Mahara Wayman [00:00:06]:
Welcome to the art of badassery where I explore what it takes to live life on your own terms, break free from the status quo, and unleash your inner badass. Whether you're a rebel at heart or simply seeking inspiration to step outside your comfort zone, this podcast is for you. I'm your host, Mahara Wayman. And each week, I dive into the stories, insights, and strategies of those who've mastered the art of badassery and are living life to the fullest. They smile when no one is lucky. Welcome to the art of badassery. I'm your host, Mahara Wayman. And today, we have a truly inspiring guest joining us.
Mahara Wayman [00:00:50]:
Melissa Rose grew up in the late seventies eighties, attending a one room schoolhouse from grade 4 to grade 8 and spending a year at boarding school in Missouri. Despite her dream of becoming a nurse being halted by physical challenges, Melissa pursued a different path earning a BA degree. Now living in beautiful Helena, Montana, she finds joy in riding her motorcycle with her husband, exploring new places, hiking to waterfalls, working in her yard, and most importantly, creating beautiful opportunities for others to find hope and recovery. So get ready to be inspired by Melissa's really incredible journey and her passion for helping others. That's badass. Melissa, welcome to the show.
Melissa Rose [00:01:36]:
Oh, thank you so very much. I'm excited to be here with you today.
Mahara Wayman [00:01:41]:
I can't wait to jump in. Okay. So first of all, just I don't wanna sound like I'm from another planet, but I didn't realize that one room schoolhouses existed, like, except for, you know, from way, way, way back when. What was it like that in such a small in such a small community?
Melissa Rose [00:02:00]:
Well, you know way too much about your neighbors. Okay.
Mahara Wayman [00:02:05]:
Good thing or bad thing?
Melissa Rose [00:02:08]:
Probably a good thing. Because when something goes sideways, everybody knows and everybody pitches in and helps out. I think, you know, of course, when I was growing up, going to the 1 room schoolhouse wasn't a big deal because that was the only school to go to. You know, at that point, there was, like, 5 or 7 kids, I think, when I was there. And very small community. The schoolhouse was a trailer house. Our teacher would drive out and stay in a little camper by the by the school during the week and then go back home on the weekends. It was just it was cool.
Melissa Rose [00:02:49]:
We didn't know any different and created space for me to get my driver's license when I was 13 so I could drive to school because it was about 10 miles one way.
Mahara Wayman [00:03:00]:
I'm sorry. I'm having a slight panic attack. Did you just say 13 you got your driver's license?
Melissa Rose [00:03:07]:
Yeah. So I could drive to school.
Mahara Wayman [00:03:08]:
Is that still legal? I mean, seriously, obviously, this wasn't just a
Melissa Rose [00:03:11]:
rural Montana as far as I know, but I don't know. It's been, you know, long time since then. But yeah.
Mahara Wayman [00:03:19]:
Can I just put that on the list as being your first act of badassery? I mean, I could barely tie my shoelaces when I was 13 much less than.
Melissa Rose [00:03:28]:
Gosh. Yeah.
Mahara Wayman [00:03:30]:
Okay.
Melissa Rose [00:03:30]:
Yeah. But when you grow up driving trucks and tractors, by the time you can reach the pedals and see over the dash, you know, feeding cows and all the things
Mahara Wayman [00:03:40]:
Fair enough.
Melissa Rose [00:03:41]:
You've been driving for a while probably.
Mahara Wayman [00:03:44]:
Alright. Let's jump forward a little bit to school, university. You wanted to be a nurse.
Melissa Rose [00:03:51]:
I did.
Mahara Wayman [00:03:52]:
First off, how come?
Melissa Rose [00:03:54]:
I love helping people. And even as a kiddo growing up, like, I don't know if it was my presence or aura or what. But if somebody had a problem, we'd go sit under a tree or some quiet place, and they would just and whether I could help or not, you know, I was a safe place to be able to just and it continued. I mean, animals would do that with me too. I mean, something would be sick and I'd be out playing in the yard. Here come a sick pet, you know, bum lamb or the cat or whatever. Whether I knew what to do with them or not or how to help, it wasn't really a thing. But I loved helping people, and that has carried through.
Melissa Rose [00:04:40]:
Even though I didn't get to be a nurse, that carried through to what I get to do today. And it just I don't know. It fills my heart up.
Mahara Wayman [00:04:49]:
Well, another component of being a badass, and I talk about this quite a bit on the program, is is following your joy. So often, we are taught to do otherwise. We are encouraged to just do what I tell you. Mommy knows best. Daddy knows best. Community knows best. Go be a this, be a that, be a that. So, another another badass trait that you've that you have.
