How a prolonged diagnosis led to creating The Concussion Community with Founder Silvie Van de Ree
Welcome to episode seven of The Brain Game Changer podcast. I am your host, Melissa Gough. In this week's episode we headed to the Netherlands where I had the online pleasure of speaking with Founder of The Concussion Community Silvie van de Ree.
Silvie shares how a ride home on a scooter one evening changed her life journey and the continual actions to get the proper and informed diagnosis of concussion and whiplash. We discuss her rehabilitation at Cognitive FX in Utah, one of the world's leading centres for concussion treatment and how this process steered her in the direction of creating an online platform called The Concussion Community.
In speaking with Silvie, it was obvious that she wants to provide as many resources and support to as many people as possible who have experienced concussion, or a similar adversity to make sure they do not feel alone.
Links:
Follow @thebraingamechanger on Instagram
Email: thebraingamechanger@gmail.com
Follow @theconcussioncommunity on Instagram
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Melissa Gough 0:08
Hello and welcome to an episode of The Brain Game Changer: where heartfelt stories, awareness, and education can change the game. Each week we delve into the experiences of amazing humans, advocates and organisations from all walks of life, who share their adversities, the triumphs after tragedy, the milestones and those brain game changing moments right here in front of the mic. Through this journey together, we may find that we can learn some valuable tools, knowledge or education that will lead us into becoming game changers for ourselves, or someone around us or even for our community. My name is Melissa, thank you for inviting me into your space, it is great to be here.
Melissa Gough 0:55
Hello, and welcome to episode seven of The Brain Game Changer podcast Season One. It is great to be with you. I hope you're having a wonderful day whatever you are up to. In this week's episode, we headed to the Netherlands, where I had the online pleasure of speaking with Founder of The Concussion Community, Silvie Van De Ree. Silvie shares how a ride home on a scooter one evening changed her life journey and the continual actions to get the proper and informed diagnosis of concussion, and whiplash. We discuss her rehabilitation at Cognitive FX in Utah, one of the world's leading centres of concussion treatment, and how this process led her in the direction of creating an online platform called The Concussion Community. In speaking with Silvie, it was obvious that she wants to provide as many resources and support to as many people who have experienced concussion or a similar adversity to make sure they do not feel alone. Okay, let's get into this interview.
Melissa Gough 2:03
Good evening from Melbourne, Australia, Silvie and welcome to The Brain Game Changer podcast.
Silvie Van de Ree 2:08
Well, thank you. Thanks for having me.
Melissa Gough 2:10
I feel really grateful that you're here, and I'm just going to share with our wonderful listeners how I came about knowing you and everything that you're doing. Probably about six months ago, I was really not in a good space. I was struggling. It was six months after my brain haemorrhage. I was confused, I felt very lonely. I felt very isolated. I was trying to understand what symptoms I was experiencing. So that's when I decided to join a couple of online brain injury support groups. I came across an article and a blog that you put about your eBook, and I was automatically curious. I downloaded your eBook, then found all the information about you, started following you, and you just have so much knowledge and wealth to share with us.
Silvie Van de Ree 3:08
Thank you.
Melissa Gough 3:09
Before we lean into everything that you're doing for the community out there, I just want to get a bit of a backstory. I'd like you to share a bit about yourself, where you were living because your life changing event occurred five years ago. I just want you to give us a bit of a backstory about who you were back then, what you were doing. What was going on in your life?
Silvie Van de Ree 3:34
Yes, of course. So for everyone who's listening, my name is Silvie. I am living in the Netherlands. I was living for eight years in Amsterdam and then last January, I moved to a more rural place in the Netherlands because the city of Amsterdam is really busy. Last week, I had my fifth anniversary and to be honest, I'm totally okay with it, so that's great. But before my accident, I lived in Amsterdam, I had a busy life. Always going out meeting friends and I worked full time, around 40 hours a week. I worked at a travel company for three years and then I sustained my concussion so I had to stop working at the office. Yeah, my life changed a lot from very busy and always on the road, always seeing people. I always had a fear of missing out, so I said yes to everything. Now my life is so different, but I am more at peace and happy. Yeah, I'm okay with it. However, it took a very long time, it took me years. So for everyone who's listening, it can take time, and it's okay. I'm grateful for everything I learned, but as I said, it took a long time to see those positive things.
