The Resilient Mind - I Got So Busy With Self-Care That I Forgot to Care for Myself - Indie Lee

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

Indie Lee is the founder of the award-winning clean beauty brand Indie Lee Skincare, a company born from her personal health crisis and mission to create safe, effective products that empower conscious living. After surviving a brain tumor and navigating life with autoimmune disease, Indie has become a passionate advocate for clean beauty, longevity, and redefining wellness. Through her work and storytelling, she encourages women to embrace a life of "wealth," the abundance of wellness, health, and intention, while balancing the realities of business, family, and healing. She continues to inspire a growing community to pursue purpose over perfection and beauty rooted in wellness.Connect with Indie:Website: https://www.indielee.comInstagram: @indieleeExplore tools from past guests of the podcast. Some links below are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you:💓 HeartMath: https://www.heartmath.com/resilient🧠 Muse: https://choosemuse.com/resilientmind🌿 Brain Ritual: https://www.brainritual.com/THERESILIENTMIND🌍 The Resilient Mind Podcast is a proud member of 1% for the Planet — building resilient minds and a resilient planet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 15 minutes from me picking up my car keys and him saying, you have a brain tumor, and getting to his office was the most powerful 15 minutes of my life. In 15 minutes, my entire life and being and sense of self-changed, I realized I was a passenger in my life that I feel like, I say I got so busy with the business of self-care that I forgot to care for myself. I got just as sucked into the comparison trap. You know, I went down the rabbit hole on social media. the imposter syndrome, the hustle culture, all those things.

And what I was doing was making myself more sick. I will never forget. And I remember being in the hospital bed. I could hear them moving and running all around me and saying, we're going to lose her. Her blood pressure is dropping. Welcome, Indy, to the Resilient Mind podcast. It's so great to have you here.

I am so honored and grateful to be here as well. And I love the title, Resilient Mind, because that is everything I believe in, resilience. And we want to talk about your story and your resilience. So maybe take us back to 2008 when you first heard those words brain tumor. What was the first thought that went through your mind, not the brave one, but the honest one that sometimes you know might be hesitant to share. Of course. So it's interesting. I kind of had a feeling that I had one. You know, so I can't say that I was like, what? I was in complete shock because I was losing my vision.

And I noticed a lot of changes. It was what made the most sense, but you don't ever want to say that out loud. So when the doctor called and said, please come in. I want to go over the results instead of say, hey, everything's fine. I had a feeling. And I just said, okay, I'll see you in 15 minutes. Honestly, it's crazy. The 15 minutes from me picking up my car keys and him saying, you have a brain tumor,

and getting to his office was the most powerful 15 minutes of my. life. I mean, I will tell you, in 15 minutes, my entire life and being and sense of self-changed. And I don't think that I ever talk about that, but it was really that pivotal moment. And people say, oh, I'm so sorry. And I'm like, it was the greatest gift. But let me check back and tell you why. Because on that drive, I realized I was a passenger in my life. I played the check the box of everything I needed to accomplish. And I put that in air quotes because that That's what I thought people expected me to accomplish. I was living my life in the check the box mode, not in the driver.

What do you want for yourself mode? And when the doctor said that I got in the car, I said, this is happening for a reason. I got to let it unfold, but something really powerful is going to happen from this. And I swore that I was no longer going to be a passenger for whatever time I had left here on this earth, that I was going to live every day with purpose. with presence, be passionate. And, you know, I've added on what I call fourth P is with tremendous amount of perspective. And that part, the perspective part, took time to get to.

