um. When I don't, you know, make that sacred time do do my habits. Basically, I have a habit tracker and and, uh, when I go off track, I feel it, and I'm miserable pretty quick. Um, yeah. Starts a spiral. Uh, it's it's more of a mental health, uh, connection for me, because I don't usually go too far off the physical side of things, but, um, just mentally, I need it, and I need both. So, um. Yeah. Yeah, I'm with you there. Your habits anchor you, but it's, um. I'm glad to hear that you don't go off that. That's that's a really good tip. Like, just don't just stop saying, oh, I can take a break, a vacation from all these things. Um, just don't just keep those sacred. Maybe it's three things or two things or even one thing, and don't sacrifice those. I'm going to stop sacrificing those things.

Bangs: [00:46:52] And also the I mean, the the habits and rituals I have, I really enjoy them. Right? So I'm less likely to, to veer off because they're not annoyances. They're not inconveniences in my day, they are the best parts of my day, to be honest, you know, and not to get too kind of woo woo with it, but like, go for it.

Christina: [00:47:14] We like woo woo.

Bangs: [00:47:15] Particularly journaling and moving my body every day.

Christina: [00:47:19] Yeah.

Bangs: [00:47:20] You know, there is nothing more important than your physical and mental health. So my journaling you know, I live alone. I have lived alone for years. This thumbs up again.

Christina: [00:47:31] I love it. Um, hey, wait a minute. Was it was it seeing that, I don't know, maybe it was reading my mind. It maybe it reads my mind and it's I'm giving you the thumbs up and that's showing up on your screen. And that's how AI is working right now.

Bangs: [00:47:44] That's a twist. A twist I didn't expect, but I like it. Um, yeah, I live alone and I have for years, and if I didn't do my morning pages as a journal where I just kind of brain dump anything that's going on, where does all that go? You know, it's just me kind of ruminating with my thoughts. And frankly, I would drive myself nuts if I didn't write, if I didn't have this practice of physically getting it out of my brain and putting it somewhere like, I just I really enjoy that process. It also really helps me to process and make sense of things. And sometimes I'll write something down and be like, oh yeah, I was totally overreacting about that thing. Or sometimes I'll write something down and be like, oh, that, actually that, that was some BS and I need to look at that. And, you know, so it's a real I find that just like so good for my mental health and then moving my body every day. Sure, I work in fitness. Um, but you know, to be honest, I taught spin in London for years, and that's all I did. I just taught spin, and I didn't really move my body in any other ways, and that I definitely felt that in my body. So I've really reprioritized that now. And I think especially as I get older, I just,I'm just honestly in awe of my body and what it will do. And I have such reverence for the power of it. And every day that I'm gifted to be able to move my body. It's a celebration of that. Right? And I and again, I that's sacred to me because what a gift to be able to do any of it at all. It can be taken away in a heartbeat. Like, again, I don't mean to get like really like woo woo, but like.

Christina: [00:49:33] Go do it. It's a chat with heart. You're. Yeah, go for it.

Bangs: [00:49:36] This past week I've had, you know, numerous people in my life have been there's a couple of people in my life have had horrible losses, like people close to them have passed on people who were, you know, in their 40s who've lost their lives. Um, you know, I'm having a friend of mine is really struggling with infertility. I have, you know, numerous people in my lives going through very difficult things with their bodies or managing an injury or illness, or one of my friend's mothers had a stroke recently and has just gone from being very active to not being able to do a thing at all. And like the trauma that my friend is going through, witnessing that in her mother. I think you reach this age. I'm 42 now, and I'm just noticing it with myself and my friends where there's this, this role reversal is now in full effect. We have to parent our parents, we have to be the carers. And to see this circle of life come about so fast. I'm not ready for it. Right to see. Thankfully, my parents are touchwood in good health, but that thought is still there. Of like that you can't. Life is undefeated. You know. Aging is undefeated. Like we're all here for a finite amount of time. And so I think as you, you get to a certain age, you watch your parents age and you just for me at least, I've become hyper aware of my body and what a gift it is to be able to move it in the way that I can move it, and be able to kind of love on it in this way, which is really how I view it, right? Of like I do at least a couple of sessions a week of like just 45 to 60 minutes of just like mobility and stretching.

