Well with Arielle Lorre - 320: Magnesium Benefits, Regulating Your Nervous System & Bouncing Back After Burnout with Adriaan Zimmerman

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

Adriaan Zimmerman is the co-founder of Ned, a writer, advisor, and serial entrepreneur. After spending a decade working 70+ hour work weeks, he left the corporate world and spent two years living out of a backpack, rediscovering the virtues of nature, simplicity, and true human connection. He then co-founded Ned, which uses advanced natural formulas for all your health & wellness needs, from sleep and stress to immunity and inflammation. In this episode, we explore the benefits of magnesium, what consumers should look for in a high-quality formula, GABA, and more. We also discuss ways to regulate your nervous system and non-negotiable micro habits to stay regulated. Adriaan also shares his experience of burnout and panic attacks in the high-stress corporate world and how he has gotten to a healthier place today.This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.Subscribe to Patreon for exclusive weekly content: patreon.com/ArielleLorreVisit qualialife.com/blonde for 50% off of Qualia Senolytic and code BLONDE at checkout for an additional 15% off. Go to helloned.com/BLONDE or use code BLONDE for 15% off all products. Visit article.com/BLONDE for $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. Go to kajabi.com/BLONDE for a free 30-day trial to start your business. Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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would auto-huees-on-sor-sondergare. Go to your rice-adviseur or Sunnycars. The following podcast is a dear media production. Welcome to the Blond Files I'm your host, Ariel Lori, and I'm here to talk all things wellness. From how to achieve optimal

health and well-being to the best beauty tips and everything in between, no topic is off limits. I know there's so much information out there, so I'm bringing on expert guests and sharing my own experiences to help you sift through all the wellness stuff without the BS. Enjoy the show. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. Today's episode is a really informative episode. episode about one of my favorite topics, which is magnesium. We get into a lot more than that, but I thought that because I have talked so long about how much of an impact magnesium had on my overall well-being, I would have somebody on to talk about what exactly it is doing in our bodies, why it's so important, why so many of us are deficient in it, and more. So I'm talking to

Adrian Zimmerman. He's the co-founder of Ned. He is a writer, advisor. He's a serial entrepreneur. and he has a really inspiring story because after spending a decade working 70 plus hour work weeks, he had a little bit of a panic attack, I guess we'll call it, and he left the corporate world and spent two years living out of a backpack, really kind of rediscovering the virtues of nature, simplicity, and true human connection. So then he co-founded Ned, which uses advanced natural formulas for all of your health and wellness needs from sleep and stress to immunity and inflammation. I have been using Ned for years. I use their mellow magnesium. It's my favorite thing ever. It's what really made such a big difference in me. And I always say it felt like finding a missing

puzzle piece to my overall wellness. So in this episode, we're talking about, of course, the benefits of magnesium. We talk about what consumers should look for in a high quality formula. We talk GABA. We also talk about ways to regulate your nervous system and non-negotiable micro habits to stay regulated. And he shares his experience of burnout and panic attacks in the high stress corporate world and how he has gotten to a healthier place today. I really love both of the guys at Ned and the company as a whole. They have so much integrity. They're so intentional with their products, which is why I have worked with them for so long and why I love them in my own personal wellness toolbox so much. So become the best version of yourself and get 15% off Ned products

with the code blonde. Just go to hello ned.com slash blonde or enter the code blonde at checkout. That's H-E-L-L-O-N-E-D dot com slash blonde for 15% off. So please enjoy Adrian Zimmerman. Welcome, Adrian. Thank you so much for having me, Ariel. Thank you for being here. I think that you guys were possibly one of my first partners that I had on the show. I think we're going on like maybe four years now, something like that. I would have to look. Yeah, it's been a long time. And obviously, I am a big user of your products. I love all of them, particularly the mellow magnesium, which we were just

talking about before I started recording. Maybe we're going to deep dive on that a little bit, because I always tell my listeners and my viewers on Instagram that when I started taking magnesium and this specific type of magnesium, which I know there are three forms, right, in Mello, I always say it was kind of like finding a missing puzzle piece to my overall well-being, but I don't really know like the nitty gritty details of how exactly it works and why it can be so impactful. So I would love to get into all of that with you. But why don't you just start by introducing yourself to the audience? Yeah, sure. Well, first, I mean, four years, it's a long time in terms of partnerships. And I think that says a lot about you and what you do as well. And it's just

