The Power of Mindset in Managing Thyroid Health | Annabel Bateman | Ep 102

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by managing a long-term health condition like Hashimoto's or Graves? Discover the crucial role mindset plays in navigating this journey and how it can lead to lasting improvements for your thyroid health. 

In this episode I cover: 

Understanding the Mind-Body Connection

• Explanation of the mind-body connection and how it affects thyroid health.
• Gut-brain connection - importance of trialing gluten, grain and sugar free

Positive Mindset and Self-Talk

• Importance of maintaining a positive mindset and self-talk in managing thyroid conditions.
• Taking a long term mindset approach.
• Practical tips for cultivating a positive mindset, such as making decisions,  gratitude journaling, affirmations,  visualization, love notes, reframing, vision boards, prayer & dressing with positivity.
• Self talk and the learning to accept compliments.

Goal Setting

• What mindset do you WANT?
• Tips for setting achievable goals and creating action plans for thyroid health.
• Introduction to the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goal-setting framework.

KISS Coaching segment 

• What action do you need to take to work on your mindset based on today’s podcast?

Related episodes:
#16 Dr Phillippe Douyon
#31 A word for your health
#37 Angela Brown
#60 Matty Lansdown
#62 Stacey Robbins

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https://letstalkthyroid.com/kiss

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Transcript

Annabel Bateman: 0:01

Hello and welcome to episode 102 of the Let's Talk Thyroid podcast. I'm your host, annabel Bateman. Today we're going to talk all about mindset because really I really believe that if we get our mindset right or on the right track around learning to live with a long-term health condition like Hashimoto's or Graves or any thyroid condition is a long-term endeavor then it actually really helps to manage your health and all the other aspects of that what I call a thyroid friendly lifestyle the diet and lifestyle factors much easier if you've got the mindset right and you've learned how to kind of adapt and make decisions and adapt that mindset. So that's what we're diving into today. Before we do that, i want to give you an update from the last episode when I interviewed Dr Ben Gary-Alt who was talking about you might remember we were talking about the continuous glucose monitors. Well, i've done a bit of research into what's available in Australia for someone like me who does not have type 1 or type 2 diabetes and I found a couple of things. I've shared the links in my Let's Talk Thyroid community Facebook group. I will do that in the.

Annabel Bateman: 1:19

I'll go back to the show notes for last week's episode and I'll put the links in there, but essentially you can go to freestylelibracomau and contact their customer service. They will send you a letter that you need to get. They'll send you an email that sets out information about getting a letter from your doctor and basically prescribing it off label, and then you can purchase through them. The other option I found actually someone told me about it just recently is it's called dexcom g6 and currently at least at the time of recording this, which is the 21st of June They have a special deal going on at the moment for only $32 you can get essentially a system that has three sensors that will last 10 days each, which is probably for me that's enough. I've actually ordered this system. It hasn't arrived yet, but I will give you an update as to how I go with that. So I'll make sure I put those details in back in last week's show notes, so it's relevant to that episode. But I wanted to give you that update just so you know what I've done. And that's Australia information. Obviously, outside of Australia I don't know what you can do. You'll have to do your own research for finding out about that. Continue to glucose monitor if you're wanting to Just track the way your blood sugar responds to what you eat and what you're going through on a daily basis so that you can make adjustments accordingly to balance out and not have those high highs and the low lows that Ben was talking about in the last episode. So that is that.

Annabel Bateman: 2:54

The other thing I want to let you know is I've now finished the website for my brand new program that's going to start on the 10th of July. It's called KISS Thyroid Coaching. It's going to go for eight weeks. It's all about helping those of you who are really ready to make lasting change for your thyroid health. You might have dabbled and made bits of changes along the way, but you're really ready to make those implement, those things into your lifestyle that are going to last. So all the things that we talk about on this show, that is what we're going to implement throughout the program. It's essentially based on my book Let's Talk Thyroid and the Four Pillars, which are mindset, which we're going to dive into today unwinding food and low-tox living. But we're going to look at your thyroid story, building a support team. We're going to do 30 days in the middle of a focused effort on anti-inflammatory foods and removing the typically inflammatory foods, which has been my kickstart program that's going to be incorporated in the eight weeks. I'm really excited. I've been putting it together. This has been brewing for probably a couple of years. Actually, when I wrote the book, i knew I wanted to write a program to go with it, so it's underway. The website, which has all the information, is now live. It is Let'sTalkThyroidcom forward slash kiss, kiss, meaning keeping it super simple, so Let'sTalkThyroidcom forward slash kiss.