Silvie Van de Ree 4:02
I'm going to lean into that day, that day where things change in your world. Can you explain to us exactly what happened?
Silvie Van de Ree 5:00
Yeah, of course. I remember it like it was yesterday! I went to a meeting for work. I went to another city by train and I went there with a friend. We drove on my scooter to the station to take the train. When we returned home after the day’s meeting, I arrived at the station around midnight. I didn't drink at all, and it was very quiet on the street. So I thought why not take a shortcut, we drove home and I was driving on the roads, where you were not allowed to ride so it was my own fault. I was driving and then I saw the lights turn green and a lot of traffic came my way. There were bicycles, there was another scooter, there were cars and I couldn't go anywhere. So on my left side, if I were to turn up to the left, there would be bicycles. If I was going to turn right, it would be a car. So the only thing that I could do was stop. But another scooter came our way. And he didn't see me because he was texting on his phone. So we bumped into each other and I fell on the road. I thought I was okay because I wasn't unconscious and I didn't hit my head, and I thought I only hurt my ankle by that time.
So I was just sitting there for like five minutes to be more calm and to go home afterwards. I didn't feel like there was something wrong. I went to work the next day as well. I was feeling a bit weird, but I couldn't explain what was happening. So I just continued everything, and I went to work for the whole week. Every day, it seemed like it was a bit more difficult, and I felt very overwhelmed and emotional. On Friday, I told my boss okay, I'm going home early because I'm not feeling well. I told him okay, I will take the weekend off, and I will be back on Monday. By Monday morning, I felt even more worse. I called my boss and told him, okay, I need an extra week, the week became a month, the month became months and I tried to go back many times, but it didn't work out. After almost one and a half years, I decided to not even try to go back because it was impacting my health, I had to put my health first.
From that moment, I think things did change. It sounds a bit weird, but I started travelling because I thought I needed a break from everything from my social life to work because everything felt like too much. By that time, it was hard for me to say no to social things, and when you don't attend all these things, it feels like you're very bored. So the best choice for me was to step out of this bubble in Amsterdam and to go travelling to more natural places, and then I stayed there for a few months. I was just telling myself, oh, I need recharging and I just needed a reset. In the end, it was helping but it didn't take away my symptoms, because when I came back, everything was the same again. That's a bit of my first two years.
Melissa Gough 8:12
That's a lot that's happened in the first two years.
Silvie Van de Ree 8:15
Yeah.
Melissa Gough 8:16
At the scene of your accident, no medical attention was called. Once you felt you got checked, you went home. You then just proceeded to continue life and continue your day and you realised something was wrong. In that first sort of year and a half, two years, was there a diagnosis of what you were experiencing?
Silvie Van de Ree 8:38
No, there wasn't. I went to my doctor the week that I was home, a week after my accident. He didn't tell me anything about whiplash or concussion, he never mentioned the words, but I told him everything. Like I had a scooter accident, I was feeling restless, emotional. So I told him all the symptoms, but he just told me, it seems like you're doing a bit too much, just overwhelmed, just take some rest, that was his advice, and he sent me home. By that time, I didn't know what was going on, so I thought he's right, I'm just doing too much. I just need to rest and that's it. So I followed his advice, but yeah, of course it didn't help and I did go back because he told me to take rest for a week and then you should be a lot better, but I wasn't, I was even feeling worse.
I went back after a few weeks again, and then told him that I had a lot of neck pain as well and my back was hurting. I think I forgot to mention this in my first session or it wasn't that bad, I'm not sure. But I told him about my neck and everything and then he told me okay, maybe you have a whiplash. He did send me to a physiotherapist. But in my first two years, no one ever mentioned concussion and I didn't think of it myself because I didn't fall on my head. I always thought that to get a concussion, you have to get a bump on your head or something. So I didn't. So I was always looking for therapies only for whiplash. But whiplash is more neck pain, and there are different symptoms for whiplash when you compare it with a concussion. So, yeah, my first two years, I never got the diagnosis of a concussion, and I never thought of it myself. So I'm just wondering why no doctor never told me this, because I did see some doctors, and I think this should be like basic information.