Mahara Wayman [00:05:12]:
But let's talk about nursing. What can can you share with us share with us the story behind why that didn't pan out for you?
Melissa Rose [00:05:21]:
So by the time I was graduating from high school, my multiple sclerosis had progressed to the point where I couldn't have handled the physical and mental part of nurses training or nursing school?
Mahara Wayman [00:05:37]:
Let me just jump in here first. I've typically associated MS with a, a disease that afflicts older women or adult women, I should say. Yeah. What were you first diagnosed with with multiple sclerosis?
Melissa Rose [00:05:50]:
I was 33.
Mahara Wayman [00:05:52]:
Okay.
Melissa Rose [00:05:53]:
So at the time I graduated, I didn't know that's what was happening. I'd been to doctors and doctors, and they were just like, go home, honey. You'll be fine. Take a nap. You'll be good. But my my capacity to think, plus my body stamina to be actually able to do a 12 hour shift on my feet, I could've never done it.
Mahara Wayman [00:06:12]:
Okay. So you had the symptoms, but not the diagnosis. Exactly. Alright. Yeah. What did it take for you to say no to your dream of being a nurse? I mean, I understand physical limitations. Right? If you think in your mind, if you know you can't do it, but then I'm curious about the other component that that's needed to make such a tough decision.
Melissa Rose [00:06:35]:
I guess the the the biggest thing for me was I value I valued so highly the education that I would receive and would need to retain. If my body continues on this trajectory, what can I do? If my body continues on this trajectory, what can I do that isn't as demanding mentally and physically?
Mahara Wayman [00:07:05]:
Share with us the the trajectory that was shared with you at that time. Or did that not come until later on when you had the job?
Melissa Rose [00:07:17]:
I kinda came in later on after I had chosen to do, like, a a more of a teaching business degree, it didn't light me up. But I was like, well, at least I could do it, though. Okay. And then I got married, started having kiddos, didn't use my degree, never have. And, yeah, the whole the whole idea of being able to pursue that level of education just I was struggling to keep food on the table and clothes clean and just keep up with raising kids, you know, dragging my body around the house. And, yeah, it was not gonna be something I was gonna be able to do. So I I gave up on it.
Mahara Wayman [00:08:00]:
So what happened next that actually led you to walk into a doctor's office and walk out with a name, a diagnosis?
Melissa Rose [00:08:13]:
So the thing that really triggered this one is one evening, I was getting ready I was making dinner for everybody. Right? And the boy I had boys and, you know, boys' fashinations with anything that are sharp. So all of my butcher knives were up in the cupboard, so they couldn't reach them. And I was reaching up to grab the butcher knife to cut the meat for dinner, and thank god I didn't have a hold of that thing yet. And there was a something popped in the back of my neck, and I hit the floor. I couldn't move anything. I couldn't open my eyes. I could hear.
Melissa Rose [00:08:49]:
I couldn't speak. And my kids, I just remember them. I could hear them just screaming in my face, and I could feel the the heat of their you know, they were that close. Mom. It took me you know, we had no way then to communicate with my then husband. So I laid there on the floor. The kids were freaking out until dad got home. And then it was probably, I don't know, several hours.
Melissa Rose [00:09:14]:
The timeline is kind of really blurry for me right there, but got me on the bed several hours before I could slowly start to you know, my limbs started working. I could open my eyes. I could talk a little bit. And but that's what we were like, okay. This is crazy. We've gotta figure out what's going on. So that led to about a year and a half of being poked and prodded and seeing specialists and traveling everywhere and trying to figure out what the heck was going on that ended up in the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
Mahara Wayman [00:09:47]:
Okay. First of all, thanks for sharing that story with us. My heart's just racing. I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been, not only for you, but your children. Secondly, I full disclosure, I do not know much about the disease, but is it typically that difficult to diagnose?
Melissa Rose [00:10:05]:
It can be. For me, it was kind of ticking off all the boxes of what it could be, and then what we were left with was MS. Yeah. Multiple sclerosis is one of the harder ones to diagnose.
Mahara Wayman [00:10:21]:
Okay. And would you mind for our listeners that know the term but don't actually know what it means, would you mind telling us a bit about what that actually means?
