This Thing Called Wellness
🎙️ Welcome to This Thing Called Wellness — a heart-centered space where women over 40 come to heal, empower, and connect—one meaningful conversation at a time.
I’m Shannon D. Martin, Certified Health & Wellness Coach, host, and a woman rediscovering herself after years of showing up for everyone else. After more than a decade of navigating anxiety, depression, and burnout, I chose to pause, pour into my own healing, and start again. 💚
Now, I’m learning to define wellness in a way that honors what feels right for me not by outside expectations, but by my own rhythm. And I’m inviting you to do the same.
Every other Wednesday, I sit down with guests who have lived through transformation or are creating healing spaces where others can rise. Some are women rebuilding their lives. Others are leaders, guides, and change-makers helping women rediscover who they are through support, storytelling, and soul work.
Together, we explore real stories, heartfelt wisdom, and gentle tools to support your emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical wellness.
✨ If you’ve ever asked, “Who am I now?”—this space is for you.
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This Thing Called Wellness
Discovering Comfort in Motion Strategies for Healthy Travels
Embarking on a trip can often stir a cocktail of excitement and anxiety, particularly when health concerns like blood clots loom in the back of your mind. But as I, Shannon Martin, prep for my jaunt to a thrilling women's conference in Dallas, I'm spilling the beans on my personal toolkit for wellness while wandering. It's all about turning obstacles into opportunities to nurture oneself, and I'm here to share my tricks of the trade—from choosing the best seat on a plane to combat anxiety to the hydration hacks and medication management that keep me in top shape.
Tune into this episode for a heartfelt and humorous exploration of self-care on the go, peppered with my genuine love affair with Skechers shoes. Discover why the right pair of compression socks can be a game-changer for those with restless legs and diabetes, and how a strategic selection of an aisle seat can make all the difference in managing in-flight comfort. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just stepping out of your comfort zone, you'll find some golden nuggets in my approach to tackling the challenges of maintaining health routines away from home. Join me on this adventure, and let's navigate the path to staying well together, no matter where life takes us.
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Hello, beautiful, I hope you had a wonderful weekend and a great start to your week. I am going to do something different this time. I know that we were talking about self-care, but I am going on a trip today, so I'm going to a conference, a two-day conference, and I just wanted to still talk about self-care, but self-care when you're traveling, especially when you're dealing with health issues, like I am, with my anxiety and my blood clot for sure. So let's talk about it. I'm your host, Shannon Martin, and welcome to today's episode of This Thing Called Wellness.
Shannon D Martin:So I'm traveling to Dallas, Texas, for a two-day conference, and it is a women's conference which I'm very excited to go to, and I started not to go because I was really concerned about my blood clot and if it was going to hinder me from doing anything and if I was going to have any issues. But I was cleared by the doctors and that you know the medication has been in me long enough to where I should not have any concerns or any problems. They said that is that the thinners are my best friend right now. It will keep everything at bay, so I should be fine Now. The things that I do need to do are so if you have this problem, or if you're even just traveling and you have health concerns, think about maybe doing this. I don't know if it's going to help you or not, but I just thought I would share One. Of course, I have to take my medication. I have to take my Eliquis to make sure that the clot is not happening, and I'm also staying hydrated because I'm taking several medications as it is. So after I enter the airport, pass TSA and all the great things that comes with flying, I get my big bottle of water to take on the plane because I need to make sure that I'm drinking while I'm on the plane. My flight is only two hours, so that's not too bad, but because of my anxiety, I can't do the middle seats anymore or the window seat, especially if it's packed. So I always choose the aisle seat. I just go ahead and just pay extra. What have you to make sure that I'm in the aisle, so that I don't have to worry about all of that? And now that I have my blood clot, I really need to be on the aisle seat so that I can get up and walk like I'm supposed to. So one I need to have the aisle seat so that I can get up and walk to the bathroom. I really never use the bathroom on the plane, but since now I have this issue, I was told I have to get up and stretch. So I'm going to do what they tell me to do I'm going to get up and go to the bathroom, even if I don't have to go, just go and stretch myself out and come back and just laugh about it on my way back.
Shannon D Martin:Two I make sure that I have my compression socks Because I wear them because of my restless legs and my diabetes. And I make sure that the socks that I have they're not underneath my knee, because it could tourniquet effect right there. So I make sure that they're either over my knee or they're a little bit under it so that they're not forming that little band-like effect. And the ones I wear are between 10 and 15 MGs. The higher they are, the more tight they're going to be. And I've tried the 20 MGs. And let me tell you something you will be tussling trying to get the socks on. You will either break a nail, break a hand or break something trying to get those socks on. I kid you not. So I have the mid to low compression socks that are just fine with me. I probably can even go down a little bit. I just need a little squeeze to keep it a little tight fit, a little snug fit, and that's good for me.
