WP 65 | Holding your Goals Loosely with Melissa Wesner

Written By Whitney Owens

In this episode of the Wise Practice Podcast, host Whitney Owens interviews Melissa Wesner, an LPC and the founder of Lifespring Consulting and Serve Counseling Services. The conversation revolves around the concept of goal-setting and the importance of holding your goals loosely. Melissa shares her insights on the topic and how she has learned to approach goal-setting in a more relaxed and intuitive way. The conversation also touches on the transformative power of community and the upcoming Costa Rica retreat organized by Melissa. 

The Challenges of Goal-Setting in Business

Whitney begins the conversation by highlighting the challenges that come with goal-setting, especially in the business world. She mentions issues like catering to insurance companies, late payments, and the tedious paperwork associated with insurance billing. Melissa adds her perspective as a therapist and how she has experienced the frustrations of goal-setting in her own practice. These challenges create stress and can hinder the joy and fulfillment that should come from pursuing our goals.

The Importance of Holding Goals Loosely

Melissa shares her personal journey and how she has learned to hold her goals loosely. While she acknowledges the importance of setting goals and being action-oriented, she also emphasizes the need to approach goal-setting with a sense of ease and openness. Melissa refers to the mindfulness concept of non-striving, which encourages being present with intention while letting go of attachment to future results. By holding your goals loosely, you are more open to unexpected opportunities and can avoid unnecessary stress.

Trusting in Divine Co-creation

Whitney and Melissa discuss the idea of co-creating goals with the divine. They explore the concept of surrendering to a higher power and trusting that the outcome will be better than anything we could have planned on our own. Melissa recounts her own experience of climbing a metaphorical mountain and how the presence of God transformed the journey into something easier and more enjoyable. They both emphasize the importance of relying on divine guidance and not trying to control every aspect of the goal-setting process.

Finding Joy in the Process

The conversation shifts to the importance of finding joy and having fun in the pursuit of our goals. Melissa shares how she has made having fun and building community essential elements in her group practice and personal life. By infusing joy into the goal-setting process, we can approach our goals with a different energy and avoid unnecessary stress. Whitney reflects on her own experiences and how the spirit within us guides us towards the things that bring us excitement and fulfillment.

The Power of Community

The discussion highlights the transformative power of community in goal-setting and overall well-being. Melissa shares her plans for the upcoming Costa Rica retreat, where business owners can come together, find support, and take time for themselves. The retreat aims to provide a space for entrepreneurs to connect and feel a sense of belonging, addressing the loneliness often experienced in business ownership. Whitney and Melissa both stress the importance of sharing goals and collaborating with others to create a fulfilling journey.

Conclusion:

In this thought-provoking episode of the Wise Practice Podcast, Melissa Wesner and Whitney Owens shed light on the concept of holding your goals loosely. They invite listeners to approach goal-setting with a sense of ease, surrender, and trust in divine co-creation. By infusing joy and building community, we can transform our goal-setting experience and ultimately achieve greater fulfillment and success. Remember, it's not just about the destination, but also about the journey.

What is Alma, and How Can It Help You?

  • Alma - Your private practice support system. Alma offers clinicians the opportunity to join their insurance program, providing benefits such as getting credentialed within 45 days and enhanced reimbursement rates with major payers. 

Guest Resources

Links and Resources


Podcast Production and Show Notes by Course Creation Studio

  • WP 65 | Holding your Goals Loosely with Melissa Wesner

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    [00:00:00] Whitney Owens: Going in network with insurance can be tough, such as benefits checks, catering to the insurance company's needs rather than your client needs, late payments, and at times making less than you deserve. Filling all the right paperwork is time consuming and tedious, and even when you're done. It could take months to get credentialed and start seeing clients.

    [00:00:24] Whitney Owens: That's why Alma makes it easy and financially rewarding to accept insurance. When you join their insurance program, you can get credentialed within 45 days and access to enhanced reimbursement rates with major payers. They also handle all the paperwork from eligibility checks to claim submissions and guaranteed payment within two weeks of each appointment.

    [00:00:43] Whitney Owens: Once you've joined Alma's insurance program, you can see clients in your state of licensure, regardless of where you work from. This is particularly great when you're traveling for amazing conferences or with your family. Learn more about building a thriving private pay practice with Alma at helloalma.

