Interview with Jessica Murnane: Maintaining a Positive Relationship with Yourself and Others
In this episode of our newest podcast, I talked to Jessica Murnane about the importance of positive self-talk, ways she maintains healthy relationships, and her plant based diet. Jessica is the author of Know Your Endo and One Part Plant, two books she used to share her experience dealing with endometriosis with others. She is also an inspirational woman who has lots to share about her life.
The full podcast can be found on Spotify, Anchor, and Google Podcasts! All you need to do is search up “Pretty Little Joys”!
Here’s the link to our podcast! Enjoy:)
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1tsvGc40eTULNhSiGGSvhe?si=31VQTd-sQZywotdtSjLapQ
Part One. Positive Self Talk and Encouragement
Question 1: What are some things that you learned about throughout the process of learning how to copex with endometriosis?
Jessica: I think the biggest things I have learned is that sometimes we have to define what our best is. As someone with endo, my best is not going to be running a marathon. Rather, being able to take a nice long walk on my period is a huge accomplishment for me. Recognizing that, letting go of things that my body is simply not capable of doing, and tapping into the things that it is capable of has been one of the biggest lessons I have learned.
Question 2: What are some ways that you support and encourage yourself?
Jessica: When I wake up on the day of my first period, I am usually in a lot of pain, but instead of beating myself up with: “you are not gonna be able to do this”, I have learned to say: “okay you’re feeling pretty bad right now what can I do to help you?” Doing this has been very beneficial.
I also suffered from a lot of body dysphoria and issues with body image, but one thing that I learned was that I am not always a good judge of what I see. I am not always a reliable source, and I will choose to walk away from it or think about it from another perspective.
Alice: For me, I have this side of me that is energetic, bubbly, and smiley and I used to always want to be like that. I would get mad at myself whenever I felt lonely, sad, or confused, but now I realized that it is normal for me to have all these emotions and instead of panicking, I recognize them, accept them, and tell myself “okay, you’re feeling not that great, let’s slowly work things through or take a mental break by dancing or eating a piece of cake!”
Part Two. The Food Talk: Plant-based foods and Jessica’s go-to foods!
Question 3: What is one guideline you will recommend us to have when choosing the kinds of food we consume?
Jessica: For myself, I feel best when I don’t eat any meat or diary, but different people will have different foods that suit them. In general, though, I believe that eating whole, unprocessed foods is beneficial for our health.
Question 4: what are you having for breakfast?
Jessica: In the morning, I like to have a juice shot with apple, apple cider vinegar, ginger, turmeric, made by a company called Drought and it always wakes up my digestive system and make me feel good!
I also like starting my day with a bowl of oatmeal and fruits or an Ezekiel muffin. Generally, I like having cooked foods instead of raw foods because my body digests that a little better.
Question 5: I realized that whenever I have a certain amount of milk I get really sick, is that related to lactose intolerance?
Jessica: I think a lot of people can definitely be very sensitive to diary products, and if your body is feeling unwell after u have diary products, it is definitely telling you something.
Part Three. Life as a Busy Woman: time management skills and the art of prioritization
Question 6: I know that you are a very busy person. How do you find a balance between work: your podcast, your book, and other things happening in your life?
One thing that helped me a lot is setting out time blocks for work throughout my day. For example, I dedicate two hours of my day doing editing only or writing only.
However, if you find yourself losing focus or unable to produce much, I would suggest to go away from that space and do something else. For example, I like going for a walk!
Another thing that helped me a lot also was to give myself solitude. In today’s world people barely have time to themselves. If we’re taking a walk, we are listening to a podcast, listening to music, or talking to a friend. But when we are alone with our thoughts, that’s where we get ideas!
Part Four: Maintaining healthy relationships with people:
Question 7: What did you learn about relationships throughout your life?
Jessica: I think there are friends that we can have a lot of fun with, but there are also friends that I truly feel a connection with.
Also, as someone living with a chronic illness, I sometimes feel like I am always asking for help, but I try to be aware of that and reciprocate care for my friends.
Question 8: What advice do you have for maintaining good relationships with people?
Jessica: If someone helps you out (makes a connection for you to someone else, gives you assistance on a project), it is important to say thank you because that will make those relationships stronger and they will want to help you out in the future. This is especially true for professional relationships.
Part Five: Tips for starting your own podcast
Question 9: What are some things that helped you in managing your own podcast?
Jessica: I like to edit podcasts myself instead of having someone else edit for me because having to ask them to make changes on certain sections, and re-listening to it when it comes back is just not very ideal.
I used to do podcasts indefinitely, but in recent years, having a 10-episode season has also been helpful for me. It allows me to clear out my schedule during those times and dedicate it to editing.
In regard to choosing the topics I cover in my podcasts, I like to ask my listeners what they want to hear about. I also tap into things that are happening in my own life because I feel like if it is happening to me, it can also be happening to others. Lastly, I will browse websites from my publishers to look at new books that are getting released. From them, I will get a sense of the new topics that will likely be discussed more.
