SPECIAL: Author Interview - Melissa Woods

Today we have a special author interview. I worked with Melissa back in 2016 on her book Getting Past Anxiety, An Inspirational Novel to Reclaim Your Life.

I've invited authors I've worked with over the years to join me in a special podcast where we talk about what their book is about, how the book has helped them personally or professionally and where they are now. The thing I love about doing these interviews the most is really getting to know my clients and of course sharing them with you because honestly I love them all. I am definitely my client's biggest fan.

Melissa Woods is a writer, author and professional speaker.

For more than 20 years, Melissa’s expertise as a Licensed Massage Therapist has given her the mind-body insight necessary to help and heal clients dealing with anxiety. She brings both professional and life experience to bear on her work as an author and speaker, as she reaches out to help a broader audience of anxiety sufferers.

In 2017, she published her book, Getting Past Anxiety, An Inspirational Novel to Reclaim Your Life and her works were featured in articles in Women’s Health, Prevention, Thrive Global and Dr. Laura to name a few.

Melissa will discuss how to start your own healing process by recognizing some common symptoms of anxiety, methods that can keep you free of anti-anxiety medications and reclaim your life!

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Nicole:

Hi Melissa. Welcome to the show.

Melissa:

Hey Nicole, how are you?

Nicole:

I'm doing fabulous. So we worked together. We worked together back in 2016 on your book, getting past anxiety and inspirational novels to reclaim your life. So first tell us what is the book about and why did you write it?

Melissa:

Sure, yeah. Thank you. Um, getting past anxiety serves as an inspiration for healing. Uh, the novel traces the journey of Stella Maurice, a 37 year old professional woman in the Pacific Northwest who is fighting to escape anxiety. She breaks free by delving into and re-examining key life events, uh, deeply committing to healing and, uh, employing a variety of medical modalities that keep her free of antianxiety medications. So just ultimately, um, you know, her story, Stella's stories about how we choose the quality of our life. And the reason why I wrote the book is I journaled for, uh, when I was, uh, a teenager, young adult, and I just journaled about, uh, some of my experiences with anxiety. And that's where I, uh, realized that I have the gift of writing. And, um, one day my, uh, astrologer actually, uh, said to me as you need to write a book. So it took me a couple years cause I didn't feel like I was a writer. Um, but I took all of that journaling and um, just experiences and, uh, decided to write this book. I wrote it as a fiction. Um, but some of the, uh, some of the, uh, um, the,

Melissa:

what do I say, the modalities that I use to heal, you know, the character healing her anxiety is, you know, true life of what I've done. So.

Nicole:

Okay. Wow. So, um, the book has been out for about four years now, I think. And I'm wondering what opportunities have you had since you first launched the book?

Melissa:

Yeah, I, it's really, uh, grown several legs from it. Um, I didn't expect it to, um, you know, really be, um, a part of, you know, writing articles for, um, you know, uh, online magazines like, you know, women's health and prevention. I've done some stuff for thrive global and dr Laura, which was really a fascinating thing for me to write articles for them. And I've done some podcasts with, um, a couple of doctors and just understanding that, you know, when you talk about anxiety, uh, how people really want to talk about it. Um, yeah, they're afraid, but they really want to talk about it because it's something that, um, we all have experience sometime in our lives. So it can be, it can be confusing. So,

Nicole:

yes. Yes. Yeah. Um, okay, so when you were writing the book, what kind of challenges did you have to make it a reality or was it easy for you even?

Melissa:

No, it wasn't easy at all because like I said earlier, yeah, I did not see myself as a writer. So, um, I, it was very challenging in the aspect of, you know, how do you write a book? So what I did is, um, I found a writing coach who had, um, she lives in Canada and she had published a couple of books, so she was, uh, she helped me with the whole formatting and structure of it. And then, um, you know, I reached out to you and your team to get the, uh, creative side of it. And how to format it into a book. So, and then finding the, uh, the, uh, publisher of Eva. It was quite a process and you know, it took a couple years to do it, but, um, those were the challenging that that was the most challenging part of it for me actually sitting down and writing the book, um, was very fluid and you know, sometimes I would write for hours and hours and hours and forget about the time. Um, so it was, it was a good process and I'm glad I did it.

Nicole:

Awesome. Is there another book in the future I have to ask?

Melissa:

Yes. Now, of course there is and I apparently, I think I'm writing it in my mind as we speak for the last couple of years, but I had a, I had a group of people review my book and that was the biggest that they asked me. They enjoyed getting past anxiety and you wanted to know if I was going to write another one, so I will, I will someday.

Nicole:

Awesome. Well, you know, when people are asking, that's, it's the time, right? Yes, it is.

Melissa:

Yeah. And that's, you know, um, for the time right now I was thinking, you know, prior to us getting this podcast together is what really helped me, what, you know, I did different modalities and stuff and what really helped me, um, you know, get grounded and helped me to move, uh, beyond this, this anxiety and, and also to help, you know, manage it because you don't ever get rid of anxiety. And sometimes sometimes anxiety is, is good for you because it helps you to, uh, be aware of certain situations or things that you need to pay attention to. But if you Harbor it and don't do anything about it, then it becomes chronic, which happened to me. So.

