Tech Exec Wellness Podcast: Conversations to Reignite Your Soul
In the fast-paced world of technology, where innovation and disruption are the norm, tech executives often find themselves caught in a whirlwind of high-pressure decision-making, long working hours, and constant connectivity. The relentless pursuit of success and the demands of their roles can take a toll on their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. However, a new narrative that emphasizes the importance of tech executive wellness as a crucial component of sustainable success is emerging. This is the story of the tech executive's journey to rediscover balance, prioritize well-being, and ultimately thrive in their personal and professional lives.
If you're ready to embark on a wellness journey that will empower you to live your best life, I invite you to subscribe to Tech Exec Wellness, Navigating the Digital Balance, wherever you listen to podcasts. Together, let's cultivate harmony within ourselves and radiate positive energy to the world. Each week, we'll explore a wide range of topics related to wellness, inviting experts, thought leaders, and everyday individuals who have transformed their lives through mindful living, self-care, practices, and holistic approaches. We'll dive deep into areas such as nutrition, fitness, mental health, spirituality, mindfulness, personal growth, and more.
Tech Exec Wellness Podcast: Conversations to Reignite Your Soul
Ep. 9: Lessons Learned From My Dog
When classic rock meets the pitter-patter of furry paws, you know it's going to be a show to remember. Our Social Media Manager Lisa Sanford, joined as Erika's Co-Host while our Founder & Host was out meeting with clients. Rocking her love for the classics and with heart-melting anecdotes of her English Bulldog, Samson—to celebrate the incredible bond between humans and dogs. Our talk traverses the emotional support and profound connection that our four-legged friends provide, not to mention the fascinating story of how dogs went from wild wolves to our earliest animal allies. Whether it was Samson weathering the stormy seasons of Lisa's life or our own tales of canine comfort, we uncovered just how much these loyal companions mean to us.
Our conversation took a heartfelt turn as we explored the ripple effect that dogs have on our relationships and well-being. From the way they bring families closer together to transforming our social lives within the community, it's clear that dogs are more than pets—they're catalysts for connection and love. We shared the ambitions that these experiences have sparked in us, like giving back through volunteering and dreams of a sanctuary we fondly imagine as a dog ranch. It's a tale of personal angels with tails, teaching us about love, forgiveness, and the vibrant life that blossoms with a dog by your side. Join us and sink into the warmth of stories that celebrate our canine companions and the endless joy they bring into our lives.
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Welcome to episode nine of the Tech Exec Wellness Podcast. Lessons learned from my dog. I'm Melissa's co-host, erica. As you all know, melissa is out today on a client engagement, so our new teammate, lisa Sanford, and I will be running the podcast today. She's going to be the co-host today. She's our social media manager and co-host, lisa. Welcome to the team. Before we take on this episode, tell me your favorite music genre and memorable concert experience.
Speaker 2:Hi there, I'm excited to be here. My favorite music genre is probably classic rock, although I do like some pop. I actually I like everything. My most memorable concert was and I'm dating myself here was George Michael back during the Faith Tour. I was in the eighth grade, so I got to see George Michael with the leather jacket dancing around the Faith. It was awesome. But there's been so many, so many memorable ones.
Speaker 1:What about you? What's your favorite? I love that. My favorite music genre is EDM. Most of our subscribers know that already. I would say that my most memorable concert experience was I won tickets to the B96 Jingle Bash. I don't know if you are familiar with those, because B96 is a radio station from Illinois. I was a teenager and the Jingle Bash was a bunch of artists that got together and performed, and the one I remember was Alicia Keys. Oh, she was so good in person because she plays the piano and sings. I was literally crying.
Speaker 2:Wow, I would love to see Alicia Keys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's phenomenal. Most of the artists are phenomenal, so kudos to them. So today we're focusing on dogs, our dog families. Yes, dogs. Lisa and I are both dog owners, and it was something that Mel and I bonded over, and then, when I met Lisa, we have bonded over this over time. Both of us have three dogs, melissa and Lisa, and I have a special place in my heart for adopting them. I'll have Lisa share the story about adopting her English Bulldog during COVID. My first dog as an adult was Griswold. I adopted him from a Humane Society in Illinois. Yes, I kept his name as Griswold because he was named after Clark W Griswold and that was 2017. So it was before COVID and all that, but he did actually save me from a bad relationship. What about you?
