205. Living Your Best Holistic Life with Jana Short

00:00:10 This is happiness solved with America's happiness. Coach Sandee Sgarlata.

00:00:21 Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining me today. So happy you're here. I'm Sandee Sgarlata. I was born in Virginia Beach and raised in the Baltimore Annapolis area and had very humble and tragic beginnings. And as a result, my life was a hot mess.

00:00:37 Thankfully, 33 years ago, I got my act together, and since that time, I have dedicated my life to serving others and raising awareness that no matter what you've been through, you can choose happiness and live the life of your dreams. Happiness Solved is dedicated to giving you content that is empowering, motivational, inspirational, and, of course, a dose of happiness. It's my way to give back to the world and share other people's stories. This thing called life can be challenging, and my guests share their amazing stories, wisdom, and life lessons that demonstrate anyone can choose happiness. You see, happiness is a choice, and the choice is yours.

00:01:17 Today's episode is amazing, and I am so grateful for you. Thank you for listening, and don't forget to leave a review and follow me on social media at Coach. Sandee Sgarlata. Enjoy the show.

00:01:35 Jana, it's such a privilege and an honor to be speaking with you today. I was so excited for this conversation, sandy me, too. I couldn't sleep all night. Well, that's not good. You got to get your sleep.

00:01:48 All right, so for the listeners just tuning in here, this is Jana Short from the Best Holistic Life magazine. And I'm so excited because we've had a conversation before, but I don't really know a whole lot about you because we all have a story. Can you share with me your story and how you got to where you are today and what was the reason you started your magazine? I would love to share that story. First of all, some of the things that people don't know about me is I was a single mom at 17, right?

00:02:22 I had one of my grandkids ask me, did you love your prom? Because some of my kids are going, grandkids are going to prom. Now. I'm like, I didn't go to prom. I couldn't get a babysitter for your mom.

00:02:33 But I'm really honest with them. Hopefully, they'll learn from the things I chose to do in life. But as a single mom, I went to college, worked three jobs all on my own, did it all by myself, and it was hard. But I will tell you, that beautiful daughter of mine has now got a PhD. She's crushing it.

00:02:51 She's the best mom. So when you show up for your kids, it doesn't matter what age you are, they really turn out pretty amazing. But my background is an interior design. I was an interior designer here in Los Angeles for years, and I was pretty well known. I used to do the back parties and stages for the Golden Globes and Oscars, all those wonderful fun things.

00:03:14 But then I got sick. And when clients are waiting for their houses to be completed, they can't wait for you. So after spending three months in the hospital, I had passed on all of my clients to other designers. And when I was in the hospital, I had to have my stomach completely removed from a little surgery that damaged my vagus nerve. So it sort of paralyzed my digestive tract.

00:03:38 So part of the thing that they did to help me was remove my stomach completely out of radical gasterectomy. And they feed you through a pick tube, through synthetics that are like TPN. They have other ones, but they're all synthetic and it's synthetic nutrition. And my body did not like it. It was like, no, I don't know what this is you're feeding us, but we are not on board.

00:04:01 And so my organ slowly started to shut down. My hair started falling out, my nails started falling out of the nail. They would just fall out because I wasn't nourished enough to keep them in. So after three months in the hospital, they told me, there's nothing more we can do. Your body doesn't want the nutrients we're giving it.

00:04:19 Everything's starting to shut down. We can make you happy here and comfortable, or you can go home. I wanted to get the heck out of there. Like, I wasn't sick. There was no illness or a label on what I had.

00:04:33 I didn't have cancer. I didn't have all those things. What was happening? I was in my fifty s and I came home. By the way, my husband is a veterinarian.

00:04:42 My two daughters were in med school. Now they're doctors of natural medicine. They got on the other side of treating people. And so I did not know what to do. I got online in my bed because I was too weak to sit up.