Annabel Bateman: 4:27

At the moment, at the time of recording, until the second of July, you can just join the waitlist. What that means is you're going to get an email straight away that just says welcome to the waitlist and it's going to give you some preparation, which essentially is reading my book, let'stalkthyroid. So if you haven't read that yet, do read that. The course is going to be based around that and I think it's really helpful if you've read it. Obviously, i guess. If you don't, then you don't. That's okay, but it's giving you time to do that before we start.

Annabel Bateman: 4:56

The doors to the program will open to register from the second of July. On that second of July I'm also going to do an information webinar. So if you're on the waitlist, you'll definitely get the information about that, and that's just really if you want to find out more information. You're not sure if it's for you, you don't know. If you want to make the commitment, you can come along to the webinar. I'm going to give you an overview, show you what you get, show you what it's like, a bit of a taste, and you'll have the opportunity, obviously to decide then whether you want to commit to it or not. And then the program is going to start on the 10th of July, monday, the 10th of July, so still a couple of weeks away.

Annabel Bateman: 5:35

I just want to start giving you the information so you can start to think about it, because this is actually part of the mindset Is you actually have to be in the right frame of mind to make changes, and you know, i think that's why what I've found when I've run my Kickstart program is that those that tend to join on the last day or even the day that it started and they say no, no, please, please, i want to join actually don't often, often don't end up following through, and I think that's because they haven't actually had the time to prepare their mind, to get your head around making the changes, to decide that that actually is what you're wanting to do. And so I do believe that the preparation time is important, and so that's why, really, i just want you to start thinking about it now. I want you to start thinking about whether you and your thyroid health needs to be making some changes with. Maybe it's not you. You could be already doing what you need to be doing for you for a thyroid friendly lifestyle, and that is perfect. Then my course is not for you. But if you're, if you've been kind of dabbling, if you have not not made any changes at all, you're still just taking your meds, but you're just learning, and you've been listening to this podcast episodes for a while And you know that you're wanting to make some of the changes that we talk about, or some of my guests talk about, but you don't quite know where to start, or it all seems a bit overwhelming, or you're not sure you can do it on your own, then that's exactly who I've made this program for. It really is designed to be will be in a small group. Well, you know, not hundreds, i don't expect, but we'll see. You know I'm certainly. You know I love working with with small groups. I love working with people who are wanting to make those changes.

Annabel Bateman: 7:28

When I first did my life coach training 20 years ago. I loved working with people who are ready to make change And I'd come out of working as a family lawyer, where you're obviously dealing with people in trauma and really, really difficult points of their life and people can get really stuck going through separation, which totally makes sense. But when I came out of that environment and started working in a life coaching, i had a life coaching business. I just loved working with people who were ready for change, because people who are turning up for life coaching week in, week out, they're ready for change And so I love working with people ready for change.

Annabel Bateman: 8:07

If that is you, then this program is for you. But I want you to get your mindset around it. You know, have a think about it, because it's going to. There's an investment in of time that you're going to have to put aside, time. You're going to have to make some changes. This is not just a quick and easy fix. So there we have it. That leads right quite nicely, into the topic of mindset. Actually, that wasn't deliberate, but there we go, that's what happens sometimes. So Yeah, let's now talk about mindset. Welcome to Let's Talk Thyroid. I'm your host, annabel Bateman, this podcast is here to offer you hope and strategies for your own thyroid health. I'm a thyroid coach, author and patient. I've had Hashimoto's for well over 25 years and I'm very much on this thyroid friendly lifestyle journey with you. For more information, go to Let'sTalkThyroidcom.

Annabel Bateman: 9:09

What I actually want to do to start is to read you the beginning part of the chapter of mindset from my book. So my book, originally under the title Kiss and Makeup with Your Thyroid. That was the kiss. Keep it super simple. I did change it to Let's Talk Thyroid so that it was more consistent with the podcast and the brand. But it's exactly the same book And the first, the chapter on mindset, is called Mindset Matters Most.

Annabel Bateman: 9:38

It's all in your head in a good way. So I'm just going to read this little beginning bit. I know people have asked if I've got an audio book. I don't have an audio book yet. I started to record one last year and then I've got to say that ability to publish an audio book on Audible or Kindle Amazon from Australia is not simple, so I think I might wait until it's a bit more simple. In the meantime, sit back.