    [00:01:00] Whitney Owens: com slash wise practice. That's hello, a L M a. com slash wise practice.

    Hello, friends, and welcome back to the last practice podcast is so glad that you choose to hang out with me and I'm really looking forward to my interview today. I love how the Lord is like. Moving things and teaching us things kind of in this collective sense, you know, among therapists and so I had reached out to Melissa really just last week because she was on my mind.

    [00:02:14] Whitney Owens: And I thought, you know, I haven't talked to her in a while. She always has such great content and I really feel connected to her. And she actually spoke at a conference. I led a few years ago and. Was by far 1 of my favorite speakers at the event. So reached out to her. Now we're jumping on zoom and we had all these ideas of what we're going to talk about.

    [00:02:31] Whitney Owens: And then something else came up and it was just so important to be talking about with faith based practice centers with private practice centers in general. So today we're going to. So, I'm going to share a little bit about Melissa with you, and then we're going to jump into the content here. So Melissa Wesner is an LPC.

    [00:03:02] Whitney Owens: I since clinical professional counselor, I'm messing up my words here. Brainspotting consultant and founder of Lifespring Consulting, serve counseling services, a group practice in Maryland. Melissa loves hosting, building community and spending time with people, which is why she created an in person clinical clinician community membership and an international retreat to Costa Rica for entrepreneurs.

    [00:03:27] Whitney Owens: So I've definitely need to have coffee when we're done today, but thanks for coming on the show.

    [00:03:33] Melissa Wesner: Yes, thank you for having me. I'm so glad that we're getting to talk and catch up today. Awesome.

    [00:03:38] Whitney Owens: All right. So you do lots of fun stuff. I feel like I'm always seeing cool things popping up. Not only like business stuff, but personal stuff, you know, as you kind of share your life on social media, but can you kind of share with people a little bit about your group practice where you're located and maybe a little about your personal

    [00:03:52] Melissa Wesner: life?

    [00:03:53] Melissa Wesner: So I have a group practice, Lifespring Counseling Services, and we are located in Baltimore County, Maryland. Um, so that's my group practice, and I really am trying to have more fun lately. That really is one of my goals. It's one of the reasons, one of the reasons that I decided to start the, uh, Clinician Community Membership locally, because I'm literally then having fun.

    [00:04:15] Melissa Wesner: Fun with other local providers. It forces me to have fun. It allows me to do things that I enjoy, but probably wouldn't seek out on my own. Um, and then with the retreat in Costa Rica, also something I find fun and fun is something that I think we need. It's something that I need and want to be more intentional.

    [00:04:35] Melissa Wesner: About having more of, um, but personal life. Um, it's me and my husband, just the two of us, no pets, no kids, just us.

    [00:04:45] Whitney Owens: Oh, it's lovely. I see all the fun trips that y'all take together in time that you have together. So I love it. Yeah, great. Great. Well, I love that. We're already kind of talking a little bit about goal setting as you were talking about your community that you're creating and personal goals and work goals.

    [00:05:00] Whitney Owens: Um, so let's kind of talk about goal setting. What are some of your thoughts as you're hearing people set goals for 2024.

    [00:05:07] Melissa Wesner: Yeah. So, generally speaking, I really love setting goals. Like, I'm a very action oriented person. I'm a big dreamer. That's, again, why, like, the new podcast that I have now is called Dreaming and Doing.

    [00:05:18] Melissa Wesner: I love dreaming and I love doing. Love goal setting. I'm a good action taker myself. I'm an Enneagram 3. I know you love the Enneagram. So, I'm a 3. Um, so, I'm I'm pretty good about that. You know, I'm a therapist. We talk with people about treatment plans, how to set smart goals, all those things. And yes, that's great.

    [00:05:41] Melissa Wesner: And also, personally, I am trying to go about goal setting for myself this year in a way that's a little bit more loose. Not saying that I'm not going to take action, but just, um, Approaching it a little bit differently this year.

    [00:05:58] Whitney Owens: All right. So I'm curious, how are you approaching it differently?

    [00:06:01] Melissa Wesner: Yes. Well, I think historically, you know, I've done the smart goals.

