Episode 18: Interview with Samya Ruiz-Santos
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Welcome to Chasing Life Podcast, where we talk about fitness, running, career, and life tips to inspire you to live your best life. I'm your host, Sarah Kane, and I hope you enjoy today's episode.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Chasing Life. I'm so excited for my guest today. Her name is Samia Santos. And like me, she is an online health and fitness coach. We recently met and she is the jack of all trades in what she does in life and what she balances. And I thought she would be a great guest to share with you. So welcome, Samia. So, so excited.

So why don't we get started by you telling us a little bit about yourself. What are all the things that you do? Jinkies, where do I get started? Well, I am a mom of three girls. My oldest is 20, a 15-year-old and a 10-year-old, and I've been married. This March is going to be 21 years.

So for the life of me, sometimes I cannot believe that it's 21 years and how I've made it this far. I still don't know. But my family and I, for the past 11 years, we've been doing church ministry together. So we've been doing like missionary work and all of these things, just serving our community. We are assistant pastors in a church in Trenton, New Jersey.

So aside from that being pretty much a full time job in itself, I'm also a part time administrative assistant. I'm a member of the John Maxwell team. So that's very honoring within itself. I am a life coach. I own my wellness company like we were talking about. And I do a Spanish radio program, which is called Creados para Mas.

translated, created for more, which is pretty much focused on helping our Latino community, providing them like instructional and motivational tools so they can rise above with a little bit of a biblical twist to it. I love the name of your radio program. How did you come up with that?

That is another interesting story. So for a long, long time, I actually battled myself, battled limiting beliefs. I have been battling mental health since a very, very early age. And I got pregnant at the age of 16, which pretty much crushed my dreams and it crushed everything inside of me. So I lived my life for many, many years as just a mom and a wife.

And it came to a point that I didn't think I would be able to amount to anything besides just a mom and a wife. And then there was this moment where God had spoken in my heart and was like, no, like I created you for way more than just a mom and a wife. Like you have purpose inside of you, just like all of us, we all have given purpose. And I believe that we're all here for a reason.

That quote, that thing just stood inside of me and every single day it would just come up like created for more, created for more. What were you created to be here today to do? Why are you here on this earth today to do? And it just became this thing as to every single day finding purpose, finding purpose as to why I would wake up and be here. What can I do today that will make a difference in somebody else's life?

And that's how it started. And then one day I told my husband about it and he was like, all right, well, then we're making this into a Spanish thing and we are a Spanish community. And that's where it went. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. There's so many great positive things that you shared. How did you get started with the John Maxwell team? That's another interesting story. Yeah.

So this pretty much happened. I went all in last year. This thing of created for more, it was something that was beating in my heart for the past two years. And this was shortly after I went into the wellness industry, just trying to find myself and trying to find purpose within all. We have been doing church ministry together for a very long time, like I said, 11 years. But I would also sort of like live in the shadows and just do all the behind the curtains kind of thing.

And again, there's just voice in my heart. Like, no, you're not made to just live behind the curtains all the time. Like, it's okay to like shine outside. But I couldn't find my voice. And I couldn't find what was that thing that I needed to do or could do.

And I love reading and I love personal development books. And one of the greatest series that I actually own, we own at home because my husband and my daughters, they're readers too, is John Maxwell books, which are very, very great. Not only, you know, in your religious subculture,

sense, but he also speaks very well into your personal life and your mind and expand in other areas. So I was just researching one day and one day, it just kind of like popped up into my computer, like, hey, would you like to join this team? And I was like, huh? And I've been praying for something for a sign of something to help me to rise above. And it just kept popping up every single day, like join, join, join. And I'm like,

All right, I think I'm getting it. So I made a call and I did whatever I had to do. And I went all in. And this was during the pandemic. We were stuck at home. We didn't have anything else to do. And of course, it was an investment that I had to do. But I figured, you know what, if I'm going to be home and this is my time of expanding in some way, then this is what I'm doing. So we went all in. And that's when I joined the team.

That's great. Thank you for sharing that. I feel like many women struggle with finding their voice. So that's great to hear that you were able to find an avenue to expand on that and to help other people along the way. What's been your experience being a part of the John Maxwell team?