Melissa Rose [00:10:29]:
Sure. So multiple sclerosis in its purest form is categorized as a disease process that affects the nerves, and the myelin sheath around the nerve. So in the medical world, something they say they say that the autoimmune or the immune system begins to attack the myelin sheath and begins to eat that away. So it's almost like, you know, how you have an electrical cord that is shrouded or protected with a sheath. Right? And it's kind of the same idea. Our nerves are protected by a myelin sheath. So when that protection kind of gets a hole in it or a hole is eaten into it, then that creates space for a short in the nerve or that nerve to not be able to work correctly. So in its simplest form, that's what it is.
Melissa Rose [00:11:27]:
In doing what I do, and I can test for that. I can tell you why that's happening, and we can actually reverse that process, the demyelination process. So it allows the body then to recover. But, yeah, at that time when I was diagnosed, I I didn't know this stuff. Right? I didn't I hadn't worked on this side of the of the table yet. So for me, because everybody else in my family, not everybody, but most of the ladies in my family had MS or had been diagnosed with MS, I was just like, well, it's a family thing. Here it is. Merry Christmas.
Melissa Rose [00:12:04]:
So it is hereditary? It's said to be.
Mahara Wayman [00:12:08]:
So okay. Interesting. Again, because now I'm on this side
Melissa Rose [00:12:13]:
of it. I'm like, okay. Yes. There are pieces that are hereditary, but they're there for
Mahara Wayman [00:12:21]:
a reason, and we can actually work with those. Okay. Before we jump into what you do now, which, I'm sure you guys have figured out that she this is what she does now. She helps people. I wanna do a little bit of a deeper dive into if you can share with us the steps, the thought process and steps, the action that you took to get better. Because I gotta tell you, you look flipping awesome. Like, you look like a super healthy woman. I would never in a 1000000 years have thought that you, suffered with or have suffered with this disease.
Mahara Wayman [00:12:52]:
So what went on, Melissa?
Melissa Rose [00:12:58]:
So you get to see the after.
Mahara Wayman [00:13:00]:
Yeah.
Melissa Rose [00:13:05]:
So when we were when I got my diagnosis, because I knew what MS looked like, because I had watched it in my mom. My grandma had passed away with it. My aunt had it. My cousin had it. My sister had it. I knew what that meant, and I knew that as far as anybody knew in my world at that time, there was no reversal. There is no coming out of it. And the doctor at the when he he gave me the diagnosis, literally, he was like, the best we can do is use some disease modifying drugs to slow this down for you.
Melissa Rose [00:13:41]:
But, you know, with how quickly it's it's progressing for you, You'll probably be bedridden by the time you're 45 and very likely not with us by the age 50. I'm 48. And I accepted that because there was nothing else in my world of knowledge that said any different. So I I chose not to do the drugs because I looked at them and thought, well, if this thing's eating me alive, why put something else in my body that's gonna eat me alive too? Let's just figure out how to live life the best we can and go for it. And but the days and what turned into years after that was very deep grieving because I started I was looking at those time frames. Right? By the age of 45, very likely, I wasn't gonna be able to, what, like, attend my kid's graduation. I wasn't gonna be able to watch them get married. I wouldn't be able to be around even to see my grandkids.
Melissa Rose [00:14:47]:
I've got 3 boys, then they're all boys. So they're just lucky they've passed 20, and they've got all their fingers and toes. And I thought, I'm not gonna be able to do that. So a lot of grieving, a lot of letting go, a lot of darkness, a lot of depression. And because of the whole thing that was going on, my husband cheated on me, and so my marriage was falling apart. I mean, he was scared to death. You know? How am I gonna take care of a wife they and raise these kids? Not that I'm excusing that, but that was a lot of his fear. It was mine too.
Melissa Rose [00:15:26]:
I was like, how do we even do this? So we moved to a new town, a new, state, and nothing happens by accident, but this precious person came into my world as a new friend. And I'm struggling. I can not walk well at all. She's like, hey. Why don't you come see my doc? I know that I love you, but I ain't going near your doc. I've been poked and prodded. I know what's going on. I know what's happening.
Melissa Rose [00:16:01]:
No. But she just lovingly kept after me, and finally, I gave in. So I went to see her doc. Precious man, and I blame him still today that I can walk. And he's like, I'll take that. I didn't expect anything to happen. I mean, there was no room in my head to think about maybe this could be different. So in his gentle way, he started kind of asking me, how'd you feel about if we started working on this? How would you feel about if we I was like, yeah.
Melissa Rose [00:16:37]:
Sure. Whatever. Do whatever you wanna do. I had no preconceived ideas. But when I started following his protocol and what he was telling me to do, I started getting better. I mean, the first thing I remember was, so this left side had been numb for years. I couldn't feel anything. Right? And I started getting tingles in my hand.
