Reclaim Your Health and Worth with Amy Lenius

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios, Hartford County living presents, Conversations with Rich Bennett. 

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Rich Bennett 0:27
What if real success isn't about pushing harder, accomplishing more or living up to someone else's expectations, but building a life that genuinely feels like your own? After navigating chronic illness from a young age, Amy Lenius began a lifelong journey of healing that transformed not only her health, but also her identity, self-worth, and understanding of fulfillment. Today, Amy is a personal development and success coach, speaker, and director of group coaching at next level university, and if that sounds familiar, the next level universities because you probably heard Kevin and Aaron on the show before. But now we have the real one here, finally, save the best for less. So, drawing from years of study and lived experience, she helps people, especially women, rebuild self-belief, trust themselves again, and define success from the inside out. Amy, I'm not going to get you in trouble with- 

Amy Lenius 1:30
>> Oh, not at all. They know I make that joke. I love when they've been on the shows before me, because then I get to make that joke that you saved the best for last, and they think it's as funny as I do. > 

Rich Bennett 1:40
But it's not a joke! They sit on, that's just wrong, that they think it's a joke. Everybody else knows it's fact. 

> Oh, God. 

Amy Lenius 1:51
>> Sometimes. I think it depends on the show, depends on the lens, 

Rich Bennett 1:55
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 1:55
depends on the topic. 

Rich Bennett 1:56
mean? 

Amy Lenius 1:56
You know what I Because they both have their areas of genius, and I have mine, for sure. 

Rich Bennett 2:02
> All right, well, I want to get into this because before we talk about the work that you do today, especially at the next level, take us back to the beginning, how did living with chronic illness, and at such a young age shape the person you became? 

Amy Lenius 2:18
> I mean, shaping the person I've become absolutely. I feel like everything that has my heart. > And everything that I value and that I want to see the world educated in and thrive in and things all came from. That struggle, for sure. And it was something that started early on in my early teens and went until my early 20s until I had this kind of shift of, I think, I'm gonna try some different things, do 

Rich Bennett 2:48
> Right, 

Amy Lenius 2:48
something different, and there was time from there where I was able to, you know, heal become healthy and thriving, but there was a long time of surviving 

Rich Bennett 3:00
yeah, 

Amy Lenius 3:00
and just a passenger in this journey of being so sick. And it did teach me a lot. Not well, I was in it, per se. hindsight's 

Rich Bennett 3:08
right. 

Amy Lenius 3:08
always 20, 20. When you're in it, there's the highs, the lows, the mega lows, the things that you have to go through and learn and, you know, people who help you or disappoint you along the way. There's a lot that goes into being that sick, but it did teach me so much and the resilience, the things that I have nowadays, I do believe were definitely built from that. 

Rich Bennett 3:31
> You mommy asking what it was? 

Amy Lenius 3:34
> Oh, absolutely. I'm an open book, so it's a condition called endometriosis, big, fun word. And it's rooted in hormone imbalance and it's a very female-written condition where your cells that are supposed to be functioning as uterine cells proliferate outside and grow in different areas of your body that it's not supposed to grow. So it's like an uncancerous or goes proliferates outside of where it needs to and causes all sorts of problems in different areas of your body sucks. 

Rich Bennett 4:04
> So did they have to give you, was it medication or a holistic approach that helped you? 

Amy Lenius 4:11
> For the first, seven plus years, yeah, I was in the system of K here's all the painkillers, here's all the hormone interzag

there's surgeries we can do, I had a few of those. And it was more just band-aids, maintenance, what can we do to keep your symptoms that Bay is best as possible. And I kept getting offered what's called a hysterectomy where they go and they kind of 

Rich Bennett 4:34
I mean, 

Amy Lenius 4:34
just take everything out. But I was really determined to try and have kids. That was a big one for me. 

Rich Bennett 4:41
> If you don't mind me asking, how old were you when they say that, mentioned that? 

Amy Lenius 4:47
> Unfortunately, when they first mentioned me not having kids, I was like 16 or 17. and that was devastating. I was not a career driven person when they asked you on career day. What do you want to be when you grow up? I always wrote mom. And then they would make me erase it because that's not a career that you can choose apparently. And so I that was. 

I cannot have them at all. And so let's can say, you know, there is a happy ending. I do have two beautiful boys, but it took time for sure. It did. It took me actually stepping away from that system, coming off of all the drugs and all of the things that I did and started. Yes, a more holistic approach holistic. Meaning everything affects everything else. I need to step out of the box. That is my. I'm a newterist for lack of a better term and start looking at my body as a whole. It was about my gut health, my liver function. It was decreasing stress and making sure I was sleeping. It was understanding that my hormones needed a holistic approach, not just. This one area and it took a long time. People always want to know, well, what was the one thing? Amy, you're paying free. You've been able to have kids. And I think we live in a day now where instant gratification is everything. You know, there's a. Oh, here. Do this for a weekend and you're a millionaire one week to having a six pack. It's not it's not real and healing is like that as well. It's it's time. It was a bunch of unsexy fundamentals done consistently over a decade for me to get to where I am and still things I need to implement every day, but the journey was worth it for sure. Because like I said, I have a beautiful family. Happy healthy now, but it was a lot of just consistency. And following what worked, letting go of what didn't partnering myself with people that actually felt like partners on my healing journey rather than dictators. There was a lot that would be. 

