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Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:00:00

Can you imagine going from climbing the tallest peak in your state and winning awards for your athletic accomplishments to not even being able to stand in the kitchen to wash your own dishes? It's a pretty stark contrast, isn't it? We've all been knocked down a time or two. I think that's why we're here as part of The Grit Show community and part of why I think learning more about Boots Knighton and her incredible journey will be such a gift for us. She was only 42 when she discovered her congenital heart defects that have made a significant impact on the way she lived her life. She's also been able to thrive. This month, February, is heart month here in America. For our international community, we aren't referring to Valentine's Day.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:00:51

Heart month is about heart health and awareness of heart disease. So, it's a great time to meet Boots and learn more about her journey and about her podcast, The Heart Chamber. Hope, inspiration, and healing. Conversations on open heart surgery. So, stick around to learn more about her TEDx Talk and the many lessons she can pass on.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:17

Welcome to The Grit Show. Where our focus is growth on purpose. I'm your host, Shawna Rodrigues, and I'm honored to be part of this community as we journey together with our grit intact to learn more about how to thrive and how to get the most out of life. It means a lot that you are here today. As you listen, I encourage you to think of who may appreciate the tidbits of knowledge we are sharing and to take a moment to pass this along to them. Everyone appreciates the friend that thinks of them, and these conversations are meant to be shared and to spark even more connections.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:53

I am so excited to introduce you to Boots Knighton. She is a resident of Victor, Idaho and has been an educator since the late 1990s, she has worked in all faucets of education, including high school science, middle school mathematics, elementary reading, college level ecology, ski instruction, backpacking, and experiential education. Isn't that amazing? She's definitely good at educating. However, her greatest teacher has been her heart. Thanks to a surprise diagnosis in 2020 during what we all remember of the pandemic of 3 different congenital heart defects, 3 of them. She's now thriving after her open-heart surgery on January 15th 2021, and is on a mission to raise awareness through her podcast, The Heart Chamber, which we are so lucky to have been part of the Authentic Connections Podcast Network. So, she's raising awareness that heart surgery can be an incredible opportunity to begin again in life and live life wide open. So, we are so excited. This is heart month; in case you didn't know that. And we are having Boots Knighton as our guest to talk more about living that life wide open.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:59

Welcome, Boots. Thank you for being here.

Boots Knighton [: 00:03:01

Yay. Thank you, Shawna.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:03:04

I'm so excited. I think that in my interactions with you, you are the definition of grit. And so, to have you on The Grit Show is quite appropriate. And I think our listeners, our community is going to get so much out of getting to know you a little bit.

Boots Knighton [: 00:03:17

Well, thank you. It's an honor to be here, and I just hope to add value to your guests as they listen. So, thank you.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:03:25

Yes. I love it because in getting to know Boots, she's come across to me as a very optimistic individual. And sometimes when you meet someone and they have that, you wonder, is this them just trying to get through the day and portray this? And she recently took this quiz that she shared with me that showed she was an optimist. So, nice to know that that's inherently how she is instead of what she puts on every day to get through the day because you've been through a thing or two. Right?

Boots Knighton [: 00:03:52

Just a couple. Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:03:54

Just a couple. Just a couple. And so, I know it would take us 2 or 3 hours probably to try to sum up all the different things that you've been through. So, I think just to give some folks a little bit of background, do you want to kind of give us the summary of what it was like for you to be a very active individual I mean, we summarize your history with education and teaching others, but you were a very active individual, and what it was like for you in that initial phase of starting to question, what is going on with my heart? Like, what is happening with my health right now?

Boots Knighton [: 00:04:28

Yes. I went from 60 miles an hour to 0 within about a month, and that was hard. I had to grieve. I had to grieve my life as I knew it. And so, what happened was while on a mountain bike ride in 2020, in June, my heart exhibited all the classic symptoms of a heart attack. And over the next few weeks after an ER visit and continuing to bug the doctor, I was diagnosed with 3 different congenital defects. And I really had to go through this period of questioning my sanity because I was like, am I making this up? At the time, I was 42. It made no sense.