Melissa Rose [00:17:00]:
Like, what the heck is going on? And then I started to understand my body's starting to come back. And I started to get excited because I was like, what if I could get better? Even a little bit better. And it's addictive, you guys, when your body starts to feel better and you have not expected anything to happen. Right? It's like, holy. Is this real? Is it gonna last? Is it just an oops that's gonna be gone in a week? And I was always kinda waiting for the next shoe to fall. Like, and it was an up and down journey, but about two and a half years.
Mahara Wayman [00:17:37]:
Or before you tell us anymore, I've gotta jump in and just ask, how the heck do you go from giving up, like, fully just whatever. This is it. Gotta make it a bit. 2, allowing yourself to hope and then navigating that journey. Because to your point, I cut you off just as you're explaining it's up and but really, what are some of the key things that you either told yourself or did or the universe brought to you as a book or a saying or a podcast? Like, how did you navigate with such grace this this particular part of your journey?
Melissa Rose [00:18:20]:
I had to choose me. I had to choose me. My whole life, I've been taught everybody seek, you know, God others than you. But I had to choose me. I had to choose me choices that put me in the center, and I'd never done that in my whole born days. I had to say, if I am going to be well, I'm gonna change these pieces about my life, about my choices, about my food, about my sleep, about what I say yes to and what I say no to. I have to take care of me. I am worth it.
Mahara Wayman [00:19:16]:
Okay. I'm ringing the proverbial bell right now because such badassery in recognizing that you are worth it. And it's one of the things that my clients talk about a lot. I talk about a lot all the time in the show is o m g. Just Put your hand on your heart and say I matter. And the world the world will be the world is your oyster when you meet when you say that and mean it. And I just wanna say I'm so glad that you chose you. Me too.
Mahara Wayman [00:19:48]:
So glad that you chose you. What did that choice mean for those around you? Let's get real here.
Melissa Rose [00:19:59]:
It met a fight. It met a fight because my husband at the time thought it was a bunch of fufu and crockery and stooping. And I'm like, hey. It's making a difference, and I'm getting better. So it meant changing food in the house. It meant that the house was quiet by 9 o'clock so mom could sleep. It meant that I didn't go to everything. He had to go.
Melissa Rose [00:20:30]:
He had to be a parent. And he did. He stepped up. My kids had to realize that mom had this much energy. And when she said no, it meant no. You don't bug her. You don't push her. When she says no, it means no.
Melissa Rose [00:20:51]:
It just meant creating space for me. And, yeah, it was a fight. And I had not stood up for myself again for all my born days, And I cried a lot. And often when I would say no, I'd stand there and cry and shake and but it was still
Mahara Wayman [00:21:12]:
no. Thank you for sharing that incredibly honest understanding and perspective on what it means to say no. Because I think there's a misunderstanding sometimes that when people choose themselves, when we choose this journey of growth, that it's all sugar sugar lollipops. Right? It it it isn't people. And I I I applaud you for being honest about that because whenever we put ourselves first, it's a first of all, it is a choice, but it it's usually not that easy. Right? If it were easy, we would have done it already. If it were easy
Melissa Rose [00:21:47]:
Yeah. Long ago.
Mahara Wayman [00:21:49]:
Oh my god. Yeah. It's okay that I, you know, tell my parents I don't believe what they're telling me, and I'm just gonna go my own way. Like, we just that's just not human nature. Yeah. I'm I really do applaud you for for your sticking with this understanding that you matter and that you matter no matter what. Can I ask how that decision affected your faith? If it affected your faith because you mentioned it earlier. You know? Faith? Parents, and then you
Melissa Rose [00:22:19]:
So to give some background there, I grew up in a pretty serious cult. So there's a whole another layer. And it was during the time of healing that I started to peel back the layers of what is truth and what is not truth. So it was a whole unfolding and a whole becoming, I feel, coming back to me, who I actually am, cracking open. Yeah.
Mahara Wayman [00:22:51]:
Can I ask, did it take as long to crack open and find the real you as it did to cover up the real you, like, time wise? Because sometimes we think, man, it's taken you know, I've been this way for 30 years or 40 years. That's how I was raised.
Melissa Rose [00:23:09]:
Yeah. Is
Mahara Wayman [00:23:09]:
it any is it worth it to try and find the real me? Because I'm so used to living in this body. Does that resonate? I think it resonates.
