283. From Fashion Retail to Holistic Health: One Woman's Journey to Financial Wellness with Meghan O'Rourke

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This is happiness solved with America's happiness coach, Sandee Sgarlata.

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Hello and thank you for joining us today. I'm so happy you're here. Happiness solved is the place where we explore everything you need to become the best possible version of you. This is Sandee Sgarlata. And today I've got some exciting news.

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Today is another amazing conversation, so let's get started.

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Meghan O'Rourke, such a pleasure and I'm so grateful to be having you here with me today. How's everything going for you? Sounds like it's great. We were talking before I hit record. Yes, I know.

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I feel like I already know you because our conversation has already been so natural, but I am doing so well. Life is great and I'm looking forward to having this conversation with. Yeah, yeah. I love that you're in Nashville. I didn't realize that that's where.

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Because your boyfriend is somebody that sends me amazing guests. He's a publicist. Zach Tepperman with. Yes. So that's amazing.

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I didn't realize he was in Nashville. Love it. So you've got such an interesting story, and I love that you've started a side hustle and you have a career. Tell me about how you got to that point where you went from finance and now you're this certified holistic health coach. Amazing.

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How much time do you have? Yes, I know, right? I always say I'm a very unconventional person and my career path has been very unconventional as well. So I actually was a business owner. I opened my first franchise at the age of 22, bought it.

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I always say I got my master's in a matter of, like, three months because everything that could have gone wrong in opening a business, a brick and mortar business, at the age of 22, did so. It was very stressful but very grateful for the lessons that came from that. So I actually owned two brick and mortar fashion boutiques here in the Nashville market and owned them for about ten years and actually got the opportunity. One of my best clients walked into the store and basically wanted to take over the store, and it wasn't for sale, but I was like, you know what? I have some other things going on.

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I've been doing this for ten years. Maybe this is the sign that I've been needing to kind of really, literally, figuratively push me out the door. I mean, that's just right there. Let me just stop you real quick, because right there, do you understand? Because maybe you were so young, and you're still very young, but do you understand the magnitude of being able to do that and hold onto it for ten years?

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Because most businesses fail in less than five. Oh, and I almost did multiple, trust. Me, I'm a serial. So. Wow, that's incredible.

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Very difficult. And it was a new franchise in a brand new market. I was the first one in the state of Tennessee in a brand new shopping center. Moved here about a week before grand opening, so did not know anybody. So I really had to be boots on the ground hustle.

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And, yeah, you're right. I should be more grateful for that because I look back and wowed by my own accomplishment in that sense. But thank you for that. That just did put that in perspective for me.

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I sold that one, and then about two years later, the lovely pandemic hit, and I decided to actually close my second location. At that time, too, I had a relationship, a ten year relationship also, that I decided to end. So I closed a store, ended a relationship, moved out of my house. And basically, I always say it was the best, worst thing that ever happened because it was the start of my spiritual awakening and what led me to where I am today. And I know that you're very spiritual, Sandy.

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If you've ever been through a spiritual awakening, it's not fun. Many times when you're on this planet for almost six decades that I have been, yeah, you go through multiple ones. And so put your seatbelt on because there is more to come. And I always tell everybody when you can get to the other side of it and say, this happened for me and not to me. When you can have that perspective, that is when you know that you've gone through it, and it's a beautiful thing.

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And for anybody that's going through it right now, just trust me. Just have trust and faith in whoever your source is, Buddha, Allah, God, Jesus, whoever that is. Have trust and faith because you will get to that other side if you take the time. So congratulations to you, because not everybody has the courage to sit in the uncomfortableness that it takes to grow. Right?

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I always say in order to grow, you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And the majority of people are not willing to go down that path because it's hard. Yes, it is very hard. And I had just turned 30, and here I was in the longest relationship, a ten year relationship, and all my friends were already married and having kids, and I was getting those questions about what's going on with you. And I follow my intuition, and I was scared as I'll get out to literally restart my life over.

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But that's what I would say, too. Anybody that just feels stuck, it's not restarting your life over. It is the most beautiful thing that you could possibly do, because, like you said, you're only on this earth for so many years. So no matter what age, if it doesn't feel right, don't stay in it. Yeah.

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I really empower people to just feel their emotions, but also change them, because feel confidence in making a change for the better. Yeah, that's kind of what led me into this self discovery. And, yes, I felt the sadness of that era of my life, because I think that's really important to do. But then I've always been a lifelong athlete, and I just picked myself up and put those cleats back on. I was a soccer player.

