Lupus to Open-Heart Surgery with Victoria

Ever wondered how someone can transform adversity into strength? Meet Victoria, a spirited yoga instructor living with lupus, who shares her powerful journey from undiagnosed college student to a wellness advocate in the bustling city of New York. Experience her raw and emotional recount of confronting extreme fatigue, hair loss, and brain fog before finally receiving her life-changing diagnosis. Through her story, you'll understand the critical role her family's support played during her darkest moments and how she found resilience amidst the chaos.

Prepare to be moved by Victoria's tale of survival as she opens up about a life-threatening lupus complication that led to emergency open-heart surgery. She takes us through the heart-pounding discovery of an aneurysm and a tear in her ascending aorta, the urgency of the situation, and the heart-wrenching decision to spend a final weekend with her loved ones before the procedure. This narrative serves as an urgent reminder about the importance of listening to our bodies and seeking timely medical attention to avoid fatal outcomes.

Discover how Victoria found sanctuary in yoga and turned her passion into a support system for others battling chronic illnesses. From adaptable yoga practices to promoting mindfulness and self-love, she shares practical tips and invaluable resources for fellow lupus warriors. Engage with her heartfelt insights on managing chronic illness, the power of community, and staying positive amidst life's unpredictabilities. Let Victoria's inspiring journey empower you to face your challenges head-on and embrace each day with renewed strength.

Website: https://www.victoriagibbsyoga.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/whatgibbs?igsh=MW5xbnJ1YmFqb2llMA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@whatgibbs

Hi, Jen here! We are so glad to have you back. I want to personally thank those that have signed up with Rare Patient Voice recently. We love your support of the podcast, and this is another way that you can by signing up with Rare Patient Voice through our referral link. Remember, we're here to support you every step of the way. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Journey With Lupus
• 8:11 Life-Threatening Lupus Complication and Recovery
• 22:27 Yoga's Benefits for Chronic Illness
• 30:33 Lupus Warriors Support and Resources
• 37:42 Empowering Spoonies

Transcript

Jen: 0:08

Hi, my Spoonie sisters, I'm thrilled to introduce Victoria, a yoga instructor living with lupus, who has an incredible story to share. After years of struggling with her health, victoria was diagnosed with lupus. Eventually, her health led her to open heart surgery after an aneurysm and tear needing to be repaired. With over six years of experience as a public speaker, she has a powerful journey to share with us. Victoria has found sanctuary in wellness and yoga and we're excited to explore her insights on the podcast. Thank you for joining us today, victoria. How are you?

Victoria: 0:45

I'm so good.

Jen: 0:47

Thank you for having me, can you share your journey with lupus and how it has impacted your life?

Victoria: 0:52

My journey with lupus has how it has impacted your life. My journey with lupus has been nothing short of a roller coaster. I think I exhibited symptoms of lupus throughout my college years, but at the time had no idea what lupus was and just thought it was a lot of stress due to, you know, a college environment. Kind of just plugged along, did my thing, graduated, ended up spending a lot of time in New York City, where I currently reside, and just started working and living what felt like a normal life. I'm a formerly trained ballet dancer and so I eventually stopped dancing and in doing so I ended up picking up yoga as my new hobby and passion and now career. But I remember quite vividly I would practice hot yoga almost every single day, every week. I was working at a job in finance, at a hedge fund, and just had a very stressful work environment and then, on top of that, wanted to keep up with my yoga practice. So I made sure to find the time to practice every day after work. But at the same time I was also commuting to and from Manhattan from Long Island, and so my days would start at 6am, they would end at 10pm. I would do it all over again the next day, and very much. In particular. I was training for a yoga competition which sounds a little bit strange, but it's a lot like gymnastics, if you want to think about what it entails and I started to notice some changes in my body. I wasn't able to do the things I could normally do. I was no longer sweating in the hot room and I started to notice I was having extreme sensitivity to light. And then, instead of kind of backing off and seeing a doctor, I decided to surge ahead and keep pushing my body, and in doing so, of course, the symptoms only got worse. So I started to notice that my hair was thinning and actually kind of falling out in clumps. I, for the first time ever, had actual bald spots on my scalp, which in and of itself was frightening and very isolating because no one around me was experiencing that sort of thing. So I didn't really have anyone to talk to about it, and when I did mention it it was just it'll be fine, it'll get better. It definitely didn't get any better.

