Women In Wellness: Brenda Scott of Tidy my Space on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Have some quiet time! Just 5 minutes alone with your thoughts, this can be while you’re out on your walk. Nobody else, maybe you and some soothing music. Or if you need to stay inside, put a set of headphones on for 5 minutes and just be still. Reground yourself, listen to your body. What’s it saying?
As a part of our series about “5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brenda Scott.
Brenda Scott retired after working 31 years at Kelloggs, and is the owner of Tidy my Space, a Home Organizing company in London, Ontario, Canada. She works with clients who need help getting their homes decluttered, organized and safe to live in. She uses her years of experience to deliver an unique solution specific for each client.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the story about how you first got involved in fitness and wellness?
I’m not in fitness and wellness, I help clients achieve wellness through decluttering and organizing their homes.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
A client shared with me that after clearing her kitchen table and dining area, she was able to have friends over for coffee. Something she hadn’t been able to do in years, she felt light, happy and her confidence was through the roof.
Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?
I went into a clients’ home with a plan of getting it done quickly but they wanted to chat about each item and visit. I learned to let the clients tell their story, especially if they’re senior, but still get the work done. They need company as much as they need work done. They have a sense of pride about their home and their sense of self is part of their home.
Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the fitness and wellness field? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?
My approach to wellness, is to help my clients achieve a home that makes them feel good, proud of and happy to share with others.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My mom helped me to see that a tidy home can and will make a difference in the people who live in it. An untidy and disorganized home will have people who are losing things, feel frustrated, miss deadlines, grumpy, quick to anger, feel overwhelmed with housework and sometimes verbally abusive.
Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. We all know that it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, exercise more, and get better sleep etc. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the 3 main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?
The 3 reasons I see are: 1. Too much information that gives you different answers, we don’t know what to believe.
2. Money is a big factor, some healthier choices are more expensive and not realistic for a whole family
3.People don’t like change! Simple and to the point, they want to keep doing the same.
My clients want their home organized and tidy as quick as possible but still want to continue to purchase too much stuff. You can’t have it both ways, it’s either a tidy home with a lifestyle change or a messy home with a ‘more’ lifestyle.
Can you please share your “5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”? (Please share a story or an example for each, and feel free to share ideas for mental, emotional and physical health.)
- Write your thoughts down, Journaling is just another word for a Diary. Secret thoughts, dreams, wishes, inspirational quotes, all help to get us in a better mental mood.
- Get your home decluttered and organized. Being organized is having your life under control, you control the stuff not the stuff controlling you. When you have a home full of clutter and can’t find important items or it takes more than 5 minutes to find an item, you feel totally out of control and scattered.
- Get Outside! Even in the cold weather, go for a short walk. Break the cycle of being inside and refresh your mind.
- Have some quiet time! Just 5 minutes alone with your thoughts, this can be while you’re out on your walk. Nobody else, maybe you and some soothing music. Or if you need to stay inside, put a set of headphones on for 5 minutes and just be still. Reground yourself, listen to your body. What’s it saying?
- Read a book, find a title that speaks to you and escape to other world or time. Fantasy and Dreams are still important.
As an expert, this might be obvious to you, but I think it would be instructive to articulate this for the public. Aside from weight loss, what are 3 benefits of daily exercise? Can you explain?
- Social interaction; humans are social animals that need to feel like a part of something bigger.
- Better physical condition; it’s important to keep flexible and healthy to cut down on medical bills and expenses
- Improved emotional attitude; after a workout, the feel- good hormones are high and you feel great about what you just achieved.
For someone who is looking to add exercise to their daily routine, which 3 exercises would you recommend that are absolutely critical?
- I would recommend walking. Simple and inexpensive.
- A resistance training like resistance bands to keep muscle tone without bulking up.
- Yoga for flexibility and stamina.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?
No books, I enrolled in Revkor, a resistence yoga class taught by Angela Revard. The program was yoga moves and stances with overhead bands, it really gave you a great workout with weight training combined.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Classes that teach young women about their self- worth, a place to learn life skills, a place to speak their minds without judgement.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
‘There is nothing more satisfying than being loved for who you are and nothing more painful then being loved for who you’re not but pretending to be’ by Neil Pasricha This has come to mean so much to me because I started to lose my identity by trying to run my business like everyone else. Be yourself!
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I would love to sit down for a chat with Michelle Obama. I’ve read her book and even though I live in Canada, I’ve watched and admired how she lives her life so real and truly concerned for others.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
Your readers can follow me on [email protected] or www.tidymyspace.ca
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
Women In Wellness: Brenda Scott of Tidy my Space on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.