been such a valuable partnership for us. And we've loved, you know, bringing your community into to ours. So thanks for that. But yeah, my name is Adrian. I'm one of the co-founder. of Ned. You know, I found my way into Ned. I wouldn't say it was really an intentional path. I had spent the first 10 plus years of my career in entrepreneurship and largely in media and lived in New York City. I lived in Paris and Hong Kong and, you know, I found myself at some point when I was about 32, I want to say. And living in New York City, I'd been there about eight years and I'd sold a company And it's kind of like living a life I thought I wanted. You know, a bachelor pad and shiny toys and all sorts of fun trips.

And, you know, let's just say, I wasn't sure how to be honest with myself, but like what I was feeling was this just like looming sense of angst and discontent and really just like didn't know what to do with it. So, you know, I just kind of kept with in my life. It was like work more, party more, date more, and it was all going to be great. I eventually ended up moving out to the UK. I'd been advising a big media company out there and join them as their executive director thinking like, okay, it's the place, it's not the person. And change of scenery is going to change everything.

And I got out there, and it was fun for about a month. And then I just started waking up with the same feeling of like, my life really is not my own. And time was just slipping away. And I felt this just growing question of like, why am I here? And, you know, I think, again, I mentioned it. I didn't really know how to be honest to myself. Didn't really have tools to deal with those questions. So I just push it all down.

And then sure enough, about six months into that gig in the UK, I was presenting in front of the entire company. We were about 75 employees at the time. And pretty much as soon as I started the presentation, just had this like full on panic attack. and my voice was shaking, my hands were shaking. Everything just kind of went white. And I just really legitimately broke in that moment.

And the next day I broke out in shingles. And yeah, it was just this moment. I could just kind of completely alter the path of my life, which now I can say was like the best thing that could have ever happened. But at the time, it was super scary. It was just kind of like casting me off without identity, without like anything. And I was just kind of left there to try to pick up the pieces. And sure enough, like I got fired shortly after.

They had kind of brought me in to level them up. And here I was having a meltdown. And it just kind of put me on this or at this crossroads or it's like, take some Xanax and keep going. Or really take a step back and try to figure out what just happened. So I was very fortunate. I was able to take that that ladder road and, you know, thought, okay, I'll go away. I started with a road trip on the West Coast, bought a cheap tent at REI, and I was camping and sleeping outside for the first time since college. And then the next step, I bought a one-way ticket to

the Catmandu. And, you know, all in, I thought this would be maybe like a two-month little step away and turn into two years of just complete disconnection. wandering by myself, really leaning into creative pursuits like photography and writing. At the end of the day, I think I came out at the back end of that with three core principles that I think were really behind my, I call it rehab for lack of a better term. And the first was just understanding how important the natural world is to the human spirit and human soul and nature really can heal. the second was just really discovering the beauty of simplicity and that covered everywhere from

living with less and like literally having all my possessions on my back to simple tasks like chopping wood or staling or anything that was just like so essential to the human human survival and and then the third was really human connection and I already alluded to not really having a sense of self-honesty. So I think it started with developing that sense of self-auticity, being able to listen to myself. When I was able to do that, I was able to be honest with others. And I really discover them when you're honest with others. That's really what unlocks human connection. You can be vulnerable. You can really go from zero to 100 in terms of the depth of the conversation when you're just honest with yourself and with others. So all that to say, this long story is,

really just how I thought my way into Ned. And when Red and I reconnected in 2017, it was very just synchronistic that we were able to come together to build this brand and parlay a lot of those struggles and that experience into building something that, you know, I think still to this day really carries a lot of adherence to our mission and a true commitment to just living out our values. I can relate a lot to your trajectory. Mine was obviously different circumstances, but, you know, you essentially had this rock bottom moment, right? And I had that as well in my drug addiction and my alcoholism and this thing that I thought would be the worst thing for me. Worst possible thing that could happen turned out to be the best thing for me. And I was also

