We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christianne Bean a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Christianne, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
You know, I was going to answer this by saying I just recently learned how to be resilient but really as I reflect back on my life… I have had resilience all along. It started many, many years ago as a child. I had to bounce back from so much. More than I realized and more than I want to recall. But, if I could sum up what I had to go through in two words it would be – generational trauma. I really didn’t understand what generational trauma was and how it affected me until I had a therapist explain to me what I was going through. And by the time I sought out therapy, it was 2015, I was 25 years old, a brand new mom with a 1 year old, working a high stress nursing job, in the thick of Post Partum Depression (PPD). Never in a million years did I think becoming a Mom would make me hit rock bottom, but it did. I thought I was prepared – life was good, had the love of my life, the job, a home, desire to start a family, etc. But, what I didn’t realize is, I had issues that were deeper rooted than PPD. The generational trauma that was passed onto me caused me to have persistent anxiety, hypervigilance, guilt, shame, unworthiness, emotional triggers, unhealthy patterns, difficulty trusting others, and made me feel unsafe. I never felt enough, I always felt like I was failing, constantly sought validation, and felt unlovable. The last 10 years have been a rollercoaster. It has been a mix between darkness and the light. It has been good and it has been bad. Not only was my mental health suffering, but my physical health was WRECKED. For the last 10 years, I have been working on me ALL WHILE trying to be the wife my husband deserves, be the mom my kids deserve, be the nurse I went to school to be, etc. It has NOT been easy. So many tears have been shed, so many sleepless nights, so many times I have had d to say ” I’m sorry”, etc. I never gave myself any grace. I was so hard on myself. But, thankfully and by the grace of God, my world and energy shifted in 2024. I took a gamble on a 3-month group coaching program where I was introduced into what I thought was only Functional Nutrition. But, it was so much more! My physical and mental health started shifting. I started healing deeper than I could have ever imagined. After 3 months, I had lost 17 lbs and learned more about me than I ever had. It taught me that my mindset is everything and if I am good to me both physically and mentally, I could conquer whatever I wanted to accomplish. I found a power inside of me that I never knew existed. I believed in me. I finally saw RESILIENCE. I would often play the victim and say “why me?” and really question God as to why I had to continue to go through so much physical and mental pain, but honestly, it has shaped me into the strong, RESILIENT, powerful person I am today. I can now say I wasn’t weak all those years and since realizing how resilient I have been all along, I have made one of my core values I live by every single day RESILIENCE.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a Functional Medicine Nutrition Practitioner, Registered Nurse, Health & Wellness Coach, Fire-Medic Wife, and Mom of 2. I became a nurse in 2013 to help people. Being a nurse was what I always wanted to do. I wanted to help people feel better in their most difficult times. But once I started working through my own physical and emotional pain – I had to step back and find a less intense, more flexible work from home nursing position. I needed to get out so I could take care of my physical and emotional needs, as well as become more available to my children. I spent so many years searching for answers for all the ailments I had. For so long I searched for answers in traditional western medicine, but no provider was ever able to connect the dots for me. It was always normal results and “let’s treat the symptoms”. Once Fibromyalgia was in my chart, no one believe my symptoms were “real.” It wasn’t until 2019 when I switched to Functional Medicine where I started to finally get some answers. Many out of pocket tests and protocols later I was feeling some relief but even into 2023, I still felt like I was missing something in my search for optimal healing. In March 2024, I took leap of faith and joined a 3-month group coaching program put on by a Functional Nutritionist I had been following on social media. It absolutely CHANGED MY LIFE. I started healing like I never had before, I started feeling like I never had before, etc. I lost 17 lbs but more than anything my mindset did a 360. I was becoming the BEST version of me. Before I started the program, I was a phone call away from a mommy makeover to change my appearance. I hated the person I saw in the mirror every day. I thought I needed surgery to feel better, I thought I needed surgery to look better, I thought I’d be happier with myself, have more confidence, and love myself more If I had surgery. But, what I really needed is to learn how to love the inner and outer parts of me and that is exactly what I got in a matter of 3 months. Life was starting to be enjoyable through and through because of the inner plus the outer work. After making such a 360 in my life and seeing first-hand how I had the power to heal myself, I took yet another risk and signed up to become a certified Functional Nutritionist myself. Never in a million years did I think I would become so passionate about Health & Wellness OR become a coach to show others how they can heal themselves.
The audience I am trying to reach is primarily women. Women looking to heal physically and mentally. Women looking to make some much needed lifestyle shifts – clean up diet, move more, etc. Women wanting to learn how to start THRIVING vs surviving. Women looking to find BALANCE in this life. With me, you won’t just get coached in nutrition, but you’ll learn how to BALANCE life. It won’t just be me handing you a meal plan and telling you what foods to eat and not to eat… it’ll be how to change your life focusing on some non-negotiable area. The non-negotiables are Nutrition, Self-Care, Movement, Sleep, and last but not least Mindset. I am currently working on the blueprint including these non-negotiable areas of importance. Soon, I will be rolling out this blueprint and organizing a community where women go for support, accountability, and motivation. I’d love for people to follow me at Be Balance with Bean
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three words that consistently resonated with me on my journey were: Authenticity, Resilience, and Self-Compassion. Authenticity is living and leading with honesty and realness. Always stay true to your authentic self. Resilience is rising after setbacks and growing stronger. Resilience is now everything. Self-Compassion is treating yourself with love, not judgment. Give yourself grace.
For anyone on their health and wellness journey, I challenge you to find those words that resonate with you and hold onto them during your journey. You’ll need them in times you want to give up or quit. I also highly recommend finding others that align with you. Finding like-minded people who are working on the same goals is crucial. My last piece of advice is to listen to your intuition. You know you more than you think. Become more in tune with you. Know when to rest. Know when to get moving.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
The biggest area of growth in the past 12 months has hands down been my MINDSET. I have had a lot of “come to Jesus” moments with myself. I have had to kill off old ways of thinking and form new healthy thoughts. I’ve had to accept a lot. I’ve had to forgive a lot. I’ve had to cry – a LOT. I’ve had to be VULNERABLE and that’s really hard for someone who has had to be strong for so long. It always felt like a sign of weakness to me but I know better now. Some days its hard going through the motions with mindset healing but I always keep gratitude in the back of mind. I know I am on my way to full healing and although I can’t go back and do things different over the last 10 years, I know I can make it better from here on out. I want to be the best version of me and I’m on my way.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/be.balanced.with.bean?igsh=aXRxZXVzcGQzNmZh&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1CDVjAakco/?mibextid=wwXIfr
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