00:04:57 And I typed in the words desperate for health answers, looking for holistic options, because that's the only thing I hadn't tried. And the whole world opened up to me. Sandy, where else can you be on your deathbed? Type in some words into a keyboard and extend your reach across the globe. It is a beautiful time we live in.

00:05:18 Having said that, along with all the advice came the scary people, right? The people who just rolled out of bed and saw that it was very trendy to be in the holistic field. So now they're homeopaths, or they created new names for themselves. And I had to maneuver all that and I didn't have a lot of time. So here's the thing.

00:05:38 I did find something. I had a really great support team, like two daughters in med school. My husband as a veterinarian, so he knows enough about medicine to know that's not an actual thing, it won't work. And so I had them to help guide me. But I did find something online.

00:05:52 I found something that helped support my body and heal it. And that was on April 5. Would have been eleven years since the day I had the surgery. And things took a downturn, so eleven years. But I was home dying.

00:06:06 And I just had a grandbaby before my surgery. He was our fifth grandson. He was born right before surgery in March. My surgery was April 5. And now I'm home dying six weeks late.

00:06:17 Not six weeks, but three months later. And my daughter brings him to see me. And all I could think of is, the other kids are a little older. They'll remember something about me. How will he remember anything?

00:06:27 How's he going to remember? I still remember what my grandmother smelt like, right in her laugh. And I can remember going in the kitchen and smelling like we came from an age of TV dinners, right? But my grandma made everything from scratch. And I'd be like, we're going to starve here.

00:06:41 Don't leave us, mom. But if I said I was hungry, I don't know where she did it, but she'd magically bring food out of the kitchen that she prepared. I didn't know you could make stuff with flour and all those things, but I still remember all of that about her. I'm like, how is he going to remember one thing? So my journey took me on this path to create a memory with my grandson.

00:07:02 All the other ones too. But I wanted to create a memory that he would have with me, so that when I was gone, he's like, oh, I remember her vaguely, but I remember the way she did this or her doing that. So I wanted to create this memory. And as I'm building my health, trying to anyways, because I didn't think I would live. I was told I wouldn't.

00:07:23 And I wasn't trying to live. I was just trying to create a memory and thrive in that space. Here I am, eleven years later, and it was because of the beautiful things you can find online. So the reason the magazine started in my coaching, I went back to school, I got certified to be a coach. I got all this information so that I could help more, learn more, educate more.

00:07:44 And as I was doing it, those people were still out there, right? That were pushing MLM products. By the way, I'm not down talking MLM products. That was something that saved my life. But they weren't educated enough to share them with me, right?

00:07:58 It's just about the sales because that's a business. And so I wanted to find a way to help other people maneuver. And when I would meet incredible people that were very well educated, and I'd ask them, what's your story? And they would share their story with me. And I was moved by it.

00:08:13 And I knew, like, they were meant to be in this space. Their whole journey brought them to this moment to connect with me. And I wanted to share that with people. So I wrote this book called oh, My Health, there Is Hope. It was my first book.

00:08:25 I was too scared to write a whole book on my own and be responsible for the whole book, right, if it was a failure. So I reached out some amazing people I met on my journey and said, I loved your story. Would you put it in my book? And so we created a book with a bunch of little stories of hope called oh, My Health, There Is Hope. And it became a bestseller.

00:08:44 Like, it was a bestseller in a week. And then it became an international bestseller. By the way, it was because of all the people I collaborated, wasn't just on my shoulders to share that book out on my small reach at the time. And so they all share it, and it got out, and I wanted to keep doing more. So the podcast came next, and we just share stories of hope.

00:09:05 And then I was getting into my coaching business about five years down the road. My beautiful grandson, who I was trying to make a memory with, was in a school play, like a kindergarten school play. And he asked me to come. And I'm like yes, of course I'll come. I looked at my calendar, and I was a successful, thank goodness, coach.

00:09:25 I didn't have a space opened anywhere for two years. And I'm like, Wait, where am I going to put this person? I can't reschedule. There's no space for them. I mean, I don't do Sundays.