But I knew I wanted to live my life with purpose from that point on. And it was like when you go to the optometrist and, you know, he says which lens is clear. And all of a sudden, everything is crystal clear. That is what the life, life became technical for me. So while people are always shocked when I tell them it was the best thing, I think having it from that point of view that I want to live fully and out loud for myself, that's the reason why. And doctors believe that it was environmentally derived. So how did that realization change the way you saw your body as well as the world? So it's interesting. Prior to starting the brand,

I was a public-private CPA. So again, I checked the boxes of that career that everybody wanted me to have and I thought I needed. And then I left to spend more time with my kids and I got very involved with the farm-to-table movement. So I built a very large greenhouse in my backyard, all of these things because I knew how important what we were putting in our body was. And I understood babies were born with a toxic load. I kind of understood about ingredients, but I wasn't looking at the entire picture. So when I first went to the doctors, he said it's not cancer and it wasn't, but you need to go see some heavy hitters. And off I went to Johns Hopkins, Duke, NIH, you name it.

When I asked the neuroendocrinologist, I'm like, I don't understand this. How is this even possible? Nobody in my family has anything like this. And that's when he said we're seeing more and more of these things being tied to the environment. Of course, I point to the greenhouse in my backyard and eating organic, healthy, you know, non- you know, antibiotic and hormone-induced meats and things like that. Like, I was like, what are you talking about? I'm pretty clean.

And that's when he said, okay, well, that is part of your environment. And it's interesting. He said two things. Who and what you surround yourself with is also part of your environment. And then he said, what do you put on your skin? What did your mother put on her skin when she was pregnant with you? And that's when everything became into focus. And then I said, that reason that I had to let it unfold something powerful,

that was my why. So as a little jump back, when I got very involved with the farm's table movement, and I was diagnosed with rheumutored arthritis, I wasn't able to, you know, work in the farm in the greenhouse. My sister announced she's pregnant. So I was making products just to unveil at her baby shower, right? That's it.

It was just little things like a little DIY thing that I was using ingredients that was growing. And everybody said, indeed, this is what you need to do. You need to create a line of baby products that are, you know, organic and all those things. And I looked at them like they were nuts. I mean, let's face it, it was 2008. People weren't thinking about what they were putting on their body for the most part. And I thought it was so funny because when I got that diagnosis and I, what he said, it could have been what you're putting on your skin. That conversation of, oh, you should do this for a living.

Came in and I said, this is much bigger than just a baby line. This is really educating and empowering people because 2008, really the vast majority of products were unregulated. I mean, the U.S. has made a lot of strides in the past, I don't know how many years I've been doing this, 17 years, and we have a long ways to go. But I knew that was my why and that I was not going to rest until the industry changed and create a line that I felt comfortable putting on my skin, putting on my children's skin. Like, what's the highest level that I can do with efficacy? And that's what I strove for. And talking about the skin, because I think a lot of us who have heard that the skin is the largest organ, but we hear that and we don't maybe really think about, okay, the specifics of the products that we use,

the lot of the detergents that we are using. What else might be getting absorbed into our skin? What have you learned about how the skin connects to health and what we are putting on might be affecting what's going on internally? Yeah, there's so much research being done. and every day I'm in, you know, in the books reading. I mean, that's where my, that's where I always go. Knowledge is power. And we know that there is an epigenetic impact.

So we also know that there's a fact that says about 60% of what you put on your skin can be absorbed in as little as 32 seconds. So let's apply that, right? And think about the amount of things that we bombard our skin with on a daily basis. And we know that ingredients are transdermal too. Because you take a look at hormone, estrogen pills, I mean, estrogen patches, nicotine patches. We know there are things that we can put on our body that absolutely are absorbed from a medical standpoint into our bloodstream. What makes you think that what you're putting on a regular basis isn't being absorbed as well?

And once you start to look at it through that lens, you start to ask a lot of questions. And then you say, wait a minute, my doctor said what did my mother put on when she was pregnant? And so we know that a mother putting on products on her body when she's pregnant can be absorbed and impact baby. But let's go even a step further. If you're a woman and you are producing a baby, let's say it's going to be a female, a baby girl, you are actually impacting what will become that baby girl's child because she's forming eggs. So you are actually impacting generations to come. That is impactful.

