Jacqueline Andriakos | All Things Women’s Health
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If you’re looking to optimize your health and well-being, this episode is for you. Today, Jacqueline shares what she learned working as Health Director in Women’s Health magazine and shares her own experience dealing with sleep issues. Join us today to get some insights into mental health, wellness, and morning routines.
Key Takeaways From This Episode
Advocating for yourself in the health care system
Dealing with sleep anxiety
Prioritizing mental health
Owning your morning
Disclaimer: All of the information and views shared on the Live Greatly podcast are purely the opinions of the authors, and they are not medical advice or treatment recommendations. The contents of this podcast are intended for informational and educational purposes only. Always seek the guidance of your physician or qualified health professional for any recommendations specific to you or for any questions regarding your specific health, your sleep patterns, changes to diet and exercise, or any medical conditions.
Resources Mentioned In This Episode
About Jacqueline Andriakos
Jacqueline is a New York City-based health, wellness, and lifestyle journalist, a NASM-certified personal trainer, and the Health Director at Women’s Health magazine. Before WH, she was the Deputy Health Features Editor at SELF, and previously the Senior Editor at Health magazine. As a writer-reporter, she has contributed to print and online publications including TIME, Real Simple, and People, among others.
Connect with Jacqueline
Website: www.womenshealthmag.com ; www.jacqueline-andriakos.com
Instagram: @womenshealthmag ; @jandriakos
Facebook: Women’s Health
YouTube: Women’s Health
If you are struggling with feeling overworked or overwhelmed, access the Top 10 Stress Management Tips for the Overworked free right now.
Kristel Bauer, the Founder of Live Greatly, is on a mission to help people awaken to their ultimate potential. She is a wellness expert, Integrative Medicine Fellow, Keynote Speaker, Physician Assistant, & Reiki Master with the goal of empowering others to live their best lives!
Follow her on:
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To learn more about Live Greatly's transformative online courses for personal development and self-improvement, to discuss collaborations and partnerships, or to book Kristel as a speaker or consultant, click here.
Episode Transcript:
Jacqueline (Teaser)
Just go to bed with the goal of resting. Don't go to bed with the goal of, oh my gosh! I have to fall asleep this second. Go to bed with the goal of resting. Take the pressure off. Fall asleep a little bit easier.
Kristel (Guest Intro)
If you're looking to optimize your health and your wellbeing, you are going to gain a ton of value from today's episode with Jacqueline Andriakos. Jacqueline is the health and fitness director at Women's Health magazine.
She oversees all their health and fitness content for women's health mag.com and for their print magazine. And she has tons of wisdom and value to bring today. We're going to be talking about how to advocate for yourself as a woman, different self-care tips, how to manage stress, optimize your mental and physical health and more.
Jacqueline has over seven years of experience working, writing, reporting, editing in the wellness space, and she's contributed to publications, including time, self, health, real simple and people.
I'm so excited that she's here with me today and let's jump right into it and welcome Jacqueline to the show.
Jacqueline:
Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here.
Kristel:
Yeah my pleasure. So I’m hoping that you can give our listeners a little bit of background about what you're currently doing, what you're doing with women's health magazine and how you got interested in this whole world of women's health and wellness.
Jacqueline:
Yes, absolutely. So I have been at women's health for almost two years. My title is Health and Fitness Director. Um, I originally started at the brand only overseeing health and I was recently promoted to Health and Fitness Director. Which is very exciting for me because I am a health editor through and through, but I am such a fitness girl in my personal life.
Fitness is such a passion for me. So yeah, I oversee the health and fitness verticals for the brand. And that includes the print magazine that you see on newsstands. Women's health mag.com our content on social. Um, there are obviously a lot of, uh, mediums. Through which we put all of our content out there.
So it's a really exciting job. I genuinely feel like every day is totally different. One day it might be editing digital articles, editing a massive print feature, being on the phone with a fact checker going line by line on something with legal or research. Um, it could be being on a podcast like this monitoring, trying to, you know, in a pre pandemic world trying and fitness classes.