Annabel Bateman: 10:05

Here's the beginning of the chapter on mindset. Mindset matters In your mind. Does your thyroid hate you? Do you hate it? Has it ruined your life? Do you see your health now as a burden, a regime, a form of torture? Are you battling thyroid disease? Are you a thyroid warrior? Do you think I'll just be, if I'm just really good for a month, then I'll get better? Or you know, have you actually lost hope?

Annabel Bateman: 10:37

Mindset when it comes to your thyroid health isn't about a head in the sand, polyanotype positivity. It's not like a fake it till you make it. Although I do think when you're retraining your mindset, there does need to be an element of statements of faith. I think that's what positive affirmations are. It's like a statement of faith that you're going to rewire your brain into thinking a certain way, but it's not like a fake thing. It is, however, about taking a hope filled, long term approach to managing your health. Reading this book with an unhelpful mindset could well be a waste of time, so that is why it comes first.

Annabel Bateman: 11:18

This is not about a cookie cutter formula for a happy thyroid Happy, healthy thyroid. It's about reframing your thinking, because if you've spent decades of your life on a diet or feeling exhausted, it can take actually a lot of work to reframe your thinking around food, health and maybe even body image. I should say especially body image. I think a lot of us have body image issues. It takes a change of mindset to see changes to diet and lifestyle as a focus on things that are nourishing, and focusing on health and wellness, not on losing weight or a certain number on a scale. It also takes a change of mindset to acknowledge how much of an impact things like mindset and stress matter to. The good news is when it comes to mindset is you get to decide. You get to decide. You can actually make a decision to start or adopt a healthy lifestyle, and I really believe that making those decisions really helps with mindset. And actually setting some boundaries or some rules or some guidelines or however you like to frame it, can be really, really helpful.

Annabel Bateman: 12:31

For example, in the realm of food and I know I've talked about this on the podcast before I just find it so much simpler that I don't eat gluten. I made a decision. It took me lots of dabbling over years, but about 12 years ago I think, i made that decision. After cutting it out for a full 30 days and really noticing the difference, i made a decision. Well, actually not just that. I'd also done a lot of reading and research into the impacts of gluten on thyroid health, gut health, brain health, and so I made a decision that I wasn't going to eat gluten anymore. Now, the process of getting to that decision was quite long and not easy, but once I had made that decision, everything else after that just became so much easier because I don't have to think about it, i don't have to debate every time do I eat gluten now? Do I not? Do I have you know? do I? oh, when I'm out, do I have that cake? Do I have that dessert? Do I eat that pasta? It just became much, much easier Now, like I said, the making the decision not easy Once the decision was made, so much easier.

Annabel Bateman: 13:49

So I think it often is the case with other mindset as well, like just even to think, even making the decision that I'm going to take a long term lifestyle approach to your thyroid health. Now, that might take years to come to that decision, but once you do, then you're looking for ways to align your decisions with that. Align your future decisions like what do I eat and what skincare do I use and what sunscreen will I put on, and you know what. You know what boundaries am I going to set in my relationships. All of those decisions become easier because they're aligned back to the decision that I want to live a thyroid friendly lifestyle. So can you see how their mindset just overlaps all of that.

Annabel Bateman: 14:37

Anyway, i've got distracted from reading my book here, but I just wanted to read that in intro because I really do believe that when you're living with so I've got Hashimoto's when you're living with Hashimoto's or Graves, or even, you know, hypothyroidism without the otomium, which is much less common but still happens we're needing to make long term decisions, because this is a long term process And that I think that's really exciting because, as you've heard me say before, you don't have to do everything all at once. You know you can take your time to work your way through, you know these different elements of living with your thyroid condition. But you know, i really believe that most of the hard is in that decision making process. So I've also.

Annabel Bateman: 15:29

What I'm going to do in the description for this podcast episode is I'm going to link to a number of other previous podcast episodes where we've tackled some of these, like, for example, when I mentioned before about the changing the neuron, the neural pathways in your brain. Quite early on, i did an interview with Dr Philippe Dujon, who is a neurologist, and we were talking about. I was asking him about this sort of positive mindset and, you know, changing where you think, and he said, yeah, you can just form neural part, new neural pathways in your brain, but you have to make an effort to do that. So I'll link to that episode. There's a great, there's been a few. I mean this is a common topic, but I covered it in my interview with Angela Brown, which is episode 37, maddie Lansdown, episode 60, stacey Robbins episode 62. So I've also did one on. I think it was like about having a word for your year, word for your health, which was probably about the end of 2021, i think. So That's got a lot of good stuff that I'm going to come to in a minute about, or towards the end of this, about setting goals And, yes, setting some tangible goals. I kind of go over that in that episode.