fortunate enough to have the time. I mean, I didn't have a job or anything going on for me at that time in my life, but I had essentially a year to focus on myself, focus on my recovery, rebuild this foundation, figure out who I am. And you know, you were fortunate enough to have that time as well instead of, like you said, just taking a Xanax and pushing through and ignoring everything. And I think that that's how so many people end up with like chronic health conditions and on all these medications because they might not have that opportunity to like stop their life, right, and begin to explore what's going on and who they really are. And I think that that's one reason why I love your mission and your products so much,

because you have these amazing natural products, right, that help us navigate the modern world. And for me, it's so much of, like, regulating my nervous systems, but I don't get to that point where I'm having the panic attack and breaking out in fives or shingles or whatever it was. And I think that for everybody listening, like, there are so many things that we can do in our lives to counteract that stress that we encounter every day. So I think it's amazing, you know, that you were able to kind of recalibrate and start this thing with Rhett with such like purpose and intention. And that's another thing that I love about Ned.

much is like the purpose behind it. You know, it's not just another like brand and product. I mean, we're so saturated with like wellness products and things like that. But I think that that's what resonates with so many people, myself included, too. Yeah. Thanks for saying that. And, you know, I think that was a big part of this mission was to, honestly, like, we lead with content and education.

We don't lead with product, right? Like, it's about bringing that mission of helping people feel. better and live better through the powers of the natural world that takes many forms, right? It's like if you're having that shitty morning, like, maybe, you know, try really getting like a good workout in or go outside, get some sunshine on your face or, you know, do a little breathing, like these modalities that are just there for us rather than, you know, as a first line of defense going to the pharmacy. And, you know, it's a first find of defense being key there because we are huge believers in science and believe that there's a time and a place for it all.

And there's no shame in it at all. It's really just what can you try before before that? That is quite literally right outside or in the kitchen or whatever it is. So, yeah, it's important to us. When it comes to aging, I think we often focus too. much on the external and we ignore the processes that might be happening inside our body. So something that I learned about recently is that we all have these zombie cells in our bodies. Yes, zombie cells. So as we age, everybody accumulates senescent cells in their body. And senescent cells cause symptoms of aging such as aches and discomfort, slow workout recoveries, sluggish mental and physical energy associated with that middle age feeling. I'm sure a lot of people listening can relate.

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to do a magnesium deep dive because I have often talked about how when I started incorporating magnesium into my routine and not just any magnesium, Ned's mellow magnesium. I felt like I had found a missing puzzle piece to my overall well-being, but I thought it was so important to hear exactly what magnesium can do in our bodies. So I know that a lot of people understand that magnesium can help with things like anxiety and sleeping better and muscle recovery. But magnesium is actually essential for over 300 processes in the body. And as many as 75% of American adults are deficient in magnesium. So Ned's mellow magnesium was designed to address the fundamental imbalances that just come with our modern lives. So it has three forms of chelated magnesium. It has GABA, which is my favorite.

We talk about this neurotransmitter in today's episode. And it has althianine as well, amino acids, and over 70 trace minerals so it can obviously help improve sleep. It can help to reduce stress, increase energy, elevate mood. It helps your gut microbiome. It helps to strengthen immunity. I just find it to be so nourishing to my nervous system. So I usually drink it about an hour before bed. I love the lemon flavor. I also love lavender berry. I just mix it with water. And it just helps me to feel more relaxed, to sleep really well. I don't. wake up early in the morning, which is usually my problem, like around four or five. And I just love it. Sometimes I'll drink it during the day if I feel like my nerves are really frazzled and it just

helps to calm that feeling down. I had a follower DM me and she said she feels like she's on a cloud when she takes it, but in a good way, not in a way where you feel really different. So become the best version of yourself and get 15% off Ned products with the code blonde. Just go to hello ned.com. slash blonde or enter the code blonde at checkout. That's h-E-l-l-O-N-E-D dot com slash blonde for 15% off. I was in the studio maybe last week or the week before and there were a bunch of us in there and everybody was saying like how kind of overwhelmed they feel. It's such a busy time right now for a lot of people. And I think it was my producer who said like, yeah, it's crazy. I went out at my lunch break and just went for like a five minute walk and I felt so much better and we were

