22: Lessons from My Wellness Retreat That Apply to Your Relationship

Hey there. Welcome to Make More Love. This is the show for driven entrepreneurial men who want their life to be about more than just business success. They also want a passionate, aligned, and fun relationship with their spouse that lasts a lifetime. I'm your host Ellen Dorian, and this is your space for straight-up, judgment-free conversations about creating a life where you handle the demands of business, relationships and everything else in a holistic and fulfilling way. We're all about helping you be extraordinary in every way that matters. If you're new to the show, be sure to hit that Follow or Subscribe button right now so you never miss an episode. If you're serious about transforming your relationship and your life, staying connected here is your first step. And, if you find today's conversation helpful, please share it with a friend who could use some new ideas for their own relationship. Today. I want to share some insights from the Mediterranean Keto Wellness Retreat that I attended in Greece last week. It was led by Roberta and Apollonas Kapsalis, the brilliant couple behind Greek Goes Keto. They are passionate about the Keto Mediterranean Lifestyle. They blend their expertise in nutrition and performance with a love for traditional Greek living to promote health and wellbeing through a holistic, low-carb approach. I've worked with Apollonas one-on-one before. Given my Armenian heritage, I thought a Mediterranean Keto approach might be especially effective for me, and it was. However, I struggled to fit it into my daily routine. I thought if I had a chance to immerse myself in it, I might get some ideas for dealing with the biggest challenges. So, I signed up for the week long retreat they were hosting to learn how to better incorporate these concepts into my everyday life. I decided to go solo on this trip since Keto really isn't my husband's thing. This was a bit of a risky decision because I didn't know anyone and there was no agenda. There was no itinerary. There wasn't even a packing list. And I had really no clue what to expect. I ended up "panic buying" a few things like water shoes, which did turn out to be a great idea. The money belt, ...not so much. I never used it. I was stressed and anxious, worrying that it might be too extreme, too intense, or just too hard. What if I couldn't keep up or what if I didn't get the most out of it? As I was going through this experience, it hit me that you might feel the same way when you're thinking about trying some of the action steps I've shared in Make More Love episodes. Whether it's starting something new in your relationship or working on it consistently, I know some of the fears that can come up. So if you've been intrigued but you've been hesitant to move forward, maybe my retreat experience will show you some similarities to challenges you've faced in your relationship. I'm going to walk you through five lessons I learned during the retreat ...lessons about trust, taking things one step at a time, finding the right community, and following a process. These lessons obviously don't just apply to the retreat. They pretty much apply to anything that's new or different that you might want to try. But before we jump into that, I want to let you know about something special I offer to my listeners: A lot of you've been reaching out with questions about your own relationships and I want to help. So, I'm offering this free Relationship Reset Call. It's a quick 15 or so minutes. Just you and me, where we get the lay of the land and we sketch out a plan to get you moving in the right direction. If you're thinking about scheduling a call, here are a few questions to ask yourself: Would you like to be sure that you're focusing on the most urgent and important issues in your relationship? Would it be valuable for you to learn how to apply skills you've already mastered in your work to increase the passion in your relationship? And. Would having an experienced guide help you stay on track as you implement new strategies? If you answered "Yes," then let's connect. Just head over to relationshipresetcall.com, grab your spot, and we'll jump on a call and figure everything out. Because honestly, ...and you know this as well as I do ...if you let your relationship slide, the cost to you financially, socially, emotionally, and in every other way is just enormous. It will truly put a dent in your armor. So let's not let that happen. Let's get you on a trajectory to Make More Love in Your Life and With Your Wife. Alright Let's get into the lessons I learned from my experience in Greece. Lesson one is: It's going to be okay. It started out a bit rocky I got to tell you. My first flight was delayed by hours causing me to miss my connection. I ended up stuck in Munich for a few hours and I arrived much later than planned. When I finally got to Athens, it was around 11:00 PM. Fortunately Roberta and Apollonas had come through with their promise and there was a driver waiting for me. It was a good thing too, because as we