Episode 97 | Sep 12, 2024

How YOU Can Be Epic In Life and Coaching, With Dr. Sherry Price

What does it mean to lead an epic life? This week on ‘Health Coach Talk,’ Dr. Sandi sits down with Dr. Sherry Price, a pharmacist turned health and weight loss coach, to discuss this very topic. They delve into how overcoming personal challenges and leveraging professional experiences can profoundly shape one’s transformative journey into health coaching. Join them as they explore the pivotal role of coaching in achieving an epic life.

“I believed in the power of coaching. It transformed my life, transformed this one habit that I had, and it really upleveled my health in so many ways I could have never predicted at the time.”

Dr. Sherry Price

Dr. Sherry Price’s journey began in the field of pharmacy, where she not only dispensed medications but also absorbed the daily health struggles and stories of her clients. Over time, her own personal experiences prompted her to seek alternative support systems, leading her to discover the transformative power of health coaching. Now, as a certified coach, she is dedicated to empowering women to revitalize their lives through mindful habit changes and enhanced self-care.

During the podcast, Dr. Price shares how her experiences as a pharmacist influenced her approach to coaching, particularly focusing on the stigma and challenges healthcare professionals face when seeking help for addictions or stress. The conversation dives into the importance of connection and community in overcoming isolation—a significant barrier to personal health and wellness. Dr. Price’s story is not just inspiring; it offers a blueprint for how professionals can reshape their careers around the principles of holistic health and personal fulfillment.

For health coaches, Dr. Price’s transition highlights the critical role of empathy and understanding in coaching. Her insights are particularly relevant for those assisting clients with similar backgrounds—healthcare workers and professionals navigating high-stress environments. By integrating personal experiences with professional skills, coaches can offer more tailored and effective support.

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Dr. Sandi: So many healthcare professionals are choosing to become health coaches. Today I have a guest on “Health Coach Talk” who started her career as a pharmacist and then she became a health coach. And we have a conversation about the wonderful work that she is doing as a coach. She is working primarily with women, and she is inspiring them to have better lives, to get healthier. One of the things that we talk about is the power of connection and how people are so isolated these days. They don’t have those connections. They also are not committed to self-care because they tend to put themselves last. So, we talk about that.

And she has an amazing journey, and part of her journey was overcoming a struggle with alcohol. And so we go into a conversation about the many reasons that people are using alcohol, and what’s offered as a way to get help is often not the right approach because people are labeled. And particularly if you are in healthcare, you do not want to have that stigma because it may harm you in your career or there’s a fear that it may, and you want to work with a coach instead. And we talk about why that can be a way to be successful on your journey to stopping this addiction, whether it is with alcohol or something like food.

So, let me tell you about our guest, Dr. Sherry Price. She is a pharmacist. She’s a certified life and weight loss coach, and she is the host of “Health, Habits, and Epic Living” podcast. Sherry’s work is dedicated to helping women take charge of their health and wellness through lifestyle, mindset, and habit change. Through her multiple empowerment-based coaching programs and podcast, Dr. Price has helped thousands of women uplevel their mindset, break bad habits, and revitalize their energy through food, fitness, and healthy relationships so they can live as their most epic version of themselves. Welcome, Sherry. I’m so excited to have you on the podcast.

Sherry: I’m excited to be here and for our conversation today, Dr. Sandi. Thank you.

Dr. Sandi: You are a pharmacist. You started your journey in healthcare as a pharmacist. Can you share what that journey was like and how you’ve evolved and where you are now?

Sherry: Yeah. So, I really started with my paper route in high school, and I just serviced my hometown, which had a lot of widowed women who would talk to me as I collected the money back in the day. You had to go door to door, and I just heard a lot of aches and pains and health conditions in their life. And I was just really interested in how to improve one’s health. So, I wanted to become a pharmacist, did that path for about 22 years. It was amazing. I worked all kinds of environments, learned so much in that journey, had my own business for a while, teaching pharmacy students as well. And I decided that… And when I sold that business, I had hired a coach, and I was struggling with drinking a little too much wine at night. And so I called it my over-drinking habit. And when I hired my coach, I really loved coaching. I believed in the power of it. It transformed my life. It transformed this one habit that I had, and it really upleveled my health in so many ways I could have never predicted at the time. And I thought, well, this is what I want to do for others. I really want to help women uplevel their habits so that they can have greater health in their life and feel really good as they age.

