Have you created a well and worthy life? Today’s guest, Deanna Pizitz joins us to share how you can start creating a life you love! Listen in as Deanna walks us through her own journey, finding her passion, and the impact her family has had on her creating a well and worthy life.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts
Meet Deanna:
I created the Well and Worthy Life (a southern-based style and wellness company in Birmingham) with a mission to inspire women through relatable, vibrant and curated fashion, wellness and lifestyle content and programs.
As a health coach, nutrition coach, and life coach, I want to reach women searching for the ultimate resource for a happy and fulfilled life whether they are in Birmingham or live somewhere beyond.
I am always on my own personal journey to be the best I can be today, tomorrow and every day in between.
As a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health and Life Coach, I am a firm believer that everyone can live a well and worthy life based on the notion that what someone does today and the choices they make today affect their tomorrows.
Drawing from the challenges in my own personal life, and as a certified integrative Nutrition Health Coach and life coach, I am motivated each and every day to bring my passion for helping others to live and hope my readers will join in on the journey to self-inspiration, self-care and most importantly, self-love.
Favorite Childhood Memory
Looking back, Deanna had a very idealistic childhood. The family time around the table included some of her favorite memories. While her “dream” of life didn’t end up going like she thought, she does appreciate those times around that table with family that she wants to continue to create.
Creating a Well & Worthy Life
Deanna followed a health and wellness dream of getting certified to teach Pure Barr—she even owned her own studio. During that time, her mother got sick and passed away, so she began taking care of her stepfather who had lewy body dementia. She could not be at her studio like she wanted to—she sold her studio.
Her plan was to be his caregiver, but as she started learning more about lewy body dementia and as a caregiver, she was under so much stress. I understand that stress, as both of my parents have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. That stress could cause a lot of issues. She began thinking about her health journey, moving her body, and thinking about her parents’ health and what that could mean for her.
So she started a blog—that quickly encouraged people to reach out to her to coach them. She got her health coaching certification and began coaching. She wanted to make sure that however long she has left, that she is living her healthiest and best life. If we don’t take care of ourselves, who is going to take care of us?
As she built this new passion, she built programs that offered balance through mindset, nourishment, movement, hormone health, and stress management. Long-term, her plan is to combine them, because they’re all important.
Balance Wellness Method
Balance Eating Method
Balance Movement Method
Creating a Life You Love
If there was one thing that Deanna thinks you could do to create a life you love, consider the one thing that’s personal to you in your own life. It may be a small thing, but do it consistently!
Connect with Deanna:
Wellandworthylife.com
@wellandworthylife
Podcast: Well and Worthy Life
Balance Wellness Method
Balance Eating Method
Balance Movement Method
Review the Transcript:
Susan Crews
Have you ever wondered what it takes to create a well and worthy life? Our guest today, Deanna Pitts, it is doing just that creating a life that she loves. That’s full of wellness, health, movement, fun and family. I am so excited because I asked her, What is the one tip you would give our listeners to use to start creating a life she loved? And her answer is so good. Are you dreaming of having the time and energy to create a life you love? Is your calendar full of events? And you’re thinking, there’s no time for me? Do you look like you have it all together on the outside, but on the inside, you’re a hot mess. You are frustrated and tired all the time. Suzy Cruz shines the light on successful women and a few men who have busted the exhaustion cycle by prioritizing herself, released any guilt and have found inner peace while creating a life they love filled with harmony. Join Susan’s candid conversations to learn how these successful women illuminated their inner life to create a radiant life. Welcome to the radiant soul sisters.
Susan Crews
Oh my goodness, I am so excited to have with me here today. Deanna posets that will be sharing with you all some amazing work that she is doing. But one of the things I love about Deanna is we have a lot in common in the fact that we both went to the integrative Institute of nutrition. We both love fitness and wellness and good food. Deanna owned a bar studio for several years. And you know, I had a yoga studio. But one of the things that we really love is we love spending time with our family. So Deanna I’m going to give a little more of your professional background and about what you’re doing. But welcome. I’m so glad you’re here today. Thank you.