all talking about like isn't that so crazy but I think that you know again we feel like these really healing modalities that we have available to us we don't have the time right like we're we're so focused on whatever the next thing is you know success and a lot of those external things things that you had earlier you know in your life and your career and things that that that's going to like move the needle when really it's for me at least i'll speak for myself like the things that have changed my overall well-being the most i think in the last couple years have been things like getting that morning sunlight right like even just for a few minutes and that has changed everything not only my energy my mood but my sleep as well i want to talk to you about circadian

rhythm going for a little walks even if it's just for a few minutes taking a break after 20 minutes of looking at the screen, eating protein in the morning, like these things that most of us can find a way to do. And I understand, you know, some people live in like colder climates that aren't as sunny and a lot of people come back with like, but, but, but. And it's like, no, you can find ways to incorporate these things. And then, you know, I think that's why when you're prioritizing those things, then something like a magnesium more like a CBD or something is just like so much more impactful. And it's kind of like this cherry on top because you already have that foundation.

Yeah. And the butt, but, but is something like, like I'm, I'm incredibly familiar with it personally. Like I have a hypervigilant tendency where basically I just don't get myself permission to do that because I should be doing something else.

But when I do, you know, whether it's not sleeping next to my phone or certainly not getting to email or right. to wake up or taking a walk, you know, between calls. It's like, makes such a big difference. Let's talk a little bit about magnesium because Mello, it's like one of my true wellness non-negotiables. And I think I may have talked about it on my last solo episode for anybody who listened. But, you know, my wellness routines are very off right now. I'm in a really busy phase in my life. But I have these what I call little micro habits that have really far-reaching.

benefits in my life. And those are like the things that I can really stick to even when things are crazy. And the magnesium for me is like a true non-negotiable. So how did that come to be? And tell everybody like why these specific forms of magnesium, why these amino acids. I always say like magnesium gaba al-thianine. That is my trifecta of like piece and like my favorite ingredients. but tell us like why and why these three work synergistically together. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, just to kind of cover magnesium as a whole and why it is so important and why there really is not a health practitioner in America who's not recommending it

is that it's the fourth most abundant mineral in the human body. And it's the eighth most abundant elements in the universe. It's quite literally part of our entire makeup. And magnesium regulates over 300 functions in human bodies. So it's everywhere from muscle function, the heart function, to cognitive function, to nerve health. And you can only imagine, like, if you're deficient in such a critical mineral, like the long list of issues that can pop up. And magnesium is also something that, you know, historically has been, you know, abundant in soil and find its way into our food. And that's really how we were able to get enough magnesium.

But where the industries are today and where, you know, our food is just not nutrient dense like it used to be, you know, carrot in 19. 40 had four times of magnesium that a carrot does today. And, you know, we're just not getting that recommended daily value. So the net result is, you know, this is a WHO statistic that, you know, upwards of 75% of Americans are not getting their daily recommended value of magnesium. And with that comes all of those, you know, predictable side effects. It's everywhere from sleep issues to brain fog to. muscle pain and cramps and, you know, even little things.

Like if you've ever gotten that little, like, tick under your eye, that can be reflective of magnesium deficiency. So that's why it's an adherence to our mission. So, you know, we believe that all plants and herbs and roots and minerals and fungi and algae can really help us build that better first line of defense before prescription and over-the-counter drugs. And magnesium is just something that was so prevalent. and speaking with a lot of different practitioners and doctors,

it became abundantly clear that this was a good area of focus. So we started with magnesium and just looking at like, okay, why are there so many different types of magnesium? What are the differentiators? And we quickly realized the first primary differentiator of a good magnesium is a magnesium chelate and basically what that means is magnesium ions are bound with amino acids and amino acids can naturally help deliver magnesium into our bodies right so like drugstore magnesium is not a chelade and kind of fills your gut with water and turns into a laxative

whereas you know if you choose good magnesium chelates you consume them rather than filling in your gut they delivered in different parts of your body And that's kind of what starts to differentiate the types of magnesium we selected. So like we chose magnesium lactate gluconate, which is a really neat magnesium. It actually is bound with two amino acids and really helps deliver to the blood, muscles, and bones. So it kind of just immediately gives you this like full spectrum body optimization. We then have magnesium glycinate, which is really one known for being associated with sleep and has been shown across the brain barrier. So that was kind of a non-negotiable for us as well. It was like, you know, sleep is,

