Ep 92: Leveling Up with Penny Kukla

Do you feel stuck in patterns that keep you from “leveling up” in your life?

My guest today is the fabulous Penny Kukla. Penny is a practicing pediatrician and a former client of mine.

You'll hear how Penny changed her beliefs about herself from "I don't fit in anywhere" to "I am an amazing mom." We also talk about how you don’t need to put pressure on yourself to find the perfect coach, and how coaching can lead to results you didn't expect when you signed up. 

I hope that hearing Penny talk about how she became her favorite version of herself will inspire you on your journey to becoming your favorite you.

Click HERE to get the full show notes.

Transcript

Hey, this is Melissa Parsons, and you are listening to the Your Favorite You Podcast. I'm a certified life coach with an advanced certification in deep dive coaching. The purpose of this podcast is to help brilliant women like you with beautiful brains create the life you've been dreaming of with intentions. My goal is to help you find your favorite version of you by teaching you how to treat yourself as your own best friend.

If this sounds incredible to you and you want practical tips on changing up how you treat yourself, then you're in the right place. Just so you know, I'm a huge fan of using all of the words available to me in the English language, so please proceed with caution if young ears are around.

Penny

Hi! How are you?

Melissa

I'm amazing. How are you?

Penny

I'm good. I was thinking about that. “I'm amazing.” And remember that, like, Star magazine or People or whatever and it was like, “Bitch stole my look.” And I'm like, I can't. I'm not gonna use that. So I'm like, what am I gonna use? Cause remember I was like, “Melissa I want to get to the day where I can say I'm amazing.” Remember? Cause I'm like “I'm not amazing.” So I think my look will be “I'm fabulous.”

So I’m fabulous. I'm glad you're amazing. 

Melissa

And you can steal “I’m amazing.” It's not stealing it. Like if you are feeling amazing or fabulous. Own it girl.

Penny

Yeah. I just. I love that. Yeah. And I love that you taught me that, like, you can feel like shit and feel amazing at the same time.

Melissa

So good. 

Penny

So anyway, hello.

Melissa

Hello and welcome back to Your Favorite You! This is the sneak peek into my conversation with my client before our podcast interview. And we always get such gold so I always hit record right away. And you don't know this Penny but we're starting. 

Penny

Oh, we are? Ok - Hi.

I was like, warm me up. Let's do the warm up. 

Melissa

No, you don't need the warm up. The warm up has been the past six months, girl. 

Penny

I know, I know.

Melissa

OK, tell me about yourself. Tell all the listeners of Your Favorite You about your favorite version of yourself currently, sweet Penny.

Penny

So I am a practicing pediatrician. I've been in practice - I was counting - I'm starting my 25th year in pediatrics and my favorite me is… In the past, you know, probably several years, I think I had reached the point in my career where, you know, I got into leadership. Could have taken kind of like a leadership track and that was very attractive to my ego I think at the time. And I kind of started dipping my toe in that road and did some mini MBA courses and things like that and then kind of realized at some point that my heart wasn't in that track.

And I don't know if I told you this, but I saw one of my physician friends. It was 2019. It was pre-pandemic and she looked amazing and she had made a lot of, you know, physical changes and also just changes to herself. And I was like, what are you taking? Like, what are you on? And she was like, “Oh yeah,” and she, like, wrote down… I think it was that time Katrina Ubel and Jason Fah like all these things and that kind of opened my world into coaching.

 I mean, I didn't know. I mean doctors don't know about coaching and life coaching and all those things. And so I kind of started looking into that and Rick Castillo and Sunny Smith and all those folks and also the weight loss stuff and it just really changed my outlook. 

And now my favorite me is… I'm still practicing pediatrics for now, but I took a course in health and wellness coaching and just kind of invested in myself. I have to say is my favorite me. Just all the investments I've made to be more comfortable in my own skin and those around me give it value and yes…

Melissa

Investments of money, investments of time, investments of discomfort.

Penny

Lots of discomfort. 

Melissa

Yeah. Investments in being a beginner at something again, after having been an awesome pediatrician for 20 plus years to like, step back in and be willing to start something completely new. 