Gear testing, uh, putting together sneakers award package. It's a little bit of everything. I feel like journalism these days, you really have to kind of be a 360 degree producer and be able to do everything yourself and yeah, no, it's, it's sort of where I belong. I genuinely feel that way. Um, career-wise that I. I'm in a job that I feel super passionate about personally, too.
Kristel:
I love it. That, and that, you know, it's so important that I think for me, that I don't feel like I'm working, you know, my job is a passion. It's what I'm excited about. And it sounds like that is a similar situation for you. It just makes it so much more fun.
Jacqueline:
It does. And I'm, to be honest, how I got here. I, Very much had to learn what I hate to actually figure out what I love. And I like to clarify that for people, I didn't just wake up and realize, oh my gosh, I want to go into magazine journalism. And I want it to be health and wellness. I had those passions on a personal level, but I actually thought I wanted to do entertainment and celebrity journalism.
So I went to the middle school of journalism at Northwestern. And we had to declare a track. I chose a magazine. I really always loved that medium came to storytelling, but I thought I wanted to do E news people weekly. I thought I loved a celebrity world and my first internships were at Entertainment, weekly and people.
And I was hired on full-time as a writer reporter at people down the line. And I very quickly realized I hated it. I just could not keep up personally with that pace of, you know, the crazy hours. And I felt like I was asking these celebrities invasive questions and had this sort of like moral dilemma internally of, you know, being insensitive to these human beings.
And that's not a knock on any of my previous jobs, but I think it is very eye-opening when you realize how much you don't actually like what you thought you were so good. Yeah. And yeah, I ended up pivoting and got a job at health magazine and then I was at self for some time and now women's health, but yeah, I think that's also totally okay to have to make a massive pivot. Yeah. And it can happen.
Kristel:
Yeah, for sure.
Jacqueline:
A little bit.
Kristel:
And good for you for recognizing that you were not feeling fulfilled in that, because I think some people can get stuck there. It's like, oh, I've got this great job. This is what I was supposed to be doing. And then that just can limit you from really expanding and following your true passion.
And you know, for me, I was practicing clinically for a while as a physician assistant. And I was trained in that. The school for a long time for that, I thought I was supposed to be practicing clinically. Like that was my box I had put myself in and then once I expanded out of that and I became an integrated medicine fellow and I was like, wait, there's more stuff I can do because I really was not loving the one-on-one anymore.
And I felt like I want to teach. I want to do more. I want to talk to a wider audience, but once I gave myself permission, to do that and to pivot from that path that I had thought I was supposed to do you know, there were so many more possibilities and it really, yeah. Just gave me such a sense of freedom.
Jacqueline:
Yeah. I think too, a lot of the time, you know, this sounds a little cliche, but it's fear that holds us back. You know, I thought I had a particular set of reporting and writing and editing skills. And I didn't have clips in the wellness space yet, and it's one thing to love, workout classes and running and having a self-care routine.
It's another to really feel like you have expertise in those buckets, but I think I've learned over the years that the worst you can get is a no, and there's no point in self rejecting before you even try. And that's, I mean, that's what I did when I was leaving People magazine, there was a job, um, at health and I kind of knew that it was.
A little bit junior for my level, but I figured why not apply at least get my foot in the door, get some face time with the hiring manager. And that's exactly what happened. And she is a dear friend and mentor to me today. And that first interview, she looked at me and she said, you are selling yourself short.
You are too experienced for this job, but I appreciate what you're doing. We are restructuring and I will call you when we have a more senior position. And that's how that worked out, but tried not to self-reject or. You know, not take a door that could lead to an opportunity and you have to try. I mean, it's just, that's the first step is putting yourself out there and trying, and if you don't like something again, you do the same thing.
And I think it's so interesting that we both sort of had these experiences of maybe not loving how we started off, but the path is linear and it doesn't always look the way that you thought it would, but.
Kristel:
Right. And that's so true. And I, for a while I had thought like, I have to check this box and then I had to check this box to be able to get to my goal if there's like this linear path.
And that's just not how it works. If you can skip all those check marks and go right to whatever that goal is, like, there's not a clear definitive path for where the way to get to where you want to go. So I think to realizing that. Like you had said like, oh, maybe that wasn't, it didn't have the, the wellness clips or whatever, but you still went for it.