Rich Bennett 6:52
That's a lot of people don't realize how important it is because it's funny that how many people know the remedy for your condition that have never been through it and are quick to throw advice to you. And instead, you just need it's best to have someone that's there to listen that can support you. Even if you just want to vent because I'm sure there are times where you felt like just punch into hell out of something. And just to be a punching bag for you, and it's the other thing that gets me the fact that you were 16 you said when they told you that had to be hard, just on your mental health. I mean, I know with the chronic illness, it was had to be hard on your mental health. But to add that to 

Amy Lenius 7:45
Yeah, that was more devastating for my mental health than anything. I had learned pretty quickly to be able to push through discomfort and physical pain and things. I wasn't one to kind of stay home and proud about it. I went and still played my sports and did my things and did the best that I could. But that I only had one little picture for my future. I've never been much for projecting what I think is going to happen into the future or what I want to build towards. But that was the only one that I had. And it felt like it was taken from me. And so I was very sad for a good, a good few weeks before I was even able to come out and start to function from that that was a. Yeah, I was tough for sure. 

Rich Bennett 8:24
I can't even. I can't even imagine. Can't even imagine. So when you were going through this, this just blows me away. I've never heard of this. 

When you were going through this, because you weren't married yet, who was your big your biggest support? 

Amy Lenius 8:47
My parents. 

Rich Bennett 8:48
Good. 

Amy Lenius 8:49
For sure. I was very lucky to grow up in a really lovely home. For my 

Rich Bennett 8:53
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 8:53
family, it's just so supported. I mean, my parents are still our best friends to this day. We hang out with them more than anybody. They, there's a huge part of our life. And so they were very supportive, very, very helpful in, we believe you that there's something deeper going on here. We believe that there's something wrong. Let's keep going to the doctor. Let's keep trying to find someone who's going to give us some answers. For sure, they even drove me all the way to I was telling you, I was from British Columbia, originally. They even drove me all the way to Vancouver to see a specialist one time who was able to put me at ease when she said, I've dealt with this a lot and I've been able to help a lot of women get pregnant. 

Rich Bennett 9:30
Yeah. Good. 

Amy Lenius 9:30
She's like whose hope. You know, there's so much that can be done. So I want you to just put a pin in that for now. And when it's time, she said, I can help you. Now, luckily I didn't, there was a long time between seeing her and when we were having kids, but it just planted this seed of hope in me. And luckily I didn't 

Rich Bennett 9:48
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 9:48
have to go into all of the things that that some women need to go through to be able to have children. I was able to just have them, but it was nice to know that that was an option for 

Rich Bennett 9:56
sure. All right, so be honest, the first time you found out that you were going to be having a baby, how long did you cry for? 

Amy Lenius 10:06
Oh my gosh, I freaked out. 

I freaked out because it was one of those things where it was unexpected. 

Rich Bennett 10:15
Oh! 

Amy Lenius 10:15
Necessarily 

planned, but not, we weren't preventing it. If that-- 

Rich Bennett 10:22
Right, yeah. 

Amy Lenius 10:23
We were, we were ready for it to take a long time, and it to be a process. We were getting married in June. And I had a, I had booked a surgery for August that's supposed to kind of help start process for us. We found out we were pregnant in like April, I think I was about 17 weeks along at the wedding, and so as unplanned as it was, it wasn't-- --not planned. It became a part of the celebration. It 

Rich Bennett 10:53
Right. 

Amy Lenius 10:53
was a really deal that we were able to do. So, and yeah, I freaked out. I wasn't feeling very good. I had been nauseous for days, and I called my husband at work, and I was like, I, I have a, a ping here. I think there's something going on. I was like, I don't think I'm hungover for four days if we're being super honest. And so, he came home early, and he came home with like four different pregnancy tests. And 

Rich Bennett 11:18
he was serious. 

Amy Lenius 11:20
He was like, well, let's figure this out. He came home early from work. It was so sweet. And yeah, and we were, they were all positive, and I freaked out, and it's like, oh my gosh, and then there was this superficial, like, am I going to fit into my wedding dress? Oh my gosh, who cares? It doesn't matter. 

Rich Bennett 11:39
Oh God. You know what, though, you did the fact that you weren't trying, and it was unexpected. To me, it sounds like a blessing. In a way, with everything that you went through, and then all of a sudden, it tracks me up there, like, God, am I going to fit my wedding dress? 

Amy Lenius 12:01
Oh, bye, a 

Rich Bennett 12:01
exciting. 

Amy Lenius 12:01
new one, it's, this is because when I went off of all of the medications, that included birth control and things. So, that was a discussion 

Rich Bennett 12:09
But yeah, 

Amy Lenius 12:09
that we had. And so, we weren't not trying, but we didn't expect it to happen so soon. But I had already been doing so many incredible things for my body, giving my body just space to 

Rich Bennett 12:20
Yeah, 

Amy Lenius 12:20
not- all those pain medications and I was I was in school at the time myself for anatomy and physiology. I guess I guess I graduated by the time we were pregnant and getting married but I had only just graduated and so I had just learned so much about the human body and how capable it is and when we feed it what it needs as far as you know internal external all the things that amazing things are possible as well as there's so many different modalities of health and wellness and practitioners out there that all have different ways to support you and I'm not saying what work for me is going to work for you because everyone is different but there are a plethora of things out there that can support you that maybe you haven't been exposed to yet so I always invite curiosity I invite 

Rich Bennett 13:06
yes. 

Amy Lenius 13:07
advocate and curiosity one you know your body best and so you do have to fight for yourself sometimes and that sucks but at the end of the day you are your biggest advocate because you're the one who is the most invested even if you have doctors even those things you are the one who is going to care and have to care the most about your health and your wellness and that 

Rich Bennett 13:26
Yeah, 

Amy Lenius 13:26
was something we learned early on and then to get curious to go and explore all of these different avenues of wellness and doing that and like I said just giving my body that rest and giving it different forms of wellness we were able to get pregnant and it was still a journey from there on out I got really sick again after our first son had to have some medical intervention and surgeries and things but after my second son I really dialed into okay I was really starting to feel good 

Rich Bennett 13:53
good. 