Penny

Yes, that's… and the discomfort, I think. It's one of those, right? Like choose your hard because I was hella uncomfortable where I was and, like, I always use that, like, wanting to run away like we talked about. I always want to run away. I always want to, like, crawl out of my own skin, like, you know, but it was the uncomfortable and discomfort that you sit with in doing the work on yourself and investing in yourself that is…

To me, it's almost like then you kind of see the rainbow versus being stuck in the swirl or stuck in the, you know, that discomfort. So I felt like this discomfort was leading me to something that I feel way more fulfilled in and I can pass that on. 

Melissa

Yeah, it's led you to be able to stay. In your body, in your relationships, in your career.

So beautiful. I love it.

Penny

I love it too. I love it too.

Melissa

OK, tell our loyal listeners why you decided to sign up for coaching with me. What about your life did you think you wanted to have or do differently?

Penny

And just so everybody knows too, I mean, I had had coaches in the past. I mean, I've had coaching in the past. I'm a huge believer in coaching. So my coaching journey, kind of hiring my first coach and did some group coaching, started in, I want to say it was that year, 2019 or 2020.

What made me want to coach with you is I got to the point where I had, you know, done the health and wellness coaching, started the business, still, you know, practicing pediatrics as I am now. But I just got to the point where I was just kind of feeling stuck to the point where I do think self-coaching is very useful and helpful and those are things we learn. But I also think there's utility and like I needed… I needed a voice, I needed the one-on-one coaching. I felt stuck in my marriage. I felt stuck in establishing my business. I felt stuck kind of all around where I just couldn't wrap my head around. And I just, I needed a slap in the face. 

No people. She doesn't really slap you in the face. She gently - No, I just needed that, like, somebody to check my thoughts, right? Coaching is kind of like that. You shine the light. There's the mirror like you see yourself. And as much as you know that that also that concept of,

like, you can't shame yourself.

Like, I was like, I should know this. I know how to do this. This is something I, you know, I know how to work my mind and I know sometimes you don't know and that's OK. 

Melissa

Yeah.

Penny

And I think just that whole, like… I feel stuck and that's OK and I know what I need to do about it. So that’s what led me to you.

Melissa

Yeah, I feel stuck. It's OK. I know how to get unstuck. If I get stuck getting unstuck, I can ask for help. 

Penny

Yes.

Melissa

Right? There’s no shame in that. 

Penny

There absolutely is no shame. And I think… I also think, like, as physicians or as type A personalities. Sorry docs out there. I don't mean to be… But we're like, oh my gosh, you know, researching and knowing and like how many times have I seen this coach and like, let me follow her podcast first or whatever. I literally, like, almost like cold called you, right? I set up the consult. I think I saw a video of you one time. I don't even know if I'd listen to any of your podcasts at that point. 

And it was kind of one of those things where it's like, I just want to put it out there for people like you don't have to, like, nurture yourself into finding a coach like you know when you find the coach that fits with you, if their message resonates, like just doing those consult calls. I think I interviewed a couple of people, but, I just, I want to put that out there too. Like, you don't need to do this deep research into, like, “Oh, is this coach gonna work for me? Is it gonna be OK?” Like, you kind of know what you know and meeting somebody face to face on a Zoom call is like that's all you need to know. And there's no hurt feelings, right? Like, you know, so I just wanted to put that out there too. Like finding you was the best thing ever and I would do it 1000 times and yes, I knew I needed… I knew I needed to get unstuck and I knew I wanted to give that to myself. 

Melissa

Yeah, I think that, you know, just as type A people in general, people who are, you know, living in a left brain world who are very left brain dominant, we think that we need to do our due diligence and we need to, like you said, research it to death. And you know, we just delay making a decision whether to go forward because. There's no way you could possibly have all the info, but our brain tells us that it is possible and we keep digging and digging and digging. 

And then I think the other thing that those of us who are high achieving type A, you know, docs and other professions too for sure, we try to do so much on our own and we think that we can, you know, take pieces from this and pieces from that and pieces from that and like… 

Penny

Yes, cause that's how we've lived our lives. That's how we became successful. 

Melissa

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's irresponsible to like, see somebody's video, to have one hour call with them and then decide to invest all this time and money in working with this person, right. And it's just like, oh, that, like, responsibility gene gets in the way of so many people. You know, taking the time to sign and that type of thing. And I've had so many people now who have delayed signing up and the only thing they say after working with me for a couple months is “My God, what was I waiting for?” You know, so it's just magic. Coaching is magic.

