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RadioMD Presents: HER Radio | Original Air Date: May 28, 2015
Hosts: Pam Peeke, MD & Michelle King Robson
Guest: Sherrie Campbell, PhD

Dr. Pam Peeke, founder of the Peeke Performance Center and renowned nutrition and fitness expert and Michelle King Robson, founder of EmpowHER.com and leading women’s advocate cut through the confusion and share the naked bottom line truth about all things women. It's HER Radio.

DR. PAM: Hi. I'm Dr. Pam Peeke. Michelle's off today. Okay, its summer time. It's upon us. The sun's out. We're doing the sleeveless thing. We're wearing white. You know, all those terrifying things. So, how can you be a better you? How can you do that? Ahem. No dieting included. What a great topic to discuss. We're going to be bringing in Dr. Sherrie Campbell. Now, Sherrie is a psychologist with two decades of clinical training and experience providing counseling and psychotherapy services to people who are out there trying to work it through marriage, trying to take care of themselves and really exploring how to learn to be self-loving and compassionate. She has a great book, it's called, Loving Yourself: The Mastery of Being Your Own Person. Dr. Campbell, welcome to HER Radio because we have no less than eight ways to be a better you and, ahem, no dieting included. So, welcome to HER Radio. Let's plunge into these eight ways, shall we?

DR. SHERRIE: Absolutely.

DR. PAM: Okay. Now, this is based upon your work so we're going to, you know, start with something that you're very familiar with. Number one, change your environment. What does that mean?

DR. SHERRIE: That means that when you are wanting to be in a better place for summer and I think it's important for you to change your environment. In other words, that could mean decorate your house, bring some color into it, get outside more. There are so many healthy ways to have a good attitude about your life and be sunny when you think about summer other than just being thin. Do stuff, spring clean, get a new wardrobe. You know, change your bed to the other side of the room. See what a new perspective would bring you. You know, it’s stuff like that. Little shifts make a huge difference.

DR. PAM: Oh, I love it and the other thing I've found is declutter. You know, just roll up some napalm and just throw it in there. I mean, if you declutter, as a psychologist you know that you just feel better. It's freer. It's open. Now, you can really explore and create and all the rest of it. So, change your environment. The next one is strive to be your best. What is this thing about the ideal self and all of that?

DR. SHERRIE: Well, the ideal self is that part of you that's out in front of you and that's the part of you that you want to be and who you are right now is always driven towards that. I love that part of me it's like the keeper of my keys, the keeper of my dreams and so I like to chase that; that part of me. The more I grow in the now in my real self, the bigger my ideal self can get and the bigger my dreams get. So, I think always looking forward is important and understanding there is never regression in your life only constant change.

DR. PAM: I love it. If you can dream it, then you can achieve it and you do it through your ideal self and explore and expand your horizons. Number three is change your patterns. What is that?

DR. SHERRIE: Changing your patterns is about whatever your little habits are, you've got to break those. If you can change one habit of instead of working out in the afternoon, maybe try to work out in the morning and get your heart rate started to see what kind of benefit you can get from making a change like that. When you change your patterns, you create a whole new life for yourself.

DR. PAM: Yes and I think that people don't even realize how powerful just small changes are. You know, throw away all the black wardrobe and the brown wardrobe and the red. How about some color? Something as simple as that. You’ve said that now twice in the change your environment, change your patterns. That's so terribly important. Shift your priorities is number four. What do you mean by that?

DR. SHERRIE: Make time for yourself. You know, if your calendar is full of commitments and tasks and business-y stuff or tasks planned and stuff, that's not fun. You know, as you're approaching summer, lighten your load a little bit. Delegate out to other people. Don't take it all on yourself. Make sure you have time for yourself, family and friends.

DR. PAM: Oh, women are terrible at that stuff and so they’d better read your book that's all I can say.

DR. SHERRIE: That's what I'm saying.

DR. PAM: Seriously, it's terribly important to grab that book, Loving Yourself: The Mastery of Being Your Own Person and really say, “Come on. Give yourself permission to shift your priorities and delegate and take better care of yourself.” Number five is invest in personal growth. Huh? Talk to us.

DR. SHERRIE: Yes. I mean youth is internal. Certainly, it's great to look; it's good to look great for summer and I encourage everyone to always do what they can to be physically fit and stuff like that. That's part of self-betterment but try to focus on being a really good human being and see the effects of that in your life. It'll change your life dramatically if you were to wake up and say, “You know what? My intention today is to be a really good human being.” You'd be surprised at the amount of abundance that will come to you.

DR. PAM: I just love that. I just totally love that. That's why I do things like pay forward. I just find little things, little random acts of kindness, make me feel good and I hope to heck I'm helping someone else by being a better human being. Yes, I love that. Number six is change your friends. What'd you mean by that?

DR. SHERRIE: Well, if you have people that are weighing you down and or you're constantly feeling like things are bad all the time, you may want to look around in your life to see who you're with. If you're with a bunch of couch critics that are judgmental and keeping you down and their not in the strenuous fight that life can be, you’ve got to get in there. Hang around people that are in it to win it and vibe off of their emotional and motivational energy and energize yourself. If you're hanging around with naysayers, you know it's toxic and it's contagious.

DR. PAM: Yes. Absolutely. As I say in my writing, you know change up your tribe. Tribal members have to be able to be there as nonjudgmental helpful advisors, friends, loved ones; people we can really be transparent with and so I love that. Change your friends and number seven is change your thoughts while you're at it. What thoughts are you talking about, Dr. Campbell?

DR. SHERRIE: Well, you know. It's all about this movement about positive thinking, really, but I think it's you've got to understand that you’ve got to strive through your struggle because we get strength through our struggles. So, even if you're struggling and it's a negative time in your life, you can still do what you can to change your pain to positive and direct your thoughts towards the idea that again there's never regression in life. There's always constant change and be willing to adapt to it. Be positive about that. Change always takes you to a better place.

DR. PAM: Change is where it's at and a lot of people are very uncomfortable with that and the final one is be authentic and there is nothing sexier than to be beautiful inside and out. So, a couple thoughts on authenticity.

DR. SHERRIE: I think that you’ve just got to wake up and do you. Just do you. You don't need to wake up and be perfect. That's not what authenticity means. You're going to have your moments but accept that you’re human. Being authentic means you're whole. You're going to have your good parts and your bad parts or your positive parts and your negative parts, however you want to look at it but just make sure that all of your parts are in movement and in growth and don't be ashamed of them. Work on them, be authentic, be real with people, be honest, be yourself. People really love us the most when we're 100% ourselves.

DR. PAM: Oh, gosh. I just love that. Authenticity and transparency towards one's self and being committed to respecting yourself and loving yourself and really showing self-compassion. Wow. That's just so powerful. I love it. So, we've been going through the eight ways to be a better you with psychologist and author, Dr. Sherrie Campbell. Her book is, Loving Yourself: The Mastery of Being Your Own Person. Her website is www.sherriecampbellphd.com. Learn more about her wonderful work.

Thank you, again, Dr. Campbell, for being on HER Radio. I'm Dr. Pam Peeke with Michelle King Robson. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and please stay well.