you know, I mean, we all know how important it is. It is like the number one thing you can do for for your health. So we thought a magnesium focused on sleep was critical. And then the third one we found was a really new magnesium that's actually sourced from the Irish Sea. So it's source from sea water that includes 70 trace minerals. It's called Aquamin magnesium. And it's a citrate, really good for nerve health, digestive health. And that one was just like, that was a big online for us. And for us, the fact that it's sourced from, you know, seawater in a non-intrusive way. We're tapping into like the nutrient dense Irish sea, which, you know, it's just such a cool, cool addition. And then the other two things that are big differentiators with Ned and Mello is

we chose Elthenian and Gaba. You mentioned that they're amazing. They're like two the most underappreciated amino acids. They're kind of like Gaba is like this almost forgotten neurotransmitter that doesn't get enough enough love in my opinion. I think it's the best in our lives. Yeah, it's so good. Yeah. And you mentioned Xanax earlier and people just automatically go to that, Xanax, what does it do? It increases the GABA in your brain or it limits like the, I don't know exactly how it works, but it has to do with GABA. You have more GABA in your system essentially, right? Yeah. Yeah, and then limits uptake. So it's kind of like you, in the long run, kind of become deficient of it. And same thing with alcohol, actually. Like, GABA is kind of that

traffic cop for your stress response, right? So GABA is the one that helps control, like, what you should be scared of basically like am i scared of a tiger chasing me or am i scared of say a call i have in five minutes right if you drink alcohol your brain will flush with gaba and then the next day you're deficient in it and then enters like the sunday scaries so so i know it's kind of the one of the many environmental factors and i guess back to the why we wanted to include these aminos as well is that, you know, one of the number one reasons we're deficient in magnesium is stress. And it's kind of like driving a car uphill when we're stressed. Our bodies are burning a lot more magnesium. So we really wanted to help support the root cause of that. And rather than just

simply optimizing magnesium intake, we're also trying to address that root cause of stress. And both filthy eating and god they're so good for kind of bolstering that stress response and and just making it a much more well-rounded product that can achieve a lot with a little. I don't take all for products all the time. Mellow for me is also non-negotiable. It's every night if I'm traveling, if I'm jet lagged, like always mellow and it's a big boost. Sometimes if I'm having a really frazzled nervous system day where I just feel like I'm just vibrating. I'll take it during the day too. And it's great because you don't get like drowsy from it. When I take it before sleep, I just find that I fall asleep really easily and I stay asleep, which is always my issue. It's like waking up at four in the morning,

you know, and that really doesn't happen with me. You mentioned sourcing. So I'd love to talk about your sourcing process. This is something that you guys are really proud of. And now you have the farm to Ned Alliance, which is also amazing. So you're paying your farmers more. And in turn, that's lowering prices for consumers, which I think is a little bit counterintuitive, people would think paying farmers more, paying a higher price per product, right? Yeah, well, you know, it's something we're super proud of and we've been able to eventually pass on savings, which I think is just like such kind of like a win-win-win scenario. But it's really how we started. You know, Rhett was originally driving around Colorado meeting with farmers. And a lot of the

farmers that used meeting were large commercial farmers. They were, you know, growing for quantity, not quality. They were super proud of just how much, you know, yield they could get and how quickly they could harvest and blah, blah, blah. It was the same as like corn and soybean. And it was not all that interesting and eventually you know he met our current farmer jonathan who is he's a hemp farmer he was growing in a very different way like just as soon as retro that onto that land like he knew something was different jonathan was literally out playing music to his plants and it was like it's kind of aha moment that okay this is different and then when we actually got product in our hand it was like wow this is a lot better so you know immediately

we struck up that partnership. We wanted to source directly from him. And it's a model that worked for us very quickly because the quality was a lot better. We had a direct partnership with him so we could create transparency and tell his story about his farm and how he does his compost teas and these regenerative practices and all these things that were just really wonderful. And then, you know, a couple years into business, you know, hemp industry just went crazy and prices dropped like crazy and that's the type of situation that