Amy Lenius 13:53
before we got pregnant with my oldest and just doubled down on that and again it took years and it was fun with a little star beside it I guess 

Rich Bennett 14:03
that's 

Amy Lenius 14:03
to have young children and still be battling illness there was some some hard days in there but it was so 

Rich Bennett 14:10
right 

Amy Lenius 14:10
worth it of course and eventually over time with enough effort and consistency and intention and what I was doing to support my hormones all the time I was able to become completely pain free put it into remission for lack of a better word and 

Rich Bennett 14:26
good 

Amy Lenius 14:27
keep it that way 

Rich Bennett 14:28
you know it just imagine if you would have had that surgery number one you wouldn't have had the two boys and I think and something you mentioned too and it made me think about this because you were very young and you talked about advocating do you actually advocate for other women as well especially younger women because a lot of them may not know what to do 

Amy Lenius 14:53
yeah when I was speaking 

before next level university I was doing a lot of speaking in the natural wellness space on 

Rich Bennett 15:01
okay 

Amy Lenius 15:02
my keynote was called holistic healing for your hormones and then I had a program that I ran for women and a huge part of that was here's questions to ask here's things that are within your rights here's you know don't let them tell you this you can fight for this there was a lot of that and I think it's it's very needed in the world for sure and I still you know any of the ladies I work with even though it's through the lens of next level university where it's about personal development and success and and things this is a piece of that your health is a part of what we believe holistic success is health wealth and love and so when we say success we're not talking about monetary 

Rich Bennett 15:38
right 

Amy Lenius 15:38
person we do help people with their businesses and be consistent in the things that matter that way but we're talking holistic success that's why I fell in love with the guys and what they're doing because here I had fallen in love with the word holistic my keynote was holistic 

Rich Bennett 15:51
for 

Amy Lenius 15:51
healing 

Rich Bennett 15:52
your right 

Amy Lenius 15:53
that I would give and here's these two guys talking about holistic success holistic self improvement holistic being everything affects everything else it's not just about your money it's about your relationships with yourself and others it's about your health because as anyone who has been sick or has an injury knows the second that happens everything else almost feels impossible and way harder and so they were painting this picture of that and act oh I loved it I loved it so that's where that kind of connection jumps to but I can't help but bring this work into all of the the women that I coach because even now when they're trying to be let's say consistent with something and they really struggle to be consistent a couple weeks at a month kind of thing and it's like well that's normal how would I give you some validation and some love here telling you that your cycle actually makes you feel successful for a couple weeks 

Rich Bennett 16:47
and it 

Amy Lenius 16:48
was against you and even just giving those kinds of permission and that kind of information I can't tell you how many times on zoom whiteboard I've drawn out the hormone cycles that are happening and things for my ladies I can't help it because it is a part of your holistic success and your wellness for sure 

Rich Bennett 17:03
I said two questions there number one how did you end up meeting Kevin and Alan and then well I'll get it to the second question afterwards but how did you end up meeting those two 

Amy Lenius 17:18
So I was actually traveling with a bunch of amazing women to Northern Alberta, like North Alberta, I've never been that far north. It took-- 

Rich Bennett 17:28
Where's cold? 

Amy Lenius 17:29
It was cold and it was-- it was neat. I got to see the Northern Lights, it was amazing. 

Rich Bennett 17:34
Oh, wow. 

Amy Lenius 17:45
Some of the women in the car who I actually grew up with, like, a cousin, she's amazing. She's like, "I just discovered this podcast." She's like, because she was into Samantha Skelly, so Samantha Skelly is a world-renowned at this point, "Breathwork Facilitator," and they had her on the show. And so she was following Samantha Skelly and she was like, "I looked up podcasts that she was on and she's on this one with these guys, and I want you guys to listen to it. It's amazing." And as amazing as Sam Skelly is, I wasn't-- I wasn't connected in that way. I didn't care for the "Breathwork Much," and things, which probably means I need it, I know. But there were these two guys! They were talking about holistic success and wellness, and their language was so validating and so permission-giving. It didn't shock me at all to hear that they had a huge community of actually heart-driven women around them. They thought they were going to be speaking into, like, bodybuilder, bros--like, 

Rich Bennett 18:42
Right. 

Amy Lenius 18:44
when in reality they attracted a lot of heart-centered women, and that didn't surprise me at all because I was pulled right in myself. And so initially I was a listener, and then I started going to their free stuff. They have a book club, and they have a masterclass every month, and then 

Rich Bennett 18:57
Oh, 

Amy Lenius 18:57
I-- 

Rich Bennett 18:57
I didn't realize they had a book club. 

Amy Lenius 18:59
Yeah, it's my favorite space, favorite. 

Rich Bennett 19:02
Okay, I'm sorry, go ahead. 

Amy Lenius 19:05
Every Saturday free book club, Alan runs it, he and I are in there every Saturday. We've got Brandon on the team running that as well. It's amazing. It's one of my favorite growth-oriented spaces. It's intense, though. It's 

Rich Bennett 19:14
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 19:14
not a--it's--it's--it's Alan. If you've all heard Alan, if you've been listening so he's intense. He's a genius, and he's a--yeah, And he's just genuinely one of my favorite humans. I'm so--so grateful to be poured in by someone such as him. But I--yeah, I came a client. That was the bridge there. I had my own podcast at the time, and someone had convinced me to start a podcast with them, and I was like, "I just want to show up and talk." That's 

Rich Bennett 19:43
right. 

