Podcast Episode: Clara Ritger, meditation teacher and former Washington DC journalist, on overcoming burnout to create sustainable health and success

Transcript

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (00:00)

Clara, welcome to the podcast. It's a privilege to have you on the show.

Clara Ritger (00:05)

Thank you so much for having me.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (00:08)

You have quite a story, and I'm really excited for everybody to hear about your journey. Let's start with sharing your experience working in media in America.

Clara Ritger (00:24)

Yeah, well, it's probably as stressful as you imagine it to be. I graduated college and started working as a journalist on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. This was in 2013, so this was during the Obama presidency, but during the rollout of the Affordable Care Act and I was assigned to that story, which wound up being like the AP news story of the year because of how disastrous that rollout was. So I was covering like the basically, the collapse of the health exchange marketplaces and just how much of a mess it was. And so many late nights, constantly on my phone, nights and weekends. ⁓ After about a year of that, I thought I can't do this anymore and switch to documentary film and spent about a decade working in documentary film, doing some corporate work, but also news media work. So pieces for NBC News, the Wall Street Journal and working out of New York City, but travelling really all over the country to cover stories that were both breaking news and also more long-form stories. And yeah, I mean, I think that one of the things that is probably underappreciated by the general public is how hard journalists are working and how underpaid we are. So a lot of people really look at journalists as people who maybe have an agenda. And I always laugh at that because I had no time to think about, like, having an agenda, like I'm just trying to cover a story. And of course, everyone comes in with their own like biases and things, right? But in many ways, I think, you know, think journalists are really under resourced and under supported from a mental health perspective, a physical health perspective, a financial health perspective, and, yeah, in some ways I think that that's why you get what you get when it comes to the storytelling and the quality of it because people are just trying to meet this 24 seven hunger for information in this, what was like a news, a television news cycle, but that turned into a social media algorithm. Anyway, that's the brief overview.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (03:03)

Yes. Okay.

There's a lot to unpack there. And I think it's important to look at all of this. So firstly, the juggle. I think it's actually really crucial. We can do something very unusual here, which is we can look at the life of a journalist in the spaces that are known for their politics without needing to actually comment on the politics of it. Because what I'm getting from your story is that it doesn't matter which politician someone prefers when they are working in media. It sounds like there's a juggle and a survival mode, perhaps, of the burnout, the you're not getting rich being a journalist by the sounds. So it sounds like you're just trying to cope and get by.

And I can imagine a lot of the world would be wondering what it's like to work as a journalist in the US at any point. And I hope you might have heard about what parts of your experience would still be happening now.

Clara Ritger (04:17)

Sure, yeah, and so in fairness, I've been out of it for, I guess, about three, four years now. Was the last time, yeah, only a few, that's true. But you're absolutely right. I was absolutely in survival mode when I was on projects for news media organisations.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (04:27)

Really few.

Clara Ritger (04:43)

And I say it that way because once I switched into documentary film, I did sort of have periods where I would be doing more corporate stuff for more original work that was maybe at a slightly slower pace. But then I had periods where, now, three, four, six months at a time, I was working solely for television, and that was crazy. Yeah, you're constantly in a state of fight or flight. And I don't know that there is a way to work with news media organisations and not be in that state in your body because of the demands of the job of constantly needing to be responding to breaking news. And even if you're not covering breaking news, it's the fact that that even exists in that environment that puts sort of everybody on this sense of everything is urgent and needs to be dealt with immediately. I remember one morning getting a call

And I wasn't even supposed to start work for another like 30 minutes. And I got a call asking what was wrong with me. And I said, What do you mean? I was like, nothing's wrong. And they said, Well, you haven't responded to this Slack notification. And I didn't have Slack on my phone because I wasn't a full-time employee. I was a contract employee. And so I was like, and I also wasn't even assigned to breaking news, but they were like looking to just have me jump in on something. And I was like, I was accessible on my phone all morning, not Slack, but also I wasn't on the clock. Like what is going on? And when I finally, I was working on obituaries at the time and somebody received a diagnosis. And so they wanted the obituary prepped like immediately.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (06:22)

What was happening?

Clara Ritger (06:36)

Even though, like, a diagnosis isn't somebody dying. Like when you talk about it, it actually sounds really crazy, but 45 minutes had passed in between when that Slack was sent and when I received a phone call asking what was wrong with me. And that hopefully conveys like the state of expectations and like people's nervous systems in the newsroom. What I can also say, as far as like living conditions, right, is when I first started my career, I was in Washington DC, it was 2013. I was making $32,000 a year and $32,000 a year in Washington DC meant that I could barely afford to buy groceries. I was eating trail mix for lunch and carrots that I made myself from like bulk buying these things just to have enough money to like be able to go to these like, networking events I needed to go to to do source building and like be able to buy a drink and not be like embarrassed in front of sources. Like I just, couldn't even, I could barely pay my bills on the money I was making. And granted that was the first job, but I think that's sort of like, that's where you start, and you only work up from like that low, right? And so people, I think, are pretty chronically underpaid across the industry, until, of course, you get to the like news anchor on television role, right?