Victoria: 3:27

I then got a very bad sunburn after a vacation in Mexico and I just started to swell everywhere. I became very inflamed, was experiencing night sweats, extreme fatigue. I remember at one point I was sleeping probably 20 hours a day and it just was unbearable and I couldn't figure out why. And eventually things started to get really bad. When I experienced a bounce of brain fog I would attempt to go into the office and in doing so, just answering the phones, I would not recognize my father's voice on the line and just almost didn't really understand or know where I was as far as my surroundings. I would get to the office and have to ask the lobby doorman which floor I worked on and I mean, I'm giggling about it now, but at the time it was frightening and finally got to a point where my parents were like you need to come home. We don't understand what's going on and clearly something is very wrong with you.

Victoria: 4:37

And so I managed to get from Long Island to Princeton for my parents, where I grew up and where they currently still reside.

Victoria: 4:45

They dragged me to a doctor, then did some labs and realized that, you know, everything was totally askew, and so he sent me to a rheumatologist and after one visit with the rheumatologist she told me I had lupus, and I think all of that happened in the span of about six months.

Victoria: 5:06

So obviously I was clearly very much in a flare mode and had no idea what that was at the time, and just the rapid decline of my health led to a very quick diagnosis and I think thanks to finally getting home to see family physicians and whatnot, it was able to come to light. But right after that diagnosis I ended up in the hospital for about a week and a half from extreme fevers and just night sweats and they're like we have to monitor you. We don't know how this is going to progress and so you need to need to stay in the hospital until we can get everything back to kind of a basis framework. So I did what I had to do. It was devastating, not anything that I expected to experience at that time in my life. I was 31 and you think you're in your 30s, you're getting ready to live the best portions of your life and then here you are presented with this obstacle that you know nothing about.

Jen: 6:12

Wow, I mean, that is so incredibly much to be dealing with in such a short amount of time and thankfully you had the surroundings of all your family to support you, which is amazing because not everyone has that. Did you feel like others around you understood what was going on? Were you guys familiar with lupus?

Victoria: 6:32

We weren't very familiar at all. My mom said she went to school with someone who had it and I believe they ended up passing away. So she was very concerned that like that was going to be my future. And then she also knew someone else who had it who is still alive but she lives alone and never got married, never had kids or anything like that. So she had these preconceived notions about what a life with lupus would look like, and so she was very concerned that that would be my existence going forward.

Victoria: 7:09

But I'm just so grateful to have had my family to kind of help me navigate it. At the end of the day, nobody really understands exactly what you're going through unless you have it, unless they have it too. So I think that was probably the hardest part for me not having a point of reference, not having anyone to really open up to who could also understand. And so I think because of that I actually started journaling a lot during my kind of medical leave from work. I think that became very helpful and almost kind of like my best friend in that moment, because at least I could be honest on paper and just kind of read it back and start to figure out how to make peace with it and figure out how to move forward.

Jen: 7:54

Can you tell us what led up to needing open heart surgery? So?

Victoria: 7:59

it was, I guess, december 2022. I'm trying to keep track of what year we're in. It was December 2022. I started to notice my heart kind of beating out of my chest. It felt like I didn't think anything of it. I just, you know, I or at the time had a probably more petite frame than I do now, and so I just thought maybe this was something normal. I didn't think twice about it, nor did I call my doctor, which was probably not the best option, but wait, wait wait, you didn't learn after the first time.