Melissa Gough 10:34
I would also assume that the word concussion occurred because it was a direct contact to the head, only doing more research or finding out more or having something impact me, would I then think, Okay, well, maybe there are other ways of having concussion. So I can understand the confusion of back and forth, the constant speaking to medical practitioners, and they're just sticking to an area without thinking outside the box. You finally got your diagnosis, you have concussion, and other symptoms or other diagnosis with it. When did that happen?
Silvie Van de Ree 11:20
A girl shared an article on LinkedIn while I was reading it. I don't know where it came from, but it just just popped up. There was a story about a woman and she was telling how she was feeling, and I just read it and thought, this is me! Like, this is my story! She wrote about a concussion, and she wrote about this clinic called Cognitive FX in Utah. It's a concussion clinic. So, I thought, why not reach out to this clinic because I felt like it was me maybe. I reached out and I had to wait for the first call for like 1.5 months. Then we had a call, and I explained to them everything, about how I felt about my neck pain. I mentioned the word whiplash again, because I thought, that's what I have, then they told me yeah, you have a regular concussion. That's how they said it. They said, 'okay, you can sustain a concussion from whiplash and this was totally new for me. Having that call opened up so many more new doors because I could finally search for more treatments for concussions and not for whiplash anymore. The concussion was the thing that was holding me back from living my life.
Melissa Gough 12:43
I'm really fascinated to hear about Cognitive FX, and that must have been such a relief to finally get some words that connect with how you've been feeling for the last couple of years. Then you also go to the clinic in Utah. Can you explain what happens when you got there?
Silvie Van de Ree 13:04
I went there in May 2019, so that was two years after my accident. I arrived, and I remembered that I felt so welcome. Everything that I was thinking they already mentioned. I stepped in their office, and they asked me, Are the lights too bright? Or is this too loud? People never asked me these types of questions before. So there was a relief that I could just tell them, okay, I'm not feeling well, and this is part of me, so that was my first impression.I went there on the Thursday before the treatment week. The treatment was going to be for five days. I went there for my first scan because they always do a scan before the treatments and they do one after the treatments, and then they measure the bloodstream. I'm not sure about all the knowledge behind the scan, but they measure it and they can see what parts of your brain are too active and which parts of the brain are not working at all. I got this scan and then on Monday morning, the first day of my treatments, they showed me the results, and they were telling me okay, this must be a symptom, this must be hard for you. Exactly the things that I was feeling, they were already mentioning those things before I told them how I was feeling so this was such a relief. Because I finally thought okay, they know what they are talking about.
Melissa Gough 14:30
I'm getting heard, I'm getting seen and I'm getting understood.
Silvie Van de Ree 14:33
Exactly. Yeah. My biggest fear by going there was that they couldn't find anything or that it would be disappointing again, because I already tried many things and most doctors couldn't find anything. All my tests were, like okay, nothing is going on with you, everything was fine. So this was the first time that someone actually said okay, we see on the results, you have a concussion and we can help you, so it felt like they were really able to help. I was getting really excited on my first day!
Melissa Gough 15:03
Was that also finding out in that moment sitting amongst people where you finally feel like you're getting validated. Was it also an emotional time? Did you sort of almost surrender and just sort of think thank you?
Silvie Van de Ree 15:16
Yeah, it has a big impact and also the connections you make with other patients, because you do the week with other people who sustained a concussion as well. It was also my first time that I met people who were going through exactly the same thing. I never had this before, because I didn't know why and I didn't search for it on the internet. I was just in my own bubble, I guess. I always felt like I'm alone, I am the only one dealing with these symptoms. I never knew anyone who was dealing with this and it felt like I wasn't alone anymore.
Melissa Gough 15:47
It's almost like a little family coming together, all experiencing the same journey at this clinic.