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (08:02)

Yes. So I looked it up, and for perspective, sounds like Australian, that would be about 48,000. And we don't need the tiny details of whether that was before or after a tax, but it feels like, especially with how it's before tax. You are getting, pardon me. So you are getting 48,000 Australian or 32 American before tax.

Clara Ritger (08:17)

That was before tax.

Yeah.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (08:33)

And it's hard enough, keep in mind, it's hard enough when someone is working an ordinary job and might just go home at the end of the day, and it's fine to just eat some pasta, whatever cheap food, when living on not much, but you were working in media where you were expected to present yourself a certain way. especially, this is not a feminist statement here. It's just the fact.

Women are expected to wear particular clothes and look a particular way when they are public-facing. And on top of that, you're saying you had to buy drinks, and a drink might feel like not a big deal, but when you're on a very low pay, it sounds like you are expected to live a part of a glamorous life when you were earning barely enough to get by.

Clara Ritger (09:30)

Yes, that's absolutely it. was, and I mean, look, I think that I became over time, like the master of putting up an appearance. In 2016, three years later, I was 24 years old, and my appendix ruptured, and I was in the hospital. They took it out laparoscopically, which means like just a very small incision.

They sent me home even though I was telling them I wasn't feeling well. And 10 days later, I was back in the hospital with multiple areas of abscess encasing my organs. And they ended up having to cut and reconnect my intestines as part of like a much bigger open abdominal surgery. And for six years after that event, I was in and out of hospitals and doctors' offices with inexplicable pain.

They would run tests, they would even do procedures. I even had follow-up surgeries trying to address what ultimately was, I just never fully healed from that initial event. But a lot of people in my life didn't know that I was going through that. Jobs didn't know I was going through that. There were definitely jobs that I was on that I probably needed accommodations for, given my health, but I didn't ask for them. I didn't make it known. And I think that, like, being able to put up this appearance of everything being fine, like came from in journalism, you're supposed to look and present yourself a certain way, even if everything inside of you is crumbling.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (11:13)

Absolutely. Just, this is one of those moments where, as a podcast interviewer, I am focusing so much on your experience when, on the inside, I'm thinking that all sounds like what I have dealt with so many times. Okay. Where to begin from here? So you did not feel comfortable or allowed to share with some of your employers that you were going through these health journeys.

Clara Ritger (11:49)

Definitely, definitely, because my job does involve a physical element and because eventually I was freelancing, I was like a contract employee. I think I was concerned that I would get passed over for opportunities if I asked for too much. And I think that a lot of people can relate to this, right? There's a lot of people all around the world who are struggling with chronic illness or disability or you name it. I mean, it could even just be like a death in the family, grief. I actually didn't go to my grandfather's funeral when he passed away because I had just gotten a huge opportunity to do a series for the Wall Street Journal. And I was worried that if I asked for the time off, they would let me go from the position and hire somebody else because I, as a freelancer, I wasn't really entitled to that kind of time off. So I think that there are people who can relate to these experiences, right? I mean, it could even just be a miscarriage, and you're like, well, who am I to ask for a grief time for a miscarriage, right? You name it. We are all, we are all human and yet we are afraid of being our full human selves in workplaces and our families and society because we've been taught that like it's too much or that you know we aren't deserving of boundaries or this scarcity mindset and and maybe the scarcity mindset is real you know like you know I we live in capitalist societies that prioritize output over the person over the human body the human soul.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (13:43)

I would love to share with you a couple of things to say just how universal or relatable this is. And okay, great. I just feel like you have so many stories, and I don't want to be that person who says, But check out my story. But no, what you described, you were working even when someone had died. I never forgot the moment around a decade ago.

Clara Ritger (13:52)

Please.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (14:13)

When there was a funeral for a great-grandparent and I stayed at… I stayed in my city instead of travelling to go to that. And I don't think it was for any one reason. It wasn't only because an event was on, but around the time when people were going to that funeral, I was going to a fashion show and doing a selfie with the designer, Carla Zampatti. And socially, I was so shut down and couldn't hold a conversation. And I feel like I didn't allow space to just be a human. So I just totally relate to that feeling of you have to be present. You have to show up. And I, I think I was really shamed a couple of years ago when some people wanted to keep

People wanted me to keep showing up for events when I had family responsibilities that I needed to do. And it was so crushing knowing that people who said, we'll look after you, were saying, hang on, you picked looking after your family over showing up to this event. I, I can't even wrap my head around it. So that happens. And you were, you were a journalist. It's.