Speaker 2:Growing up I had a cat, but what she said, griswold, saved you from a bad relationship. Dogs always seem to come into our lives when we need them the most. It's uncanny. Whenever I got Sampson it was during COVID, but also we got delivery of him in November. We had to put our elderly pug PJ down and then the next week oh, thank you. Thank you, the very next week my mom passed.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, that's terrible. I'm so sorry for both of those losses.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you, it was rough. It was a lot all at once and then we found out that Sampson was available and got him, and you've heard us talk about Sampson. He is a ball of energy. I'm thinking of Bulldog. It's going to be lazy, I'll just have something to cuddle with, but he's like the dog version of the Tasmanian Devil and he got me out walking around and walking the neighborhood getting sunshine, and it helped me heal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think Mel told me that he was like a sixth walks per day dog and I'm shocked because my oldest child has an English Bulldog that I gave her for her 18th birthday and that dog is so lazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he is super charged. I've actually tracked the miles he walked. He walks like six or seven miles a day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's crazy, yeah, that's great. Well, why don't we dive in, as we both have pets, animals. This is going to focus on dogs. They bring so much joy to our lives. When Mel suggested that we do this episode, of course I jumped on it and I was so excited because I'm an animal lover. I do volunteer at the Humane Society. You guys know that I constantly see dogs running loose and try to save them or if they're chained to trees. And I jumped all over this because it's another reason to talk about my fur babies, griswold, thor and Juju. And when I started doing some research about the history of dogs, I actually didn't know the origin of dogs at all and I learned a lot when I was doing some research. What do you know about dogs being domesticated and when they were domesticated?
Speaker 2:Not a lot. I know that pugs may be wrong but, like Ming dynasty, you know, I know that Chinese inferiors had them as like lap dogs and you know, you know, I love my pugs. I don't know much about when they became domesticated or how they became domesticated.
Speaker 1:Do you? I do, now that I did the research. So they weren't always domesticated. They did actually, you know, come from the. They originated from the Wolf family, according to National Geographic, and they were the first animals to be domesticated by humans and it was over 30,000 years ago. Wow, yeah, you know it goes way far back than we'll ever even be able to fathom. But National Geographic talked a lot about how they originated from wolves and then how they got domesticated and now they're like children to people. My dogs are like human children. So, you know, it's interesting when people see dogs in a way that I don't see them. It's not that I don't agree, but I'm like, yeah, that's like my kid. I wouldn't put my kid in. You know, the trunk without a seatbelt, you know what I mean In a vehicle.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:I get so mad with the way people treat their dogs, you know, yeah we're animal lovers, so most of our subscribers and people that watch our or listen to our podcast they love animals too. I also was not aware that, according to the American Kennel Club, akc, there's over 340 different breeds, but the AKC only recognizes about 200 because those are the ones that they can certify versus not certify, and each dog comes from a family of dogs. So you know, bulldogs are the non-sport breed, pugs are the non-sport breed, and then Belgian male and was they come from, you know, like the sport breed. So it's pretty interesting. I would suggest anybody that doesn't actually know the history of dogs to look into it, because I learned a lot of stuff that I didn't even know because we just look at them as children.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yeah, I would not have known. Yeah, samson is pretty sporty though I will say that about him.
Speaker 1:And you have a Frenchie right, jojo, we do, we do, yeah.
Speaker 2:She's the quiet one. The thing about JoJo she's the leader of the house. I mean she's the littlest one and she rules. Samson, I mean he's named aptly, he gets run over by the women, but she's a little nursemaid If somebody's not feeling well, she wants to come and just snuggle up to you and just it's like her life's purpose is just to make you feel better.
Speaker 1:I love French Bulldogs ears. They just crack me up. They're the cutest thing ever and you know this is a lot of the things we're going to talk about today. So you know we're both talking about dogs in our childhood. I know you said you had a cat in your childhood and if this doesn't apply, you could talk about dogs as an adult. So, thinking back, when I was a child, I had a German shepherd who actually bit me in the face because I was really young and it was my grandma's dog and I would put my face in her bowl while she was eating because you know why would anybody do that, unless you're a kid and she bit me. So I was scared of dogs and I didn't actually get a dog until 2017. So, like you know, almost 30 years later, but I do remember that anytime that I was sad or needed to be cheered up, that dog was there for me. That's the same thing now as an adult.