Silvie Van de Ree 15:52
Yeah, from day one, you have this connection with them that you don't have with other people. It felt like these connections were sometimes even stronger with them than what I had with some people I already knew for a long time, yeah.
Melissa Gough 16:06
Our anniversaries are very similar to when our incident occurred, and even in the last year, I'm meeting like minded people. I resonate with your words, there's people who I've known for a very long time, who I consider very valuable in my life. But the conversations that I've had with people who are going through their journey similar to mine in the last 12 months, I could not have been more grateful for those moments and meeting them.
Melissa Gough 16:43
What else did they get you to do during that week at the clinic?
Silvie Van de Ree 16:47
We started every day, every morning with this fixed schedule. You get a schedule on Monday morning, and when I saw it, I thought, oh my god, it's way too much, can I even handle it? Full schedule from the morning, eight o'clock, sometimes until 5pm. So this felt like a full working day and it's really strange, because everyone was thinking the same. But we all completed the full week, and I was doing okay. Every morning, you start with interval training. These exercises, they guide you through it, and then afterwards, you have a 15 minute break, so you can just come down and rest a bit. Then you start right away doing exercises.
There are a lot of cognitive exercises, also balance exercises, also doing all these other things at the same time.For example, you're standing on this balance ball, and you had to catch a ball from someone there, and at the same time, you had to answer a question. There was also some background noise. You had different kinds of classes. They were all scheduled one to one sessions, it's not a group thing, it's like really personalised treatments. They are really pushing you to give the maximum you had. Other people were saying they felt a lot, however on Wednesday, I felt so much better. But then later, I didn't feel better. I was so worried and I thought oh, this is not helping me, why is it only helping other than I was so disappointed by the end Wednesday. Then on Thursday, I was feeling this bubbling feeling in my head like there is sparkling water in your head, and it's like opening up. That was how I felt on Thursday. I remember that I called my parents and they told me that your eyes look brighter and Thursday, I felt like oh, I feel the first improvements, and I was so happy. Then on Friday, I felt worse. I thought I felt so bad on Friday, maybe I gave too much, I pushed everything I had in one week. They told me that's normal and just rest and during the weekend you would feel better. So yeah, Thursday was great. Friday was a bit of stress again, but I think that's normal. It's just some new situation, new people, being active. They were right, on Saturday, I was feeling better.
Melissa Gough 19:21
So you do this amazing week. It's a bit of a roller coaster in how each day has presented itself. Going home back to the Netherlands, do they give you a lot of information to go home and follow through with what's the next step for you after leaving the clinic.
Silvie Van de Ree 19:40
So you're still continuing doing everything you learned there at home, and I continued with everything for almost a year because I felt it was helping me. After a year I thought okay, I don't want to do this anymore.I was a little bit done with all the exercises and all those things, and felt like I gave everything I had. So, after a year, I dropped everything. They told me, still try to do some of it because I still had contact with them when I had questions, and they are so supportive. So just try to live your life like you want to and just see how you feel. If you feel you're getting off a bit more, then you can always fall back on the training, so I let it go after a year. So yeah, it's not just a week of treatment, in Utah, but also the homework you have to continue with and home.
Melissa Gough 20:35
You sound like a very dedicated student, credit to you. You gave it a whole year of persistence and you kept going, and then you decide after a year, you're like, right, okay, I'm gonna really try and step into what my new life is going to look like. What did you start doing differently at that point?
Silvie Van de Ree 20:55
Well, I stopped with the cognitive exercises, I focused more on what makes me happy. I began to do just things that make me really happy. I also started with the first creations of creating an online community like this. That was the first time that it popped into my mind, or, well, it already popped into my mind, but I was feeling bad. When I'm in a bad space, you aren't able to create something. I finally felt a bit more ready to take the first steps back to serving something that's fulfilling, and that's helping others. So I wrote everything down. At the beginning, it was only like one hour a day like writing and brainstorming, and things like this.
Melissa Gough 21:49
I'm excited to hear about this. Where did the seed come from, to create the concussion community? What was the process? How did it all come about?