    [00:06:08] Melissa Wesner: I've come up with the plans. Um, but one of the things that I'm reflecting over. My life as a business owner is that I'm hardworking, I'm working, and I, and because I'm an Enneagram 3, probably, um, I will work a lot. Um, but like, at the end of the day, that's not really what I want to be. It's not how I want to be living my life.

    [00:06:28] Melissa Wesner: Our time on Earth is limited. And I want to be spending time doing the most meaningful things with the people that I want to be spending them with. Um, so Um, this year I'll have my plans, but it's going to be a little bit more, a little bit more relaxed. Um, as I move forward, one of the messages from last year, I went really hard on my goal.

    [00:06:53] Melissa Wesner: They had this great plan. I was so proud of it. I have like this big whiteboard in front of me and it had my like three big goals and the action steps I'm going to take to achieve those goals. And I was like, ready to go. Like, these are the goals we're going to go hard this year. And I did, and I brought that kind of energy to the year.

    [00:07:11] Melissa Wesner: And then none of it when it's planned. Oh. Yeah. So, not a good time. And so, of course, the way that we do when things don't go the way that we want them to, and I was like, what is going on? Like, I had a plan, I had my actions, and it feels like the very opposite of my plan is what's happening. And so, I had to do some soul searching, and I'm reading, and I'm really reflecting on what's going on.

    [00:07:38] Melissa Wesner: And I started reading Ollie's. Like different books from different kinds of people, coaches, and whatever. And there's just one thing that kept coming up repeatedly about having a goal. Getting excited about your goal, really feeling the excitement for it. Um, but also holding loosely to it, not getting caught up in and not being overly attached to the outcome.

    [00:08:02] Melissa Wesner: And so when you've read the same thing about five, six, seven times from all different people that you've randomly been reading about. At some point, you're like, huh, this seems to be the message that I'm getting. Mm hmm.

    [00:08:18] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Just like when we got on here to start recording, we were like both hearing the same message too.

    [00:08:23] Whitney Owens: And so true. It's so true. And like, obviously as faith based therapists, we can say, okay, God has given me a sign here, here, here, and here, and here. Are we finally going to pay attention?

    [00:08:32] Melissa Wesner: Yeah. Well, and I think the other thing, so I, you know. There, I really like paying attention to content whether it's from business owners outside of the therapy industry or just people who I think last year I got really interested in different kinds of healers and the work that they do outside of therapy because I'm so like therapy, therapy, therapy.

    [00:08:51] Melissa Wesner: Um, and just in kind of following some different people and looking at their content, there's a phrase that I keep hearing come up a lot that I find is really interesting and people talking about like goals as a co creation with the divine.

    [00:09:10] Melissa Wesner: So I have like my goal, but remembering that it's not just about me. Uh huh. And I think when I really sat with that, I'm like, Oh, yeah. Like you were trying to do all this on your own. Like that was part of the problem.

    [00:09:26] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I just love what you just said. I'm like writing it down. Um, I actually am like, you see me like looking down here.

    [00:09:35] Whitney Owens: I'm started thinking about a Bible verse. And Proverbs, Proverbs 16, you're like, yeah, I know what you're talking about, girl. And it's all about like, man makes the plan and God directs the steps, right? Like we commit our way to God and then it becomes something totally different. And you know, I think you're really speaking also to this idea of like, we hold on to tightly.

    [00:09:58] Melissa Wesner: Right? Yeah. And I remember you sharing that verse at the conference I attended as well. I think that was the verse you shared at the opening. Okay. Maybe I

    [00:10:08] Whitney Owens: did. I don't remember. It's one of my favorites to go back to, especially as business owners, because we, yeah, entrepreneurs, I mean, you're speaking right to our hearts, Melissa, you know, like we want to make these plans.

    [00:10:19] Whitney Owens: We want to do these things. I've been talking to a lot of practice owners that are all talking about goals, which I felt like when 2023 started, that was not a hot topic. You know, in fact, and I think I said this in the intro to another podcast episode, that's right before this one. But like I said, you know what, I didn't make any goals really.

    [00:10:38] Whitney Owens: And then in 2024, I was like, I'm gonna make all these goals, you

    [00:10:41] Melissa Wesner: know? Yeah. And so it's interesting because, um, so recently right before you might've seen the pictures, but right before the new year, I went away, my husband and I went away to this place that I absolutely love. And it's like doing your own personal retreat.