were washed out a farmer like Jonathan like he just would not have been able to support his family with prices that were being found on the on the market so so we made it made a very intentional choice to pay him more and quite a bit more in fact and allow him to stay in business and then deliver better products to our customers and then as we've been able to implement more of this drop prices. So it started with them, you know, Jonathan and his wife, and has since evolved into kind of how we source all of our ingredients. And that's what led to our farm to Net Alliance, which has been now in existence for about two and a half years. And it's basically a mandate that any time we source of new ingredient that's from a botanical, we go out and find the best independent,

often female or minority on farms that operate regeneratively, that are organic, and make sure that we're sourcing directly from them. And what that has led to is now that it's pretty much spent across our entire business. You know, we've really seen the effects of that in both quality of our products as well as now the economic side of it where there are no middlemen we stay away from middlemen and they're the ones eating a lot of the margin anyway so we've been able to to you know find scale with it and pass on the savings which is just something we're proud of it's it's more of a passion project it's not messaging we lead with but it's something that has really helped us create better products and do better for the planet we think

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But now you're six years into it, right? It's your sixth year anniversary. So were there things that you were really passionate about in the beginning that didn't end up working out? And what were maybe some of the most surprising lessons that you've learned along the way? Because you guys really listen to like your customer base, right? I mean, it's like you lead with that integrity and that intentionality and the feedback from your customers. I would imagine they're so loyal. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, you know, it comes down to community, right? like kind of having sense like you know when we want to kind of gut check a new product idea we can go to our community and when we want to do a little customer research that there's plenty of willing participants so that's been super valuable for sure as far as what we thought and what hasn't worked out there's some doozies in there like we've had for every good idea there are a few few ones in the graveyard so it's just the nature of being a startup that's some like, you know, we're going to try a lot of stuff.

Actually, one in particular, and this came actually from listening to our community. We had a lot of customers who were asking about, you know, whether full-spectrum or magnesium really helped with menstrual symptoms. And it was something that, you know, Rhett and myself as two guys. Like we felt kind of, let's call it less qualified to answer those questions. So we really went down a pretty deep path and assembled an amazing team of women who helped us really explore that and answer that question. And we went from my wife, who was kind of a curator of the product groups to our botanist, to Annie, to our formulator, to the artist who ended up designing the packaging, to the farmers were female. Like it was up to bottom of a product really created by women, four women.

And we thought for sure this is going to be, you know, a really successful product. But I think what we learned in that is we launched this category with four products. And that was just too many. And we didn't really focus on the core need. And we, you know, tried to really like, you know, answer a lot of questions that we didn't even know people we're asking, right? We took like the one seed and we're like, okay, we can do all this stuff. And that was, that was like one of the early, early lessons and it's helped us kind of stay on track and stay things really simple for sure. And then for the second part of your question, yeah,

a few really fun lessons to reflect on. We had our sixth year anniversary in March and it was like this moment to just kind of like talk with the team and, you know, Red and I spent a lot of time talking just between ourselves about like what are some of those lessons. And it was like, what are some of those lessons in particular from our customers. And I think one was that, you know, like at any given time, like so many of us are struggling with something, right? And like it can feel like that struggle is now your identity and it's forever and it's permanent.

And I think over time, especially the span of like six years, we've seen so many customers come with deep struggle and go feeling better. And I wouldn't say. exclusively about our products, but I think it's reflective of this idea that like in moments to struggle, like, it is, that is not the end-all-be-all. And I think for us, it's like best-case scenario is when we lose a customer because they don't need us anymore, right? That is such a wonderful feeling. And they know we're always here if they ever need us again, but that's a big one. I think like, you know, we're bootstrapped.

We don't have investors. We don't have anybody kind of breathing down our necks where, you know, I think investors would be like, why are you happy about losing a customer? Yeah. For us, it's like, that's a win, right? And you mentioned circadian rhythm. It's like, if we can reset somebody's circadian rhythm and get them sleeping well and they don't need us anymore, like best case in there for sure.