Melissa Rose [00:23:18]:
Oh my gosh. It is so worth it. Please, it is so worth it. I'll tell you what. The light at the end of the tunnel is so bright and warm and luscious. Thankfully, it didn't take me, like, my first symptoms, and I'll just kinda timeline with symptoms. The first symptom that I remember was when I was 9 years old. So, you know, roughly, I don't know, to 20 some years of having multiple sclerosis.
Melissa Rose [00:23:48]:
And as a as a very young kiddo, like, God or the universe or light or whatever you wanna call it was more real to me almost than people. I cannot believe I'm sharing this with you. And then the indoctrination began, and that just slowly slowly closed up, closed up, closed up. And to where I didn't even know who I was. I didn't know what my true voice was. And then when I started to choose me and actually try to figure out what the heck that meant and started to peel open. I almost feel like I was peeling away layers of stuck old ick over my heart and really starting to unfold. I, I still feel like that is still happening, the unfolding and the understanding more of who I am.
Melissa Rose [00:24:39]:
But, like, cracking away and really finding what truth was for me, that was a real journey. And it alienated me mostly from my family because they're still in that belief system. I still love them. They still love me.
Mahara Wayman [00:24:57]:
Of course. That that's
Melissa Rose [00:24:59]:
how are they
Mahara Wayman [00:25:00]:
how are they navigating your okay. Okay. How are they navigating your recovery? And then I wanna go and talk about your recovery.
Melissa Rose [00:25:07]:
I'm just sure. So the closest people watching my recovery were were my kids, obviously. And they didn't know what to do with it at first. They thought mom had truly cracked open. But now as they talk about it, they're like, well, that's just normal. You just figure out what's going on, and you get better. Like, why can't everybody in the world do that?
Mahara Wayman [00:25:34]:
Oh, don't worry.
Melissa Rose [00:25:36]:
My siblings were very just observing and, you know, were just watching. But my like, my mom and my brother were they they still hold me at whatever kind of out here. And, it was an interesting process. And I guess it wasn't as easy for them to watch, but I was on my way. I was determined. So gave love and understanding and listened, but I'm like, you do you, but I'm doing me.
Mahara Wayman [00:26:16]:
Wow. So what exactly did you do? Come on. Oh,
Melissa Rose [00:26:26]:
so working with the practitioner that I was sharing with you about, really started to unravel what was going on in my body that was sideways. So understanding that I had a huge candida overgrowth, major bacterial issues, parasites, structural misalignment, and so much
Mahara Wayman [00:26:49]:
trauma.
Melissa Rose [00:26:50]:
Just I
Mahara Wayman [00:26:50]:
just want you to sit with I just wanna sit here for 1 minute because what type of a doctor was he?
Melissa Rose [00:26:59]:
Chiropractor, kinesiologist, but also did a lot of neuro emotional trauma work.
Mahara Wayman [00:27:08]:
Okay. So I just wanna take a moment to share with our listeners that it is okay to keep looking for answers because not all doctors know what you need. And, there's even one of those terms I'm not familiar with. But don't give up searching for answers because the chances are your GP isn't gonna know them because they're they're a GP, general practitioner. But, yeah, I just wanted to call that out because, first of all, I was very curious. When when we are ill, whether mental mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physically, or all of the above, Keep looking for people that can help you because if you have it, there is a way to help it. That's the way the world works. Right? Like, if you have an idea, there's a way to execute it.
Mahara Wayman [00:28:07]:
If you have an issue, a challenge, there is a there is a a remedy for it. You just have to find it. Okay. Please continue with your story. I'm sorry I interrupted.
Melissa Rose [00:28:16]:
Oh, you're so good, dear. May I speak to a piece of that?
Mahara Wayman [00:28:20]:
Yes.
Melissa Rose [00:28:21]:
Like, I feel like I was divinely directed to him because I was not looking. I was not looking at all for anybody. I had given up. I was like, done. This is what I am. This is what's gonna happen. Done. But what I wasn't listening to was this little thing in my heart that was saying, whoo, This is not you.
Melissa Rose [00:28:41]:
This does not have to be you. And if I can just share, like, ditto to what kind of you were sharing is lean into the deep knowledge. When you're looking for a practitioner or someone, if they can echo and really resonate with that little voice that's saying, woo hoo, you can be well, lean into that. That's a good indicator that that person just might be someone to help you on your journey.
Mahara Wayman [00:29:08]:
2 things I wanna call out. Yes. I believe you are divinely led. I think we are all divinely led. The difference is that some of us see it. Some of us don't. Sometimes it takes years to recognize the messages. Yeah.