Boots Knighton [: 00:05:12

I was in the best shape of my life. I had just come back from a really bad concussion, and that took 2 years to really heal from. And I was stronger than ever. And for me to go from, you know, just coming back from something so debilitating to then get hit again, all the emotions of disbelief, fear, complete shock, anger, so much anger. Oh my gosh, so much anger. And then just such a deep grief that I was getting knocked down just when I got back up.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:05:50

Yeah. And there's this element that I think is more common for women that you weren't being heard by your doctors, and you're questioning yourself because like you said, you were in the best health of your life. You didn't want this to be a heart attack. You didn't want to be having a problem. You don't want to be believing this, and you're having to advocate for yourself, at the same time, not wanting to believe yourself either.

Boots Knighton [: 00:06:14

Right. And the other bananas thing is, you know, like I said, I had come back from that concussion. And at the time, I was a ski instructor, and I took this top-level ski exam for certification, and I not only passed it, I performed exceptionally well to the point that I was nominated for a national award. And so, it just nothing made sense. But when we look back on it now, I was passing out on the ski lift. All these weird things were starting to happen, and we just thought that my concussion was manifesting in other ways, but yet here I just completely crushed the ski exam. So, it just was so bizarre.

Boots Knighton [: 00:07:01

And the cardiologist that I initially worked with, you know, he said, I'm going to go looking for these different congenital defects because nothing is making sense, and you better hope I don't find any of it. And then he found it all, but then he still told me I only had anxiety and I needed to see a therapist. But I was already seeing a therapist, and it wasn't anxiety because my left arm kept bothering me. And he wouldn't refer me to, like, bigger hospitals because I was like, I think you're wrong. I want to see a different cardiologist. And he said it's all in your head. And so, it was like medical gaslighting to the nth degree. And this was like you said, during COVID, my mom had just been diagnosed with cancer, which she later died from. 2020 was not my year in some respects, but yet I outperformed in the ski exam at the same time. It was such a dialectic.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:07:58

Yes. And so challenging when you're trying to come to terms with those pieces and needing a medical community that's listening to you and responding to you, and you expect them to advocate for you. Right? You expect them to know more than you. You expect them to advocate for you. And in reality, you need to know more and you need to dig deeper and listen to your body more, and that is so hard for us because we just want to believe we're healthy and we're okay, and we're 42, and we should be just fine, and we don't want to believe this is happening. So, that takes a lot. So, how did you finally find a different perspective, a different doctor, and actually get the help you needed to take care of those defects?

Boots Knighton [: 00:08:36

Well, I still laugh about this because I personally think it's hilarious. I got on Facebook and I typed in my congenital defect. This was in August of that year, and I was just so exasperated. I had self-referred myself down the University of Utah, and they had blown me off. And I was getting worse and worse. I'd gone from, I had just hiked Idaho's tallest peak in 4 hours a month prior. Like I said, I went from 60 to 0 so fast. And I was so scared, and my inner knowing was like, you are almost out of time and I knew. I had all the diagnoses. I had myocardial bridging, bicuspid valve, and all my coronary arteries were undersized, so they were considered hypoplastic. And that's everything I learned. So, like, my heart was a dumpster fire, basically.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:09:34

That's the easiest way to sum it up. Yes.

Boots Knighton [: 00:09:36

Yeah. Yeah. And I couldn't even stand to wash dishes by the end of August. And I'd climbed for a peak in Idaho in early July after I had the cardiac incident, because my cardiologist said, I really think you're fine. And, of course, I was listening to him, but the whole time I was going bora, I had symptoms. And I was like, well, he said it's just in my head, so I'm going to keep pushing it. I mean, it's a miracle I didn't die. And so,

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:10:05

It really is. Especially when you're in that situation where you're in an area not easy to reach, you know, something had happened, it would have been, yeah. It would have been a bad situation.

Boots Knighton [: 00:10:15

I look back on it now, and I'm like, I was surrounded by, like, a chorus of angels. I had to have been. I get on Facebook, type in my congenital defect, myocardial bridging, and I found the group, and it has since blossomed. At the time, I think there was only 400 of us in there, and it's since blossomed over 4000. Because for a long time, cardiologists thought it was a benign issue. But quickly, I'll just explain what it is. It's when your coronary vessels while you're forming in utero get trapped in the heart muscle. And so, then for as long as you're alive, unless you have the surgery that I ultimately had, those vessels get squeezed with every heartbeat. What happened was mine had been squeezed for 42 years. It was the LAD, which is the Widowmaker artery, and then the LCX, which is on the back of the heart. And the LAD had tunneled deeply into my heart, so it was really getting compressed. And Stanford University has found that by midlife, usually, those vessels start to give out. And it's the same, like, if you drive over a garden hose too many times or pinch it, it eventually loses its pliability, and it doesn't open as easily, and water can't flow the way it used to. So, that's what happened with me, and so it started to starve my heart of oxygen.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:11:39

And being at the best shape of your life means you'd worked it extra hard in those 2 years recovering. And so, you definitely by getting that award, you definitely pushed it to the brink.

