Wrapping Up 2024: Reflections, Gratitude, and What’s Next for 2025
In this episode of the Pursuit of Wellness podcast, Mari Llewellyn reflects on the life changes and relationships that marked her year in 2024. She shares her journey of building a fulfilling community in Austin, exploring new hobbies like farming and horseback riding, and candidly discusses the challenges and lessons learned during her fertility journey.
Llewellyn also celebrates the tremendous success of her podcast, which topped health charts with over 10 million downloads this year. She expresses her passion for using her platform to explore often-overlooked women's health topics like PCOS and fertility, hinting at exciting upcoming projects while maintaining the show's core authenticity and value for listeners.
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1-Page Summary
Life Changes and Relationships
Mari Llewellyn moved to Austin in January 2024 with the intention, as she describes, of "focusing on building relationships that are like for a lifetime." By the end of the year, she felt fulfilled having formed her "dream circle" of meaningful friendships and community connections.
Llewellyn has embraced a new lifestyle focused on hobbies like farming, cooking, and horseback riding. She conveys contentment in pursuing agricultural interests and equestrian passions, even considering incorporating them professionally. This shift reflects her prioritizing personal fulfillment alongside her work.
While her family is geographically dispersed, Llewellyn doesn't find the distance difficult due to their independent lifestyles. However, she acknowledges potential challenges when starting her own family.
Fertility and Personal Health
Llewellyn candidly shares how her fertility journey "consumed" and "shaped" much of her 2024, leading to periods of obsession and stress. Over time, she learned to adopt a more relaxed approach while still prioritizing her goals.
She found discussing her struggles openly provided a sense of community and normalcy. However, some insensitive responses made her selective about which conversations to share publicly.
Llewellyn implies the importance of overall health habits like nutrition and stress management in supporting her fertility journey's physical and emotional demands.
The Pursuit of Wellness Podcast
Llewellyn celebrates her podcast's tremendous success, topping health charts with over 10 million downloads. She's proud to be one of the few women represented in these top-ranked shows.
Llewellyn is passionate about using her platform to explore often-ignored women's health topics like PCOS and fertility. She hints at upcoming exciting projects, including live events, while ensuring the show maintains its core authenticity and value for listeners.
1-Page Summary
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Actionables
- You can foster deep connections in your community by initiating a monthly themed dinner club where each member hosts a turn, allowing for shared experiences and the cultivation of close relationships.
- This strategy encourages you to actively engage with your neighbors or local community members by organizing a dinner with a specific theme each month, such as "Farm-to-Table" or "Cultural Cuisine Night." It's a chance to bond over food, share stories, and create a sense of belonging, much like building a "dream circle" of friends.
- Start a hobby group focused on outdoor activities like gardening or trail riding to merge personal interests with social interaction.
- By creating a group centered around a common interest, such as a community garden club or a casual equestrian group, you can meet like-minded individuals who share your passions. This not only enriches your personal life with fulfilling activities but also opens doors to new friendships and networks.
- Implement a "wellness hour" into your weekly routine, dedicating time to activities that support your physical and mental health, such as yoga or meditation.
- Setting aside a specific hour each week for self-care practices can help you maintain a balance between personal fulfillment and your other responsibilities. This "wellness hour" could include activities that promote relaxation and health, such as yoga, meditation, or even preparing a nutritious meal, reflecting the importance of health habits in supporting overall well-being.
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Life Changes and Relationships
Mari Llewellyn’s life transformation in Austin reflects her commitment to forging strong friendships and investing in personal happiness through hobbies and family connections.
Transitioning to a new home and community in Austin
Moving to Austin was an intentional life decision for Mari Llewellyn as she aimed to establish rich, long-term friendships and integrate meaningfully with her new community.
In her move, Llewellyn was clear about her aspirations: focusing on creating lifelong relationships with people who would become an integral part of her life. Though she felt stressed about her move from LA to Austin in January 2024, by December of the same year, she felt a deep sense of contentment, having formed her 'dream circle' of friends, neighbors, and colleagues.
Intentionally sought out meaningful friendships and personal connections in the new city
Mari expressed her fulfillment in having found "amazing friends" in Austin. She articulated her intent to "focus on building relationships that are like for a lifetime," highlighting the importance of establishing deep bonds within her new city.
Striking a healthier work-life balance and embracing hobbies
Llewellyn has prioritized balancing work with personal fulfillment, investing her time in activities like farming, cooking, and horseback riding, which she finds truly rewarding.
She opened up about her desire to dedicate more time to hobbies that bring her joy and to nurturing interests such as cooking. Mari has embraced her new country lifestyle, complete with the chickens she always desired and her passion for Western-style riding.
Further exploring her agricultural interests, Mari expressed her ambition to improve her farming skills and expand on her farming journey. She also shared her love for horses, and her plans to potentially incorporate her equestrian pursuits into her professional life, like recording podcasts at the barn, suggestive of how her personal interests have started to inform her professional activities.
One telling instance of her new lifestyle priorities is her photo shoot with her horse, Red, where she conveys a sense of true contentment that she derives from being around animals. Additionally, Mari discussed her preferences in saddles and her search for a "husband horse," contrasted with her previous fitness-focused content, re ...
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Life Changes and Relationships
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Counterarguments
- While Mari Llewellyn has successfully formed a close circle of friends in Austin, it's important to note that deep relationships often take more than a year to fully develop and mature.
- Prioritizing hobbies and personal interests is beneficial, but it's also crucial to maintain a sustainable balance with work responsibilities, as hobbies can sometimes become distractions if not managed properly.
- Incorporating personal interests like equestrian pursuits into professional life can be enriching, but it may also present challenges in maintaining professional boundaries and ensuring that work quality remains high.