Dr. Sandi: Wow, that’s a remarkable journey. And it is not atypical. We often hear people become coaches. They started out in conventional healthcare and then they chose a different path. And I loved what you said about the power of coaching, and you were inspired by that coach that you worked with. You came to that decision, you had a realization that what you were doing in terms of your drinking was harming you. How did you arrive at that?

Sherry: I was an ICU pharmacist at a point in time in my career, and we see a lot of people coming in intoxicated or liver failure. So, I knew that this minor habit, as I’d call it, wasn’t helping me. I knew that I’d wake up the next day not feeling optimal. My energy was low. I’d have forgetful moments. I wouldn’t remember parts of a conversation. And then there were some nights where I just really overdid it and would just blank out or pass out and just go to bed. And I just didn’t really enjoy being this healthcare person but having this secret that, “Oh, I really couldn’t control or handle my alcohol.” It was never to the point that it led to drunk driving or any of that, but it was still this like, “I know better. I know where this train is going if I don’t get off this train or slow this train.” And then the traditional paths for recovery just weren’t attractive to me for various reasons. Being a pharmacist, if I did a 12-step program, I felt it wasn’t completely anonymous. I felt that if I sought professional care from mental health experts in the addiction field, that would go on my medical record and then that could be further discovered if I was to seek employment as a pharmacist.

And so I just had all these ways that I felt the traditional ways to help myself weren’t ideal for the reputation and for my career. And you don’t want to spend all this time in residency training and all these years and all this money getting this degree only to have it washed away by this black mark. So, when I had a coach, everything was confidential, everything was private, everything was done over Zoom in the comforts of my own home and her home. It just felt like an option where I could be myself, let the secrets out, really get and understand what was at the root of the drinking, and then start that healing process just made it so attractive to me and that I didn’t have to carry around this on my medical record or I didn’t have to live with this sin or this black ball or whatever you wanted to look at this past. I could just overcome. And that to me was what I was searching for. And I actually didn’t know until I went to Google and started to research what are other ways that you can take care of this that were really private, because I’m a very private person at the time and I didn’t want to be open about this. Now I am, but back then I didn’t want to be. And so that was a lovely avenue for me to overcome this challenge.

Dr. Sandi: What a strong endorsement for the power of health coaching. I really resonated with that because my addiction was not to alcohol. In fact, I don’t have the enzyme that breaks down alcohol. I learned that on a genetic test, but I had a propensity to binge on sugar. I learned that also in terms of my genomic testing. So, it was very easy to become addicted to highly processed, sugary snacks and I would binge on those all day long. And I also did it in secret. I think many women do binge in secret, whether it’s their wine or their food. At night, for example, eating out of awareness, and it is a lot more than emotional eating. But you are so right that the mental health community is quick to diagnose as a disorder, and now you have that label.

And in my case, no, I didn’t have an eating disorder. The processed food had hijacked my brain, and I was nutrient-deprived. And at the time, I wasn’t exercising or meditating. And so it was this vicious cycle. And so if I had a health coach, and this was many years before health coaching was even a thing, it wasn’t invented in the late ’60s, ’70s, where I’m talking about having those issues. But a health coach would have guided me to change my lifestyle. And as a result, my executive functioning would have improved, my brain health. As a result, I would have made better decisions regarding food choices and gotten rid of that addiction to sugar.

And so I love what you’re saying about that connection and also that we know that physicians in particular, or pharmacists, anyone who’s a licensed professional realizes that their license could be in jeopardy, especially if they’re a medical staff. And so they don’t want to check that box for their renewal that they have these issues. A coach is a safe conversation, is a safe space, and it is normalizing. It’s focusing on your strengths, building resiliency. So, I just love that.