This isn't just, yeah, you know, I'm not going to worry about myself. You have to think about future generations. And what we put in our body and what we put on our body are impacting generations to come on a biological, like, frame. And in the early days, you know, you got that, I guess, inspiration that you should make this into like a brand. And in those early days, you mentioned that 2008 does not a lot of regulation. what resistance or skepticism did you face when you launched your product? Oh my goodness, so much. Well, there's so many of reasons why I faced it.

From a just starting it, it was like, what do you think you're doing? You're an accountant. How could you do this? But, you know, but on the brand side, the product and going to retailers, they would say, this is great, but does it work? Does clean really work? And then you have to go back to indigenous societies and what they're using and their beautiful skin and them not having any, you know, skin issues, et cetera.

So you have to realize, like, we've overcomplicated our personal care. And if you look at societies that have not been impacted by that and look at the quality of their skin, you start to think, maybe I'm doing too much, right? So there's that part of it. But then you can also look and show clinical reasons. results. So, okay, fine, you're not going to take that. Let's take a look at the clinicals. We do clinicals on our products to show you can have the same efficacy, if not better, using clean ingredients that are tried and true as conventional brands that are using potentially some harmful

ingredients out there. And for me, the question is always like, well, what are those harmful ingredients? You know, we're looking at the phthalates, the hormone disruptors, the potential, you know, ethylated ingredients that could be formaldehyde releasing and things like that that really can be carcinogenic. And when we think about the other products that are out there, are they common having all those other ingredients that might be hormone disruptors or cause other health concerns? Are they very common? Prevalent. Not even common. Prevalent. I mean, you can pick up most products and look on the back And if you see the word fragrance, it's not saying it's naturally derived. Chances are it could be up to 3,000 plus chemicals in there.

Now, I should say everything is a chemical, including water. But I'm saying questionable chemical ingredients in there that we know to be hormone disruptors. And they're protected under like fragrance and flavor, right? So trademark. So they're protected. So people don't actually have to share what's in their products. And that's where they can be hidden. So we have those ingredients.

And then most people don't pick up their skincare products to look at the back of the label and to see what's in it and what those could potentially lead to. Unlike what they're doing with their food, where most people go to the supermarket and they look at the back of the ingredients. Now, they're usually looking for fat content and carbs, but they are looking at what's in the product. People don't necessarily do that on skincare. And you talk about consciously living. And that's something that is well within, again, Indy Lee, like you. Share, you educate people about this stuff. What does conscious living mean to you?

It's sort of the same thing as how I look at clean living. It means doing no harm to yourself, the planet, or any of its inhabitants. Conscious living and conscious consumerism is using my dollars to let people know where I stand. Now, I am not a purist or a zealot or anybody's going to be fearmongering, right? That's just not who I am and I'm not perfect and, you know, I don't have everything perfectly clean in my house. But as I start to purchase new products and as I start to say, oh, I'm running lower in things, then I consciously make the effort to choose the better for you, better for the planet product. So over time, it's been much easier for me to infiltrate my home with cleaner, more consciously derived products. My next step is going even further in seeing how can I use more regenerative consumer products.

So consumer products that are adding to not just depleting our resources. And so you started your brand and then 2024 came and then there was another major health battle. You had to do two more surgeries and later nearly losing your life to meningitis. Yeah. How did that experience shape you from what had happened in 2000? So it's a really great question. No one's ever asked it of me. So 2008, I say I woke up to the rest of my life, right? I really started to become that driver, not that passenger. 2024 was realizing I got so busy with the business of doing those things that I feel like I say, I got so busy with the business of self-care that I forgot to care for myself. And I realized. I got just as sucked into the comparison trap.

I went down the rabbit hole on social media, the imposter syndrome, the hustle culture, all those things. And what I was doing was making myself more sick. I wasn't giving myself. And, you know, I didn't even learn from the two surgeries, to be very honest. So I had this surgery, you know, June 7th and 9th of 2024. And I was like, I am going to grace this new life. I went back to work within a month, two months. Like, think about it.