I think that's really, that's great and great inspiration for the listener to know like, whatever it is, you have a vision for your life. You have to try, don't be afraid of those no’s because you won't get a yes. Unless you go for it.
Jacqueline:
So true.
Kristel:
Yeah. I would love to hear, or a little bit about some of the things you've learned while working at women's health magazine.
And I'm sure you've talked with a bunch of different people, about a bunch of different topics, and I'm just really curious if there's any big standout, um, insights or lessons that you've learned about health and women's health since you've been working there.
Jacqueline:
Oh, gosh though, I could talk to you for three hours about this topic, but I think there are a couple of themes that I have really seen beef threads throughout so much of our content. Um, in the past couple of years that I think are really important and, and general enough that they apply to so many different, different areas of wellness.
And one of those is the importance of advocating for yourself as a woman, um, in the healthcare system. I think it's all too common that you can have that, that sort of dismissive or quick or impersonal cold interaction with a healthcare provider. And I actually think it's so interesting to hear about your integrative medicine background, because I feel like. There are more women than ever that are kind of turning towards these more personal, maybe alternative boutique types of care because they're feeling let down by mainstream medicine.
And I think that it's okay when it comes to your health to do what you need to do and get the second opinion and bring a friend. If you need someone there to make sure that you don't feel unheard or steamrolled. It can be very intimidating, especially when you're talking about maybe a symptom or a condition that is often maybe misunderstood or even stigmatized.
You really want to go the full length of doing what you need to do to get the care that you deserve. And I think even in this day and age, that is very clearly not happening in for a lot of women. And we've done a package that we do on a recurring basis annually called our own unit package, where we interview a group of women with often stigmatized or complicated conditions talking about what their diagnosis journey was like, where those hurdles were and how they ultimately got really conscious, supportive care in the end.
And I just find that really interesting. It shouldn't be so much of a hurdle to get care that you deserve, but it really is that theme of self-advocating is something that I'm seeing and so much of our content. And we have so much in recent issues about how to actually do that too. So, you know, that's my little plug pickup, the latest issues of women's health.
Kristel:
I love that. I absolutely love that and I want to hear the rest of them, but I just wanted to make a little comment about that. I, from practicing, you know, in medicine and seeing so many different arenas. I worked in Pediatric Pulmonary for a while. Then I was in plastic surgery. I did some dermatology and then I was an integrative psychiatry and functional medicine.
And I've also been with loved ones throughout their own healthcare journeys. And so I have this broad perspective about it. And what I've really noticed is that as an individual, like you have to own your power and recognize like you're the expert in yourself. Like you're going to see an expert in one specific area, but like, you need to trust yourself and listen to yourself.
And like you said, you have to advocate for yourself because in certain situations, um, and healthcare practices, there's just not enough time for them to be able to grasp the full spectrum of what you've experienced. You know, they're, they're getting like 15 minutes of this huge picture. So I really, I totally agree with that. It's so important to be your own biggest advocate.
Jacqueline:
I love that you point out that you are the expert in yourself because that is ultimately what it comes down to. You are a massive data point that you are providing to your physician, and that can come down to copious note taking maybe you're journaling about a symptom for two weeks leading up to that actual appointment or being super specific with how you convey a symptom experience, instead of just saying, you know, I'm dealing with fatigue, maybe it's, I've noticed for this many days, I go on a morning walk and normally I feel completely fine. And for the past week I felt more out of breath and getting really sort of granular with the information that you're providing and pushing back and asking I think a tip that we um included in a recent story that I thought was so interesting.
And it might be something that I do naturally because I'm a journalist, but yeah asking exactly why your provider is prescribing a certain course of treatment or giving you a certain piece of that? I think a lot of the times just to your point, the speed at which healthcare providers have to work and have to fit people in. They're not always used to getting the question of, oh, why are we going down that road? What's your reason behind that? And I think that that's such a useful tactic to make sure that you really understand their thought process and that they also know that you are curious and that you want to understand what your care process is actually looking like.
Kristel:
And also in certain situations, medication is needed and others, it could be, well, are there any other options before I go to that? You know, and again, like certain cases, you might need to do that right up front, but other cases might be like, okay, well we can try working on like, Exercising and nutrition and stress management and all of these different things for a certain period of time and then check back in.