started driving, I realized I had no idea where to go. I didn't even have the address, but as promised everything was taken care of. When I arrived at the Villa, Roberta and Apollonas weren't there. They had already left for the night, but I was greeted by a lovely couple Todd and Jen who are back for their second year. They were warm and friendly and knew the ropes, helping me get settled in. And then Roberta called to welcome me personally, even though it was close to midnight. So here's the first lesson. It might not all be easy, but it is going to be okay. In the beginning, not everything will go smoothly, but if you have people who care about you, who want you to succeed and who've been through what you're going through. They'll show you the way. And for you and your relationship that's me. I've been through many relationship challenges and I've helped many others with theirs. I know the ropes and I'm going to help you get everything you want in your relationship. Lesson two was to Trust the Experts. After a much needed night's sleep, you know the kind you get after a day filled with frustration and delays, I woke up to my first day at the Mediterranean Keto Wellness Retreat. I came downstairs to find Roberta cooking away, beautiful, energetic, charming, and full of warmth. She welcomed me and offered me coffee. "Do you take milk in your coffee," she asked? "We do Intermittent Fasting, so it's too early for us to have milk in our coffee. But I'll make it for you both ways. So you can see which one you like better." She went about whipping up this frothy iced espresso with no milk. And to my surprise, it was creamy and smooth and delicious. I didn't miss the milk at all, but then she added fresh, raw sheep's milk saying, "You're going to love it this way too." and she was right. It was delicious. The next day I decided to join the intermittent fasting crew and I enjoyed the whipped espresso without the milk. And I therefore eased into the first hard step of the Intermittent Fasting. Now that's the second lesson. There's going to be new things to try. Let yourself be guided by those who've been there before and figured it out. And remember, you don't have to make all the changes at once. Just take one step at a time. I'm going to talk more about the power of small changes in a future episode. So keep a look out for that one. Here's a bonus: fresh, raw sheep's milk is unbelievably delicious. It's way different than I expected, and I bet it would surprise you too. I will mention, however, my husband will not touch raw milk. And, he's probably not wrong. Moving on to lesson three Find Your Community The next thing that happened was I met Todd and Jen's three daughters, Jodi, Erin and Lyndsay. All of them were fun and smart and beautiful and independent and surprisingly open to try new things. Lindsay who's 23 is brilliant and quite entrepreneurial. She's the one who led her family into the low carb lifestyle. She, and I hit it off right away, and I found her to be knowledgeable about several areas of my personal and business interests. She's had great success in areas where I'm either just getting started or I'm struggling. And because of the communities that I'm part of, I will help her make connections to achieve her goals as well. Everyone else I met also had a fantastic effect on me. John who had sussed out great resources for affordable high quality, natural food products, and he was there with his mom, Bernadette, who was a character. And then there was Andrew who was funny and engaging, and a joker, and his wife Helen, who was so generous with her extensive knowledge about optimal health practices. And then later in the week I met Panagiotis and Maria, a beautiful, exceptionally warm and charming Greek couple who joined us for the second half of the retreat. Panagiotis and his cousin run an organic honey operation and he gave a fascinating presentation on various types of honey. You might think honey's not Keto and you'd be correct, but for people who are more focused on lifetime optimal health than on losing weight, the right kind of raw natural honey is a wonderful treat. And so the lesson I learned here was to find a community of people who share your goals and values. Some are farther along than you, and some will look up to you for what you've experienced. Help who you can help. Learn from those you can learn from. Talk about Priceless! The fourth lesson I learned was The worst case scenario rarely happens. I was still worried about what to expect in terms of activity and my ability to keep up with that. Even though I've spent a lot of time getting in shape and becoming more active. I was worried that we'd be doing stuff that would be outside of my comfort zone, like hiking rough trails out in the hot sun, stuff like that. And on top of everything else, I was still dealing with breathing and fatigue issues from the COVID that I had back in July. So, I decided to talk to Apollonas about it. He reassured me that I could always go at my own pace, and that was nothing to worry about. And he was right. And it turns out, I could