Massive brain surgery. Within two weeks, I was back on the computer. Within a month, I was in the office. It's insane. And so I realized the universe kind of set me that nudge and said, not so fast, you are not listening to any sign that we're giving to you. And then I got meningitis. And that's when I realized when I was in the bed and they said,

oh my gosh, we might be losing her. like, okay, you know, it was, I will never forget. And I remember being in the hospital bed. I could hear them moving and running all around me and saying, we're going to lose her. Her blood pressure is dropping. I go, well, I guess this is how I go. Like that. And I realized what?

I did not allow myself to heal. I never gave myself that time. I said I was going to, but I got right back onto the treadmill. And not anymore. Not doing it. And I'm just thinking for people that either go, go, go, because they're trying to check this checklist, or they're like go, go, go, because they're on purpose.

And it's hard to take a break and rest because I feel like we're wasting time. How have you, like how have the past experience has shifted that go-go-go-go mentality, even if it was for a different reason after 2020, uh, 2008? I now do kind of self-review at the end of the day in the beginning of the day. So at the end of the day, did I hit the mark? Did I miss the mark? Okay, so how am I going to change that going forward? So I do, and it's not like this long process where I have to go and do it. I'm not putting more work on myself. But at the end of the day, I take a look at my notebook and I go, did I press too hard? Did this make sense? Was this at a good cadence? What am I taking with me into the next day?

what am I not going to do tomorrow? And then what I'm not going to do for tomorrow, I'm going to write down so I don't do it. And I'm really honest with myself. And then I realize that if my body is tired, listen to it. If I'm sitting here and I say, gosh, I am really struggling, take a break, go for a walk. Don't look at the screen.

Put the phone on D&D. Like, let's take that time. because what I think happens is you have this purpose, but then you lose it to worrying about the should of the kutas and the wooders instead of being actually present in the moment. And I realize that's, it's a very easy thing to slip into. You know, you get into that mindset, you're good for two days, blah, blah, blah, which is why I never do New Year's resolutions.

I'll take one or two words. And that will be the things that I do do revision board. I completely, you know, but I put things that are realistic because it's just a way of, you know, taking your reticular, your raz, or reticular activating system. I think that's what it is. And just bringing it forward, right, so that you're bringing more of what you want into your life. And for me, that's clarity and being clear and calm. And again, being present so that I can enjoy the moments that are put in front of me,

even the bad ones. So the truth is, I do have bad days. I do get angry, but I realize there for a period of time and what can I learn from that. It's a very different mindset. Was there by a point that especially for like when you had meningitis where you thought haven't I been through enough? Oh, yes. I mean, I'm not like, I'm in reality.

It happens quite often. Let me tell you. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I would say after the surgery and after everything, you know, my company was sold. I was in the hospital, all those things. I was like, what more can I possibly take? I mean, I was in and out of the hospital so many times after the surgery.

And then in December of 2024, I was in the hospital every week for five weeks until I even had my antitias. And I just was like, what next? What next? But when I looked at that, I was getting so frustrated. I was working myself up. And I was angry. I will say I was angry. Not at anything just at the situation, but when I was in the hospital bed after they figured out what medication and what type of meningitis this was and I started to feel better and whatnot, I started to realize like being angry and it's not going to do anything.

It's not going to change anything. So all I have is this moment and this moment forward. And so I can take it and say, okay, this part of my French sucked. But how can. I'm not, what things can I do to change how I look at it? How can I frame it differently? How can I learn from it? And how do I take what I'm learning from it and continuing on? And I think that's where resilience comes from. People say, how are you so okay with this? And which to me is resilience. And I think it's because I'm able to take that and reflect on it and realize it, it is just a moment in time. It does not have to be the rest of my life. So I always say, you can't always choose what happens to you, but you can choose how you handle it.

I love that. And I'm thinking for someone listening who's maybe going through a very difficult time in their life, maybe it's health-related, maybe it's other stuff happening in their life. What is something you will tell yourself today when you're in hospital at one of your lowest point? Gosh, that's a good one. I think I would, you know, it's hard to say because everybody's situation is very different. And, you know, I watched my mom pass from cancer last year in 2025, knowing that there are people who go into the hospital and they're never going to come out.