So it's just, yeah being educated to ask those questions, I think is so important. And this strikes a chord with me because my mom was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer about five years ago. And she was not a smoker. So like the high risk, but she'd had this cough for a really long time and it was a dry cough.
And she went into her primary care and they did a chest x-ray, which was normal. So they're like, write it off, go see a GI person. It's probably reflux, you know? So she was like passed around all these people. Went to a pulmonary doctor, he's like, oh, I'm not concerned. And then it was like, gosh, six to eight months later, when finally they're like, well, let's get a CT scan and then it had already spread.
So that was really hard because, and it was, I had that pediatric pulmonary background. So I was like, oh, well they've done all these tasks, probably okay. But it was hard because I felt like, oh, they would have just done that test. Or if they would've just done something a little sooner before she got passed around to all these different people, we would have maybe prevented that spread.
So I think it's really like in these situations, just going, trusting your intuition. And like you said, advocating for yourself to get the best care possible.
Jacqueline:
I'm so sorry to hear about your mouth.
Kristel:
Thank you.
Jacqueline:
It's such a poignant example of exactly what we're talking about. And I also, I want to say this is not to knock the health care system and every doctor out there.
Absolutely. There are so many layers to this conversation, of course, and being a provider, you obviously know that too, but I think that you are the one element of this that you have knowledge of and control over. And so I think it's just so important to keep in mind that you're an expert in your own right. Even if you're not the one with the health credential in the room.
Kristel:
Yes, so true. So that was a big one, which I think is extremely valuable episode in itself there. Yes. I mean, so what else, I mean, are there any things that you've learned? I would love to know, like specific to maybe sleep or nutrition. I know you love fitness or fitness or any of those big areas that could help the listener live a really optimal life with optimal wellbeing.
Jacqueline:
Yes. So one, I I'll cover the sleep topic in a way that is very interesting to me, Um, for a couple of reasons.
One is that I deal with insomnia and I actually work with a provider to try to navigate all of my sleep issues. And it's been very trial and error and sleep is such a pillar of health that it really occurred to me in this pandemic when I started dealing with all of these insomnia problems that I couldn't keep ignoring it. And I have to sort of take this head on approach the same way I do with my fitness routine or my mental health routine. I think it's very similar in the mental health bucket that you can't wait until there's a problem to actually be dealing with your symptoms or your issues head on, but sleep is such a big one.
And we did this recent story because there have been so many more people dealing with sleep problems, um, during the pandemic for all sorts of reasons. Obviously anxiety is just an all time high for so many people across the board. Um, but we did this piece on really dealing with sleep anxiety. And I found that to be so interesting because so much of what we are taught about sleep is don't general and it's these really, really specific prescriptions for, okay, you're an adult get seven to eight hours or make sure your room is this temperature and your lavender diffuser is going off at 7:00 PM and get off of your screens and avoid blue light.
So much of that is of course true, but a lot of it down to the way we're engineering our environment, as opposed to dealing with what is actually keeping us awake at night. And a lot of those habits that we get so fixated on lead to sleep anxiety, which is so true for me. I'm somebody I'm laying there at midnight. I can't fall asleep. I'm counting down those hours because I'm getting anxiety about the fact that I'm not going to get seven hours of sleep and it's this really nasty vicious cycle that just gets worse. And so we did this piece that really gets very cerebral about how to actually combat that way of thinking that way of catastrophizing and what one bad night of sleep is really doing to you. And it's really interesting.
One of the tips that is so simple, but has helped me so much is this idea of with the goal of resting, don't go to bed with the goal of, oh my gosh, I have to fall asleep this second, go to bed with the goal of resting, take the pressure off.
Fall asleep a little bit easier because you're not putting this massive weight on your shoulders to get these perfect sleep hygiene nights of sleep that we so often hear about. And I think that that's just kind of a perspective on sleep that really relates to this pandemic time in our lives. That I feel like we don't hear enough, so much of your sleep problems or the way that you think about them.
Kristel:
I know, right? Yeah. I had a short little bit where I, well, let me back up. I've never really struggled with sleep, but I had this one period of time where there was a lot of stress and it was when my mom was really having a hard time and there was just a lot going on. And I found, I started taking a new supplement too and took it at night.