Boots Knighton [: 00:11:51

But this Facebook group helped me understand the severity of the issue. That's how I found out Stanford was where I needed to go, and this was during COVID. Right? So, they had, like, basically closed down heart surgeries because the ICU rooms were so full of COVID patients.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:12:09

Exactly.

Boots Knighton [: 00:12:11

But they reopened by the end of 2020, and they said, we'll take you in. You can have surgery December 2020, but they told me that in September. They said you're going to have to wait until mid-December. So, I sat still from September until early December when it was time to fly, my husband's, like, pushing me with a wheelchair through the airports. And we get there and they're like, we have to cancel your surgery. The ICU had filled up with COVID patients, and I still needed to get some testing done that only they could do. In the heart cath lab, they do the, it's called a dobutamine challenge, and it basically tests the flow through those arteries that are bridged to make sure, they have a way of testing it to make sure that if they were to unroof, which is a surgery where they cut into the heart muscle and then bring the vessel out of the heart muscle. And so,

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:13:13

which is mind blowing that they do that. That's amazing.

Boots Knighton [: 00:13:15

I know. It’s crazy. And so, they at least needed to do that and just to make sure that the surgery would work. And I just had to go ahead and get that done because the next time they could test was in April. That was the next time they had an opening. And I was like, I'm not going to live that long. Then we get back, and by the way, I bet I had my nose swabbed 8 times in 4 days with COVID. Right? And everything was shut down. It was such a bizarre time to fly.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:13:44

To travel. Yes.

Boots Knighton [: 00:13:46

It sucked. I'm just going to say it. It sucked. And I'm so desperate. When we leave California, I'm like, I'm not going to live. I can't wait. And so, I get on Facebook, onto that support group and find a surgeon, a woman had just had unroofing surgery down in Utah, which is 4 and a half hours south of me where I live, and I get in touch with her, find out who it is. I call his office. By the time we landed back home in Jackson, Wyoming, they had already transferred all my records from Stanford, and 3 weeks later, I had open heart surgery.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:23

What a miracle.

Boots Knighton [: 00:14:24

All thanks to Facebook.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:26

All thanks to Facebook. I think this is the one time we could all say, wow. Facebook can do some beautiful things.

Boots Knighton [: 00:14:33

I've told this story so many times, and I am still as astonished telling it today as I was going through it. It just goes to show you can't put anything into, like, black and white. I mean, unless there's a few things that you can be pretty black and white about. But, like, this is, like, one thing where, like, you know, people say social media is a root of evil or that's where bad things I mean, it actually saved my life.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:15:00

It really did. That power of community and the ability to find what you need and people that want to be supportive and have answers that you can't get otherwise, that's just amazing. And for folks to understand, this need to advocate for yourself, to come to terms, I love that you mentioned that you had a therapist at the time because I think that that's, like, an important, like, side note, that people need to remember that, like, you also had somebody to help you process the brain injury you had, what was going on with your mom at the time, and you're going through this process at the time because that's a lot to process all of that to be able to come to terms with what was going on with your body and to be able to look for more resources. Like, you have the grit. You did all of that, but it's important to recognize that it takes a lot to be in a place to do all of that. And to find those resources to actually advocate so ardently to get the help that you need to get your surgery. Because like you said, the original incident happened in June, and you got surgery in January, which is a miracle you even got it in January. But there was, like, a lot of beautiful things to even get it done that quickly. And, really, in theory, it should've cardiac event June, July would have been ideal. Right?

Boots Knighton [: 00:16:15

Right? In defense of cardiologists, like, having been a cardiac patient now for 3 years, it is such a big deal to have open heart surgery. If you can be a little more methodical, if you have a little bit of time to work with, it is worth it because you want to make darn sure that the surgery is going to work, which is why I had that testing. And it really does pay to mentally, emotionally process it before you go into it.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:16:49

That's really good and important to hear because it's significant.