Amy Lenius 19:43
my skill. I don't want to do the tech aspect. I don't need to understand how that happens, and we were like, "Can we just give this to you?" So they produced the show and coached us along the way, and I again just felt so connected to them, and eventually over time my co-host and I went separate ways, and I had started building this program out for women, and Alan was helping me there, and-- And then one day, you know, as we had moved across the country, we had just landed here, actually, I hopped on a call with him, and he's like, "So, here's the thing. You sent me your keynote speech, I love how you speak. I love what you're doing. I love what you represent in the world. You're such an aligned member of our community. We host a live event once a year. Would you like to come down and host that with us and do the MC for us and open up the day and come meet us and hang out?" I have no idea how to do that. I have no idea how to do that. But yes, absolutely. I'm going to make that happen. We're going to figure that out. I can host a personal event day. I went down. I won't get. It was great. And I got to meet them. And I got to fall deeper in love with their mission, and what they're 

Rich Bennett 20:49
All 

Amy Lenius 20:49
doing 

Rich Bennett 20:49
right. 

Amy Lenius 20:49
in the world quickly tied my shift there and made my way through the business, and now I get to do all these amazing things with them. And just about five years now, I think. 

Rich Bennett 20:59
Really? 

Amy Lenius 21:00
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:01
Wow. So explain to everybody what it is you're actually doing now at next level. 

Amy Lenius 21:08
So I come in, I get to facilitate experiences, that's one of my favorite things I get to do, Alan tells me that that's my superpowers. So I come in and facilitate experiences as often as possible. So I make sure I'm at just about everything that we do as far as, you know, book club, the master classes, and things like that so I can go in and be supportive there. But we also run group coaching together, which is 

Rich Bennett 21:32
Okay. 

Amy Lenius 21:32
probably my favorite space because you get a little bit of all of us in there, and that's something I think that is really special because as you can see, Kevin Alan and myself are very different, very different people, but yet our values and our missions and things align so well, and the things that the success principles that we believe in, but are 

Rich Bennett 21:50
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 21:51
delivered differently through each one of our mouths, is something really special to witness, I think, when you get all three of us in a space. And, that's my favorite, but I also get to do my own coaching practice through there. I have one-on-one clients that I get to work with. 

Rich Bennett 22:07
Okay. 

Amy Lenius 22:07
And so we do personal development and success coaching through there as well. And, yeah, like I said, I've kind of just integrated my way in for sure. And then I get to go to do stuff like this. I get to go on amazing podcasts. And that's one of my favorite things, too. We all believe in free value in the world so deeply. And this is a part of that that we get to go out and 

Rich Bennett 22:25
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 22:25
do. And plus, we get to practice our speaking skills, our storytelling skills and all of those things. So we feel like it's a triple win, a win for us, a win for you guys, a win for the world, to get value out there as much as possible. And support Heart Driven shows like yourself. It's one of our favorite things. 

Rich Bennett 22:41
I love doing this. And just listening to all the different guests I've had on, all the things I've learned. And that's one thing, but when I have listeners contact me and thank me because they learn something from it. Then that's even, that's a big reward. You can't beat that. Did you ever think that especially when you look back at your team self, everything you were going through, did you would be a success coach? 

Amy Lenius 23:15
No, oh my gosh, I would have never put myself here. Never. Yeah, I loved the idea of education. 

Rich Bennett 23:26
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 23:27
Even even as I went into my anatomy and physiology career for a little while and had a practice running and I got to do a lot of like pre and postnatal care for women and pelvic balancing for women and all of these amazing things. Yeah. So, but I always found myself just as much as, you know, the patient would be open to it, just empowering them with as much information as possible. They would get so curious about their bodies, their cycles, and things. And I felt so good being able to give people information that could potentially change their lives if they go home and implemented. And so that's where, you know, I fell in love with public speaking. Again, what a weird thing to enjoy doing. I almost didn't even do my, my education because I heard at the end you had to give a case presentation and talk about it for an hour and present your findings and your patient findings and all of these things. I was like, I'm out. I don't want to do that. I don't want to speak in front of people. Oh my gosh. But again, you go through this intensive program with people for two and a bit years. You get pretty comfortable. And then you. 

Rich Bennett 24:25
Right. 

Amy Lenius 24:26
But once you realize that you have something to say and it is something of value that people need to hear, your fears leave you pretty quickly. And so it was weird to progress from, you know, one patient for an hour in a room to being like, I can impact more people if I if I start shifting out of this and into these other things. And then opportunity is, you know, found me, 

Rich Bennett 24:49
Right. 

Amy Lenius 24:49
which was wonderful. And, you know, next to the university, it seems like this weird jump to go from, you know, the natural wellness spaces and speaking on those stages to jumping in again with these these two amazing men, but it really does, it makes sense when you zoom out and see the through line of what I believe I can do and give the world through what it is that I have to offer and they are such a line vehicle for me to be able to do that. 

Rich Bennett 25:42
Well, 

Amy Lenius 25:45
yeah, they are very different. It's 

Rich Bennett 25:46
yeah, 

Amy Lenius 25:48
funny. We always say, actually, Alan and I have a deep love for one on one coaching. 

Rich Bennett 25:52
Yeah, 

Amy Lenius 25:54
I would have to put my, my flag on that one for, you know, just so many reasons because. 

Rich Bennett 26:01
Understand. 

Amy Lenius 26:01
you get to know someone, you can really help them. 

Rich Bennett 26:05
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 26:06
And to speak a little more macro, we only take 10 people, though, in group coaching for this reason. We keep it pretty intimate for that reason. We want to make sure we're getting to know everyone in the room and the things that we're talking about are going to land for them and make sense for them and the journey that they're in. So we're not, you know, we don't have a curriculum that we just take everyone through and it's the same each time group coaching evolves all the time. We can't do the same thing twice. We're about improvements all the time. And so it's never quite the same. We've had people do multiple rounds of group coaching because it is different each time depending, 

Rich Bennett 26:39
yeah, 

Amy Lenius 26:39
feel, but it's, it has its through line. For sure, we're teaching fundamental success principles and things. But with 10 people we can you know, get into their lives a little bit 

Rich Bennett 26:50
yeah, 

Amy Lenius 26:50
and get individual habit trackers going and the unsexy fundamentals that we preach about success there. But one-on-one, for example, if you have someone who has really high self-belief, they believe in their possibilities and their capabilities and they're very driven. You can speak a certain language into them and you know that because you're one-on-one with them. Whereas if you're in a room with someone who has low self-belief, that's a different language. I shouldn't be speaking low belief language over here and vice versa, doing detriment. But when you zoom out and you're speaking to bigger rooms and then even spaces like this where I have to teach on a very macro level because I want it to resonate with as many people listening as possible. It's a dip you're applying a different skill each time. And so Ellen and I both find it harder to to macro out than to get into the final detail and people like Kevin, Kevin likes the room. 