Penny

I think so too, obviously, or else we wouldn't be here.

Melissa

OK, before we started working together, was there anything that got in the way like? Did you have any big objections or were you worried about anything like we were just talking about it? And if so, kind of how did you overcome that?

Penny

Yeah, I was thinking about that because, you know, I told the story of, kind of, like, you know, pulling the trigger and just doing that. I think it was, I had to think about this. It was a little bit of fear that I would see no progress, that I would… I didn't trust myself. It was… it was about me. I realized it. I didn't trust myself. I didn't want to, like, slow down and give myself the time. I think I was, like, in such a hurry, I wanted, like, the quick fix. 

Melissa

Yeah, like you asked your friend, like, what's the pill? What are you taking? Can I take it too? 

Penny

Right? Or just like, yeah. Or should I just, like, call my friend? Like, should I just talk it out? And then I… you just want the quick fix. You're like, just course correct. Like I was like, slap me in the face. Course correct me. Like, let's be done with this. Let's not, let's not drag this out, right? Like, yeah, the impatience is real. Let me send the script for you and buy... You know, like, it's just and it's like loving myself enough to say pump the brakes, slow down. You want to figure this out.

You know this is how you need to figure this out. Like, love yourself enough. Give yourself this time. Give yourself this investment, gift, whatever, you know, and I was… I became willing to give it to myself. And I think that's what that's what it was.

Melissa

I love it. Yeah. You're, I mean, you're a mom and I've asked so many people this, you know, and we talk about it in coaching all the time, like when we're being mean to ourselves and shaming ourselves and that type of thing. Like if this was an investment for one of your boys, and you, somebody said you had to take six months and meet every week and. You know, it cost X amount of dollars. You wouldn't care what it was. You would be like, yes, my children must have this thing that's going to help them to finally slow down enough to figure out how to love themselves and to stop shaming themselves and to have patience for themselves and give themselves compassion. And you know, all the things that we've worked on in the past six months, like it would have been like a no-brainer for one of the boys.

Penny

Absolutely. And it's priceless, right. So we talked about that, right? Like you can't if you at the end of this you're like you know do you want all your money back and then you just, you know then we go back to like tie, you know set you back to where you started like no. So that is… That is it.

It's just worth the world to do that. And yes, kids… A lot of women, that's what we're trained to do, right? We always put… and we want to, we want to put our kids first. But I always believe it sounds so cliche, but if we're not OK inside, you know, it's generational. We pass all that on. So I felt also that it was important. It is important as corny as it sounds, it's important to kind of like. What we say, like, clean your own house. Like, clean yourself, you know, get yourself to the point where you're feeling like you can be present. I'm more present for my boys that it totally already has affected them even though they didn't get coached. 

Melissa

So cool. I love that. OK.

If I was somebody who knew you before coaching and I know you now, like what… To other people, what is different about you, do you think? What would other people notice?

Penny

I think I don't know if they'd notice. I think I am more… I'm definitely more calm, like, less frenetic, more thoughtful. I don't know if people notice this, but I always was empathetic. I think more empathy, more kind of like, a little bit less reactive, you know, whereas before I'd be, like, wanting to prove my point or wanting to just. A little bit of that, you know, control, enthusiasm, like controlling everything. I think that that has kind of faded away a little bit and just kind of realizing that.

I think that I'm sure my husband would say, well, I don't know, Mark, would you say this? That I stay in my own lane for sure and my boys would probably say more present, more connected. Definitely more calm.

Melissa

So what I'm hearing you say is that you're like a lot of my clients in that to the outside world. Penny before coaching and Penny after coaching isn't that different. It was a lot of inner turmoil that you were having that it was all just going on inside your head. And now what's going on inside of your head is much calmer, kinder, more present, more patient.

Penny

Yeah, for sure. I think that could be. Yeah, for sure. That it's a lot of… It was going on in my head, just creating the stories that we say, like, the stories that you tell yourself kind of thing. Yeah.

Melissa

Yeah, and I mean, I think that it's so interesting because. We as women tend to have to try to pretend that we have it all together, especially pediatricians, moms. We just have to pretend that we have it all together in order for us to stay safe. And it just creates this total inner dialogue that is discordant because we know on the inside, I don't have a damn thing together.