    [00:10:57] Melissa Wesner: They have a hundred Brazilian activities you can sign up for. And so the one that we signed up for was like. I don't know, like, kind of like a new year meditation session or something. And so she had to envision that you're like climbing this mountain to get to your goal, which was at the top. And when I was envisioning mine, it was like the ugliest, dark, black, scary mountain that like, does not look like something that you want to climb.

    [00:11:25] Melissa Wesner: And so as I'm envisioning myself climbing this mountain, and I'm like crunching on this like, Dark, crunchy, not so great soil. I'm like, do I really want to do this? Is this goal at the top of the mountain worth all this? This is not even nice. Um, and then she talked about like inviting someone in along the way.

    [00:11:47] Melissa Wesner: And as I was, you know, going through this Guided visualization, like I thought of God being there and immediately God being on the journey kind of transformed this ugly, ugly, like really ugly scene that I had into something that just felt so much easier and realizing that I don't have to carry all this.

    [00:12:11] Melissa Wesner: I don't have to, this isn't about me doing things on my own all the time.

    [00:12:16] Whitney Owens: Girl, you're like bringing me to tears here. Really beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I, I think that that image is gorgeous in the sense of, I mean, it's not really, but in the sense of, I think a lot of people feel that way. We're climbing up these mountains that why do we even make these our goals?

    [00:12:34] Whitney Owens: Yeah, the money goals that I hear for practice owners, it's like, who cares how much money you make? Like, I mean, it's one thing if you need money to actually feed your family, but I don't think many of us are in that situation and then we want to show off how many numbers we have behind our revenue and all this stuff.

    [00:12:53] Whitney Owens: What mountain did you have to climb to get there? Mm hmm.

    [00:12:56] Melissa Wesner: Right. It was worth it. Yeah, and those are the things that I think people don't see, right? You know, and one of our newsletters that I sent out recently, I was talking about how sometimes people will say like, Oh, you know, it looks like you're doing these great things.

    [00:13:09] Melissa Wesner: I see you're doing this and that. You know, but sometimes I have a hard time receiving that feedback because I don't want anyone to have this false impression. Like I've just been having a great old time, you know, like, yes, it's been wonderful. Everything is great. Like whatever new thing that I'm doing, like probably entailed a lot of work behind it.

    [00:13:30] Melissa Wesner: Like some of the projects I have now are really fun, but some of them have been a lot of work. And so I don't want anyone to have this impression like. You know, someone's seeing something and thinking like, I haven't been putting in hours of work or effort behind it.

    [00:13:48] Whitney Owens: Well, you spoke to the most important part in your image.

    [00:13:50] Whitney Owens: There is, is God with us, you know, when we're climbing that mountain, that, that it's not just a mountain that we created, or we decided that, that we really felt the Lord leading us to. And even if it's, I mean, some of those mountains are beautiful and perfect, you know, in so many ways, and some of them are a lot harder.

    [00:14:07] Whitney Owens: And if he is with us in that.

    [00:14:10] Melissa Wesner: Yeah, makes it easier. Yeah, and realizing like it's not just about me. I'm not just doing it on my own. Um, and it makes it so much lighter, easier and knowing that whatever that outcome will be is going to be so much better and bigger than whatever we would have come up with on our own and maybe easier.

    [00:14:30] Melissa Wesner: And it makes me think about there's, um, the second episode that I share on the new podcast. I talk about a trip to Mexico and my husband and I went and there I talk a little bit. I don't share this part, but there was a pastor who was a guest speaker at this church that we attended and it just so happened that he was talking about dreams.

    [00:14:52] Melissa Wesner: And he was talking about when we're dreaming, right, that we want to come up with a dream that's so big that, really, it's a dream so big that, like, we could only get there if God was helping us, right? And so he gives an example of, like, a little old lady in the church who's like, And God, please give me, like, I just need five more pesos to pay the rent this month.

    [00:15:13] Melissa Wesner: And she's all upset. And he, you know, makes a joke of it, like, everyone sitting in the circle there is, like, pulling out their money so this lady can get her, like, five more pesos to pay the rent or something. And he uses this as an example of someone else who's, like, praying this, like, huge, huge, huge, huge, huge, huge prayer, this big, big, big dream.