Bangs: [00:51:25] And that just feels like honoring my body in such a loving way. And, you know, when I'm on the spin bike and I'm going nuts and like, I love being able to, like, get out that kind of frantic energy or, you know, when I'm lifting weights, it's very kind of devotional and intentional, and I can visualize my muscles all working together in those moments as I work them out. Right? And I and I think about, well, even when I walk the dog, I think about everything that has to be happening in my body for me to put one foot in front of the other, and I just think, wow, this is a miracle that I'm doing this right, and that's just walking. But I'm just like, wow, I'm in awe of it all the time. And I just, I don't want to get to, you know, 80, 90, 90 years old. I look at, you know, both of my grandmothers. One passed when she was 94, one passed when she was 85.

Bangs: [00:52:22] Both of them, um, really quite restricted in the way that they could move. One of my grandmothers was, like, riddled with arthritis for years and and my other grandmother just. But when you look at that, it was just a generational thing, like fitness and working out was not a thing for them. Right? It was never kind of pitched to them. So. Right. I watched them age in a way that you will age if you don't move your body. And I'm like, okay, I don't I don't want that to be my reality. Then I look at my mom who's like 75 and goes to the gym as much as me, and it's just like, she's active, she's moving. She's like very fluid in her body. She can still move really well. And I'm like, oh, great. Okay. So then me at 75, I'm going to be like a next level two because I've been moving my body for X amount of years, and that's like just such a practice in my life that I'm hopefully going to be really mobile and active and fluid as I get older, which is just going to make aging hopefully an easier process for me. But I think at any given moment that could be taken away from me and I don't want to be in that situation if it, God forbid it ever is. I don't want to be sitting there thinking, I wish I would have.

Christina: [00:53:31] Right.

Bangs: [00:53:32] You know, I wish I hadn't have taken this for granted. I wish I would have moved more, I wish I would have done this. Yeah. No. I'm going balls to the wall. I'm riding till the wheels fall off. I'm doing it every day because it's. It really is a gift that we're able to do it at all, you know, and I think to to not move your body and to just take it for granted in that way, you will be that person who gets it taken away from you in a heartbeat. Suddenly, God forbid, um, and something happens and you get an injury or this happens or that happens. And you will be the person who's sitting there thinking, the one thing I want to be able to do is move my body. I had all these years where I could have done it, and I just told myself, I can't be bothered or, oh, you know, this is on TV now, or I'd rather do this or you're right, you never prioritized it. And so I'm just some like, life will show you, one way or another, what you should have prioritized, you know.

Christina: [00:54:24] Well, that leads us to stop telling yourself you can't. I know a lot of people want to want to lose weight. Want to. You know, want to start a fitness routine. And they just maybe that's part of it. They just tell themselves, I can't do this. How am I going to start? How am I going to who's going to keep me going? And uh, so that's one thing you learn this year. But yeah. Did you tell yourself you couldn't start an online studio and you.

Bangs: [00:54:48] Oh, I've told myself I can't do a lot of things in life. You know, I think this time last year I was in Nova Scotia telling myself, I can't move, I already moved, I already did this. I already moved from London, and I already tried to build my life here. And my parents are here, so I have to stay here now. I can't move, I have to stay here.

Christina: [00:55:06] Right?

Bangs: [00:55:06] And of course, as soon as I uttered those words out loud to my. I'm like, blessed to have, you know, parents who are just want nothing more in life than for me to thrive and do what I want to do. The second I said, I can't move because you're here, they said, no, we're not doing that good. You're not going to stay here. Yeah. They said, you're not going to stay here because because of us.

Christina: [00:55:25] You are right. A lot of parents be like, yeah, you can't move because we're here. It's like.