- While Mari expresses contentment with her life in Austin, it's possible that the novelty of the move and the initial excitement of new activities can sometimes give a skewed sense of long-term satisfaction.
- Geographic dispersion of family can be appreciated for its indepen ...
Actionables
- You can deepen your local connections by starting a neighborhood skill swap where you exchange your expertise or time for someone else's, fostering relationships and shared interests.
- By organizing a skill exchange, you create an environment of mutual support and learning. For example, if you're good at cooking, offer to teach a neighbor in exchange for gardening tips. This not only helps you integrate into the community but also allows you to develop new friendships based on shared growth and interests.
- Consider adopting a pet from a local shelter to enhance your daily routine with companionship and structure, which can lead to meeting fellow pet owners.
- Pets, especially dogs, require regular walks, which can be a great way to meet people in your area. Additionally, attending pet training classes or visiting dog parks can introduce you to a community of pet lovers, potentially leading to lasting friendships.
- Explore local community centers o ...
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Fertility and Personal Health
Mari Llewellyn reflects on her personal fertility journey, detailing the emotional and mental challenges, the value of support and transparency, and the importance of maintaining overall health and wellness.
Navigating the emotional and mental challenges of the fertility journey
Throughout the year, Mari Llewellyn's fertility journey has significantly impacted her, leading to periods where the quest to become pregnant consumed her life and caused obsession and stress. Over time, she found herself shifting from an obsessive focus, particularly noted at the beginning of the year, to a more relaxed stance by December of 2024. Llewellyn expresses that, despite this newfound relaxation, her fertility goals remain a priority for her.
She anticipates that 2025 could bring the significant milestone of getting pregnant, which she hopes will allow her to pay less attention to this ever-present topic in her life. She candidly conveys how this personal endeavor has weighed on her, influencing not just her private life but her work-life balance and professional activities as well.
Shared how the fertility journey consumed much of her life this year, causing periods of obsession and stress
Mari conveyed that the fertility journey "really did shape [her] year" and that it "consumed a lot of [her] life," leading to an obsession that prevented her from being happy in the present.
Learned to be more relaxed and let go of the outcome, while still prioritizing her fertility goals
She fought through the obsession and learned to let go of the outcome, becoming "way more relaxed about it still," while concurrently keeping fertility as "a priority."
Seeking support and being transparent about her experiences
Found that openly discussing her fertility challenges helped provide a sense of normalcy and community
Discussing her fertility journey openly made Mari Llewellyn feel supported and seemed to help others, fulfilling her purpose of sharing struggles.
Encounte ...
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Fertility and Personal Health
Additional Materials
Actionables
- You can track your emotional and mental health by keeping a daily journal where you note your feelings and stress levels, especially if you're going through a challenging personal journey like fertility. This can help you identify patterns and triggers, allowing you to adjust your approach to self-care and seek support when needed.
- Create a personal milestone timeline that includes both your primary goals and smaller, more immediately achievable objectives. This can help you maintain focus without becoming overwhelmed, and you can celebrate each small victory along the way to keep motivation high.
- Start a private online group or join an ...
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The Pursuit of Wellness Podcast
"The Pursuit of Wellness" podcast, hosted by Mari Llewellyn, is experiencing rapid growth and success, with significant impacts and plans for future expansion being discussed by Llewellyn herself.
Experiencing tremendous growth and success with the podcast
Celebrated the podcast's rise to the top of health and wellness charts, reaching over 10 million downloads
Mari Llewellyn shares her elation as her podcast, "The Pursuit of Wellness," secures top positions on platforms like Apple's mental health and health and fitness charts, as well as Spotify's charts, accumulating over 10 million downloads. The show has transformed Llewellyn's life, her career, her approach to health, and how she processes her trauma. The engagement and support from listeners, who have contributed ideas and helped bring on notable guests, have been pivotal to the success and growth of the podcast.
Recognizing the podcast's impact and importance
Proud to be one of the few women represented in the top health and fitness podcast rankings
Llewellyn notes with pride her status as one of the few women in the male-dominated top rankings of health and wellness podcasts. She is passionate about using her platform to delve into women's health topics that are often sidelined or ignored, such as PCOS, fertility, and the effects of processed foods and beauty products on health.
Continuing to evolve and expand the podcast's reach
Excited about upcoming projects and announcements, including plans for live events and tours
While specifics are not detailed, Llewellyn is bubbling with excitement over creati ...
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The Pursuit of Wellness Podcast
Additional Materials
Counterarguments
- While the podcast's download numbers are impressive, they don't necessarily reflect active listener engagement or the quality of the content.
- The transformation of Llewellyn's life and career through the podcast is subjective and may not be a direct result of the podcast's success alone.
- Listener engagement is crucial, but the podcast's success might also be attributed to marketing strategies, industry connections, or current trends in podcast topics.
- Being one of the few women in the top health and fitness podcast rankings is commendable, but it also highlights a broader issue of gender disparity in the industry that needs to be addressed.
- Focusing on often overlooked women's health topics is important, but ensuring that the information provided is evidence-based and includes perspectives from medical professionals is also crucial.
- Excitement about upcoming projects is natural, but it's important to manage expectations as not all announced projects ma ...
Actionables
- You can start a wellness journal to track your personal health journey, noting down insights from various sources and your own experiences. This could include tracking your nutrition, exercise, mental health, and any symptoms or improvements you notice over time. For example, if you're dealing with PCOS, you could record how different foods and activities affect your symptoms.
- Create a small discussion group with friends or online to talk about underrepresented health topics that interest you. This could be a monthly meet-up where each person brings a new piece of information or a personal story related to topics like fertility or women's health, fostering a supportive community.
- Enga ...
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