And so please, I don't want people to necessarily think that I'm just so flippant about life because I'm not. And I understand the grand statements I'm making. But this is how I handle my life. And for me, it's like, okay, I'm choosing to appreciate all the moments that I've had to enjoy in my life and take those and hold those close. because I did think I was dying. But then I also knew that this two shall pass one way or another, whether it's while I'm in this living plane or if I'm in a different spiritual existence. And I think that also comes from not being afraid of dying.

I've almost died so many times that I'm not fearful of it. I think that's also a very different way of looking at it. And I was able to tell my loved ones, before I went into surgery, don't worry, I'm okay with whatever happens. I've had the most incredible life that I'm grateful for. So anything past this will be wonderful, but I'm going to take with me the joy, the love, the experiences that I've had

and let that define my going forward. And I think that alone has helped me frame all my health situations. And it sounds and correct me if I'm wrong, like accepting the situation as it is. Absolutely. And for a lot of the times we might find ourselves in situations that we are resisting that situation. And so how do you think you got to that place of acceptance? Because also just to add, some people might think that you're giving up.

Right. And they might mix those two up. So how did you get to that level? Yeah. I would say, I, you know, it's interesting. When I first got sick in 2008, I was at that point, like, what? next. I had just been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Now I'm being told I had six months to live. Like, what am I going to do? And I realized that I was going to be optimistic and I was going to come

from joy because I had two kids too. So don't forget, while I was looking for a different doctor to give me a different diagnosis prognosis, my children were young. They were five and eight. So I needed to be their mom and their light. And so I, it was sort of like forced on me to remember that I have two children watching me at this, go through this. So I think that put a different lens on it in terms of strength. I never gave up. I always wanted to live, but I wanted people to know I was okay if I didn't. Because again, I had no control over the outcome. I just knew how I could handle it. And how I handled it was with grace, with joy, with optimism, with complete faith and trust in the doctors that I chose. So at some point, you just have to,

allow. I don't want to say give in, but allow the choices that you made to believe that what is in the best interest of you to happen. And that's how I handled it. I'm a very spiritual person too. So I think that spiritual side of me helped me overcome that part. I don't know if I'm answering the question exactly, but I think it's just this optimistic nature. By the way, I was never this optimistic beforehand. Before I got sick in the first surgery, I was very scared of my own shadow. I think I also wanted to live. I wanted to live. I wanted my do-over. I wanted to show people what I was capable of. And I wanted to drive that life and that purpose. And I think that's how I just was like, I've got this. I mean, I walked into the surgery of the first surgical first surgery.

Today's a great day to live pit on some kick-ass music. Let's go. And I embraced it. I was ready. I had like goodie bags for anybody in the hospital. I mean, I was ready. The second time was very different because I knew I can rock brain surgery like nobody else. And I walked into that surgical suite.

They were like, you are, I've never seen anybody walk into a theater like this before because it was like one of those big theaters. And I was like, I've got this. And I think that's also part of it is knowing you've got this. Now, if it wasn't going to go the way I thought it was going to go, again, I wouldn't know about it because I was dead. But I had gone in going, I got this. I'm going to rock this. I'm going to show people that you can go through difficult things and still remain optimistic.

I probably had two bad, really bad days when I first got diagnosed. And for the second time around, I didn't have any related to the surgery. I was in such a good place that I just believed that this was what was next and this is what needed to happen for me to continue my path because taking a step back, there was so much going on with the business, a lot of questions on whether or not it was going to continue. You know, we were very concerned, all those things. And so I wanted to, I had just gone through such hell and back from that, from three years of really difficult times.

I was like, I got this. This I got because I was able to control how I walked into surgery. I can't control how many people check out my website. I can't control whether or not people buy products, but I can control how I'm walking into every situation. And I was going to lift my head up high and say, I've got this. Where do you get that inner strength that belief, that optimism? Where do you think the source is from? I think it comes from source. God, call it universe, call a source. I can't, I don't know if it's from anything that we would say in this world because it's bigger than me.