Annabel Bateman: 16:48

So this topic of mindset is something that you want to dig a little bit deeper into. Go back and listen to those episodes if you haven't before, or maybe re-listen to them too, because you'll probably hear different things than you did the first time. So that was a very long introduction, isn't it? to the topic of mindset. But you know, i want to break it down into a couple of sections. So I want to cover the mind-body connection, the whole idea of positive mindset and self-talk and the way we, you know, things we think and say to ourselves, and I want to cover a little bit on that goal planning. You know, goal setting and action planning, and, of course, i'll wrap it up with the kiss coaching segment at the end, which, just as a heads up, will be along the lines of what do you need to do as a result of listening to this episode? What changed your mindset or activity or action do you need to take? So, when we're coming to that mind-body connection, i think we all understand that what we believe, what we think, impacts our actions, and so it's going back to those, the beginning parts of well, what do we believe about ourselves, what do we think about ourselves And how does that impact on our actions. But it goes beyond that. We've also got, you know, the gut-brain connection, and so you know, i want to dive into that in a minute too When we're talking about look the reason that I know I'm gonna say, talking about the name of my book, one of the things I really wanted to be one of the possible names I had for my book when I was writing it was Your Thyroid Doesn't Hate You.

Annabel Bateman: 18:37

That was one of the titles of the book that I had on my list of options was Your Thyroid Doesn't Hate You, and I think it can be really easy. And maybe you're listening to this and you don't have a thyroid problem, but you've got a different chronic health problem. Maybe you've got I don't know IBS, or you've got chronic fatigue, or maybe you've got long COVID, or maybe you've got some other autoimmune retinobitoid arthritis, or maybe you've battled cancer, and it could be a whole range of different long-term chronic health issues represented here, and obviously those of us with autoimmune diseases can often get other ones as well, so you might be managing a number of different autoimmune conditions. These are the same. So, whether you think your body hates you, like, what have you done to deserve this?

Annabel Bateman: 19:29

I've chosen over time to reframe that And probably in my understanding of thyroid health, that your thyroid gland, your poor little butterfly shaped gland in your neck, is very sensitive and it does its very best to try to protect you, and it slowing down is actually a form of protection, and so it's doing its best. What we need to do is show it's some love. So, instead of thinking that it hates you, think it's understand that. Reset that framework. Think it doesn't hate you. It's doing its very best job to protect you. So why does it think you need protecting? What do you need to do in your, you know, in your diet and lifestyle? This is where the stress factor comes into it a lot. What's it protecting you from? Like, are you on edge all the time? Are you burning the candles? at both ends You have, you got a really strong trauma response that you haven't managed, you haven't kind of, you know, processed and dealt with. All those stresses heighten your system and your thyroid's trying to help manage. You know, manage that. And so what do you need to do to show your thyroid a bit of love, your self, a bit of love to calm that farm down. So, yeah, that's under thinking about.

Annabel Bateman: 20:55

The way you think about your body is can be really revealing, actually, if you take the time to actually sit down and think. Well, what are the lies that I'm telling myself? You know what are the well, what are the things I believe, and maybe don't even think about whether they're lies or not, but what are the things that I believe about my body, and so just write them down. You know, what do you believe about your body? What do you believe about your thyroid health? Write it down, because if you don't acknowledge it then it's very hard to change it.

Annabel Bateman: 21:31

And, like, i think, one of the things I learned early on, probably in my teenage years, was you know, the reality was that was when my thyroid was blowing out and I didn't know and suddenly wasn't being managed. And this was back in the 80s when, you know, all the diets were all about low, you know, high carb, low fat, which is probably the opposite of what I needed to be doing. And you know, people used to say oh Annabel, you know you've got such a pretty face. And in my mind I thought, yeah, because the rest of my body is really ugly, because I'm fat. So the only thing you can find that's nice about me is that I've got a pretty face. Now, i'm not saying that's what they meant. They probably did not mean that, but that's what I heard, that's how I interpreted it, that was what I told myself for a very long time. Well, you're pretty but you're fat. You know you've got this. You know overall, you know, yeah, you've got a pretty face, but the rest of your body, yeah, it leads a bit to be desired. Or you know it's downright ugly, or you know all sorts of things that I used to tell myself And it probably wasn't.