Mahara Wayman [00:29:23]:
And I'm speaking especially to those who have not been raised with a spiritual background or with a religious background. Let me there's a difference. I have become more and more spiritual as I get older. I've never You do. But I'm incredibly spiritual now, and I listen. And I'm excited to listen. And it began with the understanding that I am more than this body. This is this is the shell that I chose to be in in this incarnation.
Mahara Wayman [00:29:50]:
I'm actually a spiritual being having a human existence just like everybody else on the planet. Yeah. Ization didn't come. I wasn't born with that with that understand. Well, I may have been, but I kind of forgot along the way. Now I have it again. So I wanna call out that that that's listening to your intuition, trusting that you are here for more. And, also, it's very badass to trust to understand and act on why you're here.
Mahara Wayman [00:30:17]:
Right? Even if why you're here is just to be the best mom ever. That's a great reason to be here on on in in this world. If you're if you're if you're reason for being here is to learn, teach, and grow, that the world needs what we're doing so so badly. So whatever it is that you're called to do, don't discount that because that calling comes from in here or from out there depending on how you look at it. So okay. Thank you.
Melissa Rose [00:30:54]:
Oh, I love that. But that leads into why I do this work. I never it took me a long time to come to this place, but I feel like my journey with multiple sclerosis I don't know why I'm balling over this, but was the greatest gift I could have ever been given. Because if I hadn't walked that journey, both of illness, all the shit that comes with it, and also walked the road of recovery, how could I effectively help others walk that same road?
Mahara Wayman [00:31:38]:
K. So would you say now, Melissa, that you came into this world to experience this specifically so you could make a difference with others who are experiencing this. That's your thing. The nursing, you had an you had an inkling that wasn't through the right path. It's gonna be the one for you. Okay. How long did it take with all of the different all of the different work that you had with with this doctor? How long did it take for you to see enough of a difference that you were like, okay. This is actually more than normal.
Melissa Rose [00:32:18]:
Oh, well, the first the first inkling started about 2 weeks in when I started to get some feeling back in my hand, you know, the tingling. And I was like, what? And then it just was kind of and and, again, I had to make the choice to follow what he was telling me because it didn't make sense to me. I had to choose to do it.
Mahara Wayman [00:32:48]:
So what are some of the things that didn't make sense to you, but you did it anyway?
Melissa Rose [00:32:52]:
So ranch cook. Right? I baking pies, bread. That was my specialty. I was really good at it. But one of the first things he took me off of was gluten because my body was so allergic to it. And I thought this is the dumbest thing ever in the whole world. What do you besides bread? And the gluten free stuff tastes like cardboard. Yuck.
Melissa Rose [00:33:18]:
You know? I was a baker. I knew what it was supposed to look like and feel like and all the things. And but I did it. And I did it long enough for the inflammation to recede enough to let the nerve impulses again work. And I was like, this is cool.
Mahara Wayman [00:33:38]:
It's cool. Okay. So you adjusted your diet?
Melissa Rose [00:33:42]:
There was a lot more to it, but the that was what gave me my first feedback, if you will, that my body might be able to get better. And to be honest, I was I had been bad enough long enough that even the doctor I was working with or the practitioner I was working with did not even expect me to fully recover because there's a good chance that there was gonna be permanent nerve damage.
Mahara Wayman [00:34:09]:
Alright. So you changed your diet. Yep. You had an up and down. I'm assuming and we haven't even talked about the emotional up and downs, but I'm assuming that Yeah.
Melissa Rose [00:34:18]:
Lots of tears.
Mahara Wayman [00:34:20]:
Yeah. What are some other things that you did that you thought at the time were like, well, this is weird, but I might as well.
Melissa Rose [00:34:27]:
Yep. So taking supplements, you know, to bring the inflammation down, really help the body, you know, normalize. So, let's see. What did we do? We did a lot of oregano to really work on the candida issues and some of the bacterial stuff. We did mimosa pudica for, parasites. We did oh gosh, he had me taking so many supplements there for a while. Tons of, like, fish oil, omega 3, omega 6, omega 9. Yeah.
Melissa Rose [00:35:01]:
Really kind of working through all the layers. I don't remember all of them because it was a long time ago.
Mahara Wayman [00:35:08]:
Really, what I'm hearing is that you took a completely no holds barred attitude to I'm willing to try. If my body can make What if
Melissa Rose [00:35:18]:
it works?
Mahara Wayman [00:35:18]:
Yeah. What yeah. Exactly. What if? But what if it does work? If my body can if my body can eat itself and kill itself, maybe with the right environment, it can actually fix itself.
Melissa Rose [00:35:31]:
And that's exactly what happens.
