I somehow got my long-time friend Amanda Frost to agree to come on, and I think you’ll be glad I did. In this light-hearted - yet substantive - conversation, we cover quite a bit of ground. After revealing our real reasons for posting outfits of the day on social media, we continue on to chat about the importance of:

• immunizing yourself against shifting trends and opinions by determining what works for you

• identifying what works for you and what doesn’t, from your personal aesthetic to your ideology to your lifestyle

• allowing flexibility in your perspectives and routines

• investing continually in your self and your craft

• communicating directly

• discovering it’s less about looking good, and more about feeling good

• recognizing and appreciating beauty in everyone

As Amanda framed it, this was simply a play date - and you’re invited.

Follow Amanda on Instagram @amandafrostbeauty

Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram @the_nativist

Visit https://clearstem.com/?ref=eubxjtws and use code WHITNEYRICHARDS for 15% off!

Do you ever feel unable to decode what your body is telling you? Unsure why you’re feeling a certain way, physically or emotionally? Are you caught in a loop of stress/anxiety? Have you experienced persistent, maybe even baffling, symptoms? Do you feel stuck and frustrated? Untethered? Lost? Does the past have a chokehold on you? Or maybe you feel okay but want to feel your best.

In this episode, I explain embodiment, and why you need it for true, optimal health. I outline how and why you can become disconnected from your body, and how to restore that vital connection. This is an episode that may at first glance feel irrelevant to you, but may actually be your missing link - exactly what you need. It definitely was for me.

Thanks for being here.

Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram @the_nativist

We’re constantly encouraged to have a growth mindset; to be disciplined; to always strive to improve and to evolve, in virtually every area of life. But can that ever be taken too far? How do you know when it’s become problematic? What can you do to prevent that? Is there ever a time when a growth mindset is not appropriate or beneficial? What is true growth?

In this solo episode, I highlight red flags to be aware of and questions to consider when setting goals and seeking your highest self. I offer a re-definition of your actual highest self, and explore the importance of self-trust. I differentiate between discipline and dogmatism, and propose how to own your routine (rather than it owning you). I explain why rigid rules are common for those with conditions such as ADHD and eating disorders, and what that rigidity indicates. I reveal the reasoning of why I chose The Nativist brand name, and how I feel about it now.

It’s all so simple, yet so complex. C’est la vie.

Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram @the_nativist

Love. Communication. Discipline. Respect. Resilience. Adaptability. Empathy. Humility. Tenacity. Curiosity. Patience. Consideration. All key words for parenting and for life, and how you apply them matters.

In this episode Byron + Ashley Hunt share how they fostered healthy cohesion while nurturing individual empowerment  - for themselves + their kids. They reveal how they became a close family team that shows up for each other in every way.

They tell us what made the difference for them in cultivating a family that genuinely respects + supports each other.

Their approach contains heavy-hitting life lessons for ALL of us. Worth listening to even if you’re not a parent. Worth listening to if you’re a human who values connection.

Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram @the_nativist

The books we reference in the show:

• The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It by Warren Farrell and John Gray

• The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

• Way of the Warrior Kid: From Wimpy to Warrior the Navy SEAL Way by Jocko Willink

Do we need self criticism? Does it help us more than harm us? Is it essential to high performance, achievement, and fulfillment? What if we stopped? Would we become complacent? Come with me as we address these questions, and I ask you some more questions that may (will likely, hopefully!) stop you in your tracks and prompt you to think about things (particularly yourself) differently than you ever have before.

Thanks for coming along.

Find me on Facebook and Instagram: @the_nativist

From the minute I met her, I loved Maren Watkins - and I’m confident you will too. You know those people who turbo charge your batteries just by proximity? She is one of those. Her titles (mother, group fitness instructor, UpBeat Barre co-founder, former college professor, meme master, fun crusader) inadequately capture her full awesomeness.

In this episode, we distinguish between body positivity and positive body image and highlight the risk of appearance-based compliments. We offer an alternative to body love, and suggest how to not hate your workout. Maren also shares her brilliant technique for framing body image with her kids. And of course, she humbly tells us what it’s like being a co-founder of a global workout sensation: UpBeat Barre (and why it’s so good for you).

We keep it fun, but we also keep it real. Because balance.