Victoria: 8:41

Well, everything was going so well that I just assumed, you know, this would just, you know, be a little hiccup, nothing major. The new year started and everything seemed to be kind of fine. I mean, my heart was still beating out of my chest, but again, it wasn't changing the quality of my life, so I didn't think to address it any further. And then I started to swell, so like my body was retaining fluid in a way in which I had never experienced before. I had actually gained 35 pounds of fluid and finally, I mean, my clothes weren't fitting, my shoes weren't fitting. It was like the most uncomfortable situation I had ever experienced.

Victoria: 9:24

And my doctor called me in and, you know, gave me some meds and kind of made some adjustments and shifts in my daily routine and everything got better. So I was like, okay, this is, you know, this will be fine. But then I noticed too that I was starting to get short of breath and the swell actually came back after not that long, and so I was completely frustrated, got back on the medication routine that I was previously on. But my doctor I thank him, you know, from the moon and back it's like, oh, you should probably go just check on your organs and make sure everything is okay. And to me that seemed completely bizarre because I didn't really understand that lupus can lead to organ damage. And so I went in. They kind of noticed something, but they didn't elaborate on it. So they were like you need to go back and get a full body scan this time so we can get a better picture of what exactly is going on. So it took like two weeks before I could get approval from the insurance company, which were two valuable weeks.

Victoria: 10:36

That's ridiculous, I know. I couldn't even believe it. And then when I went in, as I was leaving the room in which they performed the procedure, I looked at the technician's face and I could tell I was like it's not good, is it? And he's like the doctor will call you. I'm like, okay. So I ended up going to yoga that afternoon, went to yoga the next morning, thinking, you know, everything would be fine. And sure enough, I got a call from my doctor and he's like oh, I have Dr Derek Brinster on the line. He's a heart surgeon, I'm going to let him take it from here. And then at that moment he was like yeah, you need emergency open heart surgery. You need to come to the ER immediately. All from a lupus complication which to me just seems. It seems mind boggling. I just I had no idea that something like that could happen.

Jen: 11:36

So did they explain to you over the phone what was going on with your heart, or did they tell you when you arrived?

Victoria: 11:42

They gave me a little bit of a synopsis over the phone, but you know they were like come in, we'll get you in right away. And they wanted to show me more like the diagram, even though at that point a diagram is not going to make any difference to me. I'm like just fix it, because this is not you know how I expect my life to end. But I'm a little bit stubborn in some regards and I think the um, the whole shock of meeting such an operation at 38 seemed like a bit much. And so I actually requested and, against doctor's orders, decided that I wanted to spend the weekend at home and just allow myself to make peace with what was about to happen, because they couldn't perform surgery over the weekend and I kind of did not want to spend an entire weekend in the hospital just waiting and being poked and prodded.

Victoria: 12:41

So I spent the weekend at home. I bought a blood pressure machine to check my blood pressure. Every now and then. They're like, if it gets below a certain level you have to come in. Like promise us, you'll do that. And so I agreed, and then Sunday night I finally admitted myself into the ER.

Jen: 12:59

But it was my goodness Okay. So what was the actual, I guess, diagnosis with your heart? What did they need to do?

Victoria: 13:08

So I had an aneurysm and then a tear in my ascending aorta. So they repaired my aortic valve and then I guess in doing so it remedied the aneurysm, but had the aneurysm ruptured I could have died. It's like, I think, a span of 20 minutes that you have to get to the hospital when something like that happens, because the amount of blood that you're losing is so significant that it can inevitably kill you. And so I think you know for some people that happens and they end up dying in their sleep because they don't know that like this is actually a thing. Or you're able to function but you don't notice or don't take seriously enough the, you know, the shortness of breath or the severe heartbeat that is happening at the time. Those are all symptoms that should not be ignored. But you know, on a day to day nobody necessarily makes the time. Or to me it just seemed like it would heal itself and then, sure enough, absolutely would not have.