Rich Bennett 27:43
yeah, okay, 

Amy Lenius 27:44
Kevin prefers the macro speaking versus the micro. So it's neat to see how that comes in. Alanoe says I'm a coach who tolerates podcasting. Kevin's a podcast or who tolerates coaching. So that's you know the syntax. There's very important to them. And

Rich Bennett 28:03
you're listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. 

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Amy Lenius 29:06
So that resonates with me. But I do. I have such a heart for the one-on-one work because, like I said, I can get in there and really make sure that the habits that they're interjecting and the things that they want to build are sustainable for the life that they themselves have currently. And it's a special thing to be able to get into someone's life like that. 

Rich Bennett 29:24
And I bet you've heard some tremendous stories. And even once that have brought you to tears, haven't you? 

Amy Lenius 29:32
I was crying yesterday. 

Rich Bennett 29:34
Are you serious? 

Amy Lenius 29:36
I was. I was crying yesterday because someone who is in my coaching emailed Kevin and Alan, like emailed the team and just saying not only my praises, but NLU's praises as a whole, because she now does book club and comes to the master classes and different things. And she just shared a bit of her story of where she was to where she is now and how she didn't believe that could ever be possible. And I won't share any of her specific details, but it was just awe. I was bawling. It was so special. 

Rich Bennett 30:10
God, I just that when when you do that and as a mentor, I've done it myself, but when you hear stuff like that, you can't help but cry. And sometimes it's for sadness, but there's sometimes it's like so much joy to your just, but in fact, like if somebody who was it, Oh, had a young lady who I met toward when, you know, back in school and everything, and then she always wanted to do a certain type of work. And she was always told she couldn't do what she couldn't do and I kept asking, "Look, Don't listen to what everybody else says. Listen to what your mind says, and she had just gotten a good job doing what she's always wanted to do. It just makes you so proud, you know. And you just, yeah, it starts well and all. It's like go, man. I feel like I accomplished something too as well. 

Amy Lenius 31:13
And then, you know, that the work that you're doing in the world and the work that has your heart, really actually changing someone else's life, like, o my goodness, it's overwhelming sometimes. 

Rich Bennett 31:28
Actually, without using any names, um, so I know some of you listening. They're going to be like, but she's not a doctor. She's a cook. It doesn't matter, you know, you still got to, you got to, you got to respect people's privacy. Um, can you share a feel good story with somebody that you actually coached? 

Amy Lenius 31:53
Absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 31:53
I know there's a lot, 

Amy Lenius 31:57
but there is, but I think the ones that tend to be my favorite, again, I have such a heart for women. The ones that tend to be my favorite are the ones who almost don't even know why they're coming in. They're called to come in. They're like, I'm not trying to build a big business. I'm not trying to. You know, they're like, I just want to feel more like myself. I want to invest in myself more. I want to be less stressed. I just want to, and they're trying to paint this picture and you lean in, you're like, you want to define your own version of success. 

A lot of women come in who I get to work with a lot of moms who have young children at home and just needs so much validation and permission in hearing that they can still have that as the center of their universe. And still pour into themselves and still build a version of success that includes motherhood. Absolutely. And I have a few women in that cycle right now and they're feeling just more fulfilled more like themselves more like they are pouring into their children and the people around them from a full cup from something that is is full instead of empty. They're giving what's best of them instead of what's left of them. And it's those wins. I mean, people want to hear about yes, we help people, you know, build their business and make money. I was on with someone yesterday. We built out their whole business funnel and all of these things. It was incredible. And that is its own version of success. I think when 

Rich Bennett 33:30
Right. 

Amy Lenius 33:30
people come in and hear the permission of success is a subjective word, and you get to decide what that definition is for you based on who you are based on what you value. And let's dive into what those values are because we rarely know to name them until we go in and do that work and listen to them and let's design a life that feels good to you. And when I get those messages from those women, the ones who feel more fulfilled, who feel deeper connected to their relationships to, you know, the projects that they do have while navigating motherhood and things is, oh, it just fills my heart so much to see that not only is that possible, but it's for the benefit of the world. It really is. It's 

Rich Bennett 34:14
how 

Amy Lenius 34:14
that the epitome of what if what is best for you is what is best for everyone else and a lot of moms need to hear that. 

Rich Bennett 34:22
You know what? And something you said earlier on about, you know, you can't have a career as a mom. Granted, you can't, however, and I've always said this, being a mom is still the hardest job out there, and I think a lot of people overlook that, especially men. Oh my god, I'm going to get a lot of men yelling at me, but it's true. It is true. The fact that you're helping other moms, oh my god, I got to thank you for that, because you know, especially with a lot of things that mothers go through whether be a priori to pronounce the wrong postpartum depression. Is that right? You know, and other things, even unfortunately, mothers that have lost a baby and then have come pregnant again, a lot of them just feel like. There's nothing there for them, and here you are, you're helping them, you're coaching them, and you're, I guess you could say you're giving them almost like a reason to believe in themselves again. Is that sound right? Because I 

Amy Lenius 35:42
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 35:42
would think a lot of them really don't believe in themselves anymore. 

Amy Lenius 35:45
No, some come in with low self-belief, for sure, and others come in more with, with a low self-worth, which is different, it's that. 

