How Dying at 35 Was a Gift for Eliz Greene – Episode 42

It’s not often you get to talk to someone who died and came back to life.

In today’s episode, Phil and I get to talk to his good friend and fellow National Speakers Association (NSA) pal Eliz Greene who takes us through that pivotal moment in her life when everything completely changed and never looked the same again. How dying of a massive heart attack at 35 while still pregnant with her twin daughters and defying the odds by coming back to life changed the trajectory of her life’s purpose.

Today, she dedicates her life and work to be mom and wife first and travels as an award winning speaker on wellness and heart disease inspiring women everywhere to take care of their health.

 

Watch the show (uncensored & unedited)
Listen to the podcast

Share Some Shut Up Love –> Instead of worrying about what I expect it to be, I learned to be grateful for what is. @ElizGreene #shutupshow (click to tweet)

Fun Facts:

  • Eliz was seven-months pregnant with twins when she suffered a massive heart attack and died for 10 minutes.
  • Eliz runs a Top 50 Health & Wellness blog and is an award winning speaker delivering wellness programs for women and the workplace and education programs for healthcare providers across the country.
  • Eliz received the Heart Hero Award and serves as a national spokesperson for the American Heart Association as a favorite Go Red speaker.
  • Eliz was recently named one of the Top Ten Online Influencers on Stress and is the Heart Disease Expert on Answers.com.

Defining Shut Up Moment:

ON SURVIVING A MASSIVE HEART ATTACK AT 35 WHILE PREGNANT WITH TWINS:

Becoming a mom is certainly a life changer. I had thought that being a dance teacher and choreagrapher at the time I would breeze through but I was on bed rest for most of my pregnancy. We only made it through seven months. I was hospitalized. I ate lying down. The only time I could get up is if I wasn’t having contractions and to take a shower. I started feeling a burning and pressure in my chest that kept increasing. I didn’t realize it right away but I started having a massive heart attack. From the time that I started having that burning to the time my heart stopped and I didn’t breathe on my own was 11 minutes. If I wasn’t in the hospital then, I wouldn’t be here.  Life changed in the matter of just a few hours for us. In may ways it was a gift. I need to do the work to make sure I get to be here. Now, I go out and share my stories in hope that other women will take care of their health.

Shut Up Tips:

Life changed in the matter of just a few hours for us. In may ways it was a gift. I need to do the work to make sure I get to be here. – Eliz

I didn’t have a point where I thought I could just not be here. Somewhere in the twilight of not being here I thought to myself, “You know my husband would be mad at me if I left him with two children,” so I thought I should just get through this. – Eliz

In adversity often comes the greatest triumph. – Phil

Growth doesn’t come from comfort. – Eliz

I truly believe every one of us is given our own special instrument that is our body. So we have to figure out what the equilibrium is.  – Eliz

If there was a one size fits all solution, we’d all be doing it and there wouldn’t be a multi-million dollar industry on health and wellness. It may be hard to get there but once you get there it’s much easier to just be. – Eliz

Eliz Recommends:

There are two things I learned after my heart attack:

1. I can have help or things my own way, but I can’t have both. A huge lesson is accepting help in the form it is given instead of getting upset about how it’s given.

2. I’ve learn how to deal with fear. I’m keenly aware bad things happen and they happened to me. The world seemed very scary at that period of time and I could have easily been a person who doesn’t ever go out of the house. But I found ways to just move forward. An important tool for me is to “What if?” What can I do to be prepared so if something happens I can survive it?

Find Eliz:

Eliz’s website is EmbraceYourHeart.com

Eliz is a heart disease expert at Answers.com

Tweet with Eliz at @ElizGreene