Jen: 14:16

Well, and not to mention so many of us don't want to sound like a hypochondriac. We don't want to show up and sound like the person that's always worrying about every tiny little thing when there's nothing wrong with us, and and so I totally get that. How long did the surgery take it?

Victoria: 14:32

took, I believe, about 12 hours and the the amount of like. Obviously they have to put you under and so I basically lost an entire day. When I woke up I had no idea what day it was and, because of lupus, after about 12 hours, maybe 24, maybe it was a full day, I can't really remember exactly but they had to put me back under and help drain fluid from my lungs because there was fluid building up from my lupus, and so it was just like two surgeries in one and it was the most aggressive. And by the time I was done, I felt I felt very drained. I mean, I went into the operation super positive and you know this is going to save my life, I'm going to be fine, which obviously it did but just the recovery process was a lot harder than I had anticipated and I think it was exacerbated because of lupus.

Jen: 15:40

Most definitely so. How long was the recovery time? I?

Victoria: 15:44

believe I spent about two weeks in the hospital, and because of lupus it was longer because I again, I went into the procedure, Okay, but I started to retain fluid all over my body and so having to recover with again 35 pounds of fluid made it that much more challenging.

Victoria: 16:09

And it was it was summertime, so I'm trying to get my steps in around New York when it's super crowded with tourists and it's sweltering, Plus, my clothes aren't fitting, so I'm just trying to wear any sort of what I call muumuu outfit just to kind of cover myself up until it gets better.

Victoria: 16:29

But I think my commitment to my recovery made me heal that much faster, and I've learned over the years, when flares signal, to not try to control them but to make peace and find acceptance in that moment, and so being able to let go of that kind of tension or stress around healing I think allowed me to heal a lot faster. And then, on top of that, my yoga practice and mindfulness I think was also really pivotal, because a lot of people didn't think I would bounce back as fast as I did. But you know, I guess I had the surgery in May and by July I was starting to get back into my yoga practice and by August taking full classes again. You know it was rough in the moment, but with continued perseverance and just kind of positivity.

Victoria: 18:27

I was able to really get through those moments.

Jen: 18:30

Absolutely beautiful and I think that's a huge testament to how important our mind is. If we think that it's going to be hard and we think that we aren't going to be able to do it, what are the chances of us being able to do it? So you're recovering, is there any follow-up stuff that you need to be doing after all of this?

Victoria: 18:52

I have to see my heart surgeon once a year. So I got a clean bill of health. He said everything looks good and you know, come back in a year. And then I see my kidney doctor and my rheumatologist quarterly just to kind of keep up and make sure everything is exactly where it should be. I think once the summer is over I'll probably feel a lot better. I think just the heat and the light of summer makes lupus a little bit more challenging, but overall, in general things are really great.

Jen: 19:25

That's wonderful. Do you feel like your medications are controlling things really well? I?

Victoria: 19:31

do believe. So I mean, I'm on the lowest dose of everything that I've ever taken since being diagnosed and I am very hopeful for 2025 to, you know, finally be off of steroids, and I know some things I might have to take forever. But I know steroids is one thing that I would love to officially be able to remove from my daily routine. Being on that for I guess now it's about seven years every day seems a little bit much, but I think you know I stay very active. I think that has made a very big difference and you know, I got my bone density tested not too long ago and everything is normal and good. It's not, you know, it's not low. So I think, even despite being on the steroids, I've been able to kind of combat some of its repercussions of long-term use.

Jen: 20:34

So I'm very grateful for that. That's fantastic. That's absolutely fantastic. You know, you know, as we get older, we're looking at losing our bone density as it is, and then you compound it with these illnesses. And, yeah, there's us lucky few out there that can keep our bone density. I am not one of them, but I'm super jealous of you.

Victoria: 20:57

Well, thank you.

Jen: 21:00

What inspired you to become a yoga instructor.