Follow Maren on Instagram @marenwfitness (worth it just for her meme commentary)

Find UpBeat Barre on their site: www.upbeatbarre.com or on Instagram @upbeat.barre

Here it is, another deeply personal episode that’s been a long time coming. Today’s topic is my journey with severe eating disorders. I share which eating disorders (yep, multiple) I experienced and what factors triggered them. I talk about my recovery process (including outpatient treatment in Utah), and where I am with it all currently. I highlight what has helped me, to hopefully help and illuminate an issue affecting so many of us, directly/indirectly. Thank you for listening.

Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram: @the_nativist

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I’ve copied and pasted my previous blog post on this (to save you some clicks!):

Body. This area is near and dear to my heart. It's been my passion and focus for more years than I care to count. The truth is...

My body and I haven't always been on the same team, for which I take full responsibility. Blinded by lofty aesthetic and fitness ideals, I tried to force my body into what it wasn't. Superhuman stamina or bust. Six pack or bust. Each day I demanded improvement. It was unacceptable to me to do less than the day before. Rest days were laughable. Just one more rep than the day before. Then one more. Then one more...

With a pace and mentality like that - without the chance to recover - it doesn't take long for your body to B U R N out. And I kept up that pace for a disgustingly long time. I still marvel at how my body kept up with me as long as it did. At the height of it, I was working out over 5 hours A DAY. And we're not talking light jogs - we're talking going A L L  O U T. For example, here was a day in the life:

5:00 am: Wake up and do an Insanity video. Add additional cardio before and after the video started jusssst to make sure I was getting all I could from the workout. After the video ended, repeat a few of the parts I feel I didn't do as well.

7:00 am - Park my car as far from where I was going as possible, so I could squeeze in some extra walking miles to and from classes at ISU.

11:00 am: Kickboxing/aerobics class

3:30/4:00 pm: Arrive to Gold's Gym early, so I could knock out some extra cardio 

4:30 pm: Pilates

5:30 pm: Hip Hop Aerobics

6:30 pm: Body Pump [weight-lifting class]

7:30 pm: Zumba

*In between all of this, I was working and going to school full-time, demanding excellence of myself in those areas as well

By nature, I have an all-or-nothing personality (something I've really had to work to overcome). My days were for working/working out, and my nights were for winding down and eating. In my mind, eating was part of relaxing and releasing - not something I did throughout the day to, ya know, FUEL MY BODY. (facepalm) For so long, I denied my body's screams for adequate rest. For solid nutrition. For self love. 

As you can imagine, my body wasn't too stoked about my regimen, and I wasn't too stoked about my body's refusal to obey. I felt more and more sluggish. Each step was a chore. I wanted to cry, thinking about drumming up the energy to get through each day, yet each time it came to work out, my OCDness kicked into gear and I'd force myself to do just as much or more than the day before. I was terrified of losing the "progress" for which I'd battled (little did I know, my lack of rest was actually hindering progress). Again, in my mind it was all or nothing: if I didn't do as much as I'd done the day before, then all was lost. Ironically, people at the gym nicknamed me "Energizer Bunny" - little did they know how untrue that was. Rather than energy, it was sheer stupid determination powering me. 

As you can see, that drive for "greatness" is a slippery slope. It's always been my biggest strength and biggest weakness.

Eventually, my body waved the white flag. It just.couldn't.sustain.that pace. It had run on fumes for far too long, and it had had enough. I'd magically produce the energy for hard workouts, but could barely put one foot in front of the other otherwise. My sleep suffered. My concentration suffered. I had unshakeable brain fog. My adrenals were shot and my metabolism was wrecked. Add into the mix pre-existing thyroid and sleep issues, and you have a recipe for total disaster. 

While I hold myself fully accountable for the hell I put my body through, I'll be honest: positive feedback from people partly fueled my fire. Even if I didn't initially set out to drop weight, I soon started hearing from people how "fantastic" I looked. How inspirational I was. To "keep up whatever" i was doing "because it's working." The compliments were intoxicating. Naturally, I thought, "What the hell did I look like before? Clearly this is a necessary improvement - I need to keep this up!" To be fair - the complimenters were good-intentioned and had no idea of the true story, but... I will be FOREVER grateful for the very few people who had the courage and compassion to see through the exterior and tell me I looked too thin and worn out. To me - it felt like they were eliminating the pressure to keep it up. They were giving me permission to put down the gloves and quit the fight. That's why to this day, I am always careful about complimenting a person's weight loss - especially if I'm unsure of their motivations/methods. I never ever want to add fuel to their fire. If I do comment, I try to emphasize their fitness - rather than aesthetic - gains. 