I wake up this way. And do you feel just kind of talking about the connection to source because I also find it interesting, were you always conscious of that connection prior to 2008 or were these experiences kind of catalysts that, got you there. Yes and no. So I wasn't to the extent that I became and that I am now. And by the way, I still have bad days. Let's like, I mean, I'm human. I'm still a spiritual being having a human experience, as I like to say. But I became a practicing Buddhist in two, no, gosh, 1999.

And that is a large part of me knowing my inner strength because I had been tested so many times before, not realizing that all these tests were actually autoimmune related, that I knew what I was capable of. I had achieved things that so much said, there's no way. I was told there was no way I was carrying either one of my children to term that Emily was a twin. I lost a twin early on and I was told there's no way. and I'm like, I'm going to carry this child to 37 weeks. You just wait and see. 37 weeks came and boom, I pop that child out. And I think I've got enough of these experiences that I know there is power in that. And it's not something I talk about often because it's, I guess, on the wooer side. But I don't think people know what they're capable until they're tested.

And I've been tested so many times I know what I'm capable of. and I'm capable of handling this with grace and optimism. When my mom was sick, she was not like me. She was a doom and gloomer. That is just who she is so funny. We are complete opposites. I'm more like my dad in this way. And I kept saying, Mom, no matter what, the outcome is going to be the same.

So you can choose to go through this with optimism and fierce and positivity that you're going to do everything in your will to make the time you're here mean something. or you can sit here and wax on about, oh, woe is me. You're still going to be in the same place. Same outcome is going to happen. If anything, I believe the positivity helps you heal better, helps you attract more things into your life that are a positive. And that wasn't very hard.

She would be good for a day, but then she just couldn't. That wasn't who she was. And that people aren't like that. But I believe we have that power. That is so powerful. I'm like thinking about so many, so many questions. And so what I'm hearing is we always have a choice. Like the situation regardless of how it looks,

regardless of how diet is, we always have a choice of how we want to perceive it or how we want to respond to it. Yes. That is my feeling. My feeling too. I knew we were connected. So let's say there's someone again who's like,

okay, I'm hearing that I've got a choice, but physically, like I'm at such an emotionally, a emotionally dark place that I don't feel like I have a choice. Is there a first step, a direction they can face to start maybe seeing some glimmer of light? So this is going to be potentially very controversial, but fake it till you make it. What if you take one minute, one minute, then think what if this changes?

How does that light you up differently? How do you feel differently in your body when you go, I've got this or this is going to happen? It's just you've got to start to believe it. I mean, I think this goes with anybody who tries to do manifestation or vision boards or all those things. You can put all the pretty pictures, but if you don't do the work, it's not going to necessarily happen. So for me, doing the work is acting as if it's already there and okay. starting to bring that. And that doesn't mean, oh, my God, all of a sudden, you know, I have a G-wagon out on my, you know, in my driveway.

Like, that's not what I'm talking about. I mean, cool. But I'm talking about the stuff that really means something, like how you feel in your own body, how you handle good news and bad news, how you speak to yourself and how you speak to others. And I think putting yourself in the place of being cautiously optimistic, it's just a list. subtle shift, but play with it. As I said to my mom, you're dying. What do you have to lose? And when I would put it like that, that's when she was able to flip that switch.

But I will tell you, she lived, she was only given six months and she lived two and a half years. Wow. And got to see her granddaughter walk across the stage and graduate from college and all these things she never got to see. But it was just through subtle shifts and how she perceived that moment. And I think as you get as you, it's like anything, right? It's a practice.

I always say like, I practice Buddhism. I don't do it. I practice it because you never. There's no, I got there. It's a constant daily muscle stretching that you need to do so that it becomes automatic. That doesn't happen overnight. It has to be something you work on and something you want. I feel it's so interesting because I feel it's fascinating that people always go to the negative and I'll always go to the positive.