00:07:27
Oh, my gosh. I was like, all right, let's do this. So I went to the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, and that just opened my mind into this whole spirituality. Energetics, behind everything, finances, relationships, feng shui. I mean, literally every component and how it intertwines, and the fact that everything happens on an energetic level before it happens on a physical level.

00:07:57
That's right. It really dove me down this deep path of spirituality, health, wellness, and ultimately kind of opened the door, because finances is a big part of that. So did open that door to helping clients from a financial standpoint, but also on an energetic and health standpoint as well. Because, as you do know, finances do impact your health on a pretty significant level. Well, they totally do.

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And it's interesting because I never know how these conversations are going to go, because all of these conversations with every single guest, it's very organic, and I don't show up with a bunch of questions, and I don't have a plan, because I want it to be that organic conversation. And I love that you brought that up, because, Meghan, what many people do not understand, especially entrepreneurs and even leaders in businesses, you don't have to be an entrepreneur, just whether you're in the corporate world or not. Money is energy. That's all it is. It's just an exchange of energy.

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And when you can really get that and release, because most people's money blocks, if you will, come from some sort of childhood trauma because we learn about money from. Think about what your parent. I used to hear money doesn't grow on trees. Money is the root of all evil. You hear that from a very young age, most likely before you could even communicate, but you're still hearing it, and that shapes the way you view money, and you can actually block money from coming to you.

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So what is your take on that? And how can you add to that conversation as somebody in the finance industry? Yeah, and I mean, quite frankly, it was something that I was very uncomfortable with. And I always say this whole world is a mirror. So, I don't know, for whatever reason it was, whenever I started working with my clients from the health standpoint, for some reason, we'd go through all these things, relationships, and that was a big one, too, that was coming up.

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But finances was just, I mean, it was a main stressor in so many people's life. It was a big stressor in my life, quite frankly. Maybe that's why I, too, was manifesting those type of clients. So I started to really get into the energetics behind money. I love to talk about money.

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I think that it's something that we should be talking about more frequently. And I think that's where a lot of those blockages come from, is we see you should never be talking about money with your friends. You don't want to make anybody feel uncomfortable. But no, I mean, we should want to be supporting our friends. If your friend just closed a huge deal, we should want to know about it and support them in that way.

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And I don't know where we got stuck on this conversation of being wealthy is a bad thing that should never be talked about. I mean, of course you don't want to be out there like flashy and everything, but at the same time, I've kind of made it my mission to help open those doors on just financial literacy in general because I just think it's lacking, because the conversation around money is lacking, which ultimately those blocks happen at the same.

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Know. And I hadn't thought about that.

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Know. I live in an area country. I'm in northern Virginia and I'm in an area know outside of Washington, DC. There's a lot of money here because we have the federal government, a lot of military, but also a lot of high tech companies are.

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If there was some, if somebody wanted to take out the Internet with a bomb, we would be hit first. Because of all the data centers that are surrounding me, there's one less than a half a quarter of a mile behind my house being built. Luckily, there's trees and stuff, so I don't see it, but it's there.

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But the thing is, they always say old money doesn't talk about their money, but new money talks about their money. So maybe it is a generational thing, right? And it is part of that.

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My parents were raised by their parents who went through the depression, right? And so there's that whole, my dad would drive 15 minutes out of the way to save a dollar on light bulbs. And that whole type of mentality, finish everything on your plate. Because I grew up, there's starving children in Africa. This is what I kept hearing.

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And that's such an unhealthy way to tell children you have to eat everything. That's not healthy. Right.

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What are you seeing with your clients now that you told me before you hit record you're doing some retirement planning? Are you noticing some of that, or is that narrative changing now? We're so far removed from the era of the depression? Yes, it is changing. And it's very interesting because my own mother works in the financial services industry, and it took me a long time to have that conversation in regards to their accounts.

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And what happens if something happens to you guys, to my parents. And I talk about this frequently with my friends, and quite frankly, nobody knows where to go, who to call, what their parents actually have, the bank account. Just simple things that you should have conversations around as a family. And I'm really finding that those are still difficult conversations, which they shouldn't be. Right?

00:13:48
But they are. They are still difficult conversations. However, like you said, a generational shift is happening. And I do feel like with the onset of TikTok and Instagram and even more women financial literacy, I know that, girl, math is kind of a thing right now. But on a serious note, I love that because girls are talking about math, which is a step in the right direction.

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In the past, it wasn't even a thought. Girls were just, the husbands got the finances. So that's really where my love and passion comes from, especially with helping entrepreneurs. That's why I launched this new side business, because, yes, I love the retirement planning aspect of it. I'm very passionate about it, and I love my corporate career.