Silvie Van de Ree 21:58
I think for two years, I was feeling very lost and alone. I reached out to many doctors, and they always told me the same thing, take some rest, don't do too much, things like this. In the end, when I look back on that period, I always feel some regrets of not being active from the beginning, because you only need some days of rest in the beginning and not for more than a year. I know I can change things, and I wish that there will be more knowledge about it. From the moment I stepped into the office of this concussion clinic, I felt like I wasn't alone anymore. I felt like I got the right information. So I thought there must be something that's going to help others as well, and yeah, I just want others to know that there is the right knowledge out there. There are people who know what to do when you sustain a concussion and not a doctor who sent you home saying take some rest. I just want to spread awareness that it's the correct knowledge to, yeah, to help people to make some changes, some also that they can do at home. For example, there's more information about nutrition, about exercise, there's an exercise plan about how to go back to exercise after you sustained your TBI or concussion. There is more knowledge about the neck, there are exercises for the neck, so for every aspect you can think of, there is some information out there. I believe in a combination of support from others in the same situation, and getting support and knowledge from the experts, and that's why I created this community. So people don't feel alone and they know what to do to move forward.
Silvie Van de Ree 22:24
So when did you launch your concussion community? What can people find it, should they join?
Silvie Van de Ree 23:52
So I launched this general website where you'll find all the information in January 2021, so it's more than a year ago. There is a platform with all classes, courses and community, they can sign up to join the community. They just pay a monthly fee and they get access to everything. Besides this platform, there are also some free resources out there, so I have my podcast. I started this recently. I have my Instagram accounts, of course, and I also wrote an ebook about what helped me during my concussion journey.
Melissa Gough 24:29
I believe in synchronicities. I've listened to a couple of your podcasts. You give a little example of the topic you're talking about.
Silvie Van de Ree 24:37
Yeah,
Melissa Gough 24:37
You give an insight into what the journey has been along the timeline from when it first happened to where we are now at the five years. Your first podcast launched on my birthday this year.
Silvie Van de Ree 24:50
Oh really? Wow!
Melissa Gough 24:51
Okay, well, that's the synchronicity and I'm gonna go along with that. I love the fact that you talk about the fact that there are courses available as part of the membership. Can you please give some examples of what courses are available for people to do?
Silvie Van de Ree 25:05
Of course there is one about how to master your nutrition, how to get back to exercise, how to get back to work or school, improving your sleep, reducing your anxiety, and a yoga meditation course. For example, the clinic, Cognitive FX, I went to hosted a few classes, but there is also the Sydney Concussion Centre.
Melissa Gough 25:30
Here in Australia at the Sydney Concussion Centre?
Silvie Van de Ree 25:33
Yeah, yeah. They provided a course about the neck and neck exercises you can do at home. I launched this course one month ago, I received a few messages from members and they tried the exercises and someone already felt relief after a few days, just simple neck exercises, but simple things can change a lot. There are also some coaches, psychologists, yoga teachers, physiotherapists, every aspect that can help. I try to find someone who has more knowledge about it and contacted them and asked them okay, do you want to provide some information? Or what do you think you can teach people who are suffering from concussions? Right now there are over 160 classes inside the community from all these experts providing information. So I'm really, really glad they helped.
Melissa Gough 26:32
I really like the fact that you have covered such a diverse range of every aspect of a concussion and every aspect of an injury. But I also appreciate the fact that you've included the emotional and mental health aspects. If people saw you and I walking down the street, they would not even think that there's two women who have a brain injury, because it's invisible. It can be a very lonely and confusing and misunderstood world, living in that when you're trying to advocate for yourself. So it's really wonderful that you're also catering to the physical element, the spiritual element, the mental health element, it's so good that you are catering to all areas. It feels like, as much as you're creating this concussion community, I get the feeling that people turn up, and this is probably the only place where they feel like they are connected to people who understand them.
Silvie Van de Ree 27:28
Yeah. I hope so.
Melissa Gough 27:37
If you don't mind me asking, you were initially living in Amsterdam? Then you've decided to move to a rural area in the Netherlands? How did you get to that decision? And I believe and if I can ask, you have a significant other in your life. Did you meet in Amsterdam, and you both decided to move rural or had you already moved rural and that's where you met?