And do you think that's something that you can. can train yourself to always go to the positive? Because I think... Yes. There's no doubt. Why do I say that? It's because I was the negative person. I know people don't necessarily believe that.

But I became a whole different person. And it's by seeing little miracles happen. Like seeing a shooting star. Seeing my blood count turn a little bit better. It's those little things that we, is finding the extraordinary and the ordinary. And I think that's what happens

is we always look through life through these tainted glasses. Well, guess what? We're the person who puts on the glasses. So why not choose rose-colored? Yeah. By the way, you should know my husband is the one who wears the dooming gloom glasses.

It's hysterical. We've been married for 30 years. And I am the most optimistic person who calls me Mary Poppins. And I'm like, he's the Grinch. Like, it's the next guy. But he's like, I just don't understand it.

And I'm like, I just don't understand you. You can look at it like this. And it's like, oh, you know, he rolls his eyes. But he knows I'm right. And I'm thinking, because just thinking about spirituality. And we've had even guests that talk about transdental meditation and the power of meditation and being in the present moment. One of the things I've realized in the past few months is sometimes we are not in the present

moment and we are thinking about either the past or the future and all these problems seem so big that we are not conscious enough to enjoy those small moments or to celebrate those small moments because they feel so insignificant. Oh my gosh, you're, that is exactly, exactly. I feel like when you can, are at a place in your life where you're able to be present, it is so easy to find the optimism versus the pessimism because you're, you're tuned to what's happening. You're here.

You're deciding what's going to be? How are those glasses going to be? Are they going to be dark or they're going to be light? But if you're so focused on the shouldas or the coulds versus the woods, you're never able to remember putting those glasses on and deciding what filter to use. And that's where I believe presence comes like that's why it's such a powerful tool. I feel so many people are either stuck in the past or too overly fixated on the future. that they're not enjoying the now, and that's all we actually have.

That's what's going to define your future. So why not spend time designing it in that moment? I completely agree. So I'm going to, because I'm curious now about what your routine looks like. Okay. So we'll break it into each of the section. So mind, body, spirit. So for your mind, what's your daily routine look like?

So I would say mind and spirit are very close, but I do do Transcendental meditation every morning and every night for 20 minutes. And I've been doing that for I don't even know how many years at this point. It's probably close to 15 years more, maybe about 15 years. So this was after surgery. I did it. So yes, I would say. And that has been just a beautiful gift that I've given myself because you can do it anywhere, anytime.

And I can have a bad day and I will do it. And I, like, in that moment, I will just say, I'm going to meditate right now. I'm going to just stop. I'm going to go into that and just quiet my mind so I can focus on what needs to be done. How do I switch? Like, how do I go from a negative to a positive? So I think that's really what I do for my mind.

I also do believe that in the gut brain access connection. So filling my body with healthy nutrient dense, good for me food is something that I do for my mind and my body. Because I do know there is a scientific proof to that. so that's another thing I do for my mind. And I also do puzzles and things like that, so I can stretch it. And you spoke spirituality, so also meditation, anything else from spiritual?

Yeah, so I am a practicing Buddhist, so I do chant as well. I do read a lot of spiritual books, including the Bible and doing Bible study, and like all those things. Like I just feel like all the, it's all takes on the same thing, to be honest with you.

like when you start to look at it, right? And so those are the things that I do to nourish that part of me. I also go for when it's warmer out. It's too hard on my body with autoimmune issues to go for walks, but I will take a lot of walks. I do love spending time in nature. And I do like to ground myself every day too. So I do like to go outside barefoot.

I will tell you it is a sheet of ice right now, so I'm not. Like I'm good, but I'm not that good. I think we live in the same region because it's icy right now too. Yeah, I just looked on my window before and I was like, it's snowing? What? Yes. And for your body, you talked about nutrients, dense food, anything else that you found? So obviously I use clean products like my makeup and my skincare.

I eat very healthy. I'm starting to garden and farm again. We moved in April of last year. So still getting the land. And like together, but I have a greenhouse and doing all those things because I really do love my hands in the dirt. That's a big part of what I do for mind, body, and soul is garden and farm. I do love regenerative organic agriculture. I have such a deep love and passion for it.