It's been a journey. It's been a lot of self-discovery. I love being able to not only listen, but I am a huge note taker. So every single time that I would listen into the team's team calls or whatever lessons were going into, I discover a little bit more about myself and how I, because just like you said before, I think that

A lot of us, a lot of women kind of tend to struggle finding their voice and their identity because you get so stuck in that whirlpool, the whirlpool of, you know, waking up and cleaning and cooking and doing all the things that you kind of

Forget who you are and forget why you're here and forget what else you can do. That radio program had been in my heart to do for two years now, but I was too scared. I was too scared to say anything because, again, I all of the limiting beliefs in my head. So I was like, I could never like, who am I to make a radio program? Like what? Who's going to listen to me? Absolutely not. What could I possibly do?

And as I began to make all of these adjustments and just learning and expanding and sharing these things with my husband, he was like, Samia, I think that you're being called to lead our Latino community who is in so much need at this time. So joining John Maxwell team, it just gave me that extra boost.

wing, I guess I should say, little extra act of bravery. And that's also last year when Creados para Mas was born. I just love your energy and your positivity and how you took that leap to start something new. That was kind of why I started my podcast, is I just felt like I had this calling for, I guess, a new project. And I felt like I had things to share, but at the same time, I had the limiting beliefs of,

who is going to listen or what do I have to say that hasn't already been said already. But what I'm finding is one, it's an opportunity for me to interview people like you and share your message with the world. And that's really Avenue that if I wouldn't have started my podcast, then I wouldn't have had this opportunity for you to connect with other people. And so it's just like this great circle of life that we can connect

influence other people just by following that calling that we have and make that difference. Absolutely. I'm getting chills right now. Like, yes. To segue to goals or, you know, you've been pursuing all these new challenges. What are some goals that are you, you are pursuing in fitness, career, running or otherwise? Yeah.

All right. So there's definitely some things that I wanted to do. I guess that running, which is funny that you would say running because I joined the wellness community and it was all about expanding. I am great with the cardio and I can lift weights until I'm blue in the face. I will do all that, but I will not run. I was not a runner.

So my daughters, they're runners and my husband will run with them. So one of my youngest would do programs like Girls on the Run, which is a program that is created so they can help young girls. They run this 5K.

My middle one also does sports as well, but it was just not my thing. So when a program in our community came out last year and then my daughter saw it and she was like, mom, finally, your chance to run with us. Like, yes. And I'm like, no, no.

But mom, you always say that all of those beliefs, like the limiting beliefs, they're in your head and we can do anything. So maybe you could do this 30 day program and you can run with us. I'm here. I love how she said your words on you. Yes. Yes. You know, it is.

As much as I love my girls, we have to be so careful when we raise our kids. They turn out to be like little miniature versions of ourselves. So sometimes they annoy the living daylights out of me with whatever remarks come out of them. And I'm like, wait, but that's pretty much what I would say. Yeah, just don't say anything at all and just smile. Smile. Yeah.

So yeah, needless to say, I went into this program. I went all in because, yeah, I wanted to show my girls that if you put something in your head and you dedicate yourself to it, you can do anything. So I was like, okay. So she actually trained with me for 30 days and made, I actually have videos of me like slowing down. And she's like, no, no, no. The coach in the ear says run faster. That's not a nine, mom. That's not a nine. I love that.

I'm like, hey, Linda, this is my nine. But yeah, somehow I ended up running two 5K races when I had never run in my life. And now I am hoping that once COVID comes down, she will be able to pick up Girls on the Run again. And I promised her that I would run with her. And the goal is to be able to run in 10K.

That's awesome. Congratulations on running your 5Ks and just kind of starting from the beginning and having that bravery to take literally the first step. What was your experience? Did you have like a, did you set up like a virtual 5K or do anything special when you completed your 5K? Well, the first 5K that I did, it was just my daughter and I, and then I cried. I literally cried. I cried on video. Yeah.

I was like, oh my God, I really did that. And she was like, mom, why are you crying? You're supposed to be smiling. You're not smiling, mom. Why are you crying? But,

But it was just the fact that like, oh my God