Annabel Bateman: 22:49

You know, you hear those internal dialogues, but I think being able to write it down is quite helpful, because then you can see, well, what actually are the things I believe about myself, that I actually need to make a change. So, and the way we think, you know, like all these thoughts actually do impact on our thyroid health, because it adds to that level of stress, self-hatred, not feeling like you're worthy of good health, that you may even believe that like you're just not worth the effort to make those dietary changes or to reduce that stress or to say no or any of the other things that we talk about, if you don't believe that you're worthy of that change and that love and that health, and you might not even realize you believe that. So I would encourage you to just, you know, just sit down with a blank piece of paper and think, well, what do I think about myself? And just write it down, warts and all. And then I'm kind of jumping ahead of myself a bit here, but maybe this is where I'll go is. Then you can look at reframing And I do talk, i go through in my book some really practical exercises about how to reframe those thoughts and turn some of them into even positive affirmations.

Annabel Bateman: 24:17

Now I'm gonna, i'm gonna pause that there for a minute. Actually, i might find in my book where I've got that section because I do think it's important to reframe, learn how to reframe. So here we go. I'm reading a couple of examples from my book, because once you've written that list of the way you see yourself, here are some ideas. So here's a negative statement.

Annabel Bateman: 24:48

You might say I'm so sick of the brain fog. Now, that's not a body related thing, but it is a very much a Hashimoto's thyroid thing, isn't it That you can be so sick of like I just can't think. Clearly, i'm so sick of this, like I just wanna be able to think, i wanna be able to function. So I've suggested rewriting it as a gratitude statement. So think about what you're grateful for. Well, i'm grateful that brain fog is an alarm to remind me that something's not right and I can get help. There are things I can do. I may be I need to cut out gluten, maybe I need to use some essential oils, maybe I need to rest, but I'm grateful for this sign that something's not right because it's my clue to do something about it. So that's like a reframe.

Annabel Bateman: 25:38

You could then take it a step further and turn it into a positive affirmation, which is again, i guess, that where you wanna wind up with the way, changing the way you think, and so a positive affirmation could be. My brain is clear and focused. Now maybe you don't feel like that, but I encourage you to work through that process of negative statement, reframing it. How could you rewrite that into a statement that you would like to believe about yourself? Here's another one. I've got pretty common one.

Annabel Bateman: 26:14

Actually, i think when you're starting to make dietary changes, i feel ripped off, just feel slightly ripped off that I can't eat whatever I want. So, rewritten as a gratitude statement could be, i'm grateful that, even though I can't eat whatever I want can't eat that cake or croissant or milkshake or whatever it is I do feel better when I don't And I'm finding some awesome recipes to try with ingredients that I can eat. I need to remind myself that really not many people actually can eat whatever they want and not have some off. And perhaps rewritten as a positive affirmation could be something like I nourish my body with food that makes me feel good. So focusing on what you can have rather than what you can't have. So there's a couple of examples of moving from that negative thought space into the positive thought space.

Annabel Bateman: 27:08

Now I'm gonna come to a few other practical tools in a minute, but I just wanna go back because I've kind of lost my, so I've gone a little bit jumped ahead of myself is I do wanna say if you're a, look, naturally for me I'm naturally a positive thinker. Like I've had to deal with some poor body image and I can be critical and all of that, but by and large, my natural disposition is I am a fairly positive person. I don't think my personality is prone to too much negativity. I mean, i get sick of myself if I'm negative for too long and I have to switch it. I'm not generally prone to feeling depressed, although I have had periods of time where I have been. I'm probably a bit more prone to feeling more anxious and worried than depressed. But I do know that that is not the case for a lot of people and you may be one of these people that is prone to feeling depressed, that you are more of a negative thinking person. That's just your natural disposition. But so I wanna just say this that there is a gut brain connection.

Annabel Bateman: 28:17

Now, i'm not suggesting this is the total picture and I think if you've been listening for a while you'll know that I'm all for taking a very holistic approach and if you need medication, you need medication, definitely for, like I mean, i take my thyroid medication. This is not, but so much can be resolved with diet and gut health and there is a strong gut brain connection. So if you if you I guess what I'm going to say is if you have not removed gluten grains and sugar in particular from your diet and you have be prone to kind of feeling negative or you know, really needy or depressive, or you know you've got, you know that really kind of naturally negative disposition and prone to depression, and you haven't tried removing gluten grains and dairy for at least a month, then can I encourage you to consider that? Maybe get the book Grain Brain by Dr David Pearlmutter. I've talked about that lots of times. It really. He really explains the, the real connection between the gut and the brain and a whole lot of mood disorders. So that's a really interesting read.