Boots Knighton [: 00:16:53

Yeah. And it's really hard when you aren't getting full oxygen to your heart because impending death is constantly on your mind. And for months, every night I went to bed, I hoped I would wake up in the morning. And my husband has since told me that he checked to make sure I was breathing for that entire time every night, he would get up and make sure I was still breathing. The trauma is real of having to wait that long. It is worth at least taking a little short bit of time, even a week, and, like, just getting your house ready, mentally working with, like, doing some EMDR, which is a type of therapy that I did that really helped me, well, radically accept that I'd been born differently than I thought. That was part of it. And then to work through the gaslighting to find out that I wasn't crazy and then to work through all that anger, all you take into open heart surgery is you, your emotions, your spirit, your physical condition. And it really does have an impact on your recovery.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:18:02

Yes. And that's definitely something you need to be aware of. And you talk about, so The Heart Chamber Podcast is a fabulous podcast. You actually talk with both heart patients who've experienced open heart surgery and also with professionals that have really good information and guidance for individuals that are facing open heart surgery, family members facing it, or have experienced it. Yes?

Boots Knighton [: 00:18:25

Yes. It’s been profound.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:18:26

And I think it’s episode 30 is the one where you actually talk to somebody who kind of talks about the mental component as well as the physical components of recovery in preparation for surgery. Is that right?

Boots Knighton [: 00:18:39

Yes. And I talk about it actually almost every episode at some point or another because it's just so important.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:18:46

So important.

Boots Knighton [: 00:18:47

Yeah. Every heart patient I have interviewed on the podcast, they say the same. And the reason why I highlight it is because it was not highlighted for me, and it made my recovery even though I'm thriving and absolutely, like I feel like knocking it out of the park, all things considered, my initial healing was a little bumpy. And to my surgeon's credit and his PA, they did warn me of the depression that follows. It's real. It's like this specific cardiac depression. I've battled depression at other points in my life. And I've also had deep grief over losing loved ones. And so, this is a very unique sadness. And so, they did warn me, which I appreciated, and I was already on a medication for mental health, which I think was absolutely key, but it's hard to even put into words. I mean, I guess, all I can say is someone actually physically touched my heart and moved it around and that it just changed me, and I wasn't prepared for that. It's not all bad. I was willing to push my sleeves up and do the work and dive into what that mind for meaning, but it was hard. I mean, it was really hard. And I had to do a lot of work with my therapist processing it all. Didn't help my mom died 9 weeks after my open-heart surgery. But even if she hadn't died, like, it was intense, and I wouldn't have changed any of it.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:20:25

Yeah. There's a lot of growth in peace. And I think that even it is great that your cardiologist and the PA there we're able to tell you that this was going to happen, but there's some things you can't know until you experience them. And having the right supports in place when you experience them and having the right supports in place before you experience them is different than just being told that this is going to happen or this might happen. And so, and even having a therapist already in place before and after, it sounds like it was very different for you. And you mentioned EMDR, which is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Is that right?

Boots Knighton [: 00:21:07

Mm-hmm.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:21:08

And that is more of a body experience with processing information. There's usually, like, tapping or stuff in your body to integrate in your body the emotions and work through the emotions and what you're experiencing to connect things more with your body so it's not just a talk therapy. There's actually a little more of a component to that. So, as people are deciding on treatments to realize that that's why EMDR is different is because it's actually, like, there is a physical body piece of, like, movement with eyes and the ways you're doing things to kind of integrate things in different parts of your brain and your body to kind of let your body carry it more than one place, these experiences to some extent. And so, it is important to realize that talk therapy is great, but there's, like, having the supports of Psychopharmacology, where you're actually taking medication, where you're actually doing movement pieces to actually work through things, that it takes more than just 1 modality to process set these things.

Boots Knighton [: 00:22:05

Well said. And the EMDR for me was everything, like I said earlier. And it doesn't take away the heart surgery. It doesn't take away whatever you're working on. But what it does do is when you fully are able to process an event or situation or emotion, when you think about it again, it doesn't activate your nervous system. Through this heart surgery, I have realized how important it is to regulate your nervous system. I mean, because now I still have to have, you know, at least yearly cardiac appointments, if not more. And, you know, I still have the bicuspid valve. I still have undersized arteries. And with congenital heart patients like myself, we don't get the privilege for the rest of our lives, once we learn about how we're born, we don't have the privilege of not thinking about our heart again the way we used to. Because I certainly don't walk around every day thinking about my spleen.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:23:08

Neither do I. We have that in common.

