Celia Pacquola Struggled with Post Natal Anxiety

Hi, Welcome back to Bounce Forward with me, Tiff Paul. I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land in which I'm recording this podcast, the WERENDR people of the Pooler Nation. I pay my respects to elders past and present. Welcome to part two of my chat with Celia Pacola. Let's jump straight back into it. I wanted to ask you, Celia, about your relationship with health and

Like now anymore? I miss it? So okay, my body changed entirely. I felt like an athlete.

I loved it.

I was so fit, but I got injured and I got taped up and I had fish was coming to give me stuff.

It was.

It was the best. I really felt like an athlete. But it's and it just made me go, Oh, anyone could become a like an action star, you know, and you see they'd be like they're like incredible bodies, and you're like, yeah, that's someone who gets up every day and their whole day is doing that.

Because that's what it was.

It was.

I woke up every day and I danced every day. Turns out, doing eight to nine hours of cardio every day for three months changes your body. So it was absolutely incredible, but obviously not sustainable, I mean, apart from anything else. As soon as the season finished, we went straight into lockdown, which sucked. So it's the fittest of them in my whole life. I had all these new outfits that I wore on the couch.

And you won?

You won that?

Oh I won? Yes, yes, you.

Did ed and I will both contest that Claudia Carbon was robbed, but it's our own fault because you didn't have an Instagram account.

That's why.

Yeah, you won, you won fair and squares Celia good.

I think it's like it's like I think you know this as well.

It's like I think I won because I had the biggest journey, you know, because I wasn't I'd never done anything like it before. I wasn't fit at all, and I totally went all in with extra stuff too, like setting myself I think I was thirty seven when I did the challenge of being able to do the splits.

By the end, I didn't need to do that. That was a ridiculous thing that I just said. I pretty much did it. I can't do it anymore, but I pretty much did it.

So I really, for me generally, over my whole life of fitness, it's not it's I'm not very good at it, but when I have done it, I really like it.

I went through a period maybe it was after Lockdown before no during Lockdown.

Well hit it's called XO is the place that I would go to in Richmond, which is like a forty five things, and I loved that. I loved I love I need someone. I need to go somewhere and have the fitness happen to me. Otherwise it's not it's not going to happen. People go, oh, it's so convenient. You can have this thing do it at home. And I've downloaded and I try them, but I don't. I need someone with me. I need to be in a class. And I found they were great because they were very

Half marathon once around the ten just im pretty easy.

Yeah, I really liked running, but that's the one thing I can't since the baby. My hips have been real bad, so I'm not so now I'm doing Now I'm doing pilates, which wasn't a thing that I'd ever tried. But basically I would like to be more for I really I know that it's I feel better when I do it, but it's just finding the time.

It's just finding the keep Celia. It's really fine.

Well, because it's the easiest thing to It's the same with meditation. It's the same with reading a book. It's the same with anything that comes down to being stuff for you. It's the easiest thing to cancel.

It is it's so hard. I get it.

And you mentioned your hips, and you do change physically after you have a baby. There's stuff that it's never quite the same. But you mentioned mental health. How do you look after your mental health? I think that's really important for people to understand because you just can't you can't give that away because then everything falls apart.

Well, that's it. That's the thing.

If you keep doing that, you can do it. You can get by for a certain amount of time to be like okay, well I'll skip it. You know, someone said this, it's about what you do most of the time if you can just keep it just mostly I'm always doing walking like things that I can do, but I'm not doing it. But how to look after my mental health. Look, there's a lot of different things, which is a big thing.

I will just say.

I did a documentary called The Truth about Anxiety, which is I think on SBS, which is one of the things I said when I did it was I wanted it to have actual practical stuff in there so people would have a look at that.

But for me personally, like.

A few things I've accepted, it's something that I have to manage because that's when it's gotten the worst is when I've gone I'm cured, and then I stopped doing all of the things and it gets bad. So it's accepting that as much as it sucks, it's always part of who I am, and so to be on top of it.

All the time, even if you're in a pretty good place.

Yeap.

A combination physical stuff is really is great as.

We as we really know, even in even if it's not a workout, if you're just feeling terrible, just you know, breathing, shoulders back, just doing something physical, cleaning the house, just doing something rather than just sitting in it when the rumination is bad.

Yeah, I don't know.

A combination of things, talk, therapy, writing things out, but trying anything and everything. Something that works for you won't work for something else, and something that might have worked for you five years ago doesn't necessarily work now. Also, family time has been really good for that as well. I had no idea what was going to happen to me when I had a kid. Mentally, I was really expecting postnatal depression, but spoiler, got postontal anxiety.

Oh it's a real shock.

I was really expecting to be to dig that because I have a history of both.

But no, it was the intrusive thoughts.

It was the worst case scenario that they're going to be heard, or just like the panic, the panic and the mania and the stuff.

But that's I've got.

You know, everything's a lot better with that now. But I find it's really good for my mental health. Just being with her and having play with her and family time away from that really does help you be in the moment, the same way that exercise does or meditation does. It all seems to be about being grounded in the moment, and however you can do that, whether that's this is also another one where art comes into it, that flow state.