Speaker 1:One of my dogs is a golden doodle and those are used for emotional support animals a lot of the time and service dogs. He just does not allow you to have a bad day. My other dogs are cheery as well. I love when I walk in the house. They're there at the door and they're excited to see me because they're. All they do also, according to National Geographic, is they wait for us. We're the center of their world, but we're not the center of their world, and I often try to remember that. You know, if my day wasn't going as good as I thought it would, I try to remember that I'm the center of their day and I need to treat them like that as well. I do most of the time, but they're such lovers. They pull me out of bad moods, even if I'm, you know, on a sales call and just it's not going well, or I'm immediately in a good mood. What about you?
Speaker 2:I could agree more. One thing I noticed with my dogs, and I'm sure it's the same with yours they always choose fun. When we lived in Illinois, we put some bricks along the bottom of the fence to keep rabbits out. Jojo would always go out of her way to walk along the bricks just because it was fun, just because she enjoyed doing it. Samson, when I'm taking him for a walk, we'll go out of his way to walk through mud puddle just because it's fun. It's just like childlike.
Speaker 2:So it reminds me to just line up and have fun. If I want to walk through mud puddle, it's not that big of a deal If you can have fun. If your feet get wet, they will dry. They teach me to not take things so seriously.
Speaker 1:I love that you said that, because I used to be a perfectionist. My kids had me down to a science when they were little. Everything had to be in the spot that I left it. I'm not diagnosed medically as OCD, but I have OCD tendencies. But they knew that I would know if something was moved, even just a smidge. They would constantly mess with me as they were getting older. My dogs don't do that. They knock stuff over, let the audience know. The three dogs I have are the Griswold, the American Staffordshire Terrier. Thor is a Valley Bulldog which is half English Bulldog, half Boxer, and then Juju is a Golden Doodle, because I did not state this earlier. But the Doodle is just goofy and the other two are just always so happy to see me. But yeah, it's taught me not to worry about a stain on the floor in that freak out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, they're only in our lives for such a short amount of time. There is nothing in the house that cannot be fixed or replaced. That's something this Samson has taught me because he's wild as can be. One thing he's taught me is how to replace holes in drywall, because he will chew If I leave and he gets upset. He will gnaw on the wall. He's just wild. He's been trained and all of that good stuff too, but this was when he was younger. They're only with us for, if we're lucky, 10, 15 years. Anything can be replaced except for them, right?
Speaker 1:I recently had to put down the first dog that I've ever had to put down as a child or an adult. Yeah, it was one of my partner's dogs. We've been together for almost six years. It's my dog at this point. Bacon was his name. He's a Jack Russell Terrier, but he was like 17 or 18 years old they didn't exactly know how old. That was the most traumatizing experience that I've been through. The first thing I thought after it happened was I have to go through this with my dogs, the rest of his dogs and then my oldest daughter's dogs. It was very tough, but I know he's in a good place and it just makes me love them even more.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Sometimes it's just the most loving thing you can do is to let them go, because they can't tell us whether they're in pain and how bad it hurts, or it's a gift to be able to give that to them.
Speaker 1:Yes, he was very emotional, but so are dogs. Keeping a dog alive to help our emotions is very selfish. It's just like you got to think of it like a human. That's the way that I go after it, because Not everything's that way, like I said before. But we've talked a little bit about the emotional and physiological benefits of owning a dog. What about physical and stress reduction? I know you walked Samson a lot when you first got him. Talk a little bit about that, because I know what I can say about that. But I want to hear from your perspective about the increased physical activity and the emotions for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he gets me out, especially in the wintertime when I would normally not get out. He gets me out every day, multiple times a day, for his walk, so I get in a lot of steps. I'll tell you that it's great, and I get sunshine, which is so healing. And, plus just being out with him, I've met so many neighbors and made friends with them. Everybody wants to come up and meet him. He's helped me make friends and just teaches me to be friendly and talk to everybody and have fun. I love that. Erica, how have your dogs enhanced your family life and contributed to your kids and your entire family's well-being?
Speaker 1:That's a great question because I was a very young mom and I had my first child at 18 and my second child at 23. So I was a kid raising children. We did not have the best relationship. I've been a single parent most of my life, so I was working three jobs. I was always gone until I got into tech, and tech has changed my life for the better, but that was also when I got my. Coming into tech was when I got my first dog. So, to answer your question, it has brought me and my kids closer. I have two daughters. It's brought us a lot closer.
Speaker 1:My mom comes and visits because she doesn't live here. She still lives in Illinois. Because I'm from there too, it's something to get us out on a family walk or go to the pet store or just laugh together and share funny stories. Some frustrations happen, just like anything else, so that's not a bad thing, but I would say that it's helped my relationship with my kids see sides of them that I never saw when they were little and also a side of me they never saw because I was not around. I do think, especially after COVID, we just bond so much better and I love that. I love that they have done that for me has changed us forever. What about you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they do. They bring everybody together because we go on family walks too. We go out, we walk the dogs.