And that I think was making me having the opposite effect than it was supposed to. So I had a couple nights for, I had that issue. I was like, oh my gosh. And then I started, they freak out, like, am I going to be able to fall asleep? I need to be able to fall asleep. So I totally totally get what you're saying and what snapped me out of it was, well, I stopped taking that supplement and I listened to some music in the evening.
That's supposed to like promote those calming brainwave patterns and. But I feel for what you're experiencing. And I love that you shifted that to a place of empowerment. Like I'm just going to rest. Just that shift of perspective can make such a difference.
Jacqueline:
It's so true. And, and believe me, it's, it's a work in progress and I think sleep is one of those sort of elusive wellness pillars that can be really hard to nail I, and anybody who can fall asleep very easily. It's something that, you know, only gets harder as you get older and be factoring kids into the equation, whatever it may be. So I'm really trying to be proactive and deal with that issue head on.
And I, my last sort of really big general health, I guess I would even call it. I don't want to call it a trend because it shouldn't be trendy. It shouldn't sound like a fad, but in the same sort of vein, I think the focus on prioritizing mental health and our emotional wellbeing now more than ever is really a focal point for people.
And I think people are really publicly owning. Not having perfect mental health, whether that's, you know, opening up about anxiety or depression, not sharing more raw moments on social media. I think there's a sort of community being built around mental wellbeing that is really empowering. And it offers a lot of support for people who may feel really alone.
I think social media is a huge part of that, but I think. We're really hearing this message more than ever that mental health needs to have this preventive approach in the same way we do with our physical health, we have a workout routine to protect our heart health. We have some type of hit training to protect our bones, whatever it may be.
And why are we not doing that with our minds? Why are we not doing that to protect our emotional wellbeing? And I think people really are doing that. I honestly don't even know if family and friends know this about me, obviously my partner, who I live with does, because we're sharing this apartment, but I started seeing a therapist for the first time back in November, I really hit a low point in this pandemic.
And I did have this thought, you know, I'm the health and fitness director of women's health. I really need to be practicing what I preach. This is so crazy to me that I have not worked with a therapist, um, until now. And I had this thought where, wow, I really let this get bad before I made the decision to do this.
And it shouldn't be like that. It shouldn't have to be like that. We should have our proactive mental wellness plan in place before it becomes a crisis. And yeah, obviously the caveat there is not everyone has the same access to mental health care, and that is obviously a massive conversation. And I just want to address that, that I have the privilege of being able to afford therapy.
There are those hurdles for so many people, but I do think that you really have to be proactive and you have to, as I said, get there before it becomes a crisis.
Kristel:
Right. No. And thank you for sharing that, you know, I understand what you're, you know what you're saying. And this is a topic that is really, really important.
And I use, so I worked in integrated psychiatry and I saw all different types of things. People who are experiencing anxiety and depression, and then also stuff like autoimmune disorders and the whole spectrum. And around like around that time with my mom's diagnosis and just, there was a lot of stress.
I started to have some significant anxiety and the good news is that I have this medical background. So it was like, okay, you know, this is, I kind of, I kind of knew what was going on, but I also had been following some spiritual teachers who were, who were preaching positivity and controlling thoughts and all that stuff.
So I was trying to do that. And what happened was that made everything so much worse because what I learned and was, you know, you can not control your thoughts. You can just control your reaction to your thoughts. So while I was trying to like, control my thoughts and do all that, it kind of led to this OCD type stuff like intrusive thoughts and worsening.
So what that whole process taught me was. Whatever it is, you're going through, make sure you seek insight and help from someone who is an expert in that. Because then ultimately I saw a therapist who specialized in anxiety and OCD and she was like, oh, you're you've been dealing with this, that like the wrong way.
And it's fueling it. And I was like, oh my goodness. Okay. So once I learned how to, um, let go of those thoughts instead of trying to analyze them and figure out, well, why did that happen? Why, why did that one pop up? Whereas that, that just made it worse. So I think with all the different things now on social media and all the different people who are posting about this stuff, just be careful who you follow and make sure that whatever it is it's empowering for you, because there are so many different things that will work for maybe someone else and not necessarily you. So you have to find what works for you.