Penny

Oh my gosh, I actually took a note. I woke up. There were storms here last night and I woke up and I was thinking about this, literally. 

OK, I want everybody to know too. Melissa Parsons is freaking psychic. So just so y'all know, it is the coolest thing ever. Literally, Melissa, this is on my phone notes. I said “Used to think like people would be like, Oh my gosh, you're amazing. You know you're doing this business and you're a pediatrician and you're this and that and how do you do it all,” whatever. And I'd be like, inside, I said “Used to think, yeah, but I'm broken inside or barely holding on.” But now I know I'm not. I'm doing the thing the best I can and with passion. Like, I abandoned that thought of, like, “Oh, but you don't know like I'm like a shell inside.” And I held onto that thought like I'm behind. Remember we used to like coach on that like I'm so behind and like everyone's got it together and, like,look like I have it together, but I'm a complete mess, right? I'm a mess. I'm a disaster. I used to say that too. I'm a disaster. And I think that's the internal. I cannot believe you just said that, but that's it. That's what it is.

I remember when you started saying I'm like, wait a minute, this is what I was thinking last night, but I was half asleep and then I just, like, pulled my notes out and wrote it out. 

Melissa

Listen, the psychic ability continues.

Penny

Crazy shit. 

Melissa

OK, Tell me what surprised you about coaching other than my psychic abilities? Like what unexpected results did you get from it?

Penny

What unexpected results? What was unexpected, I think. First of all, and this was not a plan. First of all, the unexpected result was that I decided to stop drinking. I never thought I was going to be a non-drinker ever in my life. And I wasn't a heavy drinker. So I'm getting like putting that out there too. Like, I wasn't like, you know, but I like to hang out. I'm a big hangout lady. I like to party. I like to hangout. And I think I realized that, like, I'm a good time and I'm still amazing without alcohol. And I did not expect that to come out of this.

So I started January 1st. I was like, oh, I'll just do the 30 day. We started coaching in, like November and then I was like, oh, I'll just do that. And it wasn't anything that, you know, just my own thoughts. And I thought, OK, I'll do the 30 day. And then after the 30 day, I turned 50 in February and I thought, OK, like, let me see if I don't think I need to do this anymore. I think I'm going to be 50 and I'm done. And then like my birthday came and went and I was like. I'm feeling awesome. So I think the coaching helped with that, like kind of clear my mind, clear the clutter in my mind and make way for just this new way of life that I'm loving. So that was a little bit unexpected. Yeah.

And I also think… I think that's the main thing. I mean everything else. I feel like I created, like, just that whole, like, intention and creation, you know, of my intention of the coaching was kind of what I created with your help.

Melissa

Yeah, yeah, yeah.I think it's interesting, right? Because one of the things that you said that people would notice about you is your presence. And it completely makes sense that you're so much more able to be present without the addition of alcohol in the evenings or on the weekends or whatever, right?

Did you ever figure out - and I don't know that we talked about this - but there was a benefit that you got from drinking alcohol or you wouldn't have kept doing it. So what do you think it was that was the benefit that you had to kind of give up by giving up alcohol?

Penny

I never thought of that. I think it was a coping mechanism.I'm gonna do a quick shout out to Rachel Hart cause I know she's a coach that does, like, drink less. And she'd has, like, that little quiz that I did. And it was kind of like, I was kind of more of like, I like to augment, you know, I like to… I thought alcohol would be like make it, like, make the day last longer or make my conversations better or…

And it was a little bit of a buffer for me where I was like after work and like everything was done and you have your glass of wine and I watch my, you know, Southern charm on Bravo. Craig Conover, if you're listening, I love you. And… 

Melissa

I'm sure he's one of my number one fans. 

Penny

I know. That's why it's funny. And so, yeah, I think that was that. And I thought I couldn't picture, you know, like going out to dinner, like doing a tasting menu. Like it was kind of this level too of, like, you kind of like arrived, you're sophisticated, you order your martini or you're like fancy glass of wine and you know, you network and whatever. And honestly, like, again, I feel like I like Doctor Bash, but I'm like, you know, some of these events we have, I'd be like, I can't be around these people without having a glass of wine. Like, this is gonna be so annoying and boring and I'm gonna hate it, right? So you're just like, OK, I'm gonna drink. So I think, but that comes with comfort of me. Right. So like I became more comfortable with me, therefore I don't need to be somebody else. 