Nicole:

Wow. So if, if I were to ask, what are some common, like under-recognized symptoms of anxiety?

Melissa:

Sure. Um, so insomnia is a big one. And I read a lot that... You know, insomnia is a big thing and that is part of anxiety. It's, it's a worrying, not being able to turn your mind off or even fatigue if you're very fatigued. Of course, nervousness. And the big thing I found out was headaches. Um, I uh, used to suffer from headaches and that's part of anxiety as well with the muscle tension. So, um, you know, those are things that people normally wouldn't, you know, you know, think about would be anxiety symptoms. Um, cause we always hear about, um, you know, shortness of breath and um, you know, uh, if it's agraphobia you can't go outside or social anxiety or um, you know, general anxiety disorder or something, you know, but the, uh, the kind of underlying, you know, symptoms that I talked about are things that you wouldn't connect with anxiety.

Nicole:

Yes, definitely. I know you just think, Oh, I just have a headache. I'll, I'll relax, I'll lay down. But, uh, yeah, I don't, I don't think most people would really ever relate that to anxiety. Um,

Melissa:

you can be a part of it.

Nicole:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So did you use, um, antianxiety medications or were you doing something more naturally or what do you recommend for, for other people dealing with anxiety?

Melissa:

Yeah, sure. I, I'm part of, uh, writing the book is I did in the beginning go to my general practitioner doctor, you know, suggested that I go to, you know, see a psychiatrist and, um, for the anxiety and immediately, uh, he put me on, um, you know, uh, anti, uh, anxiety, depression medication. And so I tried that, um, for a little bit. And I understand that you have to, you know, give it some time, but it actually made everything worse for me, um, to a place where I was more debilitated. I was just, you know, dealing with the anxiety. So what I realized in that situation is that the medication, uh, was not an option for me. So I really had to become, um, creative and figure out how am I going to, um, address this anxiety in my life. And so I, um, you know, did a couple of different things.

Melissa:

Um, I did find a healer that I could work with, um, to just address certain, um, you know, underlying, uh, things in my life. But, uh, aside from nutrition, that's a big thing. And I also addressed adrenal fatigue. That was another big thing. Um, one of the things that really was profoundly helping me was, uh, hypnotherapy. I, uh, um, I worked with a trained professional hypontist and she also component combined with the hypnotherapy, um, NLB NLP, which is neuro linguistic programming and ESP tapping, which is, uh, emotional freedom techniques that, that just, um, help heal the anxiety as well as provided ongoing tools to manage any symptoms. You know, and I, I still today, um, I use the, uh, the uh, NLP and the EFT tapping. Um, when I have, I've been doing it, you know, now, uh, dealing with the COVID-19 stuff, just when certain, you know, anxious thoughts or, you know, symptoms arise, I just go and do the tapping. And the NLP was to, um, you know, a kind of a mantra and for your, uh, audience, if they don't know about NLP, it's, uh, it was created by a guy named Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the seventies. And according to these guys, it's, uh, the study of how we take in information through our senses, process it, give it meaning and how we behave, respond based on the need we gave it. So we all take in and process information the same way, but we each give different meaning to it. That is, that is one reason why certain situations can cause anxieties to one person and not to another.

Nicole:

Wow. That's interesting. Is that based on like past history or experience? Yeah.

Melissa:

It can be. Yeah, exactly. It's, it's, so whatever we have for me, um, the NLP really helped with, uh, you know, some of the childhood, um, scripts that I received, you know, um, you're not good enough or, you know, whatever, whatever that was. Right.

Nicole:

Yeah.

Melissa:

What happens is you process that information. It's how I gave that mantra as a child, meaning to my life and then hanging on to that without any resolution than that can, you know, that can cause, uh, that causes anxiety then. And then along with the NLP, the EFT, which is emotional freedom techniques, um, that's, that was created by, uh, Gary Craig in 1995, but there was an earlier form of it, uh, involves tapping. It's the acupuncture meridians. Um, we all are pretty familiar with acupuncture, but you tap on certain, uh, uh, meridians and with your fingertips. And then what the, uh, gal that I was working with, you know, doing the hypnosis with along with the NLP, with the mantra, and then tapping on these meridians. Then you, um, you change, you know, what your script was, so then you can have a new script. And I specifically, yeah, I specifically went to her, uh, because after this book, um, you know, there's public speaking involved and I was terrified of public speaking. So it's just something that I needed to address. And I'll tell you, I, it helped that as well as many other, many other things in my life. So, um, like I said, I still use it today.