Bangs: [00:55:30] Right. So they were just like, absolutely not. You're gonna you're gonna go where you feel you can thrive and be your best and be happy. And, you know, geography is geography. We'll figure it out. And so that was like, thank goodness they were supportive in that decision. I told myself for years, I told myself, I can't work out, I can't run, I wouldn't run for the bus. I just it was just a story I was telling myself. Right. And it becomes your narrative and it becomes your identity. For years I told myself, I can't start an online studio because I don't know about technology. And I just once I made the decision, I said, that's okay. I just don't know it yet.

Christina: [00:56:09] Yeah, yeah,

Bangs: [00:56:10] We can all learn, right, I can I may have done it. If there was an outsider looking in, they'd maybe be like, Jesus Christ, talk about taking the scenic route. You know, like you could have done this. Like you've done it in like 27 steps. You could have done it in 12. Well, that wasn't my journey. I had to learn it in the way that I had to learn it. But I've gone from I can't to I'll think you find I bloody well can and I have. Right. But it is just about whatever story you're going to tell yourself. And I you know, there's been many times in my life where I've said I can't do something, but when I've made the decision to just eliminate that from my vocabulary and opt to find a way, then it just the doors open for you once you make that decision. But it is it's a mindset thing and and it takes cultivation. It's not it's not an easy choice. It's not like you flip a switch and you're in it. You have to cultivate that mindset and that way of thinking, but it's really freaking powerful when you do.

Christina: [00:57:10] Yeah, I completely agree. I agree with a lot of things you say. I feel like there's not one thing I have I disagree with yet. Um, seasons for planting versus seasons for the bloom. Oh this I this I this one really. I'm still in the planting. It feels like.

Bangs: [00:57:29] Yeah. And I think that was a big lesson this year for me.

Christina: [00:57:32] I'm going to assume that that just has a lot to do with how we want instinct. We expect instant gratification. Or we of course we want to avoid discomfort and pain and and then things that are unpleasant to do. And when you're trying to build something, um, from nothing, you know, maybe, maybe there's great examples out there and guides and mentors that's that's great. But you still have to actually do the work.

Bangs: [00:57:57] Yeah. Yeah, 100%. I mean, you know, that's for me, I kind of that's now that I'm looking back on the year as we're rounding it out, I'm like, yeah, that's my whole year really has been planting season. And I don't think I necessarily have viewed it that way until I really sat down and thought about writing that particular post. And I wish in a way I had. Given myself that grace at the start of the year, of just acknowledging this is going to be a planting season, right? Yeah. So that so that was my expectation to plant and to find joy in the planting and to understand that planting is a process and the planting takes time. And. Right, like I think my year would have turned out very differently had I have done that. And so I think I'm going into 2024 fully with the acknowledgement of like my first six months is planting still, I'm still going to be planting my first six months, right? Yeah, still doing that. My harvest isn't going to come yet and that's okay. Like it's probably going to come the back end of next year. And I have to hold my nerve and I have to have patience, and I have to just have faith and keep working and keep planting and keep watering and know that the bloom does come.

Bangs: [00:59:19] But I think there's been so many steps of this year that have been planting, kind of detaching myself from the situation I was in where I was living before, um, and then moving to a new place. Okay, now I'm planting because I'm trying to build roots somewhere else, and then and then all the additional planting that comes when you first move somewhere, right? Just like building roots, trying to find community, getting used to where you live, learning the streets, learning all the things, learning all the nuances about these new spaces and places that you're in and then starting a business. Okay, well, it's not like you start it and instantly you've got, you know, 100 million customers and things are great. It's you're still planting. Like all of that work I put in to launch the thing and it was work. Like, it's funny because I kind of did all of this work and learned so many things, and it just seemed to take forever. And I it was like whack a mole. I'd solve one problem and then three more would crop up. And I just it was intensely frustrating and intensely difficult. And I call it a learning mountain rather than a learning curve. Right. It was just there was so much of it.

Christina: [01:00:30] I like that,

Bangs: [01:00:31] I did that and I launched the site, and I remember I did it at like 2:00 on a Friday afternoon just because that's when it was ready. So I was like, let's go. And I just did it. And it's like, you know, there's a part of you is like expecting like a ticker tape parade or like a marching band comes out of nowhere or like you want like the celebration of this big thing. But the reality is you did all that work and you just got to the start line.

