E046 John Webster Origins of Let’s Be Well Together Podcast

Let’s Be Well Together Podcast - Episode 46
Date: December 13, 2022

Participants: John Webster, Sammy Damaren, Cameron Earnshaw and Sheila Webster
Guest: Isabelle Sinclaire [Move That Body], with interview of John Webster by Mike Farwell

Start times and Segment Segments:

[0:00:38] What’s On Your Mind: Sammy and John return to the concept of positive affirmations. They read 10 more and discuss experiences with some of them.

[0:13:25] Expanding Minds Interview: Podcast co-host John Webster was interviewed by Mike Farwell on a Kitchener radio show. John talks about how his wellness journey began, which led to his epiphany about categories of wellness, facet activities and his wellness check-in. He talks about giving yourself lots of time when transitioning from out-of-shape to physically fit. It’s not a rush. John talks about how his breakthrough on balance and wellness led to notes, then chapters, then a manuscript and ultimately his book Accidentally Well and this very podcast – Let’s Be Well Together. He also talks about successes, failures and even an adventure along the way.

[0:29:36] Adventures of the Starving Artist: It’s holiday concert time for Cameron and for some of his students. The concerts went well, but he had to put up with the horrible drive on the 401 through Toronto.

[0:33:45] Move That Body: Isabelle Sinclair loves to run in the morning. It gets her off to a great start to the day and has plenty of benefits. It helps with her mental health, gives her a break from school and allows her to step away from other things for a while.

[0:40:01] Running Popup: John loves the theory of balance he’s exploring. It gives him hope. He’s working towards balance in a moment, then the next, then next week, then later. It’s okay to not have perfect balance at any point. Then again, he’s experienced a runner’s high on a couple occasions. Maybe there’s a chance that something similar will happen with life balance on day, even if the feeling is fleeting?

[0:43:32] Flipside of the Coin: Sheila came across a great idea on the Frederick Street Art Walk in Kitchener this year. A local artisan knit an animal called a “huggable”. It’s a little bear that fits in her hand. Her daughter whispers things to the bear before she falls asleep: things that are bothering her, secrets, whatever. Then she gives the bear a hug, forgets about the things she told her bear, then goes to sleep.

Quotes and Take-Aways:

John – After a couple years, I was regularly running over 10 kilometers, and I just felt amazing. It wasn’t about looks or anything like that. I just felt amazing.

John – If people take nothing else from the stuff that we’re saying, it’s that they need to make regular physical activity a part of their everyday life, for its own sake. It affects every part of their life.

John – How do you foster wellness in each area of wellness? Simple solution: you’ve got to do something. You can imagine getting better and that’s nice, but if you want to for example get better on an economic level, you’ve got to do something. The question becomes, “What do you need to do?”

John – If I could get a handle on the things I was trading off and start making informed decisions on which activities I do, and when I can do them, then maybe, just maybe, I could get a handle on balance. That’s what led me to my wellness check-in.

John – What I now see is that I’m making trade-offs all the time.

John – I eventually thought this was a good idea that works for me. Initially I wanted to write it down for my kids. I started making notes about how the theory works. That made me develop the theory. I was going to share that with my kids. As sometimes happens, notes turn into paragraphs that turned into chapters that turned into a book. Then, honestly, I did not want to put it out there, because there were a lot of failures. Who wants to put their failures out there? Nobody. So frankly I sat on it for a couple years. Then I decided, you know what if this might help somebody, if someone else might gravitate towards this and find balance, then I have an obligation. That’s what turned into the book. That’s why we do the podcast.

John – I found it ironic that I spent so much of my youth trying to find these answers, and I didn’t. Then, when I gave up on finding them decades later, it fell into my lap. When it actually came to develop the way forward it took a lot of thinking and work and calculation and the rest of it.

John – There’s somebody out there who is listening and is thinking to themselves, “oh that’s great but I can’t do it.” My message to that person is that you can do it. You don’t have to do high-intensity stuff. Just go for a walk. Just start slow. Find something you enjoy doing as opposed to something that’s grueling, because then you’ll want to keep doing it. Give yourself lots of time. For me it was two years. You can do it.

Bulletin Board Quote brought to you by Cameron: I’ve been left feeling floaty.

Guest Information: John Webster is a co-host of the Let’s Be Well Together Podcast, which arose from the approach he talks about in his book, Accidentally Well (found on Amazon, Indigo, Barnes & Noble, etc.)

Book Website with information and buying options: Accidentally Well

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Thanks for joining us,
(-(-_(-_-)_-)-)   Your wellness check-in team
John, Sammy, Cameron, Sheila and Julie