Boots Knighton [: 00:23:10

Yeah. I take my spleen for granted. Right? And my eyeballs and all these other parts of myself, physical self, that are just operating just fine without me having to, like, give it a lot of thought, but my heart is different now. It really is something that you have to carry around, but it's how you carry it. And so, you know, I've had other really hard things happen in my life, and I have learned to carry those bags like a boss and use it to better my life instead of pamper it. Now I will tell you, I was a darn good victim for a few months when I learned about my heart. Why me? Like, oh, I mean, I had to go through all the stages of grief and I encourage everyone to feel what you need to feel about it. And then it was time to put the victim card down and be like, you know, this is the hand I've been dealt. I can choose to play this like a winner or a loser.

Boots Knighton [: 00:24:12

And I chose winner, and I just decided that I was going to use this to help me just be the best version of myself, and I got extra curious. And the curiosity is, like, where I really discover how much I can deal with and that I am capable of handling really hard things, and I believe all of us are.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:24:39

Yes. That is so beautiful. I think that acknowledging you have to acknowledge those emotions. You can't pretend you're not angry. You can't pretend you aren't furious that this hand has been dealt to you and that you're having to deal with this and, you know, that grief of the changes that might mean and whatever else, but then to get to that stage where you can radically accept it and get to that point where you can be curious about it and what this means and where you can be and what you can find on the other side of these things. And that's amazing. That is the definition of grit and knowing how to carry it. And I love, there was analogy I once heard about. If you hold a glass of water, like, straight out with your arm and you're holding the glass of water straight out, right, that your arm will get so tired and ache so fast. And that's, like, what we're doing with these things, and we don't find the way to, like, hold them closer or find the way to hang them off our backpack or put them in a place where they still weigh the same. They're still what they are. Like, water's wet. Rocks are hard. It is what it is. But if we can find the place to place it so that it's not going to be holding out this big heavy thing to show it and put it in front of our face all the time, that if we find the place to carry it on ourselves where we can still move and we can still bend over and we're not worrying about spilling it all the time. Like, if we find the right way to carry things, that we can move more easily through this world. But it takes time to figure that out and to process that and get curious about where and how we can carry it.

Boots Knighton [: 00:26:07

Mm-hmm.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:26:07

So, you just had your anniversary of your surgery. Can you tell us how all of that working and processing kind of makes those anniversaries come and feel?

Boots Knighton [: 00:26:17

Well, I only knew about it because you told me.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:26:20

And that's why I'm asking the question. I think it's such beautiful evidence of, like, the work you've done because the fact that you can have your anniversary, and it doesn't mark your calendar and, like, overshadow your week of knowing, oh my gosh, it's been this time and this is the day.

Boots Knighton [: 00:26:37

I laughed really hard with joy when you texted me, and then I was just so touched that you thought of it. So, thank you. But I had to remind my husband, and then I quickly texted my therapist, and I was like, guess what? My friend had to remind me. And she's like, well, my work here is done.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:26:54

That is such a huge sign. That is such a huge sign when you reach an anniversary of something, and it's like, oh, that was the anniversary, and it just went by without me noticing. So, apparently, I've processed this, and I'm holding it in a place that it's not jabbing me enough.

Boots Knighton [: 00:27:08

Right. Right. And then I had the conversation with my therapist of like, okay. So, then how useful is it to honor anniversaries like that? Because, like, you'll see folks in recovery who are like, you know, I got my 5-year chip or whatever. And I'm actually, you know, I don't drink anymore, but I don't go to yearly meetings and be like, I got my so and so chip. You know, this coming August will be 14 years. And I was talking to her about all of that, and I said, why did I not need to make a big deal of this, and why do I not need to make a big deal like people do on social media about recovery and all that. And she's like, well, usually her answer resonated with me, so it fit. But she's like, usually, people do want to celebrate anniversaries because their nervous system is still jacked, and they're looking for regulation outside of themselves. And check isn't the right word. The more therapeutic term would be dysregulated. Right? And so, usually, it's dysregulation. So, we look to loved ones in our community to help regulate us. That's usually one way or one reason to celebrate an anniversary. And another is, you know, just needing validation.

