My Story of Overcoming Burnout & Shifting out of Fight or Flight
MICHELLE GROSSER
NEUROHACKING MASTERY
How I balanced my cortisol levels and regulated my nervous system
Hi! I’m Michelle - I’m so grateful we’ve connected!
If you’ve landed here, it’s probably because you’ve stumbled across my podcast or found me on social media and resonated with my story.
Maybe you've heard that years ago, I was in a deep state of burnout and suffering from adrenal fatigue and fight-or-flight symptoms and you want to know how I healed my wrecked nervous system and got my life back.
Skip my story and...
My journey began about 7 years ago. I had a toddler and a baby and I was a trial attorney managing a very busy law practice. I remember waking up to feed the baby one night and out of nowhere, I just started crying because I had this realization that so much of my life was just running from one thing to the next and I was at a point where I didn’t even recognize myself. I felt like an empty shell of the vibrant, passionate Michelle I once was.
Looking back, at this point I had already been ignoring so many warning signs of burnout for a really long time.
I really struggled to be present with my husband and kids. I was exhausted to the bone. That kind of chronic fatigue where you wake up tired to start the day. I started experiencing brain fog and it was harder and harder to focus on work and produce at a high level.
I realized I was suffering from high-functioning anxiety. I could get by during the day, but the minute I got home I felt like I just wanted to crawl out of my skin or zone out. I started to feel more edgy and irritable and surprised myself by how quickly I could snap at my family for little things.
But despite all that, it was the physical symptoms that really got my attention. I developed gut issues & bloating, I had chronic neck and shoulder pain, I struggled to sleep through the night, my skin was a mess, my hair was falling out, and my hormones were all over the place.
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To recap, these are the symptoms I was experiencing:
👉 chronic fatigue
👉 brain fog/trouble concentrating
👉 anxiety
👉 waking up at 3am/ trouble sleeping
👉 dizzy/ lightheaded/ passing out
👉 dissociation/spacing out
👉 overstimulated
👉 feeling edgy and irritable
👉 gut issues/IBS/bloating
👉 chronic muscle tension/pain
👉 dull skin/breakouts and hair falling out
👉 gaining weight in my midsection
👉 hormonal imbalances
Let’s be real, parenting is a lot. And having a high-stress job didn’t help. But looking back, I had been ignoring some of these symptoms for decades.
More than anything, I wanted to enjoy my kids' childhood with them. I wanted the energy to make special memories together. I wanted to feel calm enough to be present with them. I didn't want my children to look back and remember me as short tempered or always tired. And I wanted to feel good again.
I was convinced I had an autoimmune condition or that I was severely deficient in some mineral or hormone that I needed to supplement. I saw my doctor and they did exams and ran every test under the sun.
And guess what? My bloodwork, the urine samples, the ultrasound - it all came back normal. The doctors couldn’t give me any explanation for what I was experiencing.
But I knew with everything inside of me that what I was experiencing was not “normal.”
I prayed and trusted that God would reveal the answers to me. I refused to accept that I had to live life feeling that way.
And so to make a long story short, I became so committed to finding the root cause of my symptoms and healing naturally with no side effects. I prayed for wisdom and I did a ton of research. I hired an amazing life coach and worked with a functional medicine practitioner and my world was rocked in the best way.
I soon realized that the through line explaining everything I was experiencing - every single mental, emotional, and physical symptom - was a dysregulated nervous system. My body was stuck in a fight-or-flight response because of the chronic stress I'd been experiencing for decades.
The nervous system is the body's command center and it controls everything. How my cells were creating energy, the level of cortisol my body was pumping out, my dopamine and serotonin levels impacting my mood, my immune, digestive, & reproductive system - it was all being impacted by the state of my nervous system.
I changed so many of my patterns, habits, and mindsets. And I learned how to shift the state of my nervous system. And then I stumbled upon a mental wellness company based out of Utah that was using natural supplements to help with gut health, mental health, balancing hormones, reducing inflammation, improving focus, increasing energy and happiness, eliminating anxiousness, and promoting stress resilience. I mean, what a perfect match for the deep inner work I’d been doing!
These were all the things I had learned about in my years of research when it came to addressing the root cause behind so many of my symptoms. As I learned more about the company, I began studying the gut-brain axis and the importance of addressing the complete body system - the gut, brain, and nervous system.
And the reason I share this is that when I learned to regulate my nervous system & shift so many patterns and ways I was doing things in my life, and learned somatic tools to bring safety to my body and allow my nervous system to shift out of fight-or-flight and return back to baseline stress levels, it impacted every other system in my body.
I worked on cleaning up my leaky gut, improving my gut microbiome, reducing inflammation, and balancing my cortisol levels and all my symptoms started to heal.
I was really discerning about what I put into my body in terms of food, drink, and supplements, so it was important to me that my supplements had no side effects, contained no toxins, no chemicals, no artificial flavors or sweeteners, was gluten free, and was of top notch quality.