    [00:15:31] Melissa Wesner: And all the other people are, like, grumbling, like, oh, my goodness, can you, like, believe that this person is dreaming so big? Um, you know, but he talks about, like, um You know, there's okay to dream big, um, and to ask God for the things that are so big that, um, that only He could be able to help us with, right?

    [00:15:50] Melissa Wesner: Um, and I think that that sermon was one that just really had an impact on me as someone who really likes to dream. Um, but again, it's a reminder of God has to be in that picture too. Mm hmm.

    [00:16:04] Whitney Owens: Yeah. All right. So I'm sitting here thinking about maybe my own goals or the goals of other entrepreneurs that are listening to the podcast.

    [00:16:13] Whitney Owens: It's like, how do we know that we're holding them too tightly and how do we make those changes?

    [00:16:18] Melissa Wesner: Yeah. I mean, I think for me it was the energy behind it when you just feel like you're going hard, right? Like, I just feel like, you know, I'm going to take this thing by the horns and I'm going to go at it. But that energy also didn't feel.

    [00:16:32] Melissa Wesner: Good. It felt stressful. Didn't feel like ease. Um, and so we can have goals, but is it stopping me from having ease? Is it stopping me from feeling good? Are those goals creating stress? Um, and if they are, then perhaps, you know, there's another way to get there without those goals creating stress for us.

    [00:16:58] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah. I do think things are more natural when we're in the spirit. You know, they come and I, I mean, I feel like I hit some goals last year that I didn't even realize I was hitting. And then I looked back and I was like, Oh, that happened now last year was really hard for me as well, which I've talked a lot about, but it was really amazing to see that I still like accomplished all these things.

    [00:17:23] Whitney Owens: But, but beyond that, it's about God transforming us. Right through our goals as we pay attention as we do this life with him and our, and our business, I feel like God is transforming me in that process. And I think that's where we see God.

    [00:17:40] Melissa Wesner: Yeah, and as you're talking there, I'm also thinking about, like, timing, right?

    [00:17:44] Melissa Wesner: Like, if we're sitting, like, when we talk with clients, or like, you're doing a treatment plan, you're thinking about, like, the timing, right? T, time oriented or time limited, right? And I think also for me last year was like, okay, like I have this goal. I want to achieve it in this time frame, which created so much stress, like needing to achieve this goal in this timeframe.

    [00:18:05] Melissa Wesner: And for whatever reason, I had been looking at, um, A Web page that I created a long time ago for my, uh, consultation practice that I've since closed. Um, but I was talking about kind of my journey to opening a private practice to opening a group practice. And, uh, there certainly is a place for being intentional.

    [00:18:27] Melissa Wesner: About goal setting, like the name of my consultation practice was intentional practice. So I believe in the role that being intentional can play. But as I was looking at the web page about my own personal journey to opening my private practice and group practices. None of it was intentional, like having a private practice was not on my radar.

    [00:18:47] Melissa Wesner: It wasn't anything on my wish list. Having a group practice was not either, but they were just kind of more natural next steps to flow into. It was kind of a more intuitive process. And so even this year thinking about In my experience, it hasn't been that I've made this goal that I need to achieve in this time frame.

    [00:19:07] Melissa Wesner: It was just kind of allowing life to unfold in its natural timing and kind of listening to myself a little bit more intuitively.

    [00:19:15] Whitney Owens: Hmm. I love this. Yes. Cause the spirits within us, right. Bringing things up. Um, yeah, I mean, I feel the same way. Like I've had. I never thought I'd start my own practice necessarily as soon as I did never.

    [00:19:30] Whitney Owens: I thought I'd have a group practice all the same things that you just said. It just came as a natural next step. And you spoke to this earlier when you 1st started about having fun. Right and I think the spirit works in that way to, like, the things that look like fun. Are the creative, exciting parts of God within us moving us forward into these venues.

    [00:19:53] Melissa Wesner: Yeah. And right now with any new project that I'm doing, I'm thinking about like, is that fun? Is that going to be enjoyable? Um, I don't want to feel stressed. And you know, and even with my team, like I want to have fun with them. So that's going to inform like how we do our new year retreat. Like it's not going to be a new year retreat where we're going over These are the big goals for this year, which I did to them last year.