Rich Bennett 35:54
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 35:54
They don't feel worthy of achieving things, of having things, of feeling a certain way of investing in themselves as far as time and effort and money, 

Rich Bennett 36:04
and. 

Amy Lenius 36:05
And a lot of them come in with capabilities, they believe in their capabilities, that's what self-belief is, the belief in 

Rich Bennett 36:11
capability, 

Amy Lenius 36:11
the 

Rich Bennett 36:12
yeah. 

Amy Lenius 36:13
But the worthiness aspect that gets so, so muddy for women, not only just because you grow up female in the world tells you so many things about that, but then you add motherhood on there as well. And it gets even more blurry sometimes. 

Rich Bennett 36:30
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 36:31
And so to paint clarity there and to give them tools that can help them every day, there's something I do that we can gift your audience that's called the frustration on it. It's just frustration on it. Yeah. So frustration is an amazing emotion. It really is. It tells you when you're frustrated, it is because something is between you and a goal. Something is between you and a result that you want a standard that you have or hold. And women don't get enough permission to be frustrated because we're told that we're frustrated all the time and it's not an attractive look or it's too much or we're naggy or whatever you know, insert something that women have heard over and over again here. Restoration on it just gives so much permission. I give them just say, okay, get a pen, blank piece of paper and I just anything that comes to mind that causes you frustration. I want you to write it down. Now this can get overwhelming. We always want to pair it with a gratitude practice because what we focus 

Rich Bennett 37:29
on is 

Amy Lenius 37:30
then you're to get really frustrated if you're not checked in with that. So we always want to balance it out with gratitude, right? So we're still priming our brain to see what is great, not just what sucks and is in our way. But the frustration on it is amazing. So if you can go around and just brain dump all of the things and take a couple days to do it, brain dump all of the things that are causing you irritation, frustration and it can be big or small. A lot of 

Rich Bennett 37:55
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 37:55
people, they initially do this, they don't want to put the small things on the on the list because they'll start justifying, well, I shouldn't be frustrated over that, but you are put it on the list full permission is big small. And you create the list and then you just start dissecting it. Okay, of these things, how can I put them into categories of what do I have control over and what do I not? And we start there. The things you have control over, the things you can make a change about and we can slowly start picking away at the process 

Rich Bennett 38:28
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 38:28
of making of those things, the things you don't have control over, we need to learn to control yourself in because the only thing we really have control over is ourselves. And when we have these external circumstances that we don't have control over, we have to learn who we are within that and how we can be more regulated and stable and feel less frustrated and supported in this area. And so when you divide those out and start tackling the list and pairing it with gratitude and pairing it with things like I said that you can control and you start checking those things off the list and putting systems in place and decluttering and all of the things that can come along 

Rich Bennett 39:04
right. 

Amy Lenius 39:05
It starts to feel really good and you see this weight being lifted off of them when initially the weight of frustration is very, very heavy but it's just giving someone permission to unburden that weight while also giving them tools with how to actually deal with it. 

Rich Bennett 39:20
I love that. Do you work with a lot of single mothers as well? Cause it seems 

Amy Lenius 39:26
that I 

Rich Bennett 39:26
like 

Amy Lenius 39:26
know. 

Rich Bennett 39:27
Okay, 

Amy Lenius 39:28
I have I have one one currently right now and 

Rich Bennett 39:32
really? 

Amy Lenius 39:33
and she inspires the Halloween every day when she achieves without 

Rich Bennett 39:38
without 

Amy Lenius 39:38
a 

Rich Bennett 39:38
I mean just that tool alone sounds like something a lot of single mothers would get a lot of benefit from. because let's face it being a single mother can be very, very, very frustrating and very hard. 

Amy Lenius 39:53
And just 

Rich Bennett 39:53
And 

Amy Lenius 39:54
over 

Rich Bennett 39:54
when I say hard, oh yeah, but it's also hard not just physically but mentally as well on a lot of women. 

Amy Lenius 40:03
I would argue more more mental than physical 

Rich Bennett 40:05
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 40:05
because you work. 

Rich Bennett 40:06
Well, yeah. 

Amy Lenius 40:07
The mental load of an entire family incident. A lot of women who are married unfortunately also carry the mental load of an entire family. 

Rich Bennett 40:14
True, yeah. 

Amy Lenius 40:15
But when you can start even expressing that to your spouse and things is really, really important because they don't know. Not mind readers so expressing mental load is really, really important. But when you don't have that support to learn to let go of all the things that you don't need to be burdened with is so important. It's so important because you just have extra overload and we're still in this society where busy looks impressive. And so being busy also is so detrimental. Like I personally yes, and busy, I have a very full life, but my busy is very intentional. It's with things that I actually value. It's with things that actually move the needle towards my goals and all of the other things I have gained the skill and been given so much permission to just let it go and not 

Rich Bennett 41:06
Right. 

Amy Lenius 41:06
have and not have it be a part of my busyness. And that's a very different life. It's a very intentional life and it feels different. It's more fulfilling. It's not always easier. Life is still challenging and hard. But the more resilient you become within that and the more skills you have and the self awareness you gain in things, that's what makes it easier to navigate. 

Rich Bennett 41:28
Now, are you still doing the speaking as well? And I don't mean just for next level, but for especially with the gildness that you went through. 

Amy Lenius 41:40
I haven't in a long time. I haven't been invited into those kind of spaces recently, which is fine. You know, a lot of public speaking, unfortunately, died during the pandemic. And I think people are starting to bring back those kinds of events, but we swung into everything being online. And that felt so easy to do everything 

Rich Bennett 42:05
There. 