Why did I just dump on you like this? Not because I wanted to blab about myself. Not because I wanted to elicit sympathy/pity/awe/etc. My SOLE REASON for bringing you in on this is to prove recovery is possible. TRULY. And to help along your journey of self-acceptance and healing. I would love nothing more.

I'll tell you a secret: I always thought people who said they recovered from body issues were, well...FRIGGIN' FULL OF IT. I thought, "They're just selling a line" or "Yeah, they must not have felt as intensely about it as I did." I never ever ever ever ever ever (times 1,000) thought I would ever be able to achieve balance and have a healthy relationship with my body and fitness. I was convinced I was doomed to a life of hating and resisting my body.  

Well, guess what?!!

IT REALLY AND TRULY IS POSSIBLE. It definitely is not instant. It takes time, effort, persistence, and DESIRE. It takes internal and external support. It takes commitment to being on the same team as your body. And honestly - that's when the magic happens, when you recognize the phenomenon that is the human body, and all it does for you. Once I stopped resisting, things fell into place. Once I truced with my body and allowed it to do its thing, it delivered tenfold. The key is listening to your body. I eat more and work out less, all while looking and feeling better than ever. And there have actually even been times in the past where my body naturally dropped significant weight easily and effortlessly without killing myself. The body has its own reasons for doing what it does - so your best bet is to befriend it. Trust me.

My one and only focus now is feeling good - now and long term. That one objective drives all of my decisions: what I do with my body, and what I put into it. It's just a bonus that I look in the mirror and like what I see, but that's no longer my motivator. There is an undeniable power in getting on the same team as your body. Your body is an intelligent and powerful force. It already knows what it needs, in regards to diet, exercise, rest... All you have to do is tap into that intuition and sync up with it. That's it. Your body naturally does the heavy lifting (literally and figuratively). Get out of your head - especially if it's filled with impossible ideals of how you "should" look - and make friends with that bod of yours. Through this blog, I will share tips and tricks I've found useful on my path to healing. And if you're one of those lucky souls who's never personally faced such issues - as long as you have a body, this blog section is for you! I will share tips in general for looking and FEELING your best. LET'S DO DIS.

xx,

-w-

The topic for this episode was requested by a listener, and what a hard-hitting topic it is, that encompasses so much. The full request was for motivation and showing up for yourself, and this episode covers both, since they’re closely related. This is especially relevant for me as I get back into podcasting. Podcasting elates and fulfills me, but I tend to resist what I know is good for me, and what I know will make me happy, as a form of self sabotage. As if I’m only comfortable when there’s some discomfort. I’m okay with a certain amount of success and wellbeing, but too much and I run scared. It throws me.

I’m progressively mastering navigating this. Knowing when to exercise discipline and push through, and when to grant grace and respite. It’s a journey.

Everybody is different. We’re all in different places on the balance spectrum, and require different lifestyles to balance us. We’re also motivated differently: some intrinsically, some extrinsically. Some derive fuel from the haters and doubters, some withdraw.

Self awareness is key: We need to reflect and do our shadow work and level with ourselves, to know what drives and motivates us, and to know when to use discipline, and when to use grace. To know where to step it up + venture out (literally/figuratively) and where to pump the brakes and ease up. 

I share many of my self-motivating practices and life hacks, to light and maintain my fire. Some of these might surprise you.

Showing up for yourself varies not only interpersonally (among people), but also intrapersonally (with yourself). It’ll likely vary decade to decade, phase to phase, year to year, season to season, month to month, day to day, hour to hour, even minute to minute. Our values shift, our priorities change. Mine definitely have, (especially since COVID). 

We’re growing, evolving (at least hopefully!) beings who don’t live in a vacuum. We don’t control others, and we don’t control what happens to us. 

Being open to it all, accepting, and flowing with it is a main theme of my work. Attending to your ultimate good, and the highest good for all, won’t look the same now as it did before - for you or for anyone else. 

That’s why it’s important to stay connected, especially with yourself. Again, self awareness is CRUCIAL. Powerful. Transformative. Identifying what motivates you. What lights you up. Dialing into why you’re doing what you’re doing, why you’re feeling what you’re feeling, what you need vs. what you think you need. If any wounds/insecurities are calling the shots. When you need to push through and when you need to pull back. When you should contract, when you should expand. When you should pivot and redirect, and when you should stay the course. 