Annabel Bateman: 29:36

But I'm not saying it's going to solve all your problems or it's not by any means saying it's a solution to depression or anything like that. But I would say, if you haven't tried taking out gluten grains and dairy no, not gluten grains and dairy, maybe dairy, but gluten grains and sugar then why don't you consider giving that a go for a month and see if that has an impact on your mood and on your thought processes and on your outlook on life. So there's my challenge, because I've just read so much information about that connection that I really felt like, even though this is on mindset, you know, i think we've got to set our bodies up to for the best chance that we can have to have a clear mind and a clear, you know, a positive outlook. And if we actually our physical impacts, you know, on our mental and our mental impacts on our physical, and then you throw in the spiritual dimension and there's, you know, all things into play. So but don't discount the physical.

Annabel Bateman: 30:43

When it comes to the mindset piece, right Now, let's come back to the pot, to the way we talk to ourselves and how we maybe get into a more positive mindset. So first of all I think I mentioned this before but we do need to take a long term mindset approach. That is really the the key. The key key, i think, when it comes to managing is having that taking a long term mindset approach. This is not a quick fix. This is not a. There's no simple solution. There's no magic pill. Your thyroid medication should help if you need it, but it's not the magic pill. But neither is diet and neither is managing stress all on their own. They're not the magic pill. But together, taking that longer term approach, you can see shifts in your thyroid health, see shifts in your reduction of symptoms, in how you think. All of those things do have an impact. But deciding to have that long term approach, i think, is the first step. So here are some practical tips to really cultivate that positive mindset.

Annabel Bateman: 32:00

Now. We've already talked about the reframing. So now and the step before the or part of that reframing is gratitude. Now, i probably don't need to tell you that there's been loads of research done on gratitude and lots of people advocate for writing gratitude journals and just thinking about what you're grateful for, and so that even if you don't feel comfortable with the idea of positive affirmations and kind of a little bit of that faking it till you make it Starting with gratitude, could can be a really a really gentle place to start. So, even if you don't think about your health like, what else are you grateful for, you know, and not just glib things and not just the same things all the time, but just really think deeply like what, what really are you truly grateful for? And, in the context of your thyroid health, what are you grateful for? I can tell you, the biggest thing well, probably the biggest thing I'm grateful for is that it's actually forced me to be healthy, because I have had to think about what do I eat and how do I live and how do I manage stress and how do I kind of reduce the toxic chemicals around me. Yeah, it's all been difficult in different times, but if I hadn't been forced to kind of address all of those things, i don't I really honestly believe I probably would not be as healthy as I am Generally, because I'd just be, you know, doing whatever I wanted to and maybe getting away with it. Maybe not, but I really believe that having something that I've had to learn how to manage in the long term and have to manage in the long term has made me much healthier. So that's probably the biggest new thing that I am grateful for is that it's forced me to be healthy. So get out of journal, start writing things that you're grateful for. I do.

Annabel Bateman: 34:00

I am a believer in affirmations. When, like, there've been years where I've had affirmations on the bathroom wall, i've also I've had, i've got them in front of me. But I've got pages of what I've called love notes, which are really affirmations all about thyroid health. So they're they're yeah, they are what I call my thyroid love notes. Here are some. I've got them in my book. I love my thyroid. My thyroid is happy and healthy. My immune system is calm. I'm perfectly and wonderfully made, my thyroid operates at its optimum. I give myself permission to rest, so it goes on. So I like the affirmations, i like having them up when, particularly, you know, i don't have them up at the moment. I think generally, probably, my mindset has shifted over time, but there've been years where I've had affirmations. You're very welcome to steal mine, but if you write your own they're probably a bit more powerful.

Annabel Bateman: 35:02

I've had different scriptures up around my house. You know, i I firm believer. You know I love the Bible, and lots of what it says actually talks about renewal of your mind, and the way you think determines the way you act. And there's so many different, so I've got different scriptures all up around my house. What else have I got? Yeah, i like that visual reminder And, i think, just having things pinned up. I've gone through stages where I've had affirmations pinned to my bathroom mirror, or I've heard of people writing them on lipstick on their mirror. I don't think I've done that, but you know you can get text like chalk pens and things that you can write on mirror, so you might be just right on your own mirror.