Boots Knighton [: 00:28:25

I think where I'm at with my heart and choosing not to have alcohol in my life anymore is just, I'm just at peace with it. It's just like, you know, I chose to put on pants today instead of a skirt or drink water before coffee. Like, there's all these little things that I just don't think about that I do on a daily basis that are just part of my life or don't do. Right? Like, drink alcohol. And I don't obsess over my heart anymore. I just know I need to take care of it. I need to go to my yearly appointments or more if my cardiologist says so. And I just want your audience to know that I didn't get here just easy-peasy lemon-squeezy. Like, I had to, like, really grieve that I had been born differently. I had to do a ton of work, and I also had to do a ton of work around choosing not to have alcohol anymore. I've been at peace with it for many years now. But, you know, initially, I was pretty ticked off that I couldn't, you know, have that lifestyle anymore. I live in a freaking ski town. And that goes along with the title of your show, The Grit Show. Like, you have to be willing. You are your own best investment. And I realized that early on. And if I wasn't willing to invest in my best self, I wasn't going to get the best out of life.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:29:51

Yes. And that's the important piece of figuring out what you need to invest in. And it's great to know that when you do the work, the things can fade into the background. And I still think about people that I met when I was at different ages and stages of my life and the things, I needed to tell them and they needed to focus on because those were still the things I was working through, and then I don't even give those things a second thought because they have faded into the background. And then there are still things that I do talk about all the time because they're still in the foreground, and there are still things that I'm working on to some level or more prominent. And it'll be interesting with having a podcast, both of us having a podcast, the things that you talk about more or less. And I know I still talk about my mom, and I know the anniversary of her death. And it'll be interesting if I ever reach a time where I'm like, oh, wow. I didn't notice it this year. It just faded into the background instead of it being something that, like, it's still very prominent for me, and it's been a long time. So, it's interesting how those things can kind of shift and fade in time when you've done that work.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:30:54

That is incredible. You are incredible, Boots. I'm so glad you're here today. So, as part of every episode, we do what we call our self-maintenance minute to kind of remind all of us how important self-maintenance is. And some people see it as self-care, but we want to get rid of that indulgence air that some people put with that and see it as how you take care of yourself. So, what do you do as self-maintenance on a regular basis?

Boots Knighton [: 00:31:19

I meditate every morning, very beginning part of the day. So, I make my coffee, potty the dogs, and they know the routine. And I have a specific chair I sit in and a specific cat. Pet sits with me. I have 3, but a very specific cat. She knows the routine. And I meditate, and then I write for about 5 minutes. I quietly put my hands on my heart, and I really get in touch with, like, what my soul is wanting to tell me. And I can feel the energetic shift when I have gotten out of my ego mind and into more of a higher self-mind. And I write from that place every morning. With the last 6 weeks, I recently broke my leg, and so I've gotten a little out of alignment with that practice, but I'm able to get more and more back into it. And I can tell the difference. It was interesting to take a break from that because I was broken. Break. Break. Get it? Ha, ha. And now that I'm getting back into it, I already feel the difference. And what that translates to, I'm regulating my nervous system out the gate first thing in the morning. And there's a lot of research behind that and being in coherence with our hearts, it really does make a difference in my day, and I find that I'm more in alignment with my values.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:32:46

That's awesome. That's a beautiful way to start your day. I love that. That's so good to hear that. Yes. And so, we, once in a while, I forget this so often. People who listen to the podcast can probably tell you how often I forget it. But I have a coloring book that I would love to offer you. There are 2. 1 is Vintage Mermaid and Magnificent Ocean, and the other one is You've Got This, which is inspirational quotes, which is coloring books I like to offer my guests as a thank you for being here. So, can I send you one of those as a thank you for being on here today, and you can have it in your self-maintenance arsenal as an option?

Boots Knighton [: 00:33:23

I’d love it. I would love the You’ve Got This.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:33:26

Alright.

Boots Knighton [: 00:33:26

Because I still need reminders.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:33:29

We all do. We absolutely all do. And then the other thing we do is we always give something to our audience that we call our grit wit that they can take as a takeaway of something that they can apply and use from our conversation. So, what do you think is something from our conversation that we can have people kind of take away and apply to their day of something that we've chatted about that they can look at to kind of make their life better?

Boots Knighton [: 00:33:54

It will get better. I didn't say that explicitly before. You know? I've recovered from a horrible concussion, like I said, and heart surgery, and now I'm, you know, recovering very well from my broken leg. And it's just a testament that we can heal from no matter what the challenge is, and it will get better. And if you're in a mindset of why me, which is totally normal, or angry or sad or not seeing the end of the light at the end, I am, like, your living example that it does get better and then, actually, believe it or not, it can be better than before.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:34:34

Oh, I like that. What helped you the most? Do you think that it was finding resources that helped you see that, or is it your regular practice that helped you with that or maybe just always reminding yourself that this is like, I know that somebody once sent me a card that I kept for a long time was this too shall pass, and I got that card when my mom was first diagnosed with breast cancer when I was in my early 20s and trying to have a career and trying to be there for her and doing all these things that were a lot. And for me, this simple card from this random person that I worked with, like, for the longest time, this too shall pass, was so critical for me to just remind myself this is temporary. There's another side. There's another side. It was very helpful for me. Was there something for you that really helped?

Boots Knighton [: 00:35:19

You know, I used to think this too shall pass was such an annoying cliche, and it got on my nerves. Guess what? It's true. And the only way I discovered that it was true was I'm an experiential learner. And I had to keep going through some really hard stuff. And lo and behold, it does get better.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:35:40

It does get better.

Boots Knighton [: 00:35:42

It gets better more quickly if you aren't stomping your feet and throwing a temper tantrum.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:35:48

Yes. And so, maybe reminding yourself of the time that it did pass and the time you did get to the other side might be a good tool to help you remember that there has been a time it was really bad, and I've 100% survived all of my worst days, so.

Boots Knighton [: 00:36:01

Oh, yeah. Yeah. And the body has an incredible ability to heal.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:36:07

Yes. Here, you are strong evidence of that.

Boots Knighton [: 00:36:11

Yeah. I mean, it takes a minute. Right? But it does. And the older get, you know, it takes a little bit longer, but we can heal. We are miraculous meat suits.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:36:23

We are. We certainly are. So, The Heart Chamber podcast is where everyone needs to think of somebody, they know who's had open heart surgery, is facing open heart surgery, or has a high risk that they might have heart conditions or concerns, you need to go right now and text them. Say, find The Heart Chamber Podcast. TheHeartChamberPodcast.com is the best place to find that.

Boots Knighton [: 00:36:43

Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:36:43

So, that's first. Where else can folks find you to follow you and stay connected to you? Because you're amazing.

Boots Knighton [: 00:36:49

Thank you. Well, The Heart Chamber is also for anyone with a heart.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:36:53

I have that.

Boots Knighton [: 00:36:54

Yeah. It turns out there's, like, almost 9 billion of them. Right? So, I should have, like, almost 9 billion listeners.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:37:01

Yeah. Well, there you go.

Boots Knighton [: 00:37:03

You can also find me. I did a TEDx Talk, Practicing Dying for Living. That's on YouTube.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:37:12

Very powerful. Good lessons there.

Boots Knighton [: 00:37:15

Thank you. And then Instagram, boots.knighton or at The Heart Chamber Podcast. I'm also on Facebook, Suzanne Boots Knighton. Suzanne's my first name. So, I'm in the middle of building another personal website, But, hopefully, that will be done soon, that's just bootsknighton.com. But give me a minute. It's happening.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:37:34

We'll give you 5 minutes. All that will be in the show notes. So, you guys can just go to the show notes and just click on the links to make it a little easier for you guys to find Boots because you definitely want to stay connected to her. You are so inspirational. Have so much to offer. I love your story. And there's more depth. If you go to, I think it's episode 29 of your podcast that you actually tell your full story because there's so much, we did not get into because her story is so long. There's some beautiful stuff around forgiveness and the story in more depth with, really, with her mom and some of the pieces that go into that that you guys are definitely going to want to hear and get to know more of because she tells her full story. So, and the TEDx Talk is fabulous because it also gives you more depth. It's shorter. Those are what, 10 minutes long?

Boots Knighton [: 00:38:18

Mine's 13. I ended up pausing a lot more than I thought I would. So.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:38:24

So, 13 minutes long, but it really gives you a great, there's a great exercise with that too for you guys to kind of reflect based on some of her experience too. So, thank you so much for being here today, Boots. This was such a valuable conversation. I know that folks can get a lot out of it.

Boots Knighton [: 00:38:37

Oh, thanks for having me, Shawna.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:38:40

Thank you for joining us today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to jump on over to Instagram and follow us at The.Grit.Show. And if you aren't already following Authentic Connections Podcast Network at 37by27, you should definitely be doing that as well. Don't forget. You are the only one of you that this world has got, and that means something. I'll be here next Tuesday. I hope you are too.