We were lucky to catch up with Christina Santini recently and have shared our conversation below.
Christina , so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
I believe true confidence comes from being able to walk the talk: being authentic and true to your own core values. First step is obviously knowing your core values, which I think can be a real challenge for most today with all the shallowness and use-and-throw-away mentality (even when it comes to other people) many of us have succumbed to today. I was raised with emphasis on empathy, integrity and the importance of acting even when you are afraid. No one is fearless in life, but we must learn to act in spite of fear. Traits I have aimed to stay true to in my own tumultuous growth as a human being.
In the end you are the only one who truly knows what you are like behind closed doors, lights off. If the difference between who you really are and who you present yourself as is too stark, then our confidence takes a hit, because we know we are lying.
The less lying we have to do, the more at ease we will be – it is very simple actually. At least this is what I have found in my own life: when I am congruent with my own core values I am confident. If I stray away, I get a bad aftertaste and I feel like a crappy human being – which I should. This is how we ensure that we keep on the right path in life: by understanding that every action has a reaction. I feel like the biggest issue with “adulting” is that even though we look as if we should be grown-up and all, we often act up like 5-year olds and don’t understand that there are consequences to how we act – whether in secret or not.
Energy never lies, and you can feel when people are inauthentic, manipulative or have an agenda. It is inherently off-putting and ugly – regardless of how much makeup or six-pack abs you try to cover yourself up with.
However, I think there is a point in “faking it til you make it” while we are working on our confidence. That if we are aware that we are currently struggling with some issues which might take time to solve fully, then we can envision how we would like to be and act as if we already are that person. This works best if we are actively working towards our goal of aligning our values with our actions, otherwise we risk coming off fake. Yet sometimes, all it takes is a decision. That I am going to own this room, this talk etc.
Sometimes you just need to decide that you are worth it, instead of waiting for others to decide what you are worthy of. Who cares what everybody else thinks – most people are not living lives you’d want to live anyway, so do not be scared of being judged by others, who get off on judging others, who do more than they will ever aspire to do. People who are truly confident and “alpha” do not feel threatened by others, but rather inspired. One person’s success just shows that something can be done – and you can too. I’ve always loved “The American Dream” for promoting exactly this mindset: encouraging each individual to reach their unique excellence in life – whatever that might be.
Dreaming big and feeling inspired has helped me feel confident in life. A bit of grandiosity never hurt anyone – it is certainly better than playing it small. And that is how we fake confidence until we make it.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I have been working with customized nutrition for just about 20 years, and specializing in mold and environmental toxins impact on our health for the last 10 years. Understanding toxicology has been a game changer in seeing dramatic client results. I am convinced we have a lot of tools today to help people recover from chronic illnesses and prevent many of these diseases from happening. We know that about 80% of chronic diseases are driven by lifestyle factors which we to a large degree can control, if we understand what is making us sick.
I have written a book about this very topic, which is out later this year, that I am super excited about. I walk through each piece of the health puzzle of everything we know today which has an impact on our health – not just diet and exercise. I wanted to write a book to explain the many “hidden factors” that affect us, rather than having people follow yet another “trendy nonsense diet” to no avail. Many of us do in fact “eat right” and exercise plenty, yet we suddenly get sick “out of the blue”. But it is never out of the blue. When I run labs and do thermography scans we always find severe imbalances that are contributing big time and in many cases directly driving the illness. This is evident when we put a 6 month treatment program together and see how things can change and symptoms disappear in a relatively short time, when we target the actual root cause, whether that be mold, environmental toxins, hormone disruptors, EMF cell damage, nutrient imbalances, malnourishment in spite of obesity etc. While it is not exactly exciting that chemicals play a huge role in illness today from what I am seeing in practice and labs – it does give us tools to address illness strategically and actually reverse it.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1) Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you are – especially when you just got your degree. School is not life insight, education is not actual experience. There is no comparison between the two – both are needed. And we get experience through trial and error and being mentored by people who are smarter than us.
2) Stay somewhat humble but know your worth. There is nothing worse than a know-it-all straight out of school – I don’t care how many years you studied, what you studied is dead books, not actual experience and real people. And you don’t have to know it all – in fact only stupid people claim to know it all. Science is always evolving and we need to keep an open mind to be better practitioners. Just because science hasn’t proven something yet, doesn’t mean it won’t, so we do best in not ridiculing others, but keeping an open mind.
3) Don’t be afraid to take a risk. Life is short, be more playful.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
My mother would spend a lot of time talking to me and explaining things when I was a kid – she never expected blind obedience from me, but would expect me to make smarter choices, when she had taken the time to explain stuff. Which meant that I grew up with very few rules. Yet I had no desire to rebel, because I was well aware of the consequences of my actions. So in a way she made her life easier by patiently taking time to answer my questions and many “whys” that every kid has growing up. I truly believe that if we want kids to think for themselves and be able to auto-regulate, we need to show them how and explain consequences of their choices for them. If we expect blind obedience, we can expect rebelliousness in return just for the sake of it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://christinasantini.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forkmedicine/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christina.santini/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinasantini/
Image Credits
Martin Søby