Victoria: 21:03

I always found that it gave me a sense of peace that a lot of things never provided me with. Then I used to do weekly therapy sessions for a myriad of things therapy sessions for a myriad of things and I felt that yoga actually helped me overcome those obstacles more than actual talk therapy, and it's just about connecting with yourself and your mind and your body and understanding it. And I think too, when you foster and cultivate that deeper connection, you're really able to understand yourself on a deeper level. That, at least for me at the time, talk therapy wasn't providing me with. And so, once I felt the true benefits of yoga, I decided to embark on a teacher training, which at the time, right before I started teacher training, I was just released from the hospital.

Victoria: 22:03

I had a flare, and so I went into that teacher training feeling very broken, and I had left my job in finance and I knew I just needed something to occupy my time positively. And I remember having a talk with my dad and he was like just do it, it'll be good for you, you need to do something. And I was like you're right. So I went and it totally transformed my life.

Victoria: 22:28

I never in a million years thought that I would be teaching yoga or working in any sort of yoga capacity. I just thought it would always be a hobby and one of my passions and I think just knowing how great it made me feel I wanted to use that as a tool to share with other people. And I think just being part of the lupus community has given me a nice excuse me, a nice resource to share. And I think think you know my practice is a little bit extreme, but I do believe that just being able to provide some, you know, gentle morning stretches or meditations or anything of that nature can really help my fellow lupus warriors and really anyone with chronic conditions, because there is that element of needing to find inner peace and acceptance and understanding that your body provides you with cues and so when you experience them you need to listen to them.

Jen: 23:29

So do you offer virtual yoga lessons as well as your in person?

Victoria: 23:35

I do virtual, I do in-person and I recently started my YouTube channel, so I've been throwing up some full body classes, gentle stretches, trying to give a range for more advanced practitioners, and then also my fellow chronic illness warriors who, you know, maybe only have five minutes and chair yoga or something like that. It can be, you know, a nice resource and something accessible at home that you can do. You don't have to go outside, you don't have to get in a studio. I want to make it so that it's for everyone.

Jen: 24:16

Okay. So there's something big that we see in the community all the time and I'm probably guilty of doing this too but you hear people complain and say okay, what are the top things that you hear from people when they're trying to tell you you can be healed? And one of the things people complain about is well, everyone asks me well, have you tried yoga? And I personally love yoga. I have rheumatoid arthritis. I is well. Everyone asks me well, have you tried yoga? And I personally love yoga. You know, I have rheumatoid arthritis. I still love it. I just adapt and do what I can. So I guess what I'm going to ask you is so, those people that are complaining about yoga, what do you have to say?

Victoria: 24:52

Yoga will change your life and one thing that I really respect about the practice is that there's something for everyone. You know it's not so black and white, but you do what you can and the most important thing is just showing up. There are no preconceived notions. You don't need to be super flexible. Flexible, it's just about taking the time and the energy and committing to your practice and committing to what it has to offer. I think that some people believe that it can be depending on the class. There's lots of chanting and this, that and the other, and it's like no, just find the practice that works for you. There are so many types of yoga. It's slow, it can be restorative, it can be hardcore power flow if you want. But not to go in with any preconceived notions and just let go of all the expectations and allow your body to just feel what it may and take that time to really acknowledge it.

Jen: 25:56

Absolutely, and I think if you find what you can do, you're going to find that actually feels really good and it's relaxing.

Victoria: 26:04

Exactly, and I think the hardest part is just taking the step to try. You might not like it, okay, that's fine, but if you won't know unless you try and I have honestly never met a person who has gotten into a yoga room who hasn't enjoyed it I was recently teaching some classes at the World Trade Center and so it was a range of children to. People were bringing in their parents and you know everyone had the same sentiment. You know, I feel so much calmer, balanced, and I just feel at peace and it's like exactly that's the benefit. I mean, you could do little to nothing, but as long as you do something, you will experience the benefits.

Jen: 26:51

And I think you touched on a really good point. There's chair yoga. So if you're worried about joint pain I guess is the best way to describe it there are things that you can do, there are adaptations that can be made and you can show people how adaptations that can be made and you can show people how Exactly and honestly there's even stuff you can do from your own bed.