00:09:34 That's a rule of mine. Where am I going to put them? And how did I put myself back in this box? It was important for me to make memories, and now I'm back in the grind, so I had to figure out how to help more people. And so that's how my coaching switched over to more, just sharing those messages of people out there.

00:09:53 So the magazine came out get to the magazine. The magazine came out because as I was coaching and backing out that door, they were like, can you at least do a newsletter? We love your coaching. Can you at least give us a newsletter, right, with coaching tips or just some jewels that you keep sharing with us? I did not want to do that again.

00:10:14 I was too lazy to add more on my plate. But I remembered that book, and I remembered all the beautiful articles that people have told me, our stories and all these incredible educators I've come in contact with over those eight years. So I reached out to them and asked them, do you guys want to give me some articles for my newsletter? The interior designer side of me came into play when all these articles came flooding in. Like, oh, there's a lot.

00:10:40 Do I share them over a period of year, or do I just put them all in one thing? So I created a magazine on Jana. My first year, my magazine was on Jana and I created this magazine making as pretty as I could because it's all about it looking aesthetically pleasing for me. And I put it out into the world to my email list, gave it to all the people who wrote, who shared it on their email list. And we got 30,000 subscribers to this magazine.

00:11:05 We now have million subscribers, over a million subscribers. But again, it was with collaborating with all these incredible people and understanding that the world works best when we lift others and we collaborate with others. So that's kind of how the magazine came. And I'm super proud of it. I'm super proud of the message it brings out and the education and the ripple effect it's been creating in the world.

00:11:28 Wow. Your story is incredible. And oh my God, I almost started breaking down crying when you said that. When you were talking about leaving a memory for your grandchild. Yes.

00:11:41 Oh my gosh, we have seven grandkids now. I did not go for you, but we have seven grandkids now. And my whole life has been about creating memories and they have buy gifts anymore. We don't buy Christmas gifts, birthday gifts. I ask them, what kind of memory do you want to create on your birthday?

00:11:57 What kind of memory do you want for Christmas? And we take them on trips, we do fun things together. But now when I ask them, what did you get for your birthday last year? Don't you remember? We came to your house, we swam in the pool, you made my favorite dinner.

00:12:11 It's all this really amazing stuff that they remember now. Not the gift, right? Oh, my gosh, on so many levels. That is so incredible. And I love how, hey, whatever works to get your health back.

00:12:25 But if that was a driving force, what a beautiful thing and what a beautiful gift you've given to your kids and your grandkids. Thank you. Sandy. I want people to understand, too, that I didn't cure myself. I did not grow my stomach back.

00:12:37 I have the same issues I had before. I'm in this with the same diagnosis, except for I'm thriving in it. Because I really believe as a mindset coach that everything we need to create whatever we want is between those beautiful ears of ours. And once I started challenging my brain and rethinking that process, I'm living in a terminal illness diagnosis for eleven years now. And I'm not living in it.

00:13:03 I'm thriving in it. So it is possible for you and I'm grateful for every day I get knowing that I may not have 2030 years ahead of me, but I also may I'm driving in the moments. It's certainly a testament to the power of the mind and the body and the spirit and that relationship between those yeah, that's incredible.

00:13:28 Did you ever get an actual diagnosis? Because you said that they didn't know what to call it. Is there a name for it now that it's eleven years later? So there is. And there was a name back then, so it was caused surgically, right?

00:13:41 So it wasn't a problem with my body or anything like that. But once that happens, you get something called gastroparesis. Your body doesn't really accept food. I do eat regular food, but I also throw up ten times a day, every single day. In the last eleven years, I have not gone a day without throwing up.

00:13:58 I'll take it. I'll take that with the energy and health I feel and the beautiful memories I'm making with my family and friends. So I'll take it, and no complaints. But there are things that come with it. But right now what I have is something called gastroparesis.