I can imagine you see that happening to a lot of other people in journalism and other public-facing jobs, of having to choose?

Clara Ritger (15:46)

I don't know that I saw it, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't there, right? That's by design, to not see it, to not see what people are actually going through and having to choose. I should say you're right that a lot of the choices, when I look back on like situations or choices that I've made in my life, it is never just one thing. And I think on top of the issue, you know, related to my grandfather's funeral, like on top of the issue that I was new and freelance on this job, I was going through a really challenging time with my family, my immediate family. And I would have to obviously spend that time with them and see them. And there was a lot of hurt around that as well. And so I think it was those two things together that it was just like, I'm not even gonna ask, don't even think I can, I can't go, I just won't be there. But all those feelings around my grandfather's death and my family and the stress of this new job, even if I'm not telling my coworkers about it or even my friends about it, it doesn't mean that that's not there, that that isn't something I'm carrying with me every day.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (16:45)

Well.

You are processing that.

Clara Ritger (17:07)

Processing all of this and this and this mental and emotional load takes a physical toll on the body. You know, this was at the same time that I was struggling with all these physical health issues, and I think a lot of people, when you ask people, when people receive Significant diagnoses in their life. It's really interesting because almost everybody you talk to you about it can point to something unrelated or seemingly unrelated to the physical illness that they think caused it. Like, I never grieved my mother's death, or I was putting in really long hours to try to make partner, and like now I have breast cancer. Like people always have this like this inner knowing and

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (17:44)

Yes.

Clara Ritger (17:59)

We don't have a lot of science around this, but the science that we do have around it does point to that being true. That when the body is in prolonged states of fight or flight, when those stress hormones are flooding through the body, when your blood pressure is raised, when your heart rate is going faster, when your digestion is stopped, because these are all the things that your body does to prepare you to fight, right?

It's trying to save you. The problem is that you never then shut that down. never then move. When you're in prolonged periods of stress, you're constantly ready to fight. Well, the body, always heightened, the body eventually breaks down. Those systems eventually start to cause issues in the body. And that was my experience. And I think that that's something that we do see is that we don't see all of the steps that lead up

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (18:38)

You're always heightened.

Clara Ritger (18:57)

to someone's crisis, but when someone gets a cancer diagnosis, that's the part that we do see. And I believe, at least in my experience, and I think in the experience of what I've heard from other people, that there's so much more we could be doing to prevent from getting to that point of crisis. Like the body has been, at least my body was, sending signals of distress long before it hit collapse and burn up.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (19:30)

It was sending signals, the physical burnout. I think you have a really important lesson for anyone who's trying to do extraordinary work because not everybody becomes a journalist, especially these days, but so many people are trying to be even public-facing because we all need a personal brand these days. I'm seeing a nod.

We all are expected to be public facing these days. There's very little room to exist privately, at least not entirely. But also, I think there's a demand for all of us to work so much now because to live in this economy, it's quite typical for someone to have a nine-to-five, so to speak. And then something else alongside that, even that's a lot of burnout.

You are one of at least three guests on the podcast, maybe more, that talked about having a physical illness after a burnout. This is happening to health professionals. It's happening to business owners. It's happening to public-facing people. What were your next steps after realising that the work that you cared about was sort of wrecking you at the same time?

Clara Ritger (20:58)

Yeah, exactly. It's such a good question because there's really there's two things that you're saying here that I want to highlight. One is the economic necessity of working around the clock that because our societies have not kept up the wage growth with the inflation, and how much it costs to live.

We all have to work more to try to make ends meet, or you have to have two parents instead of one parent that is working, right? That's number one. And number two is when you're purpose-driven, when you're mission-driven, you feel this, you know, pull, I think to work more, keep going because you're like, I just have to do this thing to change the world. Right. And in the process, you're forgoing your own health and well-being. I absolutely struggled with both of those things, right? This feeling that when I was living in New York City, that I needed to work a certain amount in order to make a certain amount of money to afford to live in New York City, right? And then I would get on these projects that I was absolutely passionate about, but the experience of working on them, I was totally disembodied. I was abandoning myself for this idea of this greater good or this mission or this other person's story that I just needed to tell and just needed to get out there. And I think that having, you know, it comes down to having boundaries. And I think that having boundaries is really challenging, but is necessary to prevent burnout.

And yeah, I think there's going to be this feeling of falling behind and not keeping up with other people in your field who are able to go the distance. But at what cost are you going this distance, right? Because when your health comes knocking at the door, at a certain point, that either means you're gonna have to take this prolonged break to heal, which I did.