Silvie Van de Ree 28:00
You know, actually it is a bit of a funny story because I lived in Amsterdam for around eight years. I always loved to go to Bali in Indonesia. So last year, around November, I went there again, because a friend of mine was living there. I just love the place there because it's more peaceful and there is lots of yoga.
Melissa Gough 28:26
It's very free. It's very free and easy.
Silvie Van de Ree 28:30
Exactly. It's so different compared to Amsterdam, so I went there, and that's how I met my boyfriend. So I was living first alone in Amsterdam, but he already lived in a more rural place. I was already thinking of moving from Amsterdam away in a couple of years, but I didn't want to move alone to a more rural place because I was always scared that I would feel alone that I wasn't in the city anymore. So this was the perfect moment for me to move away. And yeah, and so we start living together, so that's the story.
Melissa Gough 29:06
I love the fact that you travel to the other side of the world to meet someone who is from the Netherlands.
Silvie Van de Ree 29:11
Yeah. Funny!
Melissa Gough 29:12
I mean, you are living together, I love those stories, you hear those stories a lot. So how long have you been living in the countryside?
Silvie Van de Ree 29:19
Since January? So only five months? Yeah.
Melissa Gough 29:23
How are you settling in? How's it going for you?
Silvie Van de Ree 29:26
Good good. In the beginning, there were a lot of changes. So I had to get used to it. Also getting used to not living on my own anymore because when you live on your own, you can just do whatever you want. You can rest whenever you want. I had to get used to it for a few months, but I'm okay right now and doing better. So yeah, I'm happy, happy that I made a move.
Melissa Gough 29:46
So wonderful. You're now in a relationship. How has it been for you in the journey of trying to get him to understand what your world is like with a brain injury?
Silvie Van de Ree 29:56
It's hard because I think you only get it when you have one on yourself, but I try to talk about how I feel. I will try to mention many things. When I feel overwhelmed, I try to explain why, I try to explain how it feels. I talk to him a lot. But I also talk to people who really understand it and have support from them. It makes it I think a bit easier because I'm not only leaning on him, but also on people outside my relationship. I talk to people online, but also friends who, for example, they had a burn out or something like this, they also always get how it feels when I feel overwhelmed, and I feel a better connection with them. Yeah, I tried not to only talk to my boyfriend, but also to friends and people online who know how it feels.
Melissa Gough 30:54
I have to say I resonate with that in starting this podcast. So again, I was about five months, post brain haemorrhage, and I was at home, and I had to really rest a lot as well. Just out of nowhere, I started birthing this idea of doing a podcast. I'm interviewing people with all adversities, however my area of interest is the brain. I'm interviewing people who are advocating with Down Syndrome and talking about Paralympics and lots of different adversities. But I have to say, going on this journey, doing this podcast, meeting different people has been so cathartic, and so healing.
Silvie Van de Ree 31:37
Yeah, yeah.
Melissa Gough 31:38
I said to a medical person recently, “ I feel like you've walked around with a camera, looking at my life for the last year, and it's been so nourishing for me just to hear you speak.
Silvie Van de Ree 31:50
Yeah, same for me. I think it always gives me this feeling of not being crazy or not feeling alone, and that it's okay to have those, those emotions. I always felt like everything was going well, and people didn't have any issues. From the moment I sustained my concussion, and from the moment I was more open about it, and I talked about it, people also shared their struggles. You see, okay, there is no perfect world, everyone is struggling with their own things. I believe when you open yourself up, other people are more open, and that's helping each other right. I hate this thing about social media that people are only sharing their most amazing days and things and I always love it when people are more honest and share their struggles as well.