Jacqueline:
So, so true. And again, I think there are so many benefits to how wellness has shown up in the social media space and the community it builds. But to your point, there are a lot of armchair experts out there too. And you really have to put on your thinking cap and that and really ask yourself if something is giving you a gut feeling that this might not be legit or not. Right. You know, really lead with that gut feeling. And remember that people are not necessarily experts and it's also okay to need help and to need expert help. I guess again, this is, yeah.
Still a stigmatized area. And luckily we're shifting away from mental health care being taboo. And that's so wonderful. The way you have a trainer for the gym, you can have a trainer for your mind and your way of thinking, and it can be not only pushing you a few steps back, if you are trying to treat yourself and it's the wrong way, but it can be dangerous.
And that's an area where if you can invest the time, the money, the energy to really find an expert who is legitimate, has your needs and the expertise to really meet those needs. Then do it. I cannot stress that enough. And this is coming from somebody who just started actually doing it. And even my partner has said, you are different.
You it's, there is an energy about you that was missing for months. And I and finally kind of finding myself again. I can absolutely say I didn't do this by myself. It's been a lot of months of work and it will continue to be, but I felt really compelled to share that just because I think it can be very misleading to assume that everybody's feeling great and their life is perfect.
And we're all going through our stuff.
Kristel:
Oh my gosh. Yes. Yes, for sure. I mean, Like what you said, you're the health and wellness director. Like I have this background in integrative psychiatry, mind, body, and integrative medicine. And, you know, we're all human beings and that's part of life. There's stress, stuff happens.
You got to learn how to deal with and cope. And, and that's just part of really self-care is recognizing that and not being afraid to seek support when you need it. So thank you so much for sharing that. And I would love to know a little bit about your morning routine and what that looks like now that you're, you know, it sounds like you're really incorporating some of these things.
And then we're going to jump into a wellness lightning round.
Jacqueline:
Yes, my morning routine. And if you follow women's health on social, you pick up the magazine. Uh, you can see that we have a mantra and even a whole page dedicated to owning your morning. And it's a hashtag we like to use, and I will fully admit I was not a morning person and still would not identify as a morning person, even been the health and fitness director of the brand and I totally credit women's health and just my team and, and Liz Plosser our editor in chief, who is the queen of owning a morning.
Oh my gosh. I swear. She has so much done before, like 6:00 AM, but I have really. Because of the, brand's been very motivated to have, even if it's not a perfect morning routine, these recurrent rituals, that's what they are.
That work for me and make me feel like I'm setting myself up for the most calm, productive day, whatever that will look like. So alarm goes off. The first thing for me is drinking a full bottle of water. I. Have such a feeling of dehydration when I wake up after a night of sleep. So that's the very first thing that I do is drink water for energy.
During that time I hit my coffee maker. I get ready with the whole skincare routine and I like to do the face ice roller. I do my, you know, cleanser, moisturizer, serums, all of that good stuff. And then I make time for movement, first thing. And that's either a workout or it's a walk. And sometimes my body is just not feeling up for a morning workout.
And so I'll do that at lunchtime. But whether I need to get my workout in before the day starts, or I only have time for a walk, I need to kind of get my blood flowing and just have that kind of wake up movement in the start of my day, no matter what. So I think that's something that is really rewarding, even if it's low impact a stroll around the block with my coffee, I use that time to listen to a podcast.
Maybe I'll listen to some music. Um, but I also keep my phone on, do not disturb until probably around nine thirty. And I find that has completely changed sort of this previous hectic mindset that I would start my day with where I'm diving right into emails, reading text messages, catching up on, on whatever I've missed.
I have really completely done away with that. And I use that kind of 7:00 AM to 9:30 as a no notification period. And I absolutely love it. I come home from a walk or finished my workout and I catch up on news articles, whatever. And then 9:30, I'm getting on slack and I'm checking email, and then it feels okay because I've set that boundary to start that at a particular point of the morning and the morning is for me. And that's it. And that's, it's a little bit low key. It feels great. I not running a marathon at 8:00 AM and that's okay. I own my morning in a very authentic way to me.