    [00:20:15] Melissa Wesner: I don't think they liked it. Um, like we're going to have more fun. We're going to be paying attention to ourselves and, um, doing something that feels better. Mm hmm.

    [00:20:27] Whitney Owens: Well, you got me, you gave me some things to just chew on. We're doing our meeting tomorrow. Oh, but, but yeah, I'm looking forward to it. At least I was like, let's have lunch.

    [00:20:38] Whitney Owens: That'll be fun. Yeah. I love it. Um, great. Is there anything else to kind of talk through here that you're thinking about with goal

    [00:20:46] Melissa Wesner: setting? Um, I mean, just for anyone who might find it helpful, again, this is, I saved it on my phone from when I was away doing my own retreat recently. Um, and it's just the mindfulness concept of non striving, which says to be present with intention, While letting go of attachment to future results.

    [00:21:08] Melissa Wesner: So not only was I like, yep, here you go again, like one last reminder from 2023. Um, but also I was like, Melissa, how have you not ever heard about this mindfulness concept of non striving before? Like you've literally read multiple books on mindfulness and you've done groups on them. Um, so besides judging myself temporarily for not knowing it earlier, um, you know, for anyone else who needs that concept, um.

    [00:21:38] Melissa Wesner: That's what it is. Non striving. I

    [00:21:41] Whitney Owens: know. I can relate to so many things you're talking about. So I'm like laughing at myself. Um, because yeah, it's, it's so true. I mean, I liked what you said, non attachment to the outcome. That's what I do. I get really attached to what outcome I want. And then when that doesn't happen, I get mad and we've got to change our mindset that like.

    [00:22:02] Whitney Owens: When one door closes, another opens like pivoting and knowing there's something better out there. And even as I think back on times in my life where things didn't go the way I wanted them to, usually they went better. Yeah.

    [00:22:14] Melissa Wesner: Yeah. And, um, I don't know if you're familiar with like the heart math Institute books.

    [00:22:18] Melissa Wesner: I read one of them, um, on like, I think it was on anxiety. And so they also, like, brought up this concept, and they were like, not only, like, the more that we cling to something, like, oftentimes the opposite of that thing that we want is what happens. And I'm like, Mm. Yep. Yep. Yep. Got it. You know, but sometimes we get a message in the right time.

    [00:22:41] Melissa Wesner: Like, if I had been seeing that very same message, you know, a hundred times in 2022, I don't know that I would have got it. Right? Like, I would have been like, okay, that's a nice little thing to say. But I don't think it would have, I don't think my brain would have latched onto it or understood the significance of it.

    [00:22:57] Melissa Wesner: So sometimes we just need a certain message in just the right time when we're gonna get it.

    [00:23:03] Whitney Owens: I appreciate you saying that it makes me feel a lot better. I, the other thing I was thinking about with your analogy about the mountain and God going with you. Um, and this came from yesterday. Actually, my, you know, my husband is a senior pastor.

    [00:23:17] Whitney Owens: I don't know that, but yeah, he's doing a good job and he preached on Ecclesiastes four and it was like about, you hear this a lot in weddings. Two are better than one better investment and all this and he was like, well, Whitney, you know, people really just pull that verse out for weddings. It's really beyond that.

    [00:23:33] Whitney Owens: It's about us working together and and the whole passage about life is meaningless to chasing after the wind, but when we have someone to share it with. The power in that and the joy in that, and that really stuck with me too, as I think about our work. Like we don't have to take on our goals and our work alone, that when we can share our goals with others, when we can have success together, when we work on the goals together, like that's where life is fulfilling.

    [00:24:00] Whitney Owens: Yeah.

    [00:24:02] Melissa Wesner: Yeah. And you're making me think, you know, so last year, uh, we started doing like a word for the year at our office. And last year, our word was together, understanding how each person's role, like, yes, it's about them taking charge of their role, but understanding how each of our roles impacts. The whole impacts, you know, the entire practice impacts one another.

    [00:24:24] Melissa Wesner: Um, but the word that's been coming to my mind for this year is community. Um, and it's been one of the things that we try to cultivate internally at my office, like a sense of community. That's a really important part of our office culture, but also thinking about community, like building community outside of our office.