Speaker 1:it gets both of us out Well you also said that it helped you meet neighbors, so has that helped your social life?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean we're friends with everybody on our street and we've made friends all over the area. They see me walking all over. And we also have a third dog. We have a pug Elliot and he's just the most friendly little guy. I mean he's like the. We call him the mayor because he's just is like I'm here, I want to be your friend. Vote for me. Basically, that's the energy he puts out.
Speaker 1:I love that.
Speaker 2:It's definitely increased our friends, and I don't think there's an area of our lives that having a dog hasn't enhanced.
Speaker 1:It's interesting that you say that, because I've had nothing but positive experiences since becoming a dog owner. I've also met neighbors. I'm parts of all sorts of groups on Facebook that are specifically to like golden doodles or like bulldogs or American staffies, and it's something that I relate with people from around the world as well. I get stopped on the street as well. I have people that want to come visit me just because they want to see my dogs. They don't want to see me, but I love that, because they can't get a dog or maybe it's not the right time. The other thing is that it has changed a side of me that I never thought I would do, which is volunteering.
Speaker 1:So adopting a dog and I'm not saying you can't do this without when you buy a dog, but when I adopted a dog, I went through that whole process the first time, because I rescued all three of them the middle child I did actually pay the person for, but it gave me a different mindset, in a sense, that I wanted to give back.
Speaker 1:So I do volunteer at a local humane society. I donate things like toys and food and money to help these animals, because there's so many animals that don't have good homes. Like I said earlier, you guys know that I'm constantly trying to save dogs. If I could take them all home, I would, and I want to open up my own dog ranch eventually, and that's something positive that I want to share with the listeners. I want to call it the doggy ranch, that all animals are welcome, but the homeless dogs, abused dogs or dogs that just want to come play, they can come there and it's like their own little dude ranch. Your dogs would be invited as well, but that would be a nonprofit and that's where the mindset came from was adopting a dog and actually volunteering at these shelters. It's also helped my kids because they've made friends because of our dogs.
Speaker 2:It's amazing. What would you say is the biggest lesson you learned from your dog?
Speaker 1:That is a really good question. I had to stop and think about that for a second. I think it has made me realize sometimes the small things that I was so focused on were not important, because there were things in front of me that were important that I was not paying attention to or worried about. So I would say that it changed my mindset a lot. And also the house does not have to be clean every second of every day and I don't have to freak out if the bed is messed up or the couch is. That was a big change for me because being like a perfectionist in the past versus oh, it's moved over, there's dust that changed me and kind of chilled me out. I think it's also made me less angry or less hot head, because I had a short temper at one point, but as I got older, that also was the reason that that went away. But I would say it was a big mindset change for me. To sum it up, that everything doesn't have to be perfect and dust is just going to happen sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, for me I would say just lead with love. The dog never holds a grudge for anything. They are happy forgive, and that's what makes them so charismatic. You know, that's the definition of a charismatic person is they're happy, you want to spend time with them, is because they make you feel good, because they love openly and unconditionally and don't worry if they look stupid. So yeah, I try to emulate that from my dogs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the unconditional love that you receive from an animal is hard to get from humans, and people do exist that have unconditional love. But that's why dogs, I think, make such a big impact on people and, I hope, our listeners. What they take away from this episode is to maybe incorporate an animal or dog, cat, bird, whatever because there's so many benefits. I mean they take dogs to the old folks homes, the retirement homes or the nursing homes to cheer them up, and they're there for service and veterans use them with PTSD and there's so many good things. And the fact that they do not hold grudges and it's unconditional it will just change your whole entire world. So if you do not have an animal today, I would definitely get one.
Speaker 2:I agree, I think that they are. They're like angels. You know, they're angels and a dog form, because no person will love you like a dog will.
Speaker 1:That's true and, like you said earlier, it gets people out and active and happy, because when you exercise, you release endorphins and endorphins make you happy and with your overall wellness goals, I think that an animal would definitely help you, especially a dog, you know, whether you're a runner or a walker, just anybody, just to get out, like you said. The vitamin D there's so many benefits. I don't see negatives to it, other than the fact that they eat a lot. They do yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm the dog mom that cooks my dog's food. I make them homemade food because I'm that person.