Kristel:
Yeah, that sounds amazing. So I want to challenge you as the listener to take a look at your morning routine, and I want you to pick one thing that you can incorporate in there that's going to be nourishing and fulfilling to yourself. So it could be setting more healthy boundaries with your phone time. It could be incorporating some movement, maybe some meditation, some journaling. Think about it or drinking a full glass of water, you know, so think about that. I challenged you to do that tomorrow morning and then hopefully consistently after that.
So this has been amazing. We're going to jump into, uh, like a wellness lightning round, but I just want to share my biggest takeaway. You've shared a ton of great value today.
For me personally, it was a great reminder that as a woman, you have to really advocate for yourself. And that's just not even just for women. I mean, men as well, but I think specific to what you were saying, it's so important to remember as a woman that you really need to go into your medical appointments. Educated and empowered and to bring a friend, if you need to just do whatever you need to do to support yourself and your overall wellbeing.
So thank you for sharing that and for that great reminder. And at this point, I'm going to ask you a few questions and just first reaction. Don't overthink it. So are you ready?
Jacqueline:
Yes.
Okay. What is a book that you would recommend?
Jacqueline:
I have two. I will say I do not have an absolute favorite book because that's too hard, but I have two that I've read multiple times in the past couple of years.
One is how to be a person in the world by Heather Habra and a super quick rundown as she was the advice columnist under ask Polly at New York magazine, she has since left. I believe she's now publishing the column at sub stack. But the book is a compilation of some of her most popular columns and then a bunch of never before published columns and her writing is just, oh my gosh, it is so raw. It's messy. It's stream of consciousness. It is so, oh my God, it makes you feel so seen and heard. It makes you feel uncomfortable and awkward, but yeah, it's how to be a person in the world. It's every problem that you've ever felt. It is such a good read. I've read it multiple times. Love that. And then the other one is the year of magical thinking by Joan Didion.
And that is her memoir about losing her husband suddenly and really how humans approach, grief and mourning. And I think anybody that has lost someone or might lose someone or is trying to support someone, who's lost someone. It's such a good book on grief. And I've read that one multiple times in recent years as well.
So those two.So much for a lightning round.
Kristel:
Good. No, no, no, we're good. Okay. And then second question. You've already talked a little bit about this, but what is your number one self-care tip that you personally are like, I need this, I've got to do this.
Jacqueline:
Movement every day. I really can't stress that enough. And that answer, I feel like sounds so lame after I've stressed. How much I love moving, but I just genuinely think that you never feel worse after moving.
Kristel:
Yeah, no, I'm right there with you. That's definitely on top of my list too. And then last question, knowing what you know now, what would you tell yourself?What advice would you give yourself from 10 years ago?
Jacqueline:
Ooh, I would say. Probably two things. One we touched on early on in the conversation that it's okay to get it wrong before you get it right. Whether that's your career path, your relationship. I think that really just holds true that the path doesn't have to be perfect or look the way that you thought it would.
And then the other piece, you know, think I still am working towards this, but I would tell my younger self that you might not be for everyone. And that's okay. You don't have to try to change yourself to make other people happy and lead life with kindness, treat others the way you want to be treated, but be your authentic self. And if you're not someone's cup of tea, that's totally okay.
Kristel:
Yeah, that's such an important lesson. I love that. Well, this has been incredible. You've shared a ton of value. Thank you so much. And for everyone listening, I'm going to put a link to women's health mag.com and episode details. Anything else anywhere you want to direct people where they can learn more or, you know, check out the magazine.
Jacqueline:
Yes. Women's health mag.com. Check out our Instagram. We have a lot of super easily digestible health and wellness tips there. Pick up the, the print magazine on newsstands. And yeah, if you do any of those morning routines, habits drink that glass of water, you can find me and tag me. I'm, I'm J Andriakos on Instagram.
And I would love to hear from your listeners, I would love to connect and yeah, so send me some DM’s, tag me, whatever you want. Thank you so much for having me. I could talk about wellness all day, and this was such a pleasure.
Kristel:
Oh, it was so much fun. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And you know, definitely going to be checking out women's health mag, and this was just so much fun.
So thanks again.