Or for many people, you hit retirement, you get a terminal illness, and you barely even get to enjoy that time before you go, right? And it's sad, right? And I hate to say it this way, but it is true. It's that, you know, this idea of the body keeps the score. It's a, you know, famous book in the trauma spaces, but the concept of the body keeping the score is true.

For me, I hit an absolute breaking point. I struggled with my health for six years before I had another follow-up surgery. And it was that surgery that created a total breakdown for me. I was like, I can't live like this anymore. This isn't even living, this is surviving. And I don't know how much time I have left at this rate. I really thought I wasn't going to make it to retirement.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (24:19)

Wow.

Clara Ritger (24:19)

I really thought that, and I thought I needed to see the world before I die. I didn't think I was going to die in the next two to three years, but I mean, I was having the kinds of surgeries, and doctors were referring to me as like a person with like 80-year-old insides. And I was like, if I have 80-year-old insides, there's no way I'm going to live another 30 years to see retirement. So

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (24:47)

That's illustrating. Sorry, I talked over here, and I'll touch that a bit. I jumbled my words there. day. So that's illustrating things a lot. And in sharing your story, it's this is a bit like a journalistic story in the sense that you're really painting the picture and setting the scene and describing things that are very technical. Because even when someone has been a patient like you have, when you've been a patient, everybody explains the terms to you. And the

Clara Ritger (24:50)

Go ahead

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (25:15)

Inside like an 80-year-old that really helps. I'm so curious, what was happening to you? How serious did it get? People were wondering. Were you basically accelerating your aging?

Clara Ritger (25:31)

That's what it felt like. Ultimately, what was challenging was that the doctors weren't able to pinpoint one specific thing that was going on. So I was coming in and presenting with all these symptoms, and they were seeing all these symptoms, but they would run their tests and do their procedures, and they're like, we don't know. And I remember after the latest surgery, I had the surgery that sort of like was the straw that broke the camel's back

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (25:54)

Wow.

Clara Ritger (26:01)

that caused me to abandon my whole life in New York City and travel the world. I went into the doctor's office with this like inexplicable pain about two months after that surgery. And I remember the moment I woke up that morning, I was supposed to have a follow-up that morning. So I was already scheduled to come in. I woke up that morning, and I experienced this like a sharp pain in my abdomen and an immediate swelling, like bloating.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (26:12)

See?

Clara Ritger (26:30)

that reminded me, like was reminiscent of the day my appendix ruptured. And I was like, I don't know what is going on, but I thought, surely there is no way that I'm coming home from this appointment. So I was like rushing around trying to make this appointment on time. I was like running the dishwasher because I was like, I'm never gonna come home. Like I'm gonna be, this is it. I'm gonna be in the hospital. And I go in and he's like looking at me and he's like, I, he's like,

Here's the thing, he's like, I can see what is happening, but what is happening doesn't line up with any complications post this particular surgery that you had. He's like, so this is something else entirely. He's like, so the next steps is going to be to have you go in and get a CT scan. He's like, schedule that within the next two weeks. And then, depending on what the CT scan finds, if they don't figure it out, we'll have to do an exploratory surgery. I'll cut an incision, and I'll put cameras inside of you, and we'll try to figure out what's going on. That was the level of like, we have no clue what is going on with you, that I was experiencing for about six years. And the thought of having an exploratory surgery broke me. I was like, I can't live like this anymore. This is not working. And so that was sort of the moment where I was like, I'm...

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (27:48)

No!

Clara Ritger (27:54)

Leaving everything behind, I'm quitting, like I'm gonna have to figure this out, like I can't keep going like this. Like I was spending like somewhere between five and $10,000 a year easily on medical bills. And Australians can't relate to this, but this is the US medical system because I was having procedures and tests and things that like just aren't covered by insurance because I was too young.

Like I had a colonoscopy, and once you hit 50 or 55, I think in the US, you get one colonoscopy covered a year. And I had this colonoscopy because they deemed it medically necessary. They were like, We have no clue what's going on with you. We need to see inside. Well, it was a denied claim by my insurance. I paid like $3,500 for that procedure because I was too young, too young to have a colonoscopy.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (28:42)

my goodness.

We can relate to this a bit because not everything is covered, and our public health system is so stretched that often the accessible alternative is the very expensive private health space, but also, money is money. And I'm guessing you are still only earning so much as a journalist and needing to put thousands into even just tests.

Clara Ritger (29:14)

Yeah, and I will say my income fluctuated a lot over the years. So I would have really good years, and then I would have more lean years because I was freelancing for the most part. Yeah, I think, I wanna say that was like the year before I had a really good year. I don't know, think I figured it, you know, I've managed to figure it all out, right? And I've coped, but.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (29:27)

Right.

So you coped.