Annabel Bateman: 35:52

What else can you do? Vision boards, i love, i love a good vision board. Now, there's lots of different ways you can do a vision board. I like to do mine at the beginning of each year with some plans and dreams for the year ahead. But maybe you have a vision board for your health, and so you know you get a. See. If I can, i'll spin my computer around. If you're watching it on YouTube, you can see there's my vision board for this year. But there's lots of different ways. You could do a vision board just for your thyroid health And on there you could have things like your support team and your vision.

Annabel Bateman: 36:30

I mean they don't have to be things you will have yet, but you might have their. You know who you want in your support team. You might have some words or pictures that reflect how you feel, like you know energy, or playing with your grandkids, or being able to get up and down off the floor. Or you might have pictures of kettlebells because you want to join the thyroid strong kettlebell crew, or you, you know lots of different. Just that visual reminder And it's like, yeah, that's what I want, that's what I want. Oh, that sounds exciting. I want to work towards that. So I love that visual reminder.

Annabel Bateman: 37:07

I love having vision boards. I've been doing them for years in you know, usually in January I run vision board workshops. So you know, and whether they mind I didn't have lots of words, because I'm a words person but a lot of people, you might prefer to have lots of pictures or a bit of both, doesn't really matter, i like also doing my vision boards on pin boards as opposed to gluing them on cardboard, because then I can take and remove, i can add, i can reuse the board each year. I just make sure I've got a photo of the year before. So, yeah, i'm a big advocate for vision boards And in fact, you don't have to wait till January. In fact, at the moment I've been talking about with some friends of mine doing creating like a prayer board and what we want to. What do we want to pray for and dream for? And so I think you could definitely have a thyroid vision board. How exciting would that be. Let me know if you're going to do a vision board. That would be fun.

Annabel Bateman: 38:05

Dress with positivity. Now, one of the beautiful women in my thyroid community, anna Masetti, has a business called ColourPop Designs. You want to follow her on Instagram? ColourPop Designs, colourspelt the Australian Way, c-o-l-o-u-r. She makes all these beautiful, bright clothes and she talks about dopamine dressing Dressing to spike your dopamine, to spike how you feel. So if you're feeling a bit flat, bring out some colour in your wardrobe. Don't just wear charcoal and black and grey and navy. I know I'm wearing all kind of cream today white and cream but add some colour. I love following her Instagram page because that's her term dopamine dressing.

Annabel Bateman: 38:59

I love it because I think, intuitively, i've been doing that for years. If I feel a bit flat, i'll pull out the colour or I'll get some of my bright earrings. I'll wear clothes that have words on them and encouraging words on them. I've got earrings not the ones I've got into, i've got my little butterfly earrings in today, actually but I've got earrings that say stronger than you know, i am a words person, but I think having those positive words, dressing in a way that makes you feel good, just helps with your mindset. That's where you can. Those actions can influence the way you feel, and the way you feel influences your actions, and it becomes this sort of it can be a really positive cycle or it can be a really negative cycle and you get to choose which way it's going to go. What else did I have? I think that was the last of my positive my oh actually.

Annabel Bateman: 39:59

One more tip is when people give you a compliment, accept the compliment. I think we're very quick to say oh, no, no, no or thank you, but that's something I've learnt over a period of time. Like I said before people used to say, oh, you got such a pretty face, and I'd be thinking, yeah, because the rest of my body is pretty crap. And now, like, i've learnt to accept compliments and just to say thanks, thank you. And you know, and try, well, certainly at least not say anything, oh, but, oh, yeah, but or no, i didn't really. You know, it doesn't matter what the compliment is, i've just learnt to say thank you.

Annabel Bateman: 40:41

And so I think that actually goes a long way as well, because, you know, when you give a compliment to someone, i mean providing you're really genuine, which I think we all are. You know, certainly we should be genuine if we're genuinely giving you a compliment. When somebody doesn't accept that, they say oh, no, no, no, it actually is a bit of a slap in the face back, isn't it Like? it's not. We genuinely, like, give compliments, we want them to be received because we genuinely mean them. And so I think, when someone gives you a compliment, learn how to even if, again, you don't necessarily believe it straight away, even if you just say, oh, thank you, and then maybe go away and really think about it and think, well, wow, they really did mean that, or what were they complimenting me on or, you know, don't be so quick to have that like inner negative self-talk. Rise up and say, ah no, no, no, no, no, you know, just really accept the compliment. That was one of my other practical tips.