It is such good advice. I haven't heard of that before. The flow state.

Well you know that fifth that what people say, But it's that's because that's in thet part of it. In the documentary as well as it's like for art therapy, it's just getting out of yourself. I also heard this other thing on what but the sho I've been trying to say to myself is getting out of my own way because I have such a loud inner monologue and I know it's trying to help. That's another thing. Some people have different different ways to approach their their inner voice.

I see you what you red, I'm not going to listen to you. Yeah? Is that a thing?

Yeah?

So my last question.

Everyone sees you on tally and you're so successful Celia, and you're you're like so such a cool girl, Like just everyone's cool girl. Everyone wants to be you, and you're juggling all the time. So I just wanted to ask, how do you juggle it all? You know, you're a mom, you're on tally, you're a stand up.

I mean, you're doing so much. You're writing, you're hosting. I mean, you know you just what do you do? How do you do? You? You juggle? Like that's I think that's really I just get good at well.

You just you just you just do it because you just find a way. It's like before I had a kid, I'm like, how are people doing that? And now I see people with two kids.

And I'm like, how are you doing that? And it's just because you just do because you just have to.

I mean, my partner and I you just use all of the tools that are available to you. If something's generally not going to work, that it wouldn't work, Like if if I wouldn't have done thing, God you hear, if it wasn't possible, if we couldn't have gone right, we look at it and we go, is it possible? Can we divide our time? Do we have enough support? Do we have enough? Like when we did the first season. She wasn't even one, she wasn't in childcare yet. I can't I don't know how we did that.

I don't know. I think we Hey Google, turn on the light. It's getting to ducking. You should also watch my new stand ups. I haven't filmed yet, but I will.

I've got an entire a minute material about the fights that happened in the house to set up.

Hey Google, I really have a lot of how issues witty Oh.

Anyway, But I don't know. I just think you rely on support. I had a lot of friends. I've got a friend who lives up the ride, who has a kid who's a year older than mine. She was there, she was outside my house in her car being like, how are you? And I am just ready to do that for the next person in my life who has a baby, because before it happens to you, you just don't know, Like you'd send a present and they're like, okay, bye, thanks.

Good luck you.

Yeah, yeah, hope you're okay, not knowing how much you know I'm to turn up with food or done up with that, but yeah, relying on our support network and I'm not gonna, you know, in this line of work, as well, it's.

I don't know.

I'm very grateful that work, that I was still able to work, that I've come back, you know. That was the other thing as well. I had a very hard as I'm sure a lot of people do.

Eight months. The first eight months, I was like, I don't know who I am. This is too hard.

I don't know what my life is going to look like from now. I just am so tired and that's all I know, and that's all I see. And then at about eight months to ten months, I was like, it's just started turning a corner and stuff.

But yeah, you got to get about tough time.

It is a tough time when you first have the baby.

But can you tell me things? How are you No, I'm boring, You're not boring? You know what are you talking? But I'm like, I get fit? How do I manage a baby and me champion?

It is just it is just doing whatever you can when you can. And I switch and change from like I've got some time, so I'm going to go and do a little bit in the gym, or I'm I literally run away from my family. Ed goes go, You've got half an hour and I run from them and I just go for half an hour run and have that freedom for half an hour.

You know, it's just what you can do. I'll be doing like three squats in the kitchen. Yeah, and I count that. I'm like, that counts.

It does, do it, Celia, there's a little.

Five minutes, you know, strengthy five minute birth. You know, it's not even five minutes. Like if I'm on the floor with her, I'm like, oh, just do a glue bridge. Is that Cavali?

That's perfect? He's dancing in the corner.

Hi, buddy, I just up this podcast. Yeah, I have to hello. Can I get some icy col Can's coke? Please?

Ed? Dela goodom CD, thank you, thank you, you guys having a nice time.

We haven't we're talking so much about you. I can't believe. Have you talking about the dancing with the start? Yes, we have not that much. I've missed it so much. I was so fit.

I really miss it. I wish I could do eight hours of dancing all day every day. Is my job, that was our job. I felt like an athlete.

You were an athlete.

That's what I told you.

When you talk to Celia, I tell her she was the most dedicated do you remember when I did the backflip and the splits? That was ambitious and thanks buddy.

Anyway, Celia, thank you so much for joining me today on Bounce Forward. I've had such a good time speaking to you, and thank you so much.

Thank you.

I'm message you probably for advice on how yeah my fitness also, and thank you for your your you sent me because I was like, mane, this is so good pregnancy workout clothes. Oh the times which I'm gonna don't. I don't want to brace you, but I'm still wearing them if I'm not pregnant.

It's just it's nice to have.

I wore them for ages after I had the baby. Oh my god.

Oh, thank you so much for today.

Thank you. I really appreciate your time. Thank you. Thanks so much for listening to Bounce Forward. I love having your company. So please dm me on Instagram at tiff Hall Underscore XO and let me know what topics and questions you'd love me to cover. Don't forget to rate and review me on your podcast out Speak soon.

Happy Days,