00:14:15 How do you keep nutrition in your body, though? That's the challenge. So again, I drink lots of protein. I make those protein puddings where you put the scoops of protein in it, so it's liquid, it absorbs super quickly, it tastes good. So my coffees, if I have a coffee, I have to not just have the coffee I love, but I have to fill it with something, right?

00:14:34 So it's full of collagen. So I get as much liquid kind of things into me to absorb. But even though I don't have a stomach, because most of our foods and stuff start in the stomach, the absorption, and then go into the intestinal tract and absorb. So I know that even that drinking liquids, I'm not getting the right absorption. So I sometimes do IV fluids where they're giving you some vitamins and stuff.

00:14:55 If I feel like my body really needs it, I pay attention. I pay attention to my hair, my nails, my skin. When I see a change in them, I know something's changing, and I need to get back on track. So I listen to my body and I give it what it needs for me. I didn't understand what self care was until it was shoved in my face, and I had no choice if I wanted to live.

00:15:15 And so now I come first. If my body gives me a red flag and it's dropping a flag on the field, I stop and I'm like, okay, time out. I've got to go to the penalty box and figure out what's going on and take care of myself. Oh, my goodness. So you've received a lot of accolades for your work.

00:15:35 I'm looking at your bio now, but you were named one of Los Angeles's women of the year in 2023. That's really incredible. You are top 15 coaches of 2023. The list just goes on and on. Super grateful for all of those, because for me, that means I can share more, right?

00:15:56 As you start growing, that means your voice becomes louder. And so I have to be more aware of what I'm sharing, make sure it's always coming out in the way I want it to. But I love that we all have platforms, right? We're all influencing someone. You're influencing people who are like, I'm just a mom, a stay at home mom.

00:16:13 You're the biggest influencer of them all. You are influencing these beautiful children to grow up to be decent human beings that are going to do better than us. So you're the biggest influencer of them all. Well, and that's incredible. It's just a testament to who you are, how you show up in the world and the value that you're giving the rest of the world.

00:16:34 And it's just great that you're recognized in that way. That's really incredible. So you have that one book. Have you written any other books? I wrote a book before that.

00:16:46 So when I say it was my first book, it wasn't, but it was also a collaboration book. I wrote a journal. It's called Mastering Your Thoughts and it's a 30 day journal on learning to start changing your thought process. I kind of very proud of it. We just released it and you can get it on Amazon, but it's just literally giving you a prompt like, look in the mirror, start writing what's popping in your head.

00:17:10 Just write it down. Don't think about it, don't judge yourself. It's just words. Write them down. Now look at those words and which ones aren't comfortable for you?

00:17:18 Which ones trigger something not great? Which ones do you wish would change? Move them to the other side of the page and let's talk about how we change those and where they're coming from. And so it's just a process of every day picking one train of thought so that you're creating a habit that when those things pop in to our head that we recognize, that's not how I want to be talked to. Why am I talking to myself like that?

00:17:40 That's not true. Where did that come from? And you recognize it and then start readjusting it. Because that's how I survived, is recognizing I wanted to be here. I was going to take what was given me at the moment and there's no other reason for me to be here than what was happening between these ears.

00:17:56 No other reason. That's incredible. And I love that journal because at the end of the day, it's all about self awareness and paying attention to those thoughts. And we're going to have thoughts because we're human and we're going to have at times, we're going to have the negativity that shines in it's. Just what you do with it afterwards.

00:18:16 That is really the difference. And I love that. Now, what is that called? What is the name? I'm going to pull it up right here because I think I perfect.

00:18:22 Mastering your thoughts. And it's a journal to positive mindset. So this is it. And it's a 30 day journal for you to just change something every day. A thought process that most commonly comes up with people.

00:18:35 I am super proud of this book because I do believe that when we start changing our mind, the way we think about ourselves, we change the world. To this day, I still struggle with it. And you will, always will. You're never going to be in a perfect state. But I remember recently I had to go talk on stage and there was a lot of Les Brown was there.