Shannon D Martin:Three I have my Skechers on.
Shannon D Martin:I love Skechers. They are just my favorite shoe to wear. They're just comfortable, they have the memory foam and they're just so cute. Now I know they're kind of like my kids, those old people shoes. I don't care what you say, I love my Skechers. I'm wearing my Skechers, yes, I am. So I have the slip-on kind and the tennis shoes, the sneakers. So I'm just going to wear my sneakers. Make sure that they're not so tight, because I usually tie them really tight and tuck my string. This time I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to make sure that they're tied nicely and not so snug so that I can slip them off, of course, of TSA, and make sure that they're easy to put back on and they're not so tight.
Shannon D Martin:Three I'm already walking. So that's going to be great for me just to walk the airport, walk back and forth. So that's going to be great exercise for my legs. But also, while I'm waiting for boarding. I'm going to get up and stretch again Just to make sure that I'm having some type of circulation and pointing my toes and making sure that I'm moving my legs a little more, because I didn't do that the last time and I know that that was part of the problem. So this time probably too my legs would tell me that this time, because they're telling me that this time you need to move your legs. And three it wasn't three, it, it was four or five.
Shannon D Martin:I upgraded my seats. This time I did the comfort plus so that I can have a little more room for my legs. The last time I was really tight. I don't know if they're making the seats smaller, tighter, compacting us. I don't know if they're just packing us in there. I don't know what it is, but that seat was so tight and snug and even when you put your bag underneath you can't put your feet under there. So I really was really tight and I felt tight. So this time I said let me just upgrade a little bit and hopefully this time the seat. I have a little more extra room so that I can stretch my legs out and I can actually put it under underneath the seat on top of my little bag, and my bag is a little. My carry-on bag is a little smaller. This time I have my little backpack and it's not as packed as it was last time, so I can kind of put my feet underneath the seat and kind of move about a little more.
Shannon D Martin:And my outfit isn't, as I really wear comfortable clothing, so it's not like I'm wearing tight clothes anyway. But this time I chose to wear my flared yoga pants I know, yoga pants at the airport, it is what it is and something that's not so tight on my legs or my leggings, where they're not so tight, and that way I can have my compression socks and my leggings so that they're not it's not so snug on me and I'm just comfortable and Pretty much that's it. I'm just making sure that I'm hydrated, compression socks, taking my medication, getting up after an hour and making sure that I'm just being more mindful of my legs this time, being more mindful of am I moving? Am I moving like every 30 minutes or every ever so often, just making sure that I'm stretching myself, because I wasn't doing it the last time. I was just sitting and trying to move a little bit, but it was just so tight. So hopefully this time it's a bigger seat, I'm still on the aisle and I can just have a great comfortable time this time around. So we will see what happens and I'm excited.
Shannon D Martin:You know, like I said, I was kind of hesitant about going, but now that the time is here, I get to see my friend girl and we're going to have a great weekend and we're going to learn some things and we're going to get caught up on each other's lives and we're just going to really enjoy this time and learn about our business and grow together and just enjoy ourselves and I'm really looking forward to that. So I'm very blessed and thankful to be able to go to that. So I'm very blessed and thankful to be able to go and I'm just realizing that, even though we have these setbacks and all of this, I just still have to live my life as the best I can and I just have to bend with it and stretch with it, and that's what I'm going to do this time stretch with it. And that's what I'm going to do this time is bend and stretch and just be mindful of my body as I, as best I can. So I'm hoping that when you travel, because this is what March probably be.
Shannon D Martin:April, summertime has come along and we still have our health concerns, but we just have to do the best we can with what we have and just be mindful of what we have to do, to just enjoy ourselves while we're on vacation, while we're going on business trips, while we're just doing our daily life. So I just want to share that with you and I'm hoping that you have a wonderful day. Thank you for listening. As always, you can like, share or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. You can connect with me on all social media platforms at Shannon D Wellness. And thank you for listening. We'll be back next week, next Wednesday, with a new episode, and remember to smile. That's half the battle! Thank you.
Speaker 2:Love you, girl. Disclaimer I am not a licensed mental health professional. The information provided here is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional mental health advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you need help, please consult a qualified mental health professional.