Deanna Pizitz
Thank you so much for having me here. Susan. It’s such a pleasure.
Susan Crews
Oh, thanks. I’m just really glad. So listeners you will find Deanna on Instagram at the well and where they live which I absolutely love the name of her business and what she’s sharing in she has this southern based style and wellness platform that you can go to and learn so much she inspires women through her relatable, vibrant fashion and wellness and lifestyle programs and that’s what she does if you check out her Instagram you are going to leave looking at her post feeling really good in like you can relate to her which is magical Deanna Oh, thank
Deanna Pizitz
you you know that’s I really want to stay authentic and to stay true to who I am and it’s funny because you read the fashion part I need to take the fashion part out of it but it’s well it’s so funny because I do get asked about my fashion a lot but I don’t share I’m not a link share on that kind of deal. My husband’s family owns a store and so that’s where I get all my clothes from so I do love fashion but I don’t really share fashion I think we should do whatever makes us feel good that Right?
Susan Crews
Absolutely. And you know it’s funny when I read that I thought well she’s not a fashion influencer but every now and then she shares a little bit of fashion but but really what you’re all about is helping women to understand we can feel good look good and create a life we love through the things we do every day
Deanna Pizitz
that is exactly right and and that you know the well and worthy life name came really on a fluke to be honest with you but I mean when I say absolute we were throwing out different names and then searching and doing all that but when we hit on well and where they live I was like oh my gosh yes because I want to live a well life I want to live a healthy life a well a well a healthy, but wellness and everything. And I am worthy I am enough for so long. I didn’t feel like I was enough and I don’t know why because I had every reason to feel like I was enough.
Susan Crews
I got goosebumps when you said that because that is another one of our our connections is that we both are faith based people. And you know, our faith is very important and very integrated into our life. And you know, unfortunately Deana I struggled with that for years to that I wasn’t worthy, I wasn’t good enough, or what I had to say wasn’t important because somebody else had said it better or different in in the truth of it is you’re right, we are worthy. We are all here with a purpose. And lots of good to share. So thank you, thank you for sharing that. In the beginning, Dan. And I shared that both of us love our families dearly, and enjoy spending time with with our families. And you know, what happens during childhood does make a difference in our adulthood. A lot of it for good. And some of it are things we have to work through or, you know, figure out, okay, what what did I learn there? But what is one of your favorite childhood memories?
Deanna Pizitz
Well, you know, when you asked me that question, I really thought about that. And I really think and I go back to this a lot. And it’s like, my mother was she my mother was like June Cleaver. Like, she always had a meal at night. And we always sat around the table. And I just I loved that time. If I looking back, I had just really an idyllic childhood. Was everything perfect? No. And I’ve learned, you know, some of the things I do is because of my mother’s problems that she had, you know, we’ve learned things like that, but, but really, it was that family time. And you’re exactly right. I love my family so much. And it’s it’s kind of different for me, you know, in the fact that my dream didn’t end up being like it like I wanted it to be. I’ve been divorced twice. Oh my gosh, it’s so hard to even say that I’m going to my third marriage, right. And so, you know, I wanted that family unit. And I know that because I had that. And I had these parents that were amazing. And they were in love and our dinner conversations were great. And like I said, we always sat down at the table together. And it was it was amazing. And it really shaped who I am today. And what I really want to create continue to create in a different way.
Susan Crews
Exactly, exactly. Well, I shared I was sharing with you earlier that you know, when I read that I was like, Oh my gosh, that is my dream for one of my children to answer that because mealtime was so important to me as a mother and really for my husband too. And so for years, we sat down for dinner, and I’m married to a farmer. So some nights he might not get in till eight o’clock. Well, you know what I was doing at five o’clock, I was giving my children a snack, wow, to carry them to dinner time. Because it was that important if they didn’t see if they didn’t eat with their dad, they might not see him right, because he left before they got up. But then when my kids all got in high school, when I can’t remember how close in age your boys are, but my four children were all born within five, five years starting to say five hours.