Clara Ritger (29:42)

But yeah, mean, there was, you know, when I made the decision to travel the world, there was an element of, I'm already spending X thousands of dollars a year on health anyway. I might as well like just try taking a break, like spending that money, like taking a break and seeing like what happens. Like, yeah, I mean, and ultimately, yeah, ultimately for me, I did find out that it was like trauma-related and stress.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (30:03)

Interesting logic.

wow.

Clara Ritger (30:11)

Stress-related. So yeah, I did heal when I was able to move my body out of fight or flight and into rest and digest mode. You know, shocker, but all these abdominal issues related to not being in rest and digest mode.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (30:22)

Trauma and stress. Was there an element of both trauma and stress when you were working in media? Was it also influenced by other things? But I'm so curious to know, was that the feeling in media?

Clara Ritger (30:43)

So, a brief educational lesson, I have since actually been certified as a trauma-informed coach and a meditation teacher. And trauma is stress. These two things, so not all stress is trauma, but all trauma is stress on the body. And when you are a person with trauma, which I was, or still am, I'm not sure that you ever really graduate from being, my diagnosis that I received back in 2016 was complex PTSD, and PTSD means post-traumatic stress disorder, right? So what it effectively is is that your body is putting itself into fight or flight mode when it doesn't need to be doing that. And the complex part of it just means that it wasn't one, like, event, like one car accident that has given you PTSD. It's a bunch of things that happened over many years, particularly in childhood, that then turns into, as an adult, your nervous system subconsciously sees danger around every corner and is trying to ready you for the fight, right? And yes, go ahead.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (31:44)

It's a bunch of things.

I’ve got a question out of this.

Okay, I know I keep bringing politics into this a little bit, but I feel like the world is political, and it doesn't matter where you turn, everybody either cares or doesn't care, but even not caring about politics as a statement. So again, no science, but if you have PTSD or you suspect that you're having signs of PTSD, I'm curious, does politics flare that up because people are essentially in some way fighting each other?

Clara Ritger (32:37)

Yes, and this goes back to your first question, which was how did this relate to your workplace? The thing is, is that often people with PTSD and complex PTSD, because they are used to being in a state of fight or flight, they are like the one thing that we are really good at is if you're in danger and you need to survive, we will get you there, right?

You can rely on people with complex PTSD for any sort of emergency situation. So what does that mean? If I'm really good at handling, I'm really good at handling these high-stress situations. I now seek out work that rewards that nervous system state. So journalism, doctors, like politics. Yeah. And so the thing is, is your, your set

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (33:23)

WHA-

Clara Ritger (33:31)

Like, and I actually wrote about this in my newsletter. I now have a newsletter where I talk about my experience of healing and travelling the world and also share a lot of this sort of these trauma-informed insights. I write about how your comfort zone winds up being discomfort. And so healing for people is to actually figure out what your comfort zone really is. And it's going to feel uncomfortable until you reset your set point. So yes, I was being triggered in many aspects of my daily life, politics certainly, the journalism workplace certainly. I think that there's an element to New York City that can be triggering. But I think the thing that's really important is, and I wrote about this actually this week in this newsletter as well, is I think that there are some careers, professions that lend themselves to naturally being constantly stressful. However, I by and large think that it isn't about what you do, but it's about how you do it. So I think that it is possible to be a doctor and not be in a state of fight or flight, chronic stress. I think that it is possible to live in New York City and not be triggered and stressed all the time.

Don't know how I feel about politics and journalism, though, I gotta be honest. I'm not sure if it's possible.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (35:04)

I, on that. I'll tell you something. And I seriously haven't talked about this very often at all, but a million years ago, I had a very short amount of time working in data entry in the advertising department of a TV station. And the team leader in that space expected us to not need lunch.

So if you're just physically built to sort of get a little bit woozy and then, princess, you need a lunch. It was never those words, but essentially, but also, you don't have lunch until after everything is done. But also the phrase sense of urgency translated to where all feelings are panicked. Why aren't you? Why I got this impression, this energy, this attitude from them, of why aren't you feeling panicked? And I just was at the time I would go from the suburbs to the city and do this stuff. So I wasn't constantly hyped up, and I just had this to do, okay, well, just to do this. And I think that seemed very foreign to them. So maybe if you sensed that in the social media news cycle in the

In the even traditional 24-hour news cycle, I'm seeing a lot of nods. I think I'm on the right track here. There are organisational cultures that expect people to be in this fight or flight state because it visibly looks like we are working harder.

Clara Ritger (36:47)

Absolutely.

And I think that if you're a professional listening to this, right, and you're really struggling with this, I think it's really important to evaluate your environment, your work environment, your home environment, right, and figure out is it just you or is there a reflection of what you are experiencing in the places that you spend a lot of time in and do those places need to change in order to support your healing?