So like that's what I do also to nurture all those pieces too. So it's sort of like all the same flavor. But I feel like Mother Nature gives you what you need. So spending time with her outdoors is going to nurture my mind, body, and soul. And when you zoom out, looking at your life, your company, what your experiences have been thus far, what do you hope your story gives people permission to do? I truly hope it gives them permission to live on their own terms. I also hope that anybody listening to this realizes they have a choice,

whether it's the choice in how they see things for themselves, the choices and the products that they purchase, They all have power. And that power resides in you. And it's very easy to blame the external. But I think that we need to sometimes take stock of what we're putting out there into the universe and the choices that we make for ourselves and purchasing and how we act, what we eat, all those things.

So I think that I want people to live and I want people to know that they have the power of choice. If your body could speak right now, after everything it says endured, what do you think it will say? Oh my gosh. Probably like, are you kidding me? It's like, girl, enough. I think it changed, well, you know, you've had what? How many lives have I?

I always say I'm like Mars, the cat. I have nine lives. I think I've used four of them, so I've got six more to go. It's probably like, yo, girl, slow down. Gosh, I think if my body could say something to me right now, you're on the right path. That feels good. That feels right.

And for people, listeners, who want to listen more to your story, who want to connect with you, where can they find you? So a couple of things. So you can find me always on Indylee.com. So the products are at indielee.com. You can find us at a ton of retailers on Ulta,

Credo, Detox Market, all the clean retailers, etc. Every Blue Mercury. I will tell you I hang out a lot on Instagram. Okay, that didn't come out right. Meaning if you want to find me and connect with me, Instagram is a good place to do it because nobody is in my personal DMs. Like the brand DM, yes, we have a team, but me, it's me personally.

So Indy Lee, I-N-D-I-E-E-L-E. And I'm hoping, and I believe that this podcast is not coming out until a certain launch that I shared with you. So a very big and exciting announcement, and it's very pertinent to what our conversation has been, is that we're launching a collection called Botanicals, which is a nod to me and my start, because when I first started the brand, it was called Botanical Collection. It all started in my greenhouse, but we are launching four new products in every Whole Foods nationwide. And this is my way of hearing my consumers and saying, I understand

this has been a really tough time for us. If I'm a financial, the economy, I don't think anybody's going to debate what's going on in the economy here in the U.S. and how difficult it is. I want people to be able to afford products that are good for them that they know are good for the planet and not sacrificing picking up that healthy food for themselves as well. While I'm not, I still have the, you know, Indy Lee, the line, but I also wanted to be able to reach more people and make it affordable for the masses. And so we created the botanical line to do just that and provide beautiful, clean, the same clean standards, maybe not as many of those potent actives.

but clean, effective, beautiful products, all at Whole Foods, all under $25. And I could not be prouder that my team has been able to do that and cannot wait for this to launch for other people to experience what this is. But I think that's meeting consumers where they're at and listening to what's going on and being able to still stand by the ingredients and the products that I'm doing, but make it available out of mass scale. Beautiful. To someone who's listening right now, facing health care, uncertainty,

or fear of starting over, what would you like them to take out from today's episode? It's an opportunity. When you're given a chance to do something over, don't look at it like you're starting from square one because you're not. You're starting from exactly where you are. You get to just write the future. So I think that's what I'd want them. And I'm always available. And I make myself available for anybody who's listening to this, direct message me. If you need that extra talk, you need that pet, pick me up, you can rest assured. There are plenty of people in my DMs that do it on a regular basis. And I look at that is the greatest gift that this brand has given me a community of people

on the same transformative journey as I am. And if I can be there to shed some wisdom or bring some bright light to somebody who's having maybe a darker day, that would be my honor. Amazing. Thank you so much, Indy, for sharing. sharing your message, sharing your story, and sharing your perspective. It was so amazing to hear from you. Thank you. I love this conversation more than you could even imagine.

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