Sherry: Yeah. And it’s really unfortunate. The people that are so caring, like the medical profession as a whole, law enforcement, some other professions that I’ve helped as well, if they get this black ball, it just can ruin everything that they’ve built, this fantastic career that they’ve built. And so having a safe place where they don’t have those repercussions, like you said, where they could get their license or their reputation in jeopardy is really important because otherwise we feel like we suffer in silence and that there’s no way we can get help. And we want help oftentimes. We want help. We just don’t know the path to get it.

Dr. Sandi: Absolutely. And we’re seeing more and more burnout amongst our healthcare professionals. People are leaving the profession and they’re not finding joy, meaning, and purpose in their work. So, do you see that as then connected to developing an addiction or developing other issues, anxiety, depression, just feeling like their heart isn’t in it, but they feel then guilty that they shouldn’t be feeling this way?

Sherry: A hundred percent, yeah. It’s like the trappings of success. I’ve achieved this level of success in my life. I felt that way as well. So, I should be happy with the power, prestige, money, difference that I’m making in the world, however they’re measuring success. But really it comes down to, if you’re not successful in one area, that area tends to eat at you. And then you begin to want to do things. I find with my clients, with myself is just to numb that area. Maybe you can’t… For me, it was like, how do I unwind after a stressful day? And so I would just use my wine to unwind. And I didn’t have other mechanisms to do that. Everything that I read about or Googled about meditation, all of that, none of that really worked for me, not like wine did. And so it was the unlearning and then the relearning that really helped me understand, “Oh, yeah, there are other ways to solve this that don’t give you these negative consequences in your life, that you can really come home and use some modalities to transition, reduce that stress so that you can show up fully present for your family.” Because it is a lot. You’re right. We give a lot to our jobs emotionally, mentally, physically. Sometimes we work longer hours, and we might not feel appreciated all the time for that or that the effort is worth all of it some days. Some days yes, some days no. And so how can you replenish yourself when you’re feeling that way in a way that is also congruent with your values? So, I like to work with a value-driven approach because everybody’s values are slightly different. And so really finding out what’s meaningful to you is really something that you can learn to honor and be in integrity with that part of yourself.

Dr. Sandi: Is there an example? What would that look like to be value-based when you’re working with a client? Perhaps what have you noticed in your own life to shift from using wine to developing better health habits?

Sherry: Yes, I love that question so much. So, thank you for asking. What I find for a lot of people I work with and myself, we value health so much, right? We’re thinking about it a lot. We’re helping others with their health. But when it comes to our own health, it often goes on the back burner. We’re trying to keep up with the literature. We’re trying to help impress upon others how to uplevel their health, but we can feel at odds with our own health because if we’re not keeping that top of mind for ourselves, we might think of things such as what gets in the way of taking care of your health. So, a lot of times I’ll hear from busy professionals is I just don’t have enough time. There’s so much competing for my time. I’m just so tired at the end of the day. I just want something quick and easy and that will work.

So, we help look at those limitations, those barriers, or those obstacles and reframe them in a way that’s going to give them something that is valuable to whatever their values are. So, if their value is health, how can we look at time not as a disadvantage but as an advantage or work with the time that they have so that the decisions that they’re making are actually impacting their values, which means they are impacting their health in a positive way. Now this just doesn’t happen overnight, and that’s why a coach is somebody who comes alongside of you day in and day out, week in, week out, right, because habit change is hard. It is hard. It’s just not a one-and-done. And I think in this instant gratification society, everything’s a quick hit, everything’s a little bullet point. The brain is just really thinking I can get something really quickly accomplished and that feels good. But this is something that’s going to take a little bit of effort and a little bit of time. And it’s the path to feeling better long-term. So, doing this work pays off dividends. It’s like compounding interest at the bank, right? You put a little bit of effort in, and then it’s quickly realized within three to four weeks that you can have tremendous impact on your health. That’s what I love about the body so much is it just quickly can change and regenerate.