Mahara Wayman [00:35:33]:
Yeah. Okay. So how long until I mean, are you still do you still suffer from MS?
Melissa Rose [00:35:39]:
No.
Mahara Wayman [00:35:40]:
Loud and loud. So, Melissa, are you still suffering from multiple sclerosis?
Melissa Rose [00:35:45]:
No. No. It took about two and a half years for my last symptom to go away. And since then, that was about 8 let's see. I'm 48, and that was about the year I was 40. 30 9, 40. So 8 years without symptoms at all, and I just keep getting better. And I keep working on the parts of myself that I see that I you know, once you get once you get better, you just keep working on it.
Mahara Wayman [00:36:11]:
I don't know what to say.
Melissa Rose [00:36:14]:
I did like, I have a really in-depth specialized neurological test that I use on my clients. And to be honest with you, I had used it for several years, but I was afraid to do it myself because I was like, what if I still have MS markers? Am I gonna be able to handle that?
Mahara Wayman [00:36:31]:
Let's talk about what you what what you currently do. Explain it. What's your title? What's your work? What the hell?
Melissa Rose [00:36:38]:
So I'm an applied functional medicine practitioner. I am not a doctor by choice. I've been offered that opportunity twice, and I just can't do it. Because what I do now is I'm able to go wherever my clients need me to go. I specialize in autoimmune, obviously, but work with, you know, people from We Littles to I think my oldest client was 98 years old. So, really, just whatever people need, I'm able to pretty much provide because it's simple. We figure out what's going on in the body and why, and we work on it.
Mahara Wayman [00:37:19]:
It sounds so simple. And it you know, my my reaction is, well, if it's that simple, why haven't we been doing it all along? Come on. Right. Yeah.
Melissa Rose [00:37:29]:
I don't know the answer to that because to me, it's so straightforward. It's just it just makes sense, but it doesn't make sense to everybody. And it doesn't make sense to, like, all every practitioner. Like, I was just sharing this with a a partner that we're working on collaboration together, and she's like, it just makes sense. And I'm like, I know, but it doesn't make sense for everybody.
Mahara Wayman [00:38:00]:
Fair enough. Can I ask why you got so emotional a while ago?
Melissa Rose [00:38:05]:
My mom says my bladder's behind my eyeballs. Not really. Goose, I choose to live with my heart wide open. And if something I can share today that's deep and emotional for me can help you or anybody that is listening to this, I am so all in.
Mahara Wayman [00:38:27]:
And I wanna say thank you because one of the things I have learned in my life, and I'm working hard to share it with my clients and with my my kids, is the most important thing we can do as human beings is to make a connection with someone else or a 1,000 someone else's or a 1,000,000 someone else's, even the person next door. So I really honor and applaud you for opening up to us and our my audience this way. I wanna thank you for that. Okay. So much badassery in what you're sharing, and I I wanna highlight that, you know, we can sometimes adopt an attitude of laissez faire and this is me, and I'm a total badass. I got my stuff together. But really
Melissa Rose [00:39:09]:
I know.
Mahara Wayman [00:39:11]:
I know. You know, it takes real work, and it takes real honesty and vulnerability to say there's gotta be more. I am more than this. Even if even if the disease or the challenge that we are facing, we don't we don't get rid of or we don't navigate it a 100%, We are always more than the labels we put on ourselves. And I think it's one of the biggest, most badass that people can do is to recognize that. I am not a label. We use labels as human beings because it's easier to categorize, and let's just call the label rather than the deep, intricate human being that's sitting in front of me. But that doesn't always serve our purpose.
Mahara Wayman [00:39:51]:
That doesn't always serve us well. And if you ever find yourself feeling that way, trust your feeling. Right? Trust your feeling. If you don't wanna be labeled, then don't allow yourself to be labeled. You can use it yourself in context, but feel free to tell us more. Like, I wanna know more about you. So, little side note there. Okay.
Mahara Wayman [00:40:12]:
So what do you work 1 on 1? Do you work in a do you do group work? Like, how exactly does your work unfold for your clients?
Melissa Rose [00:40:21]:
Right. So I work 1 on 1. Most of the time, we have 3 different tiers of care for our clients depending on what their needs are. So if it's somebody with a pretty complex, autoimmune condition, I like to put them in the upper tier if they can if that's what works for them and it if that's what they feel like they want to do because it's a higher level of commitment. But really working 1 on 1 with me, all the testing that we need, all the, you know, all the juicy goodness that we need to really understand what's going on with our body. And then we have a mid level for people who are really you know, they don't have such an intricate set of circumstances going on for them. And then we have an entry level that really just works on, food situations, really understanding what can nourish your body and what doesn't, and then working on the mindset and movement pieces. For some people, that's enough to really help their body reset and just kind of snap into recovery mode and really move them toward what they want to accomplish.