not have been more wrong. Everything was designed for us to enjoy ourselves, to reduce our stress and find the most joy we could. That evening during the formal opening talk, he specifically talked about making sure everyone felt seen and safe. I loved that. In hindsight, things were much less daunting that I had built them up to be in my head. Communicating my concerns help to adjust my mindset and approach the day with more ease. And that was the lesson. Our worst fears generally don't happen. In fact, most of our fears never materialize. While it's natural to have them, we also can't let them prevent us from doing the things that bring us joy. I am so glad that I didn't let those fears get in the way of trying everything that we did. And everything worked out great. And that leads us into the fifth lesson, which is to Follow the Process. Every day, Roberta and Apollonas introduced one new principle of the Mediterranean Keto lifestyle. From intermittent fasting, to learning why certain foods are better for us to finding substitutes for high carb habits, they Integrated these principles with the concept of ancestral eating and lifestyle. With a little open-mindedness we all adapted. As we began to understand the reasoning behind these guidelines, it made it easier to follow through. Most importantly, everyone was equally valued, nobody was judged for taking a different path, everyone was celebrated and everyone progressed. And that's my final lesson for today, which is follow the process. Once you've chosen a person, a system, or a philosophy to take a chance on all that's left is to take that leap of faith. So follow the process. Notice your points of resistance. Ask for help when you need it. And look for evidence of progress, not perfection. All right. Here are three key points I hope you'll take away from this episode: Number One: Small changes lead to big results. Focusing on small, consistent actions can create lasting change over a lifetime, making the process more manageable. This is a huge takeaway for me, and I'll be talking about it even more in the next episode. Number Two: Following the process reduces overwhelm. Committing to and implementing a proven framework helps you focus on making progress rather than getting stuck on perfection. And Number Three: The right experts and support make success attainable. Having the right guidance and a supportive community makes it easier to reach your goals and stay on track. I want to finish up by exploring the parallels between my retreat experience and you working with me to make your relationship better. Just like I had to make the decision to trust the experts and commit to the process during my retreat, hiring a coach and implementing new strategies in your relationship can feel like a big step. It can be hard to know where to start or what changes will make the biggest impact. But just like in my experience, when you trust the process and take things, step-by-step, the transformation becomes manageable. You don't have to do it all at once and you don't have to do it alone. I've designed the frameworks and concepts I share to be practical and actionable. With guidance and support, you can start making meaningful changes in your relationship, whether it's building stronger communication, reigniting passion, or finding more fulfillment. All right. I hope today's episode added some real value to your life. If you are ready for more support ideas or just someone to brainstorm with here are three ways to get that. One is to join our private and free Passionate Partners, Insider Community on Facebook for exclusive content and resources. Number two is to visit our website and our social channels to learn more about our programs, workshops, and private coaching options. That's passionatepartnersproject.com And number three, if you want to dive into your specific situation, book a free Relationship Reset Call with me. Whether it's a minor tune-up or a major overhaul, we'll make a plan to get you back on track. Just head over to relationshipresetcall.com to set that up. You'll find everything you need, including the links to everything I've mentioned. And my personal email right in the show notes. I'll be here whenever you're ready. And now I've got a request. I could really use your help to get the word out about Make More Love. First, if you haven't already, please hit follow and subscribe on whatever platform you prefer when you do that. It helps more people find the show and it makes sure you don't miss anything. And second, even more important leaving a review will really help me grow our community so we can reach even more people. And finally, if you know someone who's struggling in their relationship, please share the show with them. A simple share from you could be life-changing for them. So, thank you so much for spreading the word. I'm Ellen Dorian, and that's what I've got for you today. I believe you had good reasons for choosing the partner you have. My mission is to help you reconnect with those reasons and discover new ways to Make More Love in Your Life and With Your Wife.