Eating disorders take over your whole life.   It affects everything from relationships, to who you are and how you show up in the world.   This was life as a young adult for my guest, Melissa Matson. She was always counting calories and believed that waking up in pain was a good thing. Now she’s through the other side and in a place where she uses this experience to ensure she lives a life full of self-kindness.   In this episode she shares all about life with anorexia, how she lost who she was after having kids and how she has now reclaimed that. She delves into her purpose of working as a brand strategist and why focusing on metrics is never the right approach.   “There comes a point that you’ve got to stop pretending to be the thing you think you should be” – Melissa Matson   You'll hear about:   00:00 – Start 00:46 - An introduction to Melissa 04:12 - Who is the real Melissa? 10:24 - Was Melissa a self-made resilient person? 15:37 - Melissa's life with an eating disorder 20:11 - What therapy taught Melissa 23:52 - Melissa's life outside of social media 27:57 – Melissa’s thoughts on social media metrics 30:30 - Losing who she was after having kids 40:53 - What would Melissa change about her life? 46:35 - What does Melissa want to be remembered for? 51:54 - What does the future look like?   Meilssa’s resources:   LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissamatson-brandstrategist/ Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@themelissamatson Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/embrbrandagency/ Embr Brand Agency - https://www.embrbrandagency.com/   My resources:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/itschrisoconnell/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/ChrisOConnell11 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chrisoconnellcoach/ TikTok - https://www.instagram.com/chrisoconnellcoach/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_ZWYrxrzzaElmpZMy5S86w Basemindset website - https://basemindset.com/