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But then I also was like, okay, well, how do I. My passion is just a small business owner, because I just see myself in all those small business owners that are starting from the grounds up. And it took me so long to. I didn't really hire an accountant until I just had to do taxes. But other than that, I learned all my own bookkeeping.

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I managed. I reconciled all of that at the age of 22. That's why I say I really did get all of my certifications very quickly, if you will. But now I'm actually certified in security. So I find it fascinating.

00:15:14
I find the energetics around money fascinating. And like you said, if you're aware of the whole chakra system in the body, we harness the energetics of money differently in each chakra system. And so I've done a lot of research around that, too, in regards to if you do feel uncomfortable talking about money, maybe we need some throat clearing. If you feel ungrounded and very uneasy about money, then maybe we need to do a little bit more meditation and get your body more grounded, connect with the earth, feel grounded in who you are ultimately, because like you said, the whole eat your vegetables and eat everything on your plate. We were taught at a young age that there's only so much of something in this lifetime, whereas there's really an abundance.

00:16:07
Right. We're lacking that abundance mindset in all things. In all things. So I know I kind of jumped all over the place there, but I'm just very passionate about getting rid of those limiting beliefs involving finance, the conversation of finances in any way possible, and then also just to help anybody. I'm obviously helping people in my corporate career, but then entrepreneurs and just getting them more acclimated and more familiar with their own books, records, and that relationship with finances from a health standpoint.

00:16:42
Yeah, well, everything that you're talking about is all related to abundance. And so it's all related. What advice can you give to a small business owner or entrepreneur or somebody? Just in general, what is the most important thing that they need to do in order to improve that relationship with money? I think the biggest thing that I see is just avoidance in general.

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If you know, for instance, that your books and records are all over the place and you're like, oh, yeah, I'll get to that, or, oh, I'll just hire an accountant one day, or you've just been avoiding, in general, looking at your finances. And that's my number one advice, is just open the bank account, open the statements, even if you don't know what you're looking at, just get comfortable with what's actually running your business and be grateful, too. You're, if you're in a great position to be able to be financially abundant, be grateful for. That's, that's one thing I know that, you know, my boyfriend Zach, he's just such a creative mind, and he has very beautiful, flourished ideas and they're out there. And what has made him so successful.

00:18:05
But I'm the more grounded one and I love talking numbers. We are literally opposite people. But it's been amazing because he now is more conscious of what he spends on. And I didn't even intentionally mean to do that just by our daily conversation and not making him feel uncomfortable for. Because he's one of those guys that's like, oh, I got a bookkeeper for that, which is amazing.

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But now he's actually asking the questions on his own, which is amazing. And I love that. And it makes me secretly happy inside. Of course, yeah, little wins like that. But my biggest thing is just do it basically, just find the confidence to start to understand.

00:19:00
Open your books and records. Get familiar. Even if you have a bookkeeper, that's fabulous. I'm one too. Happy to help you out, but have the conversation with your bookkeeper.

00:19:11
Be like, what does this mean? Like a general ledger? What is that? Be comfortable having the conversation. And that's the first step into having a business.

00:19:25
I think that's going to flourish because as I always say, a business that is nourished from its roots is going to flourish and expand. So if we know from the roots, from the ground up, from every small niche detail of the business on the back end, if we're familiar with it, we're comfortable with it, that business is going to continue to flourish with love. Because love is the highest frequency. We all know that. And if your business is just given so much love, it's going to continue to expand in that frequency.

00:20:02
And people are going to feel that energy coming from your business and want to work with you. Oh, my gosh, I love it. Everything you just said was so many golden nuggets. So thank you so much. Now, you also help people, and I want to talk about this because you help people with proper eating habits.

00:20:24
So let's just have a conversation about that. Because what I don't think people recognize is we've been hearing this. I've been hearing it my whole life. You are what you eat. It is so true.

00:20:36
It is so true. Because the diet in the United States is so processed and there's so many nasty things in our food. How can people make that shift to just like the know? I think the worst thing to do is tell people to eliminate this, this and this. Because that's not going to work.

00:20:56
Because that's just coming from a place of lack and you're already walking into, I have to diet. And what are the first three words in diet is die. You don't want to do it. So how can somebody from a more holistic way and positive way start to make that shift with moving in the direction of healthy eating habits? Yeah, and thank you so much for asking that, because this is actually something that I am very passionate about and kind of that's the initial reason of why I went to become a certified holistic health coach, because going through high school, like I said, I was an athlete, and I was very slender, and I had some health issues of my own, and I wasn't getting the answers from the doctors that I was looking for.