So tune into yourself. Get to know yourself Identify your thought patterns, particularly those based in fear. Understand why you do what you do and think what you think, to help you recognize when you’re being led by fear/trauma, and when you’re being led by intuition/wisdom. Practice separating from your thoughts, your mental narrative. Get comfortable dialing into your core, your true self, your inner wisdom. You know what you need. You always have, and you always will. It’s simply a matter of you holding space for yourself to acknowledge and honor your inner guidance. 

I love you.

This is another episode per request. Though it’s a topic that’s often discussed…it’s still just as relevant and necessary.

And let’s be straight: Self love isn’t always about massages and candlelit baths. Sometimes it’s about tough love. Digging in and doing shadow work. Calling yourself on your bullshit. Identifying and eliminating your toxic habits. As with everything in life, balance is crucial and boundaries aren’t just to apply to other people. They’re not just interpersonal - they should be intrapersonal as well.

I talk about how self love looks like:

• Recognizing and releasing toxicity - yours and others’

• Connecting to yourself

• Honoring your basic needs: emotional, physical, mental

• Communicating directly and authentically, and letting others do the same (without overanalyzing and assuming people hate you/are mad at you)

• Apologizing only for things within your control

• Setting boundaries

• Asking for what you want/need

• Daring to say yes, and daring to say no

• Feeling and navigating your emotions

• Releasing what you can’t control, and prioritizing what you can

• Treating yourself and others with grace and kindness

I hope you find value in this. And I hope you love yourself. Because I sure as hell do.

-w-

In this episode, I sit down with Darren Hansen for a dynamic, fun, and informational conversation. Darren is the owner and head coach of Hansen Athletics, where he and his coaches deliver customized strength and conditioning training to not just athletes, but anyone who wants to be their best self. As Darren highlights, the physical aspect is only part of it. True self optimization happens by showing up for yourself, getting your mind right, dialing in your rest and nutrition, knowing your power, and keeping it SIMPLE.

This episode offers something for everyone, regardless of your current fitness level. If you’re a human and are interested in leveling up and FEELING good - this is for you.

Darren is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, has a BS in Exercise Science, and is a certified USAW-National Coach.

Find Hansen Athletics:

Blog/apparel/podcast: www.hansenathletics.com

Instagram: @hansenathletics

Facebook: HansenAthletics

YouTube: HansenAthletics

HansenAthletics Podcast: Spotify | iTunes | website

Find Darren:

Instagram @coachdarrenh

Twitter @CoachDarrenH

Photos by me

When it comes to fitness, how do I know when to power through and when to rest? How do I know if I’m doing too much? Is it possible to actually like working out? What are tips for staying motivated? What are aspects of fitness I might be overlooking? How can I feel better as I get older?

If you’ve ever had these questions, you’re in the right place. In this episode, I sit down with the powerhouse Jen Simmons of Jriven Fitness to address these and so many more! Jen has many certifications, among which are: NASM CPT; LPTA; USA Level 1.

And we don’t just restrict it to the world of working out. We also discuss business, goals, and inspiration - like how Jen decided to go for it and open her own gym (which has been a smashing success).

It’s a fun, free-flowing, motivational, and knowledge-packed conversation that leaves you feeling PUMPED.

You can find Jen:

Instagram: 

@coachjensimmons

@jrivenfitness

Website:

www.jrivenfitness.com

I sit down with Justen Millerbernd, the most decorated tumbling coach in USA gymnastics HISTORY. Yeah, he's that good.

As with most of The Nativist podcasts, this episode is free ranging and fun loving. We discuss everything from discipline and inner drive to empathy and acceptance.

As an insider in the gymnastics world, Justen reveals his take on the recent scandal and how he maintained his integrity and spoke his truth, even if that meant standing alone.

Not only does Justen share his experience of launching into gymnastics greatness (as an athlete turned coach turned gym owner), but also his general approach to living a life of purpose and heart.

Justen currently owns Revolution Sports Center in Pocatello, ID.

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Image shot by Abbey Armstrong Photography

Edited by Brooke Richardson Photography

It’s my birthdaaaaay!! To celebrate, I’m sharing 32 lessons I’ve learned in the time it’s taken me to circle the sun 32 times.