Silvie Van de Ree 32:46
That's probably one of the things that I enjoy about your page, you've got quite a following, which is amazing, because you are truly authentically honest. For example, recently, you went to Barcelona, from the Netherlands to Barcelona, it's just a couple of hours flight. But you talked us through going to the airport, being amongst crowds, a lot of noise, what it feels like, being in a foreign place. You were there on a holiday to see a friend however, you are also talking to us through your journey through it all. I feel like this day, I had to eat light this day, I had to rest this day. I really enjoyed this day, I loved this moment. You put everything out there to cover every aspect of what you're feeling. I think that's why I resonate so much with your page and everything that you represent. You're just saying, hey, this is me, and this is how I'm feeling at this moment. I can also see that people are like, thank you for sharing that, and they make a connection to that experience as well. Keep doing what you are doing. It's working!
Silvie Van de Ree 33:55
Thank you. It took some time. It took me five years to be more open. But yeah, right now, when I do this, I always get these messages from people saying I feel the same or it's helped me. So yeah, it inspires me to share even more.
Melissa Gough 34:10
It takes a lot of bravery and a lot of courage to put yourself out there, but here we are, you've just met your five year anniversary. I loved the posts that you put on about it, that you shared all the emotions of it. I have to say one thing about having a brain injury as much as I'm a very wears my heart on my sleeve type person. I do get teary more now especially also when I read other people's stories and I really shed tears when I was reading I was like kudos to you. That's amazing. You're sharing everything that you're feeling on this day. But what are your plans going forward? What are some next steps that you're hoping to achieve for yourself?
Silvie Van de Ree 34:50
For myself. I would love to travel more because this was one of my favourite things to do and right now after almost four years, I was able to enjoy it again. I would love to do this a bit more. I don't try to think of the very, very far future, but it's more I try to live more with the day. So if something makes me happy today, then I'm okay. But of course, my dream is to live next to the beach. Maybe moving to Bali, I don't know, let's see what the future brings. My plans for the community is to make it even bigger and to help more people, and I would love to also add some new things like maybe my own courses or more one to one help/coaching. I do it step by step, because otherwise, it's a bit too overwhelming. So I tried to reach more people right now, and I really hope it's helping them. I'm really excited to see where it will go within the next year, or even 10 years! Yeah, I can't wait for that.
Melissa Gough 35:44
I really admire the fact that you really listen to your body. Like one thing you just said, you're mindful about becoming overwhelmed or things getting too big. One thing that comes through about you is that you really are mindful of listening to your body.
Silvie Van de Ree 36:13
I am trying to, yeah!
Melissa Gough 36:25
The name of this podcast is called The Brain Game Changer: where heartfelt stories, awareness and education can change the game. If there's just one little piece of information, one little golden nugget, a tool, anything to share with people, what would it be?
Silvie Van de Ree 36:41
Well, there is one thing that it's still helping me a lot, and I try to do this a few times a week, is interval training. I learned the process in Utah because, they told me when you do interval training, there is getting more oxygen to your brain, and I always feel such a difference when I do them. When I don't, I give this advice to many others, and they all say, oh, it's helping me, it's given me a boost of brain. So for everyone who's listening and who didn't try it yet, try it yourself. It doesn't have to be long, it can only be five minutes a day, but just pushing yourself to a little bit more exercise. I believe that's helping a lot because exercise is so important.
Melissa Gough 37:25
Exercise, people underestimate things like sleep and exercise and nutrition. They really do.
Silvie Van de Ree 37:30
It's all connected, right? So yeah, exercise and sleep is connected. When you do exercise, your sleep pattern is better. Also when you eat the right nutrition, your sleep will be better and you are able to exercise better. So yeah, everything is connected. It's what I believe.
Melissa Gough 37:48
So true. And that's such great information to pass on. Silvie, thank you so much for your time. It's so appreciated and it's been great having you with us today.
Silvie Van de Ree 37:57
Thank you so much for having me.
Melissa Gough 38:03
Thank you for listening to this episode today and supporting The Brain Game Changer and the guests we interview. I hope it adds some reassurance or valuable tools no matter how big or small, that will continue assisting you in being the wonderful game changer that you are. The best way to support The Brain Game Changer podcast is to like, share with family and friends or subscribe. So each episode is easily available to you. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also find me on Instagram @ thebraingamechanger. Drop in say hello and check out the regular post about awareness and education on various important topics and issues.
Until next time, looking forward to sharing the space with you again soon.
Take care.