Christina: [01:00:56] That's right.

Bangs: [01:00:56] I just got to the start line. Right. So I've just that's it's one crop. I've just planted one crop. And now that I've launched okay, now I need to plant this other crop of like building and getting the content up there and reaching people and getting the word out and messaging and marketing and blah, blah, blah. All of these are different crops. So I'm still planting and that's another, you know, might be six months or so. So it's it really that's been such a lesson for me. And I think I'm going to have such a different year this coming year because I'm going into it acknowledging like, yep, I've still got a lot of planting to do. And so I'm not kind of expecting an instant bloom, which I think is what we all kind of expect really, when we make a change, we just want it to be effective immediately. And it's like, yeah, that's that's not life though. You know, you kind of got to wait for the bloom to happen.

Christina: [01:01:46] Yeah. Acceptance is a big thing for me. I have to I have to go. I just need to. This is where I'm. This is where I'm at now. Uh, my my timeline hasn't maybe panned out as it maybe things were easier ten years ago or, you know, and, um, so I'm going by what the industry was rolling like 10 or 5 years ago, and it's changed, you know, drastically. So what's the reality now and then moving to this acceptance? And what can I do instead of like what's not working? What's the problem. It's like what is working? What uh, and then thinking a little bit more outside the box and um, and then just patience and pushing through and.

Bangs: [01:02:28] Um, that's so powerful to get to a space where you say, what can I do? It's so powerful. And I love that right. Like, rather than being stuck in the like, oh, I can't do this, and this is a blockade and this is blocking me. But to get to be able to kind of step back and say, okay, even with all of these things kind of blocking my progress, there's a window here, there's a sliver of something that I can work through. And what can I do in that space? It's like it's, oh, it's so powerful. When you get to that.

Christina: [01:02:58] Number five, which we've talked a lot about already, I just want to, uh, because we said there were five things, you big thing, top things you learned this year. The fifth was physical and mental health are everything. What are the things you do to treat yourself other than the obvious ones, like physical, uh, workouts? Um, do you eat a certain way? Do you guzzle water all day long? Do you sleep important to you?

Bangs: [01:03:27] Yes to all of those things. Yeah. Um, I do eat a certain way. I do drink a lot of water. Um, which again, it's taken. I'm 42, and I would say I've probably only really gotten those things right this year. Like. Or I say right for me. You know, what's right for me might not be right for someone else, but I've found a good flow with it that works for me, that I think is like, okay, that's going to be fairly easily sustainable now for me.

Christina: [01:03:53] Yeah.

Bangs: [01:03:54] And I think, uh, probably one of my biggest challenges in terms of mental health is, you know, I live alone and I'm quite an introvert, and I do have a lot of I have a very good friendships, but they're all back in the UK. So all of my kind of communication with my good people, um, is like, you know, we're separated by a time zone and an ocean and all of these things. And I think part of my mental health struggles come with very much feeling like I am alone because I spend so much of my time alone, and I carry the weight of my problems and things, um, by myself. And, you know, it's all in my journals. Um, but for the most part, I'm carrying it myself. And I think probably one thing that I really do want to do more of this year is just be more open and conversation with my friends who are constantly kind of telling me I should do that anyway, right? And I think it's just trusting that those friendships are there and they've lasted this long for a reason, and and that we have to have these tough conversations within friendships sometimes. Right, of like, yeah, not everything's rainbows and unicorns for everybody all the time. We go through difficult things. As I was sharing earlier, I have, you know, multiple friends of mine are going through really cool things at the moment. And it's like, this is the stage of life where especially as that role reversal comes in terms of parents, where we each are carrying even more of a load.