And just to go like we did talk a lot about that, like about and you just had a podcast on it about fitting in versus belonging. So we talked about that a lot in my coaching, like, my thought that I needed to fit in and realizing that I just belong. 

And then, OK, cause I'm tying it in now. Psychic #2. The June 5th life on purpose calendar today. Did you read it?

Melissa

No, I haven't changed mine over. What does it say?

Penny

“Be who you are and say how you feel. Because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

What? 

Melissa

Yeah. Doctor Seuss is amazing. Yeah. It's so true. And I mean, I think it goes to the idea too, of not having to escape yourself, right? Not having to run away from yourself. And I think alcohol is a great way. If you are trying to escape other people, if you're trying to escape yourself, it's a great way to do it. 

A socially acceptable way.

Penny

Socially acceptable. And you're telling yourself you want to escape other people. But truly, I think I was trying to escape myself. You know, it was that whole thought. So yeah. It's been a great thing. 

Melissa

Yeah, so good. All right. Any new beliefs that you have about yourself that you didn't have before we started coaching together?

Penny

New beliefs that I fully believe now: I am an amazing mother. I think I have been told that and I wanted to believe that, but I couldn't really believe it. I always felt like an imposter, right? You're like, I'm a good mom, you know? And then you're like, I don't really believe that shit. You know, I really do suck. I, you know, the whole thing. I'm broken. Truly believing that I am amazing, like with all my heart. So that was huge.

Melissa

If I only had that result, Penny, I would be so happy. I can.

Penny

I made - Melissa has tears in her eyes. 

Melissa

Melissa cries at cotton commercials.

Penny

When I wrote it, I was like, yeah. I'm like, yeah. And then the other one is this was a hard one for me, and I still can say I'm working on this new belief. I'm not fully, but I'm in charge of myself, not anyone else.

Because as a woman and as a mom, you always are taught that you're in charge of everybody else. You're in charge of your husband, you're in charge of your job, you're in charge of, you know, your kids, you're in charge of blah, blah, right? And you kind of are, but you're kind of not. You're you need to be in charge of yourself and what comes out of that is amazing when you truly focus on that. That you control your thoughts and your actions and all the things with yourself. And you don't need to be, like, the puppet master of, like, everything in your life. 

Melissa

Yeah, it's so exhausting because you really have no control. You feel like you do. You feel like you have the strings, but you're basically up there just with the wood things and people are down low doing whatever the fuck they want. 

Penny

Pretty much. And it's so hard because then I still have the little thought that's like, well, maybe I could, like, effect change in this small little way, right. And they're like, OK, like you do you right. You're always like stay in your lane, Penny, stay in your lane. And it's, like, I'm working on that. But I definitely… That's a new thought that I do love and that's helped me.

Melissa

I mean, I do think that we have influence over other people for sure. 

Penny

That's a good way to put it, yeah. 

Melissa

And especially with our children, like, I think that the best way to influence them is to lead a life by example of what you want to see in the world as much as possible, right?

Penny

Yes, for sure. I like that word.

Melissa

Yeah. Influence over control. Instead of control. So, OK, amazing. How about old beliefs about yourself that other people handed to you or that you've been given that you've been able to let go of?

Penny

So definitely let go of “I don't fit in anywhere.” That was a big one. That one might make me cry. And I think again, that was a story I told myself, like, and I think I told myself I don't fit in anywhere because I just wanted to be seen. So I definitely know that I belong.

Another one that I've given up is “I'm not enough.” I am enough and I am amazing. I think those were the two biggest ones. The fitting in and the being enough.

Melissa

Yeah. And I mean, these are so, I mean, after being a coach for now four years, like, these are, like, the universal things. Like you are so not alone in your initial thoughts and beliefs about yourself. These are the things that I just am constantly bringing people back to over and over and over again in their own special situations.