Annabel Bateman: 41:48

Now I do think I just want to wrap this up by saying it's important to set goals, and I think what I would do is refer you to that setting a word for your year, for your health episode, if you want to dive into this aspect more. But do set a vision for yourself. Like you know, if you don't have a vision for how you want your mindset to be like, if you don't have a goal for that, i mean, maybe you don't need a specific goal for your mindset, but maybe you do. Maybe you do need to be thinking well, what is that vision for how I want to be thinking about my health, how I want to think about myself, what is the goal that I have for that? Maybe that I'm in the goal. You know you've got that whole smart acronyms specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound smart goals. When you go looking, just look that up, smart goals and you'll find it. But and I do talk about that often when I'm doing my vision board workshops. But even with mindset, think about, well, what actually is a specific goal?

Annabel Bateman: 42:52

Maybe my goal is to write some affirmations, you know, and say them every day for a month. You know, be specific. Like that's pretty specific. I'm going to write 10 affirmations. I'm going to say them every day for a month. That's very specific. It's also measurable. You know, when you've written 10, you know whether you can make a chart. You get ticked off. Set it each day for 30 days. That's measurable. Is it achievable? Well, yeah, that should be achievable. And if you think 10's too many, bear it back to one. And if you said 100, maybe that's not so achievable. So work out what is achievable for you, and that's going to differ. Is it relevant? Well, if you're needing to change the way you think about your health, then probably is relevant, but you've got to want to do that to make that attainable. And is it time bound? Yep, that's a time bound goal. 30 days, that's time bound. So you can see how that goal is a smart goal.

Annabel Bateman: 43:54

But I think what's more important is to work out what is the mindset you want to have for yourself surrounding your thyroid health. And, you know, get some support. You know. Ask for support within your household. Ask for support. Come join the Let's Talk Thyroid community on Facebook. It's a supportive environment, you know. Share some of your goals in there, like. You'll definitely have me cheering you on. I would love to be part of your support team, obviously when we get to do the Kiss Thyroid coaching program. If you join that program it's going to be a lovely, lovely environment. I like building community. You know that I'm all about positive and practical. Some of these exercises that I've talked about here we will definitely be doing. That will definitely be part of the program, because I really do believe that getting our mindset right from the beginning or maybe not the beginning is not the right word but if we get our mindset right and we learn how to be adaptable and we learn how to reframe and we learn how to reframe and we learn how to get to the point where we make decisions and not just flailing around in indecision, then everything else just is easier.

Annabel Bateman: 45:10

I don't mean for a minute that it's easy, but it's easier when we've got a good, a healthy mindset around it. So there we go. We've talked all about what. Have we talked about The importance of taking a long-term mindset. We've talked about the mindset. We've talked about the mind-body connection. We've talked about positive mindset, self-talks and practical tools you can use. We've talked about goal setting. So that is a good wrap-up of the mindset piece, which really is the first of the four pillars that I talk about in my book and in the course and often on this show. So this is not a new topic, but I don't think I've dived into it specifically for quite some time. So there we go. There you have it, and here's your Kiss Thyroid coaching segment is.

Annabel Bateman: 45:59

Well, what action are you going to take as a result of what you've heard today? Do you need to write some affirmations? Would you like to think about how you can dress to reflect more positively? Would you like to make a vision board, a thyroid vision board or whatever you like vision board? Pop that up. Just have a think about what is some positive you're going to take. Well, there we have it. That was the episode on mindset. Stay tuned.

Annabel Bateman: 46:29

Next time, in a fortnight, we're going to be talking about how having a thyroid condition impacts your family and friends around you and how you can talk to them about that. So stay tuned for that one. Have a fantastic fortnight. Come join the Let's Talk Thyroid Facebook group so that we can support each other in our mindset endeavours. And don't forget, if you just want to be on the list so you don't miss the information about the Kiss Thyroid coaching program, head to Let'sTalkThyroidcom, forward slash kiss and you can join the wait list. See you next time. Have a great day, bye. This podcast, whether you're listening or watching, is intended to be positive and practical coaching style information, but it is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, including any thyroid disease, and it should not be used as a substitute for proper advice from a qualified professional.