Yeah, probably not a business model that a lot of investors would, like, would be worthy of their investment. I mean, obviously, you guys have built an incredible company, and you do have that loyal base of customers, and now you're in Air One, and I mean, you guys are growing, but yeah, most brands want to make repeat customers of everybody, right? Yeah, and then I think the other one is just, it's always a good reminder that, you know,

and it's something we always... get reminded of from our customers and it's kind of in our in our tenants at this point is that you know in whether you're a brand or just in life like I think all people really want is to feel seen and feel heard and that's kind of gone into a lot of what we do as well is just making sure like we're listening first and just meeting customers where they are and I think it's just like it's always a reminder even if it's active day if we just take that extra time to to sit there and hear somebody out and mirror back to them and make sure they know that they're heard and seen like it makes all the difference in the world and it's something I you know try

to practice in my in my life outside of net as well and it's it's a good one and a good good reminder for sure has your life done a complete 180 have you had any of those episodes that you had all those years ago when you were making that presentation or has your new lifestyle and your purpose kind of eliminated all of that anxiety that you were feeling? Yeah, nothing's eliminated for sure. Like, I still have tough moments. I haven't had like a full like panic attack or anything like that since. I think a lot of the changes I've faded in my life. I've helped that for sure, but we all struggle at times, right? And like, you know, tomorrow is two years since my mom passed away, right? So this week has been particularly hard. And it's one of these things where it's like,

you know, even through it, you know, I think just naming it and being aware of it turns this like weird, cumbersome slippery weight you're carrying on your shoulders and just kind of like flopped it in a wheelbarrow and you can like push it along. So it's not, it's not like it's gone away, but it's just a little bit easier to navigate. And I think that's all we can ask for, right? It's like, make it just a little better. Like, it's not binary. Like, you know, when I was traveling, I wrote this blog post.

I was really about, you know, this, I think it was called like, peaks values in the pursuit of happiness. And it was this idea that, you know, we spent so much time worried about what's really good or what's really bad or having good moments or bad moments and just like it all feels like this really rapid thing but then you all of a sudden realize like that is the essence of life that is a heartbeat that is a heart rate monitor like that is life and if life was all just like one big happy moment like a flatline as far as life goes isn't really life right on a heart rate monitor that's a bad thing

So, you know, I think good times, bad times are inevitable, struggles, moments of ease. It's all inevitable. And that's where like the wonderful reminder is, like even in tough moments, like, you know good moments come. Right. Like it's just inevitable. Yeah. I think that we all have this kind of innate sense of like permanence though. Like when things get bad to your point, you were talking about this earlier.

We think it's never going to get better. And when things are good, I think that, you know, well, maybe maybe a few things. I think sometimes people struggle with feeling like the other shoe is going to drop. But then, you know, I think that we also just kind of feel like, okay, this is like going to be it forever. And then something challenging does come up. And it's like, well, what did I do wrong? You know, it's just really about like learning how to be flexible, I think, and embrace those peaks and valleys. and remember that it's not permanent.

Yeah, yeah, that's so well said. And I think it's, I think when we can do that and just kind of try not to attach to the good or the bad and just, you know, as cliché as it is, like focus on the present moment. You know, I think if we're doing that, we can, we can raise the center point of the highs and lows, right? Like your baseline can raise a little bit. And then the highs are higher, the lows earn is low. And I think that can be like where we.

spend time and focus. Love that. Well, as I mentioned, you guys are in Airwant now. So for everybody in L.A. who's listening, you guys can go get your mellow there. But tell everybody where they can find you. Yeah, well, you can always find us at hello ned.com. That's our kind of home base and where you can learn about all things farmed to Ned

and products and sourcing and farmers we work with. And, you know, that's where we tell our stories. And of course, yes, we're now at Airwarn as this past November, which has been a wonderful partnership and super happy to be there. And every time I'm in LA, I just kind of like have to just go like CS on shelf and pitch myself. And, you know, it's just one of those moments. And then, yeah, we're also, Mello is now available on Amazon as well. So it's not hard to get your Mello. So we're solely but surely spreading our message.

Happy to see all of your success. Thank you so much for coming. I hope you enjoyed that episode. And if you liked it, and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes a long way, and it's actually the best way to support the show. Also, if you want to see more about each episode, you can head over to The Blonde Files podcast on Instagram. You can go to Arialore.com. And I'm always posting about each episode over on my personal. page at Ariel Lurie. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services.

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