Nicole:

Wow, that's fascinating. I

Nicole:

Actually I used, um, both NLP and EFT, uh, when I was dating a guy a long time ago, and when this all came out, he's like, Hey, let's, let's go on a, um, a boating or sailing trip and we're going to be out in the middle of nowhere and we're going to be diving in around sharks. And I'm like, uh, yeah. Uh, so yeah, before, before we went, I, I met him, you know, he'd been out there a week before me, all tan and beautiful, and I got out there and Oh God, you know, I've got, I've got to show up, you know, I've got to, I've got to do this. And, uh, so I, for a couple of weeks, I went to go see a friend who was doing it, and I got in that water, I was swimming with barracudas and yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. So, and it was funny cause there, there were schools of jellyfish coming in and everyone's like, get out. I'm like, Oh, it's fine. It's fine.

Melissa:

So, I mean you really found that it really helped, didn't you?

Nicole:

Yes, yes. I mean I did not want to get in that water and once I did I was like, Oh okay, this is, this is okay, I can do it. Just, you know, remember what you learned and um, but then I forgot my fear all together. So it really, it really does work. Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa:

I am. Go ahead.

Nicole:

I would say I wouldn't recommend swimming with barracudas and jellyfish, but, but it did work.

Melissa:

Yeah, it, it did work for me and I have a little story, um, just to show, um, I was speaking in front of 200 people, uh, with my book and it was more of an excerpt of reading. Um, and it was really my big, my first big, uh, I mean 200 people to me is a large audience right now.

Nicole:

Yes, absolutely. I understand. Anyone so congratulate.

Melissa:

Yeah, I think you, I utilize this. And just by working with her, you know, on this prior, um, when this opportunity came up, um, I just went and kind of sat before a couple of days before and just started tapping and, you know, telling myself the mantra that her and I worked on, you know, uh, what I have to say is very important and what I have to say helps people, you know? And so you just do that whole tapping and that mantra over and over again. And I tell you, Nicole, I went up on stage with a microphone, the light, I mean the whole kitten caboodle and

Melissa:

I felt energized. I loved it. And I said, wow, you're pretty good at this.

Nicole:

Ah, congratulations. Awesome. Awesome.

Melissa:

It works. Yeah.

Nicole:

Yeah.

Melissa:

Just, um, you know, you can find this stuff on, um, you know, um, the internet or find some practitioner if you're struggling with anything, you know, that is holding you back or stop for that is because it really helped me. And it seemed like it really helped you as well.

Nicole:

Yes, definitely. So is that something you would recommend for people today that are dealing with all things virus and you know, what would you recommend?

Melissa:

Yeah, no, absolutely. That's, that's a good way. And what, what I um, will do as well as, um, put this information. Um, I write a blog on my website and then we post podcasts and any type of, uh, things that I do, you know, to help others with all this information. And I have a resource page, but, um, I'll post this on my website as well. But aside from that, uh, I'm sorry,

Nicole:

I was gonna say, uh, what is your website address so we can refer people over there?

Melissa:

Sure. It's getting past anxiety.com.

Nicole:

Perfect. And I'll also put that on the blog here and people can find you that way. So perfect.

Melissa:

And yeah, the other things I would, you know, advise just especially in this time we are, we're all pretty kind of isolated is what, what has helped and what research has said as well as, you know, make sure you're sleeping, you know, you're sleeping well and sleeping enough that helps. And eating healthy of course, and you know, exercise and getting out and getting some fresh air. And then also, um, what you and I were talking about earlier before we, before this podcast is reaching out to people. You know, we can't be in the same room, but we can call, we can face time, we can zoom time. And just, you know, the people that we love and we get that support from is really, really important.

Nicole:

Yes, yes. I know I was saying before we started here that I have had incredible conversations and connections with people, you know, using zoom where we, we might've originally just had a phone call and now we're seeing and interacting with each other. And I think it's, you know, it's just provides a lot of peace for each of us really.

Melissa:

And we always want to do that, reach out to people that give us support and that we love and they love us. But this time it's very important.

Nicole:

Yes. All right. Well. Um, it has, uh, it has been a pleasure to have you on the show today and, uh, we are going to be waiting for your next book. I'm sure a lot of us after all this COVID stuff and you can help us get past anxiety and, and you know, get to the next step on all of this and, and I look forward to, to working with you on your next book when you're ready and I look forward to sharing it and uh, it's just been a pleasure having you here today. So thank you so much for joining us.

Melissa:

Yeah, thank you Nicole very much. And uh, just everybody stay healthy and be safe and I will definitely reach out to you when I'm ready to do that next book. Okay. Cause you did such a great job on my first one.

Nicole:

Ah, I'm so glad it actually is. It's a fun book cover. So we're gonna we're going to have that up with your, I'll have it on my blog so everybody can take a look at it, but it's, it's a beautiful cover, so. All right, well

Melissa:

great. Well. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, thank you. And congratulations on everything you're doing. Great.

Melissa:

Thank you. You too. Take care!

Again, you can find Melissa over at http://www.gettingpastanxiety.com. OK guys, that's a wrap for today. If you're thinking about writing a book, I'd be happy to help you make your dreams a reality. The world really needs to hear what you have to say...more now than ever!