Dr. Sandi: Oh, absolutely. And you’re building those new neural pathways every time you have a thought about getting some more movement in. Maybe you’ve been sitting and now I’m going to stand up, I’m going to walk around, I’m going to do some jumping jacks or whatever it might be. And every time you do that and you have that thought, then you’re creating a new neural pathway. And I used to describe that as shoveling snow where the first paths… And you wouldn’t relate to this because you’re in San Diego. But for us Chicagoans, if you shovel a lot of snow in the first attempt, it’s like, “Oh, it’s barely a path.” And then you go again and again pretty soon. Now you see the concrete underneath. Now you’ve made that happen, but you got to keep doing it. And so that’s the process.

And I hear a lot, I just heard this on a podcast the other day, and that is they were talking and well-meaning about the importance of, let’s say, exercise. And they said, well, it’s like brushing your teeth, which I totally agree, and that’s how I approach it. But they’re saying, well, I tell people, well, if you’re not doing it, it’s because you’re not making it a priority, and you have to make it a priority. People feel like when they’re told you have to make it a priority, that creates a stress response. That’s not going to help somebody to change their habits. And I’d love for you to comment on that. Like, how do you actually guide somebody where they don’t feel shamed or pressured?

Sherry: Yeah, I think those have to statements could come across as judgy to ourselves, can come across as… I call it our inner critic or inner dictator who says, “You should be doing this, you should be doing that.” And you write it inside the body that doesn’t feel good. There’s such a beautiful other way that we can use language, use emotion to build us up, use our brain power to build us up rather than tear us down. So, I get to… One of the ones I’ve been working on recently to make myself fall in love with the process of getting healthy, getting in shape, and going to the gym is back in the day, I used to just think the people that went to the gym didn’t have real lives, real jobs. And so I’ve noticed recently, that’s a limiting belief for me. And it makes it an us versus them kind of feeling. So, now when I walk into the gym, I say, “Oh, I belong here. Oh, these are my people. Oh, I can learn this new machine, or I can try this new class,” because sometimes when you enter into something new, you can feel like it’s an us versus them, or you don’t belong, or you don’t know the techniques or how this class is going to go, or how to use this machine.

And so now I just invite myself into like, “Oh, this is part of the journey of belonging here. We just learn this and can do this with others.” And I think coming at it from a sense of softness rather than this hard inner critic brings a little bit more joy to the process, which makes you want to…well, not makes you. It invites you into a different energy where you can learn to appreciate the newness, the beginning of something, the middle of something, and then the expertise of something, right? And so just knowing that, “Hey, I’m a beginner at this one part in this gym that I go to now, but I know I will eventually evolve to I come here regularly to, oh, I’m an expert. I can use this machine and teach others, right?” And so I think that is a beautiful process. And I think it’s beautiful for our brain to continue to be the beginner and evolve. So, always trying new things or not always, but routinely trying new things as we age I think will keep us more young, more agile, more happy, more full of joy, more compassionate, and be softer with ourselves than this, “I have to go to the gym or I should make this a priority feeling.”

Dr. Sandi: This is profound. You have just stated the basics of cognitive behavior therapy, and I had trained with one of the fathers of CBT, Dr. Albert Ellis, and this is the mindset that we want to have. And it’s a great way of praising. It’s softness as opposed to hardness. It’s not, “I have to… I’m going to make myself… I ought to… I should…” And then placing those demands create a stress response, whereas softness, even when I guide people through a relaxation response, it’s softening. You allow your muscles to soften. You allow your body to sink into the surface below you. But you’re using those kinds of words.

And I loved what you said about “I belong here” because at the end of the day, it is about belonging. Those who’ve studied what makes life worth living, the importance of community. And so I see it all the time at a gym where people are entering and they don’t feel like they belong, especially in that weight room. They’re intimidated. And once they have some guidance and it could be just starting very slow, maybe there’s a TRX in the weight room, which many gyms have now, which is not going to be as intimidating if you’re working with a trainer, and you learn how to do it. And after a while, okay, now you can venture and maybe try a machine. And maybe there’s a second or a third and so forth that you become comfortable with.