Victoria: 27:12

You don't even have to get out of bed. I'm trying to figure out a way to film myself so that I can actually show people that you know there are simple things you can do from your bed and even if you can't get out of bed, if there's a window nearby, you can't get out of bed. If there's a window nearby just get the shades up, stare out into the sky and just allow yourself to find find your breath and find a little bit of peace.

Jen: 27:36

Most definitely Okay. So I'm going to switch gears a little bit and I'm going to ask you a couple of fun rapid fire questions. Okay, so people can get to know you a little bit. If you had a choice between a mountain vacation or a beach retreat, what would you choose?

Victoria: 27:54

Definitely the beach.

Jen: 27:56

I'm right there with you. I love the mountains too, but the beach absolutely.

Victoria: 28:00

Coffee or tea, but if I really had to choose, it would be matcha.

Jen: 28:04

Yes, absolutely. And for those that haven't tried it, go out and try it. It's creamy and delicious. I love it. Let's see what are some other fun ones. I can ask you Sweet or spicy.

Victoria: 28:15

Sweet.

Jen: 28:17

Definitely Love it. Okay, so back to my regular questions. What specific yoga practices or techniques do you find are most beneficial for those specifically with lupus?

Victoria: 28:30

I think that an Isahatha class is wonderful. It's a lot more slower paced and something restorative. So you know, again slower paced, and it's more about deep stretching, more so than anything else, and there are lots of props, which is great. So bolsters, blocks and even if you're at home, you just grab a pillow and you can get the same benefits, but it's just the more gentle type practices I think are the most beneficial.

Jen: 29:00

So how do you balance your yoga practice with the physical limitations that may present itself?

Victoria: 29:07

It's a good question. It really shifts from day to day. It depends on how I wake up and how I'm feeling and how my body is feeling. I kind of always do just a mental and physical check before I get on with my day. I mean, I have certain things set up, but if my body is not feeling it, I will literally cancel everything, because pushing myself is only going to make things worse in the long run. And so I have been able to just really take five minutes every day to kind of check in with myself and figure out how I'm going to navigate through the day.

Victoria: 29:47

I think that finding those moments to kind of check in will allow you to figure out how best to manage and navigate life with a chronic condition. And again, every day is different, so it's hard to say that this one thing works all the time or this is like my recipe, but the crux of it is, you know, five minutes every morning to check in I think is really pivotal. And then, of course, lots of rest. I try to make sure I get at least eight hours every night and hydrate and good nutrition. I think when you can kind of filter in those little things light, movement, nutrition, rest. It's an opportunity to really set yourself up for success.

Victoria: 30:34

What advice would you give to your fellow lupus warriors that are listening of any expectations in terms of recovery or remedies, because on any given day we just kind of never really know what the body is going to experience and how it's going to respond and just finding that element of peace. I think that if you can calm your mind, you can calm your body and just be okay with where you are on any given day.

Jen: 31:06

Do you incorporate mindfulness and meditation into your yoga practice and how does it benefit your overall well-being?

Victoria: 31:14

Within my yoga practice, I really focus on my breath. I allow myself to tune out everything that's going on in my world. I feel that every time I get on my mat, it's just like it's my time. It's my quiet time to just let go of what's going on in the world and in my life and just focus on making my body feel good.

Jen: 31:41

What resources or support systems have you found helpful in your journey?

Victoria: 31:45

What resources. I think social media has actually been a really great resource in some kind of unique new frame of mind and world that we live in, just because a lot of people share their journeys, and I think that that's really powerful. I know personally, I have shared the good and the bad. I give people full on disclosure about what they're about, to see what's happening, what it looks like, and so I think that social media, while you know can be challenging at times, can also be really powerful and you know the community together in a way in which without it, we wouldn't be able to, because I also get a lot of wonderful messages from people highlighting how they've been newly diagnosed and what to expect and you know how it's been. So social media is epic and all of the different chapters there's like I feel like each state has its own sort of lupus community. I know the Lupus Foundation of America is always a great resource. I have some blog posts on that, actually from the time in which I was initially diagnosed and just kind of sharing what that all looked and felt like.