Penny

Yeah, it's so… It's easier said than done though, like, to truly get there takes time and, like, I think again in your head you can do this stuff right in your head and I think that it takes a lot of practice. I think it takes a lot of… I don't know. I just like, oh, I was thinking about this and I was like, yes, in theory you could be like, oh, I know I'm enough. Oh yeah, I know that. Or, you know, I know, I know. So, but it's like to really truly feel like that's where the work is and to do that, whatever you need to do to… You know, the coaching, the thought work, the experience, right, the examples, the reinforcement, whatever. But I just think it doesn't come that easily. And I don't think that I could have done it alone. I think that's where the coaching comes into that cause even though it's universal, right, everybody thinks, like, I see what you're saying, like when everyone's like, I'm special, I am the only one in the universe that's broken. Just me. Nobody else, right? I'm fucked up. Everybody else is good. And why am I so messed up, right? But it's a lot to, again, just visualize and think about this versus actually kind of getting closer to that love. 

Melissa

It's the difference between intellectually knowing something and knowing that you're supposed to think it - and of course everybody is enough and you know that type of thing -  and actually, like, feeling it in your body and knowing it in your bones

Penny

And it can be done. 

Melissa

Yeah - And it's not something - I don't want to give anybody the impression that this is work that can be done and have it stick after six months of coaching with someone like this is something that you're gonna, it's gonna keep coming up, Penny, and you're gonna be able to tell yourself it's not a problem, that this keeping coming up. This is something in my core that I'm just gonna have to keep drilling down, drilling down, drilling down. It's not a problem. I know how to do it now But it's not something that, like, you're never gonna think “I'm not enough” ever again, right?

Penny

Of course.

Melissa

Just like me, I recently did a huge closet clean out and I found all the paperwork that I filled out for my first marriage coaching with Maggie. And I was reading through it and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I've come so far.”

And I still like these are the things that were the core things before are still the things that I'm having to work through on a daily, weekly basis and, like, nothing has gone wrong with that.

Penny

So right. It's not with the quick fix. It's not the - OK, let's go through this program and you know, it's like it's steps. And I've, you know, I've gained insights from all my coaches that I've had for sure and even from like, you know, the first, first coach, you know, bunch of years ago, like those things still can come up. So I think it's like you just kind of, like, you level up. I still feel like there's a level up, right. So you're not like leveling up and like crashing back down. You're kind of leveling up and then, you're just, you're always leveling up.

Melissa

Yeah. Oh, I remember saying so many times to you. You kept trying to tell yourself that you were back to square one. And I was like, wait, wait, no, it's not possible to be back to square one. We are leveling up and we're just coming back to the same problem again because we're supposed to and the universe really wants us to get it. And we're going to keep coming back to it until we actually finally do feel it and know it in our bones and it's not a problem.

Penny

Yes, I remember that.

Melissa

So good. OK, what was your favorite thing about coaching with me, Penny?

Penny

Oh my gosh, Melissa, I couldn't make, like, a long enough list. I don't know. Like I… OK, so I think your honesty. Every time we came on the call, like just your energy, like, you have that like sensei. Calming energy because, like, you know, I would come on and just be like super wound up and you're like, OK, so I love that that balanced me. The no judgment. I mean, I know this, but it's truly like opening the space. Like I probably told you things that I will never tell another soul in my life and I knew it was safe with you. So I love that. 

Melissa

Yeah. You knew that I loved you and there wasn't anything that you could do to make me not. 

Penny

No, I was scared at first. Like, let's not, let's not lie about that. Let's not lie. I remember I wrote you some email and I think you just did the, you know, I did the rant email and then you did like the Yoda, like the one, you know, like, think about this answer. And then I don't know what I was like. Is she saying, you know, that I whatever? I remember being, like, offended or something and I was like, it's just funny, like you just have a way of, like, just getting kind of centering all those things. 

I love also that you shared your shitty thoughts with me. It's different when being in a group coaching, which I'm not… I love group coaching. I think group coaching for me was so helpful to start. And it's still useful, but group coaching, it's great to know that there's other people out there with your same thoughts and helping each other.I think it's another thing where you're like you do hold your coach in a higher regard. I mean you're like the professor, right? 

So I think knowing that, like, you are like, listen, OK, fine, I'm leveled up theoretically, right. And I still have shitty thoughts, Penny. Like, here they are. And that one day you read it to me. I was like, oh, like, you're effed up too. Awesome. Like, I can do this now. Like, it's OK. I'll get there, right? It gave me that whole hope - I don't know what the word is - that, like, OK, like, I'm gonna still have shitty thoughts because Melissa has them too. And so we're OK, you know? So I love that. 