00:18:54 There was, like, big people there, and I was only going to spend five minutes up there. So I was thinking, what else can I do? How can I make it that I belong here? So I wouldn't make eye contact with any of the speakers. I kept thinking, I know if they look at me, they're going to be like, what is she doing here?

00:19:09 So I still have that. Like, I don't deserve this space, right? I haven't earned this yet. Why am I here with all these big people? Then when I finished, they're coming up like, we've been dying to meet you.

00:19:19 I'm so glad you were here. It's such an honor to be on stage with you. And I'm like, what? So I still struggle with it. I still keep putting myself back in a box.

00:19:28 Yeah, I mean, we all do. I did two other interviews. I was on two other podcasts this morning and they were talking about that same thing. And she's like, how did you overcome it? And I was like, you never overcome it.

00:19:44 We're human. We're human. And we're always going to have to be working on that aspect no matter what. I 100% agree and I do work on it. It doesn't keep me from getting on stages, especially ones I don't feel like I belong on yet.

00:19:57 I keep showing up because I know maybe I'm here for a reason and maybe there's that one person that needed to hear something I was saying. So I'm going to show up 100% and whether I feel like I belong or not. But it's a real struggle when people like, you just saying, you've got a lot of awards. Like, wow, you're kind of like, I don't really deserve that. Why am I even getting those?

00:20:17 I don't know what's happening. I hear you. I know, because we all go there again, I'm just so thrilled because your story is powerful, your magazine is powerful, you are powerful. And by getting those awards, you're being recognized as such. And like you said, it's just giving you a bigger platform in order to keep sharing that message.

00:20:40 So, Jana, we're almost out of time here. You have such an incredible story. Is there anything that you haven't said yet that you'd like the listeners to know that like a golden nugget. I love to give my audience a golden nugget that they can apply in their life right now. Yeah, I do.

00:20:58 Your value here on this world is so important. I'm a big, huge mental health advocate because I see so many people losing themselves and thinking they're ashamed to say these things, right? They're ashamed to say, I feel depressed. I'm not happy. But you have every reason to be happy.

00:21:15 We try to convince them of their happiness instead of listening that they're telling us they're not happy. So I know we have Mental Health Month coming up, and I want people to recognize, listen to your friends, your family, your loved ones, be empathetic with what they say and be sure you're loving them back. That's my nugget to the world right now, is like, be listening. You can't fix things for them. It's not your job, but it's your job to be there, to love them and to support them through whatever growth they need to go through.

00:21:42 So that's the hardest thing, right, as a mom, to not fix our kids like I'll fix all the badness going on in your world. That's my job. It's my job to support you and love you through whatever journey you're going through. But for Mental Health Month, which I believe is in May, I want you guys to really be paying attention to what's going on in the world, because maybe it's just that one little thing that's going to keep them moving forward, which is why I love sharing stories of hope. Somebody might be in that dark valley that somebody's sharing their story about, and the next thing you know, they hear a little piece about where they were at.

00:22:15 They relate to it and see where they're at. Now, if it's possible for them, maybe it's possible for me. So that's my little nugget right now is to be aware of what's going on around you. Don't try to fix them. Just love and support them.

00:22:28 I love it. That was incredible. And I hope the listeners take that to heart. And Janice, thank you so much. And how can people reach you or follow you online?

00:22:39 So if they want to follow me, I'm at Janice Short, official. On almost everything are my websites, Janashort.com. If you guys want to check out the magazine, you just go to Bestsolisticlife.com or Bestsolisticlifemagazine.com and you can check it out there. Awesome. Jana, thank you so much.

00:22:55 It has just been such an honor to speak with you today, and I wish you nothing but continued health because I think that's probably the most important thing you focus on these days. Thank you.

00:23:20 I certainly hope that you enjoyed today's interview. Thank you so much for joining me. And as always, I hope that you and your family are healthy and safe and that your lives are filled with peace, joy and happiness. Take care, everyone.