For me, I think one of the reasons I had to burn it all down to the ground was because I let it get too bad. Like in every aspect of my life, in my work life, in my relationships, like my family relationships and my romantic relationships. Like, there was nothing about the previous life that I wanted to save. I had to start over.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (37:43)

Everything is pressed.

Clara Ritger (37:46)

And that's why I think it's so important to talk about this. My gosh, did you hear that?

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (37:51)

Yes, you got some thunder because we are talking about big stuff, and magic is happening, and Clara has a storm going on in the background. Don't you love some good symbolism? But are you okay to keep chatting?

Clara Ritger (38:02)

Seriously.

Yeah, yeah, I'm okay to keep going. That was so scary, though. That was a really loud one. Yeah. Yeah, I think like, I think it's so important to talk about this stuff because I think that, you know, save your life before it's too late, you know? Don't let everything spin out of control. Like if your work needs to change, change your work. If your family situation needs to change, change that.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (38:07)

⁓ it was loud.

pretty much.

Clara Ritger (38:31)

It's so much easier to make smaller changes, like in the step of healing, than it is to have to start all over. And yeah.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (38:44)

Yeah. Smaller changes along the way. That is so crucial because my perspective, I'm keen to know if you agree with this. I want these high-pressure industries to be led and served by people who do feel regulated enough. And this isn't about constantly being mellow or anything or constantly chilled, but

people who are sustaining themselves enough to help other people in the long term, because I don't want those industries or any others to be filled with people who feel burned out, depressed, or even a need to be tough. Another response that I wanted to bring into this is some people to even just cope with the pressure of an industry, they turn it just tough like they're putting on a shield and you end up wondering hang on who are you and what have you done with the old you that was just so gentle and nurturing to everybody because it's very hard to be nurturing and tough at the same time so do you agree we need a way for hopefully any forms of wellness to support people who are working in any high pressure professions.

Clara Ritger (40:12)

Yes, and it's important to note that a regulated nervous system is not a peaceful nervous system. A regulated nervous system is a nervous system that can move easily in and out of states of stress and into states of rest. So that's what it is, these are workplaces that are in these prolonged, heightened, stressful, angry situations that never have moments of celebration or ease, right? It's like you can pull an all-nighter once and recover, but to work 12, 14, 16 hours, days and days on end to be responding to Slack messages at seven in the morning or on the weekend, days and days on end, that's a dysregulated system. And that's an ecosystem, right, that is not supporting people. It's, you know, using them really as bodies for performance. This is, mean, really what this goes back to is that we have moved really far away from seeing each other as humans existing and like working together and just into, well, you're a body that needs to hit these KPIs. And if you don't, will just replace you. There's somebody else that will, another body that will do the job.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (41:43)

Yes. And this is not only for employees or people who are starting from scratch. I want to seriously acknowledge the executives or the leaders of any sort. I can think about a bunch of them. I'm not thinking about just one person or a few, but I've heard things in person and on social media. Here's what's happening. Some industries are so deprived of resources that there's a panic around having what's needed. It's basically, I'm going to call this a high-level survival mode because in your career and in mine, frankly, as well, we had moments of, okay, how am I going to get by personally? There are people out there wondering how will my people who are working for me get by? How will my customers get what they need? And that's a panic and a stress that's ongoing.

And meanwhile, some industries end up looking like a battle, and it's not only literally politics. think any field can become that sort of, I think it's human nature. So we need a version of this to agree where people can just feel okay, to put it simply.

Clara Ritger (43:01)

I think that part of the problem is I think some, not all, but I think some workplaces are aware of this problem and they want sort of a plug-and-play solution. So they're like, well, we built this like wellness room, and just nobody uses it. And it's like, you know, or we're covering people's, like, we're covering yoga for people if they want to do it, you know, that's like enough, right?

Like it's capitalist solutions like to a capitalist problem. It's like there were not sort of thinking outside of the box here on like how exactly we could solve this problem and help give people sort of what they need, right? For me, the tool that I am using and the tool that I think would be really helpful for a lot of people is actually meditation. Teaching people how to meditate can transform workplaces. I fully believe this. And here's why, because when you take 20 minutes once a day, twice a day if you can, to meditate, what it does is it allows you to tune into your experience of your life. So you start to notice maybe aches and pains that are in your body that you didn't notice before, oops, I guess I should maybe do something about that. Or all of a sudden, all these thoughts are flooding your mind that are just,

You're like, my gosh, this is really upsetting to me, and I need to work through this, or I didn't realise that was something I was upset about. I guess maybe I should go and deal with that, whatever. It allows you to sort of come back into the experience of what needs your attention. And when we get clarity on what needs our attention, then we start to have clarity as to what the priorities are in the workday. So no.