00:21:42
And so I was like, you know what? I'm a researcher. So I was like, I'm going to go and try to figure things out on my own. And I did have an eating disorder back then, but I realized in going through this certification that it was just simply from a place of not knowing, a lack of understanding where I think a lot and how to properly nourish the body. And so eating disorders are something that are very near and dear to my heart, because oftentimes people have them and don't even recognize they have them.

00:22:13
Exactly. Yes. So, that said, I take on eating in a very different mindset. I don't do any diets, and I'm all about intuition. Okay?

00:22:28
For instance, I don't eat meat because intuitively, it doesn't sit well with my body. It doesn't make me feel good. Now, my diet is probably 90% carbs. And when people watch me eat, I mean, I will choke down a loaf of bread. I am all about some carbs.

00:22:44
I love a good baked potato. And it's so contrary to what everybody's been told. And so when they watch me eat, they're like, what? I thought we're supposed to eat the protein and the vegetables, but I've never been healthier. I've never felt better.

00:23:02
And it's because I finally got to a point of eating intuitively, listening to our body. We are intuitive beings at the basis of who we are. And so whenever everybody comes out with these fads, they might work for one person, but everybody's an individual for a reason. We all have dna. And so that's what bothers me so much about these diet fads is that, like you said, they might work for a little bit, but eventually they're going to die out and they're not going to work anymore.

00:23:32
I also don't like people saying, like, classifying themselves as a vegan vegetarian pescatarian, because I think that that puts food groups into bad and good in people's mind. And I don't say I do consider myself plant based, so I'll eat seafood. But you know what? One day if I wake up and I want a steak and I don't want to feel guilty for eating that steak. Well, yeah, because then you're going to make yourself wrong and you're going to beat yourself up about it.

00:24:02
Exactly. And then it's going to be the energetics of that food. I'm going to feel guilty and so it's not going to be properly absorbed into my body because I just have the motions and the energetics around that.

00:24:18
In all the clients that I had, no two clients ate the same and I never put them on a meal plan per se. I told them, just be intuitive when it comes to meats eating organic. And I will say, because you did point out the fact that our nutrition is just not what it used to be. We all know that our minerals and our fruits and vegetables are significantly less than what they were back in the day. And obviously the pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, all that have just gotten absolutely out of control.

00:24:58
So I will say my one biggest piece of advice is organic truly does matter. That is by one, non negotiable. When it comes especially with kids and their little growing bodies, fruits, vegetables, organic meats. It is so important to try to even organic. I mean, it's still going to have some of that from the rundown and the residue of the non organic fruits and vegetables if they're close by, but that's my number one.

00:25:28
But then other than that, it's really don't put food groups in a good or bad category. And also restricting yourself is another very difficult thing. Obviously, I'm not telling you to go out and eat twelve donuts. And I'm a big advocate of this. They call me like the birdie because I take like little bites here and there.

00:25:53
I do the same thing. If I'm craving a doughnut, I will take a bite of that donut and just really savor it. And then like, okay, typically that's all I needed. I just wanted a little taste, right? But if you're like, no, I'm not even going to have that bite, that's when people go on the spiral because they're themselves and then when nobody's around or they're going to have not a bite, but they're going to have two full donuts.

00:26:21
Exactly. I love this. I love this. And I was like, when you were talking about eating, intuitive. I'm like, so the nachos I made at 1130 last night, that was my intuition.

00:26:37
Yeah. You know what? I had mexican last night. We had the full hole in the wall Mexican because we were craving it. We hadn't had it in a while, so we were right there with you.

00:26:48
But you know what? I'm very lucky, because I, too, as an athlete, I don't even know if this is a category. I used to struggle with this. I don't anymore. I finally have embraced it.

00:27:00
I was so skinny growing up, and it probably was because I was a figure skater and I wasn't eating enough. I probably needed more calories every day. But we had a very large family, and I had three meals a day, and that was it. There was never any snacking. And I was teased and bullied about being so thin because I was really skinny when it wasn't cool to be thin.

00:27:22
All right? And what happened was I didn't like the attention. And so when anybody would, I was constantly, even as much as ten years ago, I had a woman say, oh, my daughters both commented that they thought you looked anorexic. And I said, well, that'd be the first 145 pound anorexic on the planet, because I'm just tall and thin, and I just carry it well. But I've been 145 pounds for ten years.