Melissa Rose [00:41:29]:
So, yeah, it's pretty fun. It's pretty fun to do this work.
Mahara Wayman [00:41:34]:
Now is this work something that you can do online, or does it have to be in person?
Melissa Rose [00:41:40]:
So I used to have an office and then COVID COVID happened. And even my, even my clients that love to come in, they, they were like, you know, let's just do zoom. So I was like, why do I have an office? And I'm paying rent on this space and I'm having zoom, you know, whatever. So we serve people a 100% online, and we work with people in the US as well as internationally. Like, roughly a third of our clientele is outside of the country.
Mahara Wayman [00:42:12]:
So, so exciting. And I I gotta be honest. I all I can think about is, oh, I can't wait to share this episode with so and so. I gotta make sure that watches listens to this episode. What do you well, when you look back on your life, Melissa, what are some of the things that you wanna call out and share with with me and our audience that you think were either pivotal moments for you, that were a challenge or pivotal moments of of beating the challenge of growth or just some real tips that, you know, will help our listeners to to feel better about who they are and what they may be facing with in a body that's not responding the way they want?
Melissa Rose [00:42:55]:
I love that question. So the first thing that comes into my mind is, who are you for real? Lean into who are you under all the layers of what everybody has laid on you and expected out of you and said you should be and to do and to be the good girl, the good boy, to do all the things. Who are you under all of that? Reconnect to who you are. You are beautiful and you are whole. Your body is not broken. You are not broken. And I say that with a weight of my own personal knowledge and years of clinical work. You are not broken, my precious person.
Melissa Rose [00:43:49]:
Don't be afraid to lean into that and lean into the wisdom that lives inside of you. If your body isn't working well for you, know that it's doing its damnedest to function under the conditions that it has. And it's okay to really lean in and ask your body, what do you need from me? Look in the mirror. Look in your own eyes. Can you say I love you?
Mahara Wayman [00:44:21]:
Oh, powerful, and and very poetic. I wanna thank you for that. I think speaking from experience, there have been many times as I hit menopause that I really got angry. Look at what you menopause, you suck. Like, this is not fair. Na na na na na. Like, on and on. And I'm still kind of in that mode, to be honest.
Mahara Wayman [00:44:46]:
I'm still kind of, like, angry and thinking this is wrong. Somehow, it's my body has deserted me. It's just it forgot about me. And, really, I mean, that's such BS because the truth is what what I'm going through is natural. My attitude towards it may not be. Right? Or it may be natural, but it's not it's not what's needed. So I wanna thank you for your your tips that you just shared with us, Melissa. And, of course, check the show notes because everything that she's got to offer, how to connect with her, on her social media links, everything's gonna be posted in the show notes because we want we we want you to reach out.
Mahara Wayman [00:45:22]:
We want you to question. And both of us are very passionate about, giving you permission to be your best. Whatever that looks like for you. Like, just like you said, Melissa, know that you're not broken. I that actually really I that kinda gave me the shivers. You are not broken. There's nothing wrong with you. And you are worthy of feeling amazing in your body or state you're at in your life or whatever stage your body's at.
Mahara Wayman [00:45:49]:
You are worthy of feeling great about it. I just loved this conversation so much and, you know, there's lots of things that we didn't touch on because, you know, time wise, but I wanna thank you for for sharing your wisdom and your story with with our listeners. And I I look forward to doing it again.
Melissa Rose [00:46:09]:
Oh, thank you so very much. Yeah. I love what you're doing, my dear. Oh, thank you. Keep up the good work.
Mahara Wayman [00:46:17]:
I will if you will. Done. Done. I'll move next week to the art of badassery where I will have yet another badass guest. My name is Mahara. Have an amazing week. Take care. Thanks for tuning in to another badass episode.
Mahara Wayman [00:46:33]:
Your support means the world to me. So if you enjoyed what you heard today, don't forget to like, share, and rate the episode on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback keeps the badassery flowing. And, hey, if you're ready to unleash your inner badass and conquer whatever life throws your way, Why not book a complimentary badass breakthrough session? Just click the link in the show notes to schedule your session, and let's kick some serious butt together. Until next time, stay fearless, stay fabulous, and of course, stay badass. This is Mahara signing off.