Not everything needed to be sent five minutes ago, Chad. It can wait, right? Like, and so if everyone, right? If the executives have this sort of clarity, if people in the ground level have this sort of clarity, it allows people to do what I was saying before, which is to have this regulated nervous system that can move in and out of, oops, that really needs to get done. I gotta buck up and get this done. And then, that thing is done.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (45:02)

Yeah, Chad.

Clara Ritger (45:26)

Yes, I have 10 other things on the to-do list, but I know what my priorities are, and we'll get to them as we get to them. And allowing people that grace, of, ⁓ something came up. Well, if it's not a really urgent thing and your kid needs you to go pick them up from school because they punched someone, maybe you should go deal with the kid, you know, or whatever. Like having that sort of flexibility of moving in and out of these, what needs the most attention as humans.

So that's one tool and there's other tools, but yeah, think education and awareness is a huge piece of this. And deciding, I think, from a leadership standpoint, that this is no longer something that we're okay with doing, that we no longer are going to treat people this way and see work in this way.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (46:21)

Yes. It's about looking after yourselves, not just in the allocated time or space, be it the what was it? The wellness room, I think you called it. What even is that? What do people do? I'm so curious. What is that?

Clara Ritger (46:35)

Yeah.

So I've seen them sort of relabeled. There used to be the lactation rooms. So if there was a mom who needed to pump, I've seen a lot of workplaces actually just take that sign off and put wellness room up so that if a mom needs to use it for that purpose, she can. But then other people, in theory, can also use it to take five minutes. Whether people are actually... Look, I don't think people are actually using these rooms.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (46:49)

Don't get me started.

Clara Ritger (47:07)

But I think that the reason people aren't actually using these rooms is twofold. think one, they're not really sure how to use the room. They're like, What am I even supposed to do in there? Yeah, usually with like a couch and like dim lighting and maybe some like soothing music. Yeah. And like maybe like a rocking chair of sorts. But I also think that there's not a culture that like is, that allows space for that room. You know, if you're in meetings from nine to five,

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (47:14)

Is it literally just a room?

Okay.

Clara Ritger (47:36)

all, literally all day. When are you gonna go use this wellness room?

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (47:44)

You wouldn't have the chance, definitely. And I wish that more people would learn that even yoga, you mentioned a yoga subscription. Yoga has a whole philosophy that's not simply woo or a Hindu or anything, but it has some very, very applicable lifestyle and ethical

ideas to basically make life go a bit more smoothly. And if that can be applied, or if any everyday practice, meditating and figuring out, what's my intention behind the meditation? Am I going to step back from the rest of the world? Whatever it might be. If we have the chance to actually apply some of these concepts that can sometimes be common sense.

Just within our everyday life, instead of, I'm going to do wellness things for a moment, a whole hour of wellness. That's what we're getting at, that wellness shouldn't just be a session. should be a way of life. And I'm not saying hide away with the lentils. We're saying, weave this into the amazing work that people are doing.

Clara Ritger (48:46)

Yes.

Exactly. It's about how you approach life. And people do not have the tools, right? And I mean, you know, one place to start would be potentially therapy. And a lot of in the US, your health insurance is tied to your employer. And so you typically get a certain amount of therapy sessions covered at a copay, which is like a reduced rate.

But once you've hit the maximum on your plan, then you have to pay full price for these therapy sessions. I've been on health insurance plans where my portion of the partially covered sessions were anywhere between 60 to 120 US dollars per session. So I would pay 60 to 120, and then the insurance would pay the other portion of it. And then I was getting maybe 10 to 20 sessions at that rate. And then once I finished that, I had to pay each session at 250 US dollars to 300 US dollars, whatever the full price of that therapist. Right. And this is what I'm saying, by like, this is actually like a huge, massive problem that it's like, if workplaces want to know where to start, how about figuring out how to make your health insurance plan cover therapy for free? Because that's where people and also that hour that somebody needs to take to go and see that therapist.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (50:08)

Wow, that's huge. That's so expensive.

Clara Ritger (50:29)

Don't count that against their leave time because that is gonna be a place where people go and get these resources and learn how to approach work and relationships differently. And they bring all of that back into the workplace. Like we should be seeing therapy the same way that we see continued education, like an upskilling for professionals. We should be seeing that.

as emotional intelligence upskilling, which is what it is. That's what my experience with it was, but we don't. And so, at least in the U.S., it's a very hard barrier. There's a barrier to entry to even get access to the tools that you need to learn this way of being.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (51:14)

Yes, the prices were a lot higher than what I imagined they would be, but that concept is very similar for us, but it's from Medicare, government-funded insurance. Essentially, we would, I think, don't quote me on this one. Sorry, I shouldn't say the phrase don't quote me on it on a podcast, but the insurance package is from memory, about 10 sessions that are subsidised.