Melissa

Just so everyone knows, I also share all my shitty thoughts in my groups too. So it's not special to one-on-one. If there's something shitty I need to share in order to make it relatable, I totally do. 

Penny

Yeah. Just to kind of put it, you know, like, put it in context, right? Like we don't wanna adopt each other's shitty thoughts, but we just wanna say we have them and this is how we work through it. So I love that. 

Melissa

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Penny

Those are my favorite things. I love it.

Melissa

Thank you so much. 

Penny

Thank you so much.

Melissa

OK, let's see here. Is there anything else that you can think of that you would like the millions of listeners of Your Favorite You to know?

Penny

I would like the 10s of millions of listeners of Your Favorite You to know that Melissa Parsons is a life coach hero. I'm still gonna call you that forever. I know it's super cheesy. You know, I love it. 

Melissa

Listen, I will take the moniker. I receive it. Thank you so much.

Penny

I'm gonna send you a t-shirt with a guitar on it. 

Melissa

I love it.

Penny

And yeah, I just think - I do think there is just the just what we talked about, just the greatest value in… Even if you're just like, I don't know if this will work, but I'm willing to take just a smidge bit of a chance that, you know, my life could be better. Like, I know no one can guarantee it, but if you want change in your life. You can get that change. And I just think

that people need to know, like, I think there's so much fear, like, I'm gonna mess this up. I'm never gonna change. Nothing's ever gonna be different for me. This is my lot in life or whatever your thoughts are. I just think, like, if you have just even that, like, sliver of light coming in and you're like, “I wonder.” I guess I would just encourage people to… I would say take a chance on it because it just changes your whole life and it also changes your experience in your life and it positively affects those around you, if nothing else. If that's your only motivation, the extrinsic, like I just want to be better for those people around me, like start with that and then all the benefits will come, you know, after that, I think. 

Melissa

I love it. I love it. OK. Do you want to tell people how they can find you if they want to follow you and learn about your health coaching and stuff? 

Penny

Sure. You can find me on Instagram. I'm @CoachPennyMD on Instagram. And they can find me, my website is coachpennymd.com. I'm pretty easy to find. 

Melissa

I love it. I love it. I love it. Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing. 

Penny

Thank you, Melissa. 

Melissa

I was very excited in our last session when you said I'd love to be on the podcast because as you know, I was going to ask you if you wanted to be on the podcast.

Penny

I just like to talk. 

Melissa

Hey, listen. And people like to listen. People like to hear that other people, different people, all walks of life can have an experience of their life that's different if they want it, just like you just said. So it's a beautiful thing. So thank you again so much. And it has been my honor to be your coach and I can't wait to see where it all takes you. 

Penny

Thank you.

Melissa

All right. Bye, loyal listeners. We'll see you next week. 

Penny

Bye!

Hey. It's still me. If you're listening to this podcast you might have followed all the rules and ticked off all the boxes, but you still feel like something is missing. 

If you're ready to learn the skills and gain the tools you need to put yourself first –without guilt or apology–and treat yourself as your own best friend, I’m here to support you. 

As a certified life coach, I provide a safe space, compassionate guidance, and practical tools to help you navigate life's challenges and embrace your authentic self. 

In our coaching sessions, whether one-on-one or in a group setting, we’ll work together to develop a deeper understanding of your thoughts, emotions and behaviors. You’ll learn effective communication strategies, boundary setting techniques, and self-care practices that will help you cultivate a more loving and supportive relationship with yourself and others.

While, of course, I can’t guarantee specific outcomes as everyone's journey is unique, what I can promise is my unwavering commitment to providing you with the skills, tools, support and guidance you need to create lasting changes in your life. 

With more than a sprinkle of humor, and a lot of compassion, I’ll be available to mentor you as you do the work to become a favorite version of yourself.

If you're ready to invest in yourself and embark on this journey, head over to melissaparsonscoaching.com. Go to the Work with Me page and book a consultation call. We can chat about your challenges and how I can support you.

I am welcoming one-on-one coaching clients at this time, and I am also going to be offering the next round of group coaching starting in late August. 

Thanks for tuning in, and remember: You’re fucking amazing just as you are.