00:27:47
But some people think I look too thin, but I'm like, it is what it is. But what happened with me was, like, when people would start saying that you look too thin, I would start eating, and I would start trying to gain weight, and I recognize that. And I've kept 25 pounds off for ten years, and I've just been able to embrace it. But the thing is that every single person, we all struggle in some way, shape, or form, and it really is. I just love, and I'm just going to reiterate that intuition.

00:28:16
Pay attention. I, too, eat a lot of carbs. I eat a ton of carbs. I can't live without carbs. I've tried the no carb diet.

00:28:24
I can't do it. I'm miserable. Life is too short. You have to just follow that intuition. So how can people tap into that intuition?

00:28:33
And before we finish up, I just want to ask you that one last question. But how can people tap into that intuition and understand and recognize consciousness as opposed to your ego? Because your ego is going to be like, oh, yeah, those donuts are good for you, right? That's not what we're talking about. But how can you tap into that.

00:28:52
And I don't think that we would have touched on this yet, but I am a really big advocate of meditation because it literally reprograms neural pathways in the brain. And that is a really big thing when it comes to eating disorders and just being grounded in your self awareness and knowing who you are. Even if you can meditate for five minutes. I follow this app that I use. It's called superhuman.

00:29:19
I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but I love it. There's chilling meditations, there's cooking meditations, a meditation. All it is is just distracting the mind and bringing it back home in who you are. So I think it's really getting a better understanding of who you are. And then that's where the intuition in regards to just everything, including food, comes from.

00:29:43
I know that's a very broad answer, but I always say, too, if you're craving those donuts, drink a glass of water, because a lot of times you're just thirsty, you're just dehydrated. So look at your water intake first, and then go from there. And if you're getting in plenty of water, then take a bite. But also, if you have the donut, if you have the one donut, don't feel bad about yourself. Like, shame and guilt is a very low vibrational state to be in way down here.

00:30:20
You know all about the vibration, love. But, yeah, it's going to keep you down there in that victim mentality, which ultimately snowballs into unhealthy eating habits. Getting a better understanding of go inside, go internally, meditate, get to know who you are, and then ask yourself, is this really the donut that I'm craving or just the active eating? Sometimes people have hormones, so sometimes you. Do have the donut.

00:30:59
It's okay. Yeah, exactly. I'm not talking I love donuts, that's why they're on my mind. But yeah, just more conscious. Mindful eating is just the general basis of what I'm trying to get at.

00:31:14
Just don't eat to eat. Be mindful of what you're putting in your mouth. I love it. It'll be mindful in other areas of your life because you feel good, and then food really is nourishment, energy for other feel good things in your life. Yeah, I love everything you just said.

00:31:36
And meditation is something that I've been doing since about 2007 and in my new membership portal that is being launched. But by the time this airs, it'll already have been launched. That's one of the things that I'm adding for my audience is guided meditations on every subject you can imagine, because I love doing guided meditations and it's something that just fills me up. But I also want to just add, when I was going through this journey with my food issues of wanting to gain weight because I was getting too much attention to me or whatever, the best advice I read is some book, I don't remember the name of it, and it talked about water. And I drink probably at least a gallon of water every day.

00:32:22
It's the most important thing that you can put in your body. But what I learned was if you're hungry, drink at least 8oz of water and your hunger is going to go away. And the other thing was telling yourself, I don't need to eat right now and I'm not going to die. It's okay to feel hungry. Have a glass of water instead.

00:32:45
But yes, I just want to throw that out there because that's one thing that's like, it's okay to be hungry. I'm not going to die right now. It's okay to be hungry, right? Yeah. It gives your cells a break.

00:32:56
It lets them regenerate. Yeah. I try to think about it because I do get very hangry. Oh, I do. Trust me, I get hangry, too.

00:33:06
I am hungry. You're right. I mean, if you properly nourish your body, it's okay to be hungry. And let your body spend that energy elsewhere and renourish your skin cells and heal wounds. And that's a very good point.

00:33:25
All right, awesome. Meghan, this has been so amazing. I just thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. I love everything you're doing, and I just know that you're going to be so successful with what you're doing that you're going to be like me. I just left my corporate job two months ago, and so just follow your passion.

00:33:43
Live your dream. But if you like it, still keep doing it. That's okay, too. It became like a drain, an energetic drain for me. So I had to do it to take care of myself.

00:33:56
So thank you. Thank you for having me on. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation, and I've already learned so much from you as well. Thank you. All right, well, thank you and thank.

00:34:08
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00:34:21
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00:35:42
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