As I continued to do my research, I began understanding the science and everything started to come together. I learned how our bodies have a hormone called cortisol that helps our body cope with stress. It’s how God designed us. When our body senses stress, it releases cortisol into our blood to help us respond to the stressor. The problem is that we weren’t designed to live in a state of chronic stress (though most of us do).
When we’re stressed for long periods of time (weeks, months, or years), the continuous output of cortisol can wreak havoc on our nervous system. And it cascades from there impacting our sleep, mood, blood sugar, and energy. It’s why I felt the way I felt. My body was sending warning signs to take care of my mental health and strengthen my stress resilience.
Once I learned how to heal and regulate my nervous system and balance my cortisol, I grew my body’s resilience to stress and my symptoms started to fade away.
And that’s what my Happy Juice supplement protocol is all about (link with a $10 off coupon in bio).
Supporting your healing journey by helping your body feel calm & present, yet motivated and energized.
As soon as I began to witness the change, getting the word out to other women about how to regulate their nervous system and get to the root of their health issues by using natural solutions and supplements became my passion. I closed my law firm (yikes!) and went all in teaching women like you how to heal their nervous system and reclaim their vibrancy.
This fueled my fire to want to share Happy Juice with as many people as I could. So I partnered with the company as an affiliate and now I help people get their lives back by sharing these supplements. I started sharing on my podcast (The Calm Mom) and social media because I’ve heard from so many of you who are struggling with the VERY SAME thing and feeling overwhelmed with a lack of answers.
Here’s everything you need to know:
My Supplement Protocol: Happy Juice
The holistic and natural protocol I use contains:
2 powders (Mentabiotics and Edge+)
The two powders get mixed together in water to create a delicious mocktail. Everything is sugar free (no artificial sugars either) and caffeine free.
Ready?! Tap here to save $10 off Happy Juice
Let’s break down my protocol and explain in detail why these supplements help the body process stress, balance cortisol, decrease anxiety, increase energy and motivation, reduce inflammation, and improve sleep quality.
Keeping the body calm is going to shut off that constant cortisol response aiding in healing a dysregulated nervous system.
And the best part... there are no chemicals, no toxins, no sugar, no stimulants or caffeine, and no gluten.
MentaBiotics (powder):
The most comprehensive combination of unique strains of probiotics, prebiotics, and phytobiotics that have been scientifically shown to improve mental wellness.
MentaBiotics supports the growth and vitality of a range of gut-friendly bacteria to increase the production of the “feel-good neurotransmitters. In fact, 90% of our serotonin, the primary neurotransmitter responsible for happiness and mood, is actually produced and located in our gut.
Lactobacillus rhamnosus R0011: Reduces stress by lowering cortisol exposure and improves GABA neurotransmission.
Bifidobacterium longum R0175: Enhances calmness by decreasing anxiety and improves cognitive function.
Lactobacillus helveticus R0052: Improves mood by decreasing neuro-inflammation and increasing serotonin.
The probiotic strains:
Edge+ (natural nootropic):
The all-natural nootropic that supports mood, motivation, and metabolism through Mango Leaf, Lychee Fruit, Palm Fruit.
Amare EDGE+ is the only product bringing together 3 unique botanicals – from Africa, Asia, and Central America – to address one of today’s most compelling consumer complaints – languishing.
Mango Leaf (from Africa) supports healthy inflammatory responses and helps eliminate brain fog.
Lychee Fruit (from Asia) aids the body and mind with endurance, improves glucose metabolism (helps regulate blood sugar), promotes skin health, contains anti-inflammatory properties, and is rich in antioxidants.
Palm Fruit Bioactives (from Central America), helps repair nerve cells in the nervous system, increases dopamine (which is the hormone that provides the body with motivation), improves mood, and supports microbiome balance.
Those two powders are what you mix together in about 10-20 ounces of water and drink after breakfast. We call this drink Happy Juice
A pre-made shopping cart is attached below, just tap "TAP TO PURCHASE" and it includes $10 off the Happy Juice Pack!
Another product I suggest adding on as a Booster is Energy+ which is delivers clean, focused, & reliably awesome all-natural energy and motivation boost without jitters or crash. Energy+ is available in two options - either with or without caffeine
I tend to be caffeine sensitive, so my favorite combo is the Watermelon Edge+, the unflavored MentaBiotics, and the Dragon Fruit Energy+ Booster.
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Happy Juice:
105% decrease in negative mood
64% decrease in fatigue
54% decrease in tension
55% decrease in anxiety
211% increase in positive mood
Clinical Trial Results
Why You Need it
normalizes gut, immune, and brain function
provides the fuel you need for productivity
enhances mental and physical performance
increases production of "feel good" neurotransmitters
populates your gut microbiome (your second brain) with specific strains of probiotics and prebiotics