But I think it’s so much more than just the process of going to the gym and working out. It’s the people, it’s the community. You start conversations. And so it is that. And I think that so many women especially are feeling disconnected, and they may be working remotely. They are often working two jobs or involved with childcare, and they have lost that community of friends or people who have like-minded interest in getting together. So, I wonder if you could comment if you see that and then how, as a coach, you can help people to feel connected more.

Sherry: Yes, that’s why I do one-on-one coaching, but I often invite people to join the group coaching because I feel, when you’re in community and you hear another woman struggling with something that you are struggling with, it just really breaks down some of that barriers, breaks down some of that shame, breaks down some of that loneliness, breaks down that like, “Oh, it’s not just me,” right? And so I love group things because I do believe it humanizes us and allows for us to see ourselves in somebody else. And really that can reduce so much shame and so much aggravation, sadness, disappointment.

So, when I go to the gym, I just really light up when somebody says my name, or they just wave to me. Maybe we don’t know each other’s names yet, but we do a little nod or a wink or a smile or a little wave. And I tried to get to know somebody’s name. And so when I see them, I’ll say, “Hey, Lisa,” or just a little hi. And oftentimes that feeling of somebody just knowing my name or giving me a nod or a smile won’t last just for a couple of seconds. Like, I’m thinking about it as I’m pumping out my sets, as I’m doing those squats. I’m like, wow, it just feels so good that I belong here, right? Somebody knows me.

So, if you’re going to the gym and you’re new and you want connection, just invite that in with a smile, a wave, a nod. Get to know somebody’s first name and just greet them. And it lights you up too when you greet that person. So, I think there’s just a little bit of effort that we can make that would make us feel less lonely, less isolated, because look, we’d become toxically independent as a culture. We can do all the groceries by ourselves. We can raise our kids. Like, we want to hire the people to help us, right? But are we truly connecting with people, getting to know them? And I think when those connections are made, then we open ourselves up to more meaningful conversations, more meaningful interactions, more meaningful ways that we can say, “Oh, I can learn from you and you can learn from me.” And I think that’s the joy and beauty in life.

Dr. Sandi: Thousand percent. There are so many things to unpack here, because I think our isolation has increased. And the more we are working from home, but we’re also shopping from home, we don’t go to the store anymore. We don’t go into town and you see the local grocer or you go into a shop and you try on some clothes and the owner or the salesperson. You have a relationship. And those are what Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, who’s a positive psychology researcher, has said these like little microbursts of connection. So, they could be complete strangers, but you have an encounter with them. You smile at each other. And at the gym, it’s a perfect example. You keep going, you get to know people there.

Before we aired the podcast or before we started recording, we were talking about my ballet class, because I had just posted on social media a picture in my ballet class. And I take it two different places. One’s a professional studio, and there’s a class for people over 50. And one is in my local gym. Both places, people have become really close. This class at the gym, we know everybody’s name. When somebody was moving out of town, we had a little lunch for her. Other people have hosted in their gardens after class. And it is incredible, the connection that occurs. And so it becomes social, and that feeds our soul. But also, it’s so good physically, emotionally to have that connection, and one of the benefits you get by going to a gym, taking classes there, or just striking up conversations with people.

Sherry: [crosstalk 00:25:29.288].

Dr. Sandi: Yeah.

Sherry: And that’s what they say, like connection is the antidote to addiction. Addiction is something that we often do in silence, in secret. We don’t let anybody really know how bad it is or how much we don’t like this habit. And so connection, right, just connecting with others that have been there who can help you walk through what it is you need to walk through to get to the other side, I believe connection is so key. And you can get that in so many different communities in different ways.

Dr. Sandi: Let’s say someone you’re working with is not feeling connected. How would you provide support for them? Any suggestions, anything in the past that’s worked?