Speaker 1:I want you to expand on that. So there's the whole raw food versus, you know, kibble process food, you know tech-exec wellness. Part of your wellness is your nutrition, so expand on. Are they on a raw diet or like why you cook for them?
Speaker 2:They're not on a roll diet. Jojo, she has a IBD, so she she was sick when she was younger, which is especially like the, the dog version of, like Crohn's disease. Okay, I try to feed her every high quality food out there. I mean spending tons of money on. I tried the freeze-dried raw food, I've tried everything. So what she will eat and what helps her keep weight on and Gives her energy is I make her hamburger and rice with some vegetables thrown in.
Speaker 1:I Love that. I love that part of the raw diet is making sure they get all the minerals. You can't just give them protein and rice and you know, no human could just eat that forever. You got to incorporate things and I think a lot of people get it wrong with the whole raw diet. But I love that you actually cook for her.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of people that cook for their dogs. You know some of the dog foods have been taken off the market recently due to E Coli and just things that are going bad with these Companies. So overall wellness for ourselves, we also have to think about our animals. It'll help them live longer if you take the preservatives out and you take all the stuff that's in kibble. Yeah, I do give my dogs kibble but I also give them extra stuff with the kibble. Eventually I think I'm going to get them off kibble completely so I can expand their life. It's like a human you exercise, you eat right, you feel good. Well, dog is just fed Processed food all the time. They're not going to feel that their joints might hurt and I think a lot of these issues that these dogs come up with might be solved.
Speaker 2:Food is medicine and if you pay attention I've paid attention to Jojo's show I started with turkey rice and she ate that for a long time. It was good and then her stomach started to flare up again so I switched to chicken and then so finally I went to hamburger and she loves it and she's done great. I mean, she went from being so thin no matter how much I would feed her or whatever she did, she was just skinny, skinny, skinny. So I Just started her back on the hamburger. I was this at this time. I was giving her the freeze-dried raw, like the little freeze-dried nuggets. She ate it and then she stopped. So I gave her the hamburger, rice and and vegetables and she's plopping up again.
Speaker 1:So she's well and think about yourself. When you eat something that has, you know, high preservatives or fast food, I don't know if it makes you feel bad. I don't feel good after it. You get, you know all sorts of issues, and then that goes for our dogs as well. Right, there's so many things in the foods and preservatives and whatnot and it affects our dogs as well and I I'm trying to get better at, you know, letting go of the kibble and I'm learning more about Putting in the proper nutrients and proteins and carbs in their diet, because there is a science behind it. That's why kibble I'm sure exists, but in my opinion, bulldogs and what I know about my daughter having a bulldog and my partner having bulldogs and then even you guys having bulldogs they are very sensitive and because they have upper respiratory, it is not good for even a human to have preservatives and fast food. It's gonna be the same for a dog, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Exactly a bulldog, exactly yeah, they have tons of allergies. I mean they have seasonal allergies like we do. I mean in Texas Cedar season right now Everybody is coughing and sneezing and you know you sort of take every day, so your dogs go through that too. The easiest thing you can do to help with that is their diet and helping with their food.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I wanted to share something with everyone that I recently learned from my vet, who is a registered vet and license. She told me when she came to visit my dogs the other day because I have a vet that does in-home visits it's amazing if you guys have that around you or listeners have that option. It's amazing it's so much easier and less stressful on dogs. You know they say with the family. But she did say, in regards to allergies, that you can give dogs Zyrtec. You might want to check with your vet first. So I'm not a medical professional or vet, but according to my vet for my dogs, I could give them Zyrtec, because benadryl is allowed for most dogs but it makes them sleepy. The Zyrtec does not and you could give it to them every day. Again, I would check with your vet, but Zyrtec or Clarinin.
Speaker 2:My vet is also in the vet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. So, yeah, I I recently learned this, so hopefully I'm sharing that with somebody else that doesn't learn it, but this has been a great episode. I could talk about dogs all day long, every day. You know that as well. I want to thank you for coming on the podcast today. Welcome to the tech exec wellness podcast. We're excited to have you.
Speaker 2:Thank you. I'm excited to be here. I had fun and I could talk about dogs all day long too, so anytime great for legged friends.
Speaker 1:Let me know, perfect, I could talk about my dogs all day long as well. I do believe Melissa and I are going to do another episode called the power of the dog. I don't know when, but I think that's coming in the future. But again, thank you for listening. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe. Visit our website at wwwtechexecwellnesscom and listen at any platform and have a great day.
