Meet Elizabeth Zimmerman

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elizabeth Zimmerman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Elizabeth, so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?

This is a powerful question, especially considering sometimes the biggest critic is actually your inner-critic and your perception of self in the eyes of bystanders or people in your inner circle. I coach women who are struggling with ADHD and part of that struggle manifests itself in an overwhelming amount of self-criticism, rejection sensitivity and self-sabotage. I have personally experienced this in my own journey.
Growing up with ADHD and dyslexia, I was used to always being “wrong.” I was used to making mistakes, being corrected, constantly comparing myself to those who seemed to have it all together, and second guessing most everything I did. The problem is, if you do this for long enough, the voice in your head goes from “I did that wrong, I did that badly” to “I am wrong, I am bad.” This identity lie gets woven into the way you engage with the world, interact with others, and see yourself. So when criticism comes your way, you believe it to be a reflection of self, rather than an extension of someone else’s opinion. On top of that, when you have ADHD, the prefrontal cortex in your brain works differently as do the dopamine pathways, which can lead to more emotional dysregulation and rejection sensitivity.
To heal from the lies mentioned above, and regulate my emotions, I had to do an overhaul of self perception and create new habits and a different internal dialogue. This journey started by becoming an advocate for myself, both internally and externally. Internally, this meant learning how to have a different dialogue with myself, learning how to advocate for myself when I felt criticized, and learning how to comfort myself when I felt hurt or confused. This also meant moving into a growth mindset, where I celebrated the learning process and grew from my mistakes, rather than criticizing myself or coming into agreement with every nay-sayers opinion.
Externally, I had to learn new habits and routines that both calmed my nervous system and helped me truly feel as though I was taking care of myself. This looked like adopting breathing techniques to let go of anxiety and calm my nervous system, eating adequate amounts of protein and exercising so I could stay calm and not let emotions get the best of me, and creating enough structure to help me thrive in my daily life. In addition, the external work was finding outlets I loved that made me truly feel like I was embracing the way I was created. This looked like painting, biking, cooking and knitting. This also looked like leaning into my faith and believing that God had good plans store for me. Both the internal and external work helped calm my nervous system, give me a strong sense of self, and believe in myself and capabilities. It also helped me trust myself.
Finally, I sought out mentors and people who really believed in me. They helped me see who I truly was, encouraged me along the path, and gave me confidence in my personal vision of who I was becoming.
With this strong foundation, I was able to believe in myself. I was able to silence the voice of the inner critic and manage negative feedback. This doesn’t mean I don’t still feel a sense of woundedness when I am criticized or my path is criticized. But now instead of shrinking back, I am able to sit with myself, nurture myself, ground myself, work through the criticism, recalibrate my inner compass, and stand back up and start running the race again.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My company is New Foundations Lifestyle Coaching. My program focuses on helping ADHD women of all ages, thrive rather than just survive with ADHD. The program was formulated from my personal journey with ADHD, experience as an ADHD and Functional Medicine coach, and education and work as a Registered Nurse.
This program is highly unique in its approach to ADHD. My goal is to comprehensively and holistically approach my clients struggles with ADHD. The program focuses on three pillars for success:
First, we start by cleaning up the mental mess. We dive into the executive function struggles and unique ADHD struggles the client is currently trying to manage. We work together to create a structure and plan for the client that feels empowering, motivating, and most importantly doable. Additionally, we start to build a new vision of possibility and explore who the client desires to become, what needs to be left behind, and how do they hope to embark on future dreams, goals, and a positive sense of self.
Next we explore the clients nutrition, lifestyle, and movement habits. We look at the ADHD physiology, potential nutrient imbalances, how to eat right for ADHD, and how to build at a sustainable movement practice.
Finally, we delve into the emotional aspects of ADHD. We explore emotional dysregulation, self-sabotage, anxiety, boundaries, building healthy relationships and how to break the shackles of self-criticism.
The reason I am so excited about this program is we are looking at the person as a whole. We aren’t just trying to fix their mindset, or delve into their habits, or tweak their nutrition and diet, we are holistically approaching these challenges. This approach helps the client break down the internal barriers that have stopped them from succeeding while at the same time develop a clearer mind, more confidence, and gain more energy and focus.
I am super excited to announce that the program has expanded to offer nutritional, gut, hormone, and genetic testing. In my personal experience, a huge impediment to having a clear mind and waking up with a sense of peace was gut microbiome imbalances and a need for nutrient supplementation. I used to wake up anxious every morning, struggle with brain fog, and felt like my digestion was always sensitive to the foods I ate. Once I got the proper testing and a protocol was put in place, everything changed. I started walking up calm, could finally concentrate, and no longer had stomach issues. This is why I am such a big believer in getting testing done so that you can truly understand if there are any underlying health factors contributing to your ADHD.
If the client so chooses, they can opt in for testing to explore if there are any underlying health imbalances contributing to their ADHD symptoms. Be it gut microbiome imbalances, yeast infections, hormone imbalances, genetic abnormalities, or nutrient deficiencies, our collaborating naturopath takes an in depth health survey of the client, recommends what type of testing would be appropriate, and follows up with an assessment after testing. Once the client has the results and the naturopath has put a protocol in place, I work with the clients to make sure they are able to incorporate the protocol smoothly into their daily life.
The program has different tiers that clients can choose from. Tier 1 is coaching without testing. While tier 2 and tier 3 including testing. Tier 4 is my absolutely favorite offering because this is for high functioning ADHD individuals who want to optimize their mind and body. This tier includes various tests, a high level of accountability and ongoing support after the program. It is designed for the high powered, highly ambitious, yet poorly functioning ADHD individual.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think the three most important qualities that I have developed over time are self-compassion and finding emotional outlets, learning how to slow down and reflect, and learning how to open up and receive counsel and constructive advice.
These qualities were developed after years of living in a fight or flight mode, being unable to process emotions, letting self-criticism be the driving force in my life, and not knowing when to open up and talk about struggles or receive constructive feedback with a positive, uplifted mindset rather than in a condemning shame filled mindset.
Developing an ability to feel my emotions and create a sense of safety within myself, building routines and habits that helped me slow down and calm my nervous system, and learning how to receive help when I needed it and appreciating wise counsel, have created monumental shifts in my attitude, ability to execute and follow through on my actions and really believe in myself.
The advice I would give to someone who is just starting this journey, is to slow down and start to reflect on your own inner dialogue. Maybe the dialogue is in words or maybe in feelings but start to understand what negative, urgent, shameful thoughts or feelings you experience on a daily basis. Start to write these down. Once you understand the dialogue you have a starting point to work with and can start to counteract those thoughts while a compassionate counter thought. I would also tell folks to give themselves permission to feel ALL of their feelings. Finding emotional outlets is so important for health, managing anxiety, working through ADHD, and calming the nervous system.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

If I only had a decade to live I know exactly what I would do.
I would live by the sea, close enough to feel the breeze but I wouldn’t necessarily need to be near the water. But I would want to be immersed in nature. I would take long reflective walks just absorbing nature and float in the water as much as I could.
I would live as a minimalist but have a huge fabulous studio to paint in with a lot of light.
I would pursue a little acting or at least use that skill
I would mentor/coach women
I would share the message of Jesus love and be involved in my church
I would dance a lot
I would take a culinary trip to Europe as well as a continental biking trip through Europe
I would make sure everyone in my life, family, friends and acquaintances, felt loved and appreciated by me
I would possibly start a podcast
Maybe write a book if I had something on my heart to write about

Contact Info:

Image Credits

headshot credit goes to John Adrian Photography. I sent Olivia several more photos because they wouldn’t upload

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