Sherry: Yeah, when I was working particularly with this one client, and I won’t name her name, she actually came on my podcast to talk about exactly her journey, which was so enlightening because I say on the podcast a lot when I was talking mostly about over drinking was it’s not the alcohol that’s the problem, right? And so people hear that and they’re like, “Yeah, I know,” but then they still try to control the alcohol. They get out of their house, they try to limit it, right? It still comes down to the alcohol. But I talk about it’s more the desire and our mindset towards it, right? We think we need it. We think it’s going to be a solution for our lives.

So, I started working with this one client and she says, “I hear you, but I’m just not understanding. I still want to control the alcohol. I still want to count my days without it, all of the things around the alcohol.” And I said, well, what drives you to want to desire it? And she’s like, “Oh, all the things, stress and it’s a good time.” And then I said, “Oh, is there anything else?” And so you just keep asking questions. And the basic stuff comes up, but really the deep stuff usually comes up in the third or fourth round of questions, right? And what else is bothering you? What else is coming up? When else do you desire alcohol? When other times do you drink? I get the fun part, but we want to keep fun in your life. What’s bothering or troubling you? And she’s like, “All right, it’s my husband. We don’t have this amazing relationship that I want. And here’s what I get annoyed about. He’s home all the time. He’s doing this. He’s doing this. He’s in my space a lot since COVID. I just don’t know. And some days I love him and some days I don’t.” And so we really uncovered that relationship.

And then I said, “Well, how does he feel about the relationship? She goes, “Oh, he thinks it’s fine. He tells me every day he loves me. It’s great. He brings me coffee in the morning. He’s just a gem, but I think he’s lying.” So, we worked on that for a little bit of time, and she totally saw that he meant what he was saying and doing but she just wasn’t accepting and receiving his love because she wasn’t feeling love for him. And so this is the area that we dove into and really treated, if you will, right, really worked on that. And then she came out the other side and she’s like, “Oh, my gosh, when I fixed this issue that I thought I had with my husband… He didn’t think there was an issue, just me. But when I fixed that, I just don’t desire alcohol anymore. It doesn’t even cross my mind to have it at the end of the day. And what is this? You’re so right. I was focused on the alcohol rather than the root, what was really causing me loneliness, isolation. I feel like I didn’t want to open up to him because I was holding resentment towards him for things.” And so when we cleared that out, she saw that now she has this beautiful relationship with her husband and he still thinks it’s amazing. He thought it was amazing then, he still thinks it’s amazing now, but she changed and then it changed her desire for alcohol.

So, when we’re talking about not feeling connected in our real relationships that are at home that can affect us so deeply and we’re not realizing we’re doing these other things to just numb the pain, right, when we really look at the root cause of that problem, treat that, it oftentimes, wow, when we have that connection back in our life, when we feel good about where we’re at and who we have in our life and we’re repairing those relationships that mean so much to us, the relationships with other things like alcohol begins to wane and die, which is really a beautiful process.

Dr. Sandi: Well, thank you for sharing that story. It is really so inspiring when you have that insight, awareness of relationships, those you are closest to, and often it involves some element of forgiveness, looking at your own role, how you’re contributing, how your thought patterns are. If only he/she would change, my life would be better. That leads to profound changes. And speaking of changes, I just want to point out that your journey as a pharmacist to a coach is one that we see a lot. Pharmacists have a crucial role and many people see their pharmacists more often than they see their doctors. And people who are pharmacists can learn to become coaches as well and sometimes blending the professions or making that transition as you did. So, this has been a wonderful conversation, Sherry. Where can people find you?

Sherry: Yes, I’m on Instagram @drsherryprice or you can learn all about my programs and my free resources that I have on my website. My website is epicyou.com.

Dr. Sandi: Well, thank you. We will post all of those references. It has been a delight. Thank you so much for coming on “Health Coach Talk.”

Sherry: My pleasure, Dr. Sandi. Thank you.