    [00:24:41] Melissa Wesner: Um, and community is. One of the things that's really been standing out to me with, like, the clinician community membership, creating community, a place for us to be, to not feel lonely, to not feel isolated. Um, and even with the retreat to Costa Rica, it's community, right? Business ownership can feel really lonely.

    [00:24:58] Melissa Wesner: And even if you have friends and family to talk to, like, sometimes, you know, if they're not a business center, they might not get it. The risk, the responsibility, the money. Um, And so really that is the word that's been coming to me and it's the word that I have selected for our 2024 word of the year. I love

    [00:25:17] Whitney Owens: that.

    [00:25:18] Whitney Owens: Yeah. I was reading Henry now and this morning and the, the part I read was like leadership is not a solo thing. It's a community thing and that's important. So this is a good segue into talking about your Costa Rica retreat. So can you share about

    [00:25:34] Melissa Wesner: that? Yeah, so I'm super excited about it. Um, I am going to be leading a retreat in Costa Rica this April, the 14th through the 19th for business owners who are looking for community and who might be feeling a little bit.

    [00:25:50] Melissa Wesner: Um, there's some really interesting research that we found at my office, looking at business owners and their mental health. And I think 1 of the studies said that, like, 92 percent of business owners experienced mental health problems in the past 2 years. And then it was like, and only 21 percent took any time off, uh, or like, you know, very low percentage did anything about it.

    [00:26:19] Melissa Wesner: You know, so there's a lot of stress and responsibility, uh, long hours that business owners might be working, uh, or taking care of other people, if it's employees, or maybe you're, you're thinking about how you have to take care of your family through your business. Um, but we need to be able to take time out for ourselves as well.

    [00:26:36] Melissa Wesner: Um, and I believe, and I think there's research to support it, that when we are feeling Healthy and we are taking care of ourselves that allows us to be more creative, feel more alive, and when we are more creative, we have ideas for our business when we feel good, we show up differently for our team, for our clients, for our family, and, um, So sometimes I think we put our self care on the back burner as something that's not important or something that's not helpful to our business when in fact, um, us taking care of ourselves is really important for our business and employees and clients and our families.

    [00:27:13] Whitney Owens: Moodily. Yeah. Okay. So if someone's interested in Costa Rica, how do they get more information?

    [00:27:19] Melissa Wesner: Yes. So it's a long web page, so I have it for you to put in the show notes. But, um, if you go to my website, LifespringCounseling. net, and if you look under the services tab, you will find the Costa Rica retreat.

    [00:27:33] Melissa Wesner: And we're going to give a, um, discount code, a promo code so you can, um, get a little discount on the trip that's coming up, but it's going to be great luxury location, really unique lodging. We have like these domes and jungles and it's going to be really cool.

    [00:27:49] Whitney Owens: Perfect. Well, we're going to get all that in the show notes, but just so that, um, listeners have the code.

    [00:27:54] Whitney Owens: Can you say it just so they have it?

    [00:27:55] Melissa Wesner: Yes, it's going to be Costa Rica 2024 Costa Rica all caps. So Costa Rica 2024 and that promo code will be good until the end of March. Perfect.

    [00:28:08] Whitney Owens: All right. And then you've got a podcast. So tell us a little bit about the new show.

    [00:28:13] Melissa Wesner: Yeah, so we just launched on the second, which is exciting.

    [00:28:16] Melissa Wesner: So it's the dreaming and doing podcast. And really the podcast is for people who are big dreamers, but who also want to take action on their dreams. And I'll be talking with entrepreneurs and wellness, uh, experts about some of their big dreams and some things for people to think about as they're exploring their big dreams.

    [00:28:36] Melissa Wesner: And hopefully it'll be, um, eventually a place where people can find community and support as they pursue their big dreams.

    [00:28:42] Whitney Owens: Hmm. We need it. Well, this has been such a joy for me. I've got some things to chew on just from our conversation. So I love podcasting and really was a pleasure to have you come on the show and, uh, we really

    [00:28:54] Melissa Wesner: appreciate it.

    [00:28:55] Melissa Wesner: Yes. Thanks so much for having me.

    ​

    [00:29:17] Whitney Owens: Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Sitecraft Podcast Network, a collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives. To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to sitecraftnetwork.

    [00:29:37] Whitney Owens: com. The Wise Practice Podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.

    ​

Whitney Owens https://whitneyowens.com
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