Clara Ritger (51:35)

you

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (51:43)

And then the rest, maybe eventually there'll be another pack of those. Otherwise, it's full price. So it's a very similar concept. And I think this is very common, especially if people are watching their money closely or there are lots of other expenses, then people have to really prioritise their health. And I think it's quite a sacrifice to make. It's a big financial decision for the average individual to say, okay,

I'm going to maybe have to cut back on other things to even be affording to talk to someone.

Clara Ritger (52:19)

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So it's definitely, we definitely live in a landscape that is challenging, right? And, you know, I feel very fortunate that I was able to sort of take this break to heal. And that's one of the reasons I got trained and am sharing my story and talking about this with people, and the resources that helped me the most, you know, because meditation, it costs you a little bit to learn, but it is largely free. Once you learn, you can do this for free. It's a thing that you have, it's a skill that you have with you for the rest of your life, right? And so yeah, for me, it's like the more that I can just share this education for free and help, hopefully just empower or at least enlighten people to this alternate way of being.

Yeah, I went on this journey on my own and really struggled to figure a lot of this stuff out. But on the other side, it's like, yeah, I wish people knew this. I wish I had known. I struggled for six years with these health issues. I wish I had figured it out sooner. I wish someone had told me sooner.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (53:35)

I'm so keen to ask you, how do you feel about communities forming where people can share more wisdom so we can create some prevention before we reach the point where we need urgent therapy?

Clara Ritger (53:52)

I mean, yeah, I think it sounds great. I think the more we can support each other on these paths, the better, because ultimately, if you want to change the world, change yourself. If everybody was able to change themselves, we would change the world, right? And so I think having these communities helps inspire people to go down that journey to really to find yourself, to live in alignment with.

what your body needs and what makes your soul feel alive.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (54:26)

Absolutely. We could talk about this for so long because it's very essential. Would you like to conclude with three actionable tips that anyone can implement to make their lives better?

Clara Ritger (54:46)

Yes, absolutely. So, I mean, in the theme of what we've been talking about, which has mostly been like workplace stress, right? My first tip, and this is the first thing that I started doing very early on, is when you get a sense of things getting really stressful at work, urgency, maybe you just had a difficult conversation with your boss, you name it, take a walk, leave the office, and just go for a walk for five minutes and then come back. That's an easy way to inject just a moment of like change your scenery, get some clarity, you know, even if it's just moving your body a little bit. I promise those five minutes, you won't miss them. And actually, it will improve whatever you have to do next. It'll help you do whatever you have to do next. So that's the first step.

The second step, I would say, would be to learn to meditate. I'm really a huge proponent of meditation. Meditation absolutely changed my life. ⁓ Meditation is ultimately, I think, what helped me to heal. So my experience was that the most transformative effects of meditation were not on the cushion, the metaphorical meditation cushion, but were after I meditated and how those 20 minutes that I meditated every day then had ripple effects into how I showed up in the rest of my day. And I can say this, but you just won't know it until you experience it. There's many different forms of meditation. I teach one form of meditation called instinctive meditation, which is really about honouring the individual, the idea being that there's no one-size-fits-all.

for anybody. And so I work with people on a one-on-one basis to help them find a meditation practice that suits them and helps them to feel more connected to their loved ones, more present in their life experiences and showing up in the workplace ⁓ with boundaries and clarity. Right. So if you're interested in that at all, feel free to reach out to me. My social media is at Clara Ritker or C-L-A-R-A-R-I-T-G-E-R. And I also write a newsletter, and my newsletter is AdventureToAwaken.com. And if you go to AdventureToAwaken.com, you will see up in the menu a solo retreat guide. And we can also link it in the description for this podcast, but that's free. So you'll also get signed up for my newsletter when you download it, but it's 56 pages that will, that with guided meditations, guided yoga practices, it's like, if you want to just take a five-day retreat, like get a hotel or an Airbnb in your hometown, like you don't have to pay $5,000 and go to Bali for this healing and wellness retreat, right? Like this is a resource that will take you through a self-guided retreat, start to finish, what to cook, everything.

I made it just to give people sort of like a lot for free so that, like, you know, like there's so much that you can do, like outside of the like, well, this industrial complex. So, so those would be the three things that I would say here's places to start explore these resources, you know, take a walk, try to learn meditation with me or just look at this free solo retreat guide. Even if you only do one day of it, I promise something will help you.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (58:35)

Thank you so much, Clara. Thanks for the wisdom and the resources and for sharing your story.

Clara Ritger (58:43)

I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me, and wish everyone the best of luck and a beautiful weekend journey ahead.