Amy Lenius 42:05
from home is hard to plan these big events and to do the speaking events and things. It is challenging, but I think they're starting to come back. And I wouldn't say no to any of those opportunities, which I guess I think it's an important thing. And it's such an amazing thing to offer those kinds of days to people, growth oriented 

Rich Bennett 42:23
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 42:23
days with like-minded people, where you're physically in the in the event space with them is something that's really, really special. And I hope never goes away, but it is it is different now, absolutely. And so no, I haven't been in those kind of spaces in a while. 

Rich Bennett 42:40
I think you're going to be getting back into them. Because I am too. I'm seeing around here. You're seeing a lot more people getting out there doing the speaking get little speaking engagements. I have a funny feeling. I can see you on the stage, on the stage for doing something for- was it Nami? National Association. 

Amy Lenius 43:05
I don't 

Rich Bennett 43:06
know. I don't know whatever. I think it's something here in the States. But actually for- it helps people that are going through mental illnesses. I can see you talking on the stage like I could just see you talking on any stage, especially to help in women. And speaking of speaking on stages. And if you haven't started this shit, I don't know why. Have you thought about writing a book about your journey? 

Amy Lenius 43:35
That's so funny. You're probably the fifth person now to ask me that, which is wild to me. Because no, I've never considered writing a book. 

Rich Bennett 43:45
Well, you need to. Look, you just said it. They're not doing this. You're not doing the speaking engagements as much. However, you are seeing book sales go up, I'm just saying I 

Amy Lenius 44:01
I 

Rich Bennett 44:01
think 

Amy Lenius 44:01
don't even know what it would be about. My goodness, you know what is exciting is Alan is determined to become an author. And he's going to bring me in for a couple of the books that he wants to write. So I would be a helper, a helper author, but I yeah, I've never had the drive to or the poll to write a book. 

Rich Bennett 44:23
right, you see what you're doing right now, right? Besides making an excuse, you know how you're talking into a microphone. There's this thing called Microsoft Word, where you don't 

Amy Lenius 44:32
All 

Rich Bennett 44:33
have to write. It's got a little dictate button. I'm serious. Your story, your journey, I think, could help a lot of a lot of women, a lot of women. And believe it or not, men. Because and I say men because when women are going through like what you went through, a lot of men are lost. They don't know what to do. And they need to know. They need to know. So I am going to challenge you. And I am going to never run. I can't say that because I'm still being challenged about writing my book to never 

Amy Lenius 45:15
say. 

Where's yours? 

Rich Bennett 45:20
You know, on it, I am working on it. 

Amy Lenius 45:22
I love that. I love that have that vision. I will ponder and see, 

Rich Bennett 45:27
Uh, 

Amy Lenius 45:27
you know, I feel like there's, isn't there like a service where someone kind of just writes your book for you and just 

Rich Bennett 45:33
a ghost writer, 

Amy Lenius 45:33
right? Sure. 

Rich Bennett 45:35
Yeah. Oh, yeah, you 

Amy Lenius 45:37
go. If anyone wants to do that, I would be open. I can show up and talk. You can write the book. 

Rich Bennett 45:43
Care for I've had some of those people on and they may be contacting you. Amy, I heard what you said. And let's sit down. We got to write your book. Meaning you don't write it. You just tell them and and they'll write it for you. Would it be able to start in the podcast back up? I've never thought about that again. 

Amy Lenius 46:02
Yeah, after. Yeah, no, I don't, I don't now. I have no, no desire to do that. We talked talked about it back and forth and You know, Alan, the amazing coach that he is, it's like, what do you value more now? And we broke down my whole professional career in what I value. And I just, I value coaching so much more than anything. And I love showing up and speaking. The fact that 

Rich Bennett 46:28
yeah, 

Amy Lenius 46:28
I 

Rich Bennett 46:28
yeah. 

Amy Lenius 46:28
get to go on other people's shows is one of my favorite things. Do I want to show myself again? I don't currently. I 

Rich Bennett 46:36
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 46:36
don't. It's, it's just a lot of extra time and effort that I genuinely don't want to put out right now. 

Rich Bennett 46:44
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 46:44
I have so many amazing fires and other baskets, including my children, homeschooling them. And, and all the things that come along with that. And just that season that I'm in now eventually, my kids are going to need me less. And I'm going to have to find more things to do. But in this season, yeah, no, 

Rich Bennett 47:01
no, it's funny because a lot of people that guest on podcast, they like that side better and host, like hosting better. I've been a guest on a couple of podcasts and I feel lost. I I'm just not comfortable. It's, I don't know, it's weird. It's weird. It's like because I'm so used to asking the question, and I love the editing part. You know, if I'm a guest, 

Amy Lenius 47:30
go ahead. 

Rich Bennett 47:31
Oh, I love doing all that stuff. I got into a science now. So, something very important, if people want to get you as a coach or even go through, you know, join next level university, how do they get in touch with you? Where do they go? Where do they find more because they're not going to find me in a book that you wrote? 

Amy Lenius 47:57
Not anytime soon. That's for sure. So for me, I mean, we're, we're simple creatures. Honestly, we, we're on Instagram and Facebook. That's where we're planting our flags there. We know there's so many others. I can't even, I 

Rich Bennett 48:11
Too many. 

Amy Lenius 48:11
love the editing and the things I've been avoiding tech my whole life, starting to come on to this company. I've had to grow my skills a little bit and be in things like Google Sheets. And like, what is this? Alan's like, oh my gosh, Amy. Like, I'm going to bring other gifts to this company. And when we're behind the scenes, doing all the spreadsheets and things, I need you to talk to me like I'm five. I'm learning, we're learning, we're growing. But Instagram and Facebook is it, and I love those platforms because that is something that we're dedicated to being on 

Rich Bennett 48:42
And 

Amy Lenius 48:42
personally. So when you reach out to us there, you do hear from us back. When you reach to me at Amy Linneus, it's just add Amy Linneus on Instagram or Facebook, you're not getting an assistant, you're not getting AI or things like that. You get me. And if you love these kind of conversations, I would love to have one with you. I mean, even our calls, the first call is always free to see if everything is a good fit to pick our brains for us to support you as best we can in that free hour. And you know, there's never any strings attached for sure. 