Victoria: 33:04

There's a community out in Los Angeles called Lepus LA that I really gravitate towards.

Victoria: 33:10

I think that they do a really nice job of bringing the community together and providing lots of tangible resources for people, because I know sometimes getting medical advice or any kind of structure or framework can be hard.

Victoria: 33:29

But they're always rolling out new content pertaining to all different types of lupus and then different age brackets, like if you're newly diagnosed and you're a teenager, what does this young community look like versus if you're going through menopause and you've just been diagnosed? So I love what they're doing and I was recently introduced to a new group called Buddy Rise. I think that they're still kind of rolling things out, but it's a community where you know you can get classes, recipes, just tips and tricks and you know just kind of be chronic illness buddies in all regards and just creating a safe space to talk about symptoms and ask questions, and so I'm going to be contributing on that platform. So I'm very grateful that they have created that, because I just feel like the more resources the better, and I mean I'm not going to sit down and read some textbook about lupus. I want to hear real stories and know what it's really like, versus hearing all the scientific notions behind it.

Jen: 34:41

Absolutely. I think we get a lot more out of hearing from people that live the life we live 100%. What advice would you give to yourself, your previous self, maybe 10, 15 years ago?

Victoria: 34:53

I think I would suggest a little bit more self-love. I think I would kind of start to incorporate more elements of that. I have always been very hard on myself, so I think just finding more moments of self-love and self-acceptance and letting go of expectations or trying to please others and just focusing on what makes me happy and what is going to serve in my best interest. I have always been one to put others needs before my own and clearly after a lupus diagnosis you have to make those shifts and prioritize your own needs.

Victoria: 35:37

But I think 10, 15 years ago I wish it was something that I had done a little bit more aggressively and not that it would have changed my diagnosis, done a little bit more aggressively, and not that it would have changed my diagnosis with any muse. But I think that that's just something important to be able to hold on to and really prioritize on a daily basis, and something that is not talked about enough and I think in the world of America and just in general it's. You know, everyone is very critical, self-critical and making all these comparisons and trying to. You know, look at this person and it just none of that matters. It's like it's about you and just finding the capacity to love your imperfections and just love everything that you're about.

Jen: 36:26

That's beautiful. All right, my last question for you how can our listeners connect with you and learn more about your work?

Victoria: 36:33

So there's, of course, Instagram. My social media handle is at whatgibbs U-H-A-T-G-I-B-B-S. I am always weekly things on YouTube rolling out new content, and that's also what gives I try to keep everything consistent. I do have a website, which is victoriagibsyogacom, and you know I'm someone who's totally an open book, so I'm always happy to answer any questions or, you know, just be a resource for people. I just don't know if a lot of people have others that they can reach out to and talk really candidly. I mean, it's one thing to have your family, but it's another thing to be able to talk to someone who has experienced something similar and help someone get over shame behind it or, you know, because there's nothing to be ashamed of. It's just it's part of who you are, but I always like to say it doesn't define you so. And then I'm based in New York, so if you're coming to New York, pay me and we can meet up. I love connecting with people, so I love that.

Jen: 37:43

Thank you so much for your time. Be sure to share all the important links for you in the show notes so the listeners can easily find you and get in touch. Is there anything else that you'd like to add before we close?

Victoria: 37:56

No, I mean, I think, just stay positive, stay strong and really just stay committed. You know, I think we're all going to have our good days and we're going to have our bad days, but just look at every opportunity and every challenge as a as a way to grow and better yourself, and just know that it will get better, it gets easier, and just stay true to yourself.

Jen: 38:21

Thank you so much. All right, my spoonie sisters, until next time, don't forget your spoon.