Bangs: [01:05:26] Right? Because it's not just our own and our own struggles. And perhaps if you've got children, you're dealing with that too, and you're dealing with a relationship and then you've got parents who you now have to parent and it's like there's a it's kind of like you just kind of go to a next level at this time kind of age. Um, where I think, naturally, more mental health struggles and stress come with that. And I think, yeah, for me, one of my big lessons this year was like, I did carry a lot of this, um, by myself and thankfully had friends who reached out and were like, yeah, let's not do that. Um, so I think that's probably like my biggest hurdle, um, because all the rest of my habits and things are very solo. Right. And, and they do keep me anchored and I do find them very helpful. Um, but without our physical and mental health, like, that's the foundation of everything you don't have can do nothing else if we don't have these things in place, you know. So I think, um, I would say for everybody, to whatever degree you can, you have to prioritize that within your own life, you know, in order for any of the rest of it to go anywhere near the way you want it to go. Those two things have to be essential, non-negotiable. You've got to figure out some kind of a way to anchor yourself and honor those things within your life and and do so in a way. That helps you function at your very best.

Christina: [01:06:49] It's hard for an introvert to, uh, to, you know, not. I don't know if people would even guess that you were an introvert. I'm very similar in that way. I need I love a lot of time alone. I need a lot of time alone. Um, but then I torture myself by going through things on my own when I know I don't need to. I could reach out to a friend, and if a friend needed me, I would not hesitate. Um. Or if I sensed a friend needed me, I wouldn't hesitate. So why would I rob myself of, um. You know that my friends want to do the same for me. Um, I know they do. And they do. So, uh, I've been working on that, too. But as a as a fellow introvert, I know it's, um. Uh, it's tricky. It's tricky.

Bangs: [01:07:33] It's really hard.

Christina: [01:07:34] Yeah, we like our alone time and.

Bangs: [01:07:37] Sure do.

Christina: [01:07:38] But, uh, um, so, uh, no pressure, but will there be a 70s rock ride two, three and four?

Bangs: [01:07:45] I think that has to be. Because I had like, I had a blast making that playlist. I think I say in the ride like my dad helped.

Christina: [01:07:51] Yeah.

Bangs: [01:07:52] Because that's his his zone. Right. And he loves to help me pick out tracks and stuff. So I think, um, I had so much fun making the playlist and, and it is kind of, to be honest, that was like a real bonding thing for me and my dad. And, you know, it's like I really like to get him involved in it. So I would love to definitely do a 70s ride part two for sure, because it's just, oh, man, there were so many, uh, so much great music in that era, you know?

Christina: [01:08:14] Yeah. Thank you so much for doing this. I took so much of your time and.

Bangs: [01:08:18] Oh, no, it's absolutely my pleasure. This is such a treat to be able to speak with you. I'm really honoured that you even asked me. So thank you so much.

Song 'I Don't Want to Say Goodbye to You': [01:08:33] It's love. I Don't want to say goodbye to you. I don't want to say goodbye to you.

Heartbeat Hotline: [01:08:49] Welcome to the heartbeat hotline 1-902-669-4769. I'm the host of a chat with heart podcast, Christina Martin, and I'm so excited you called. Leave me your question, a suggestion for the podcast or a comment about this episode. Please be aware your message may be used on the podcast and social media. Tell me your name, where you're calling from and it's also fine if you want to remain anonymous. Thanks for listening. Have a great fucking day!

Christina: [01:09:21] Thanks for listening to A Chat with Heart Podcast produced by me, Christina Martin. Co-produced and engineered by my husband, Dale Murray. Dale is a stellar singer, songwriter and music producer, so check out his website dalemurray.ca. The podcast theme song, Talk About It and I Don't Want to Say Goodbye to You, were written by me and recorded by Dale. Visit my bandcamp to find a CDs, vinyl, digital music and fun merch like custom made puzzles and temporary tattoo packs. Become a monthly or yearly supporter of this podcast and my music endeavors on Patreon. If you're new to Patreon, it's a membership platform that helps creators get paid. I love it! Sign up is a free or paid member at Patreon.com/ChristinaMartin. I would love it if you had time to share rate, leave a review and subscribe to A Chat with Heart on all the places you listen to podcasts. Wishing you, my little heartbeat listeners, a great day.