Rich Bennett 49:10
What's the website? 

Amy Lenius 49:13
The website is nextleveluniverse.com. 

Rich Bennett 49:15
Next 

Amy Lenius 49:17
universe. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 49:19
Not university. And it's not .ca. It's.com. 

Amy Lenius 49:24
Amy, 

Rich Bennett 49:26
is there anything you would like to add before you pick the latest question? Actually, oh, you know what? It just hit me. So this question part where I have my guest pick the question, I don't think Alan in Kevin did that. I don't think I was doing that when they were on. So you get to tell them I did something special for you that I didn't do for them. 

Amy Lenius 49:47
I love that. I love when I can say things like that to them. It's my favorite. 

Rich Bennett 49:51
Okay, but no, is there anything you would like to add? 

Amy Lenius 49:55
I mean, I think the through line is that you know, you know, your body best and things go be an advocate for yourself. Go find who actually feels like they're a partner in your wellness with you rather than just going with the first Jo Shmo who maybe doesn't align with you. That's okay. There's so many other practitioners out there. And to be an advocate for yourself and empower yourself with information, information is a superpower if you implement it. If you learn and implement along the way and you use that information to actually change your life and self-awareness as a huge part of that. So the more you can understand yourself, the better you're going to be able to navigate others and the world. 

Rich Bennett 50:38
Absolutely. So the way this works, I have a hundred different questions here. Don't worry. I'm not going to ask you all 100. So I'm going to ask, I haven't broken down in five blocks. So first I need you to pick a number between one and five, 

Amy Lenius 50:54
three, 

Rich Bennett 50:55
three. And for some reason, a lot of times these questions have aligned with what we've been talking about. All right. So three, now I need you to pick a number between 41 and 60. 

Amy Lenius 51:08
47. 

Rich Bennett 51:10
47. All right. I just had it. Where'd it go? 

Amy Lenius 51:15
It was a fun little thing. 

Rich Bennett 51:18
And in a way, because of the group coaching, everything this does. What does community mean to you and how do you foster it? 

Amy Lenius 51:31
Community means 

I mean, community right now is everything. It's everything. It's more important than ever. It's, oh, here's the thing. Community's always been important. 

Rich Bennett 51:46
Yeah. 

Amy Lenius 51:46
But I think lost sight of how important it really is. And there's a lot of, you know, tagline sayings out there in the wellness space and the personal development space. And rarely do they apply to everyone. However, the saying you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with is absolutely true. You can't help it. Even if you're intentionally trying not to become these people that you spend the most time with, you have something in your biology and your nervous system called mirror neurons. And you can't control them. You will become the average of that, the average income, the average health, the average. It's, it's totally proven. Community getting around people who have a like mind as you, who value similar things as you, who have similar goals to you is so much more motivating. You have such a higher chance. I think the chances move into like the 70th percentile. You have like over 70 percent chance of being more successful in your endeavors. If you are around others who are also achieving, it's so important. Group coaching is built on that. We create a community. You get your own WhatsApp group with all of them and we have shared habit trackers. So there's also that part of the community as long as, as well as accountability and things. It's built on the value of community. NLU within itself has micro communities. We have the book club community, the masterclass community. We have an accountability fitness group that it's all in WhatsApp. We build communities on purpose because we deeply believe that that more than anything is the future. And so, community of like-minded support, it's really tough in the chronic illness space to find community that isn't rooted in victimhood. So be careful there. It's okay to feel like a victim and have a pity party sometimes. I'm all about it. I'm all about the pity party, feeling the feelings that come up. But be in a group that's going to support you getting out of it, not support you staying in it. 

Rich Bennett 53:53
Yes. 

Amy Lenius 53:53
A lot of people struggle to, to have empowering thoughts and empowering language when they've been given a diagnosis. And if you don't have others around you doing the same, it's very hard to get out 

Rich Bennett 54:05
sure. 

Amy Lenius 54:05
for 

Rich Bennett 54:07
Wow. I do believe that is the first time that question ever came up. And that was an excellent answer. I might just have to do an episode and just ask all those questions. 

Amy Lenius 54:18
It could be fun. 

Rich Bennett 54:18
It could be funny. It could be very long too. It could be scary. 

Amy, I want to thank you so much. Tell the guys I said hi and any time you want to come back on, the door is always open. Amy's journey from facing a serious chronic illness and being told as a teenager that she might never have children, to reclaiming her health, raising two boys, and helping others create fulfilling lives, is a powerful reminder of what advocacy, curiosity, hope, and consistency can make possible. As Amy explained, healing rarely comes from one dramatic breakthrough. More often, it comes from practicing the simple fundamentals consistently, and finding people who treat us as partners in our well-being. This conversation also reminded us that success is personal. It isn't necessarily about earning more, building a business, or staying constantly busy, it's about understanding what we truly value, and intentionally creating the life that reflects it. Whether that means addressing the frustrations within our control, rebuilding our self-worth, surrounding ourselves with an empowering community, or giving ourselves permission to fill our own cup, meaningful growth begins with greater self-awareness. To learn more about Amy and the coaching available through Next Level University, visit NextLevelUniverse.com, or connect with Amy on Instagram or Facebook. And Amy, I'm still holding you to that book. I believe your story can help more people than you realize. Until next time, I'm Rich Bennett. Thanks for listening, and remember, every great conversation starts with someone willing to listen, and someone willing to share. Now it's your turn. Join the conversation by sharing this episode, leaving a comment, or reaching out to me directly. Take care. Be kind to one another, and I'll talk with you again soon.