Deanna Pizitz
That would be a miracle
Susan Crews
weren’t born within five years. So I had two middle schoolers into high schoolers. And then you know, we moved up. So their lives got quite crazy. So I switched and we had 7am breakfast. And they knew they could come to breakfast in their pajamas, whatever. But they were expected at the breakfast table at 7am. And Jimmy would come in off the farm and eat breakfast with us. So during those crazy years, we still had that mealtime together.
Deanna Pizitz
Oh, wow, what a gift. What a gift. And I’m sure your boys do remember that? You know, it’s so funny because I have all boys too. And boys are just not going to say anything. Sometimes every now and then they’ll say Oh, I remember such and such and Oh mom, you did such a great job. But I think that’s really special that you did that.
Susan Crews
Yeah. So you know that that was one of our ways of staying connected with them, you know, as they were growing up. So Deanna, I want to tell you, you know, as I said mentioned, your Instagram is amazing. It’s fun, it’s energetic, and you are very relatable, but what encouraged you or inspired you to start in this wellness journey and become a health coach, and then move on into creating the well and worthy life?
Deanna Pizitz
Well, it’s funny because just like you said, I owned a bar studio. And so as I had always wanted to in my first marriage, when my children were younger, so when I got divorced at 40, the first time, and my children were 1513, and 10. And so I owned this bar studio. And I was able to live something that I’ve always wanted to live, I wanted to teach. Back in the day, I wanted to teach aerobics. Up and all that kind of stuff. But anyway, I never did that. And so it 43 I learned how to get certified to teach pure Barre and then opened up a studio. And it was life changing for me. But during that time, I owned it for about six years, and my mother got sick and passed away. And I was taking care of my stepfather body dementia. Now it was on my third marriage, though, I thought it just was, I could not be at the studio and get to know my clients like I wanted to. And so I thought, well, it’s time to move on. So I sold my studio and really thought I was just going to take care of my stepfather who had Lewy body dementia. Well, funny how life starts happening. I started trying to learn a lot about Lewy body dementia, and I did as a caregiver, you’re under so much stress. Yes. And so I started learning that, you know, the stress that I was under could be causing a lot of issues with me, while I was probably about 51 at the time, maybe. And, and so I started thinking about my health journey, and I had always moved, movement was never a problem for me. I just ate whatever I wanted to, I was starting to get that little belly fat if we try all of a sudden, and, but more importantly, I started thinking about my mother and father and my father had passed away at 59 with esophageal cancer. Okay, mother had gotten cancer at 60. In fact, she was in the hospital on her 60th birthday, she lived 15 more years. So at 75, she passed away. So I’m thinking myself that about 51 I’m like, I may only have nine good years, I may really, I need to get into really figuring this thing out. So I decided really, I was going to start a blog, it was gonna be well, and where the live blog. And that’s what it was going to be. Gotcha. Well, was shortly in there. I wrote a blog post about losing weight losing that belly shut. That all setting I was having that never had before. And I was like, Wait, what is this? And I started having people reach out to me about coaching them? Well, I, you know, I’m not enough, right? I didn’t feel worthy enough. So I had to go get my health coaching certification. And I learned a lot there. And I really decided from there to start coaching. And so that’s really where it all started. It was because I needed to make sure that however long I have, I want to make sure I live my healthiest and best life.
Susan Crews
Wow. I absolutely love that. And my Dad has Alzheimer’s at first they thought he had Lewy body. But they’ve changed in said no, it’s a different form. And then actually, just yesterday, my mom was diagnosed, and I was talking with my brother. And he’s like, you know, we’re nags. And I said, No, we don’t have to be next. What we have to do is figure it out. We got to figure out our lifestyle. We’ve got to figure out what to eat, how to move, how to breathe, how to relax, how to sleep, you know, and this is things that I’ve always worked with women on and I’m like, No, we don’t have that. Well. Deanna,
Deanna Pizitz
the research has shown that it’s, you know, dementia, we may be at higher risk because our errants or grandparents had it. You know, my parents didn’t live long enough to know, you know, have it and that was my stepfather. So of course, there’s no blood relatives, but my grandmother had it in her 90s. But we can change everything. That gene part is just a very small part.
Susan Crews
I agree. I agree. And I love your story and I love How you have transitioned. And I also want to go back to that fact that, you know, my, my dad sometimes would say, Susan, you’re so educated or you’re the most educated undergraduate I know. And it was because like you said, that worthiness stuff came in there, I kept thinking, oh, I need to be certified in this, oh, I need to be certified in this, oh, I need to take this course. And it was always that grasp to be enough or to know more. I love learning. But I love that, that helping women to understand you are worthy, you are beautiful, and you are loved. No matter
Deanna Pizitz
what. That’s, that is such a me. And for some reason, we are the hardest on ourselves, we are the most judgmental of ourselves, we will give to everybody else around us, right? sacrificially, we will do everything for everybody else. And we will not make time for ourselves and take care of ourselves. I see this in my programs. When I work with my clients. I’m like, they’re like, I don’t know, I start off really strong. And then I you know, get sidetracked because I have to take care. You know, we’re in that sandwich generation, you know, we’re we’re taking care of children still and our parents, luckily, I’m not because my children are grown. And my I don’t have any more parents left. We have my, uh, my husband’s I know that sad, isn’t it? Right? It really is. It happened a lot earlier for me. But we do still have my husband’s parents. And so, you know, it’s a lot to do. But if we don’t take care of ourselves, then who is going to take care of us? I mean, we really have got to take care of ourselves so that we can take care of everybody else.
Susan Crews
Absolutely. Absolutely. So you mentioned your programs, and I love the name of your programs, and you have expanded not just one program. So why don’t you tell our listeners a little bit about your programs?
Deanna Pizitz
Okay, well, we are probably going to change it up again. Because you know what, I think that business evolves, and you find out what people want, and what they need. And then you make the program step bet. But it started out couple of years ago, I was actually coaching another program, and it just wasn’t working for me. And so I was like, it didn’t work. And for me, this is really is it authentic to me, I wasn’t doing the things that are teaching others to do. So I decided to come up with my own program, things that I really practice daily, and how to teach that. So it was funny because I started trying to come up with names for the program, like, what is it? What you’re what should we, and an all I could think about is balance because we all want quote, and I’m using quotation marks for your listening here, we will balance in our lives, right? What is balance, and you know, I think balance is different for everybody. So we came up with balance wellness method. From there, we created balanced eating method. And now we’ve just launched our newest program called balanced movement method. Now, all that being said, I’m like, I have to look at my business too. And I want to keep my balance. Right? To me, that’s really important. It goes back to this living authentically. And when you’re running three different programs, they’re four weeks each, then you’re promoting three different programs every four weeks, which gets very old, and the promoting part is not the part I enjoy. So we’re probably going to change it up and put it all together. Because let’s face it, yeah, that’s where it really needs to be is all together because we all need all these things. So we will talk about imbalance while this method, it really encompasses all those things. And we were just diving deeper into the eating and the movement. And so we will do that in one big program. I’m thinking that’s, that’s, you know, again, I have to go back and see what works for my lifestyle and what works for everybody else. But like I said, I think most people need that. And we talk about mindset, because mindset is where it all starts. Then we get into nourishment and that’s the way I like to view it nourishment. We talk about movement, hormone health and stress management. Because to me, it’s it is all those things. It’s not just one thing you can’t just say, Oh, I’m just going to eat better. And then I’m going to be healthy. We know people who don’t eat well at all, but have everything else going right in their life. And they live forever. I mean, things right now. I mean, so I think there’s so much to it. I don’t think it’s just one thing.
Susan Crews
I agree with you wholeheartedly there. There’s a multi layer way to create a life you love, where you are living healthy. And, you know, enjoy and everything I think of it is yes. And, you know, no. deprivation, right? No, none of that. But yes, and I can do this. And, you know, that and live. And, you know, I think what a great statement or opportunity to share with our listeners, is that you’ve looked back, you know, running three programs for weeks. Looking back, you’re like, Wait, this is not serving me well. And it might not be serving my clients. Well. So what is the best way to do this, so I can continue creating a life I love and inspiring those women? Right? Right? Because
Deanna Pizitz
here’s the thing, I mean, you and I both know, we love helping women, right? And but if we’re not being true to who we are, again, it goes back to that. And I know lots of coaches out there that are not living, what they are coaching, right, I’m not gonna be one of those people, I hear, you can’t, I can’t do that. I think that life’s too short, and want to make sure that and I’ll have everything perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But I want to really, I want to spend a lot of time with my family, I have a granddaughter now. And so she is just 15 minutes from my house. And she’s a big part of my life. And I want to set an example for her about a woman who can work under her terms, and yet, make her family really important to Oh,
Susan Crews
what, oh, she’s a lucky little girl, you know, that. That’s what we want to teach our girls, you know, and our daughters. So one, I’ve got one other question for you. But before I get to that, I’ve mentioned that you can be found on Instagram well, and where they live, what is your website? So anyone who’s listening might want to go check that out.
Deanna Pizitz
That’s well, I’m worthy life.com I’m, well, I’m worthy live everywhere
Susan Crews
that we live. That makes it so simple. Exactly. It was simple. And when do you have another program starting anytime. So
Deanna Pizitz
yes, we have balanced movement method. And we will come back in June, and her on balance movement method one more time, like it is a four week course. And and really it is for those women who they’re like, I know I need to do strength training. But I don’t know where to start. And I don’t want to spend hours in the gym. At especially at this stage of our life, we have to do things a little differently. So that’s what this program is for. It’s a it’s for beginner to intermediate. And we definitely talk about, you know, what we eat to make plays a big role in it. We have zoom calls, and I’m really excited because the coach that I have that works with me, she’s a personal trainer. So she designed all the workouts there. 15 minutes, I actually do as part of the bonus. Like we have 30 minute bar workouts to those. We have some stretching videos, and we have what else do we have? Oh, we have for another bonus for yoga, 30 minute yoga classes to
Susan Crews
let you know, my love language.
Deanna Pizitz
I love yoga too. And you know, it’s just hard to get around to all these things. Right? Right. And so you can do it right from their app, wherever they are. Which is really exciting for me.
Susan Crews
Exactly, exactly. So listeners if this has you thinking about how you’d like to put yourself first while creating a life you love, be sure and reach out to Deanna at well unworthy and reach out to me at Susan Cruz CO on all the socials as well as my website Susan Cruz koat.com. So Deanna, I have one last question. If there’s a listener here today and she’s thinking what is that one thing I could do? That is not going to take a lot of time but might help me to start creating a life I love what would be your suggestion.
Deanna Pizitz
So I think we def We know what that one thing is. And I would say get in touch with that one thing that you know, because we’re also different. And start that one thing, make it small, make it consistent. Don’t try to do big things. Because we don’t let that doesn’t last that’s not sustainable. So it’s a small things that we do consistently. But you know that one thing you should be doing.
Susan Crews
I love that. Deanna. Deanna, thank you so much for spending some time with me and our listeners, and I really appreciate it. I love your work and enjoy the inspiration you share on the wealth and worldly life.
Deanna Pizitz
Thank you so much, Susan, for having me. It’s such a treat to be actually on the other side of this because I forgot to say I do have a podcast too. Well, I’m really like, so it’s so nice to be on this side of it. So thank you for having me.
Susan Crews
You’re welcome chat soon. Okay, see ya. That was a fun episode of the radiant soul sisters. Thank you for choosing to tune in. Be sure to join me next week when I shine the light on another beautiful woman. Till then I’m Susan cruise, your host and be sure to check out my website at Susan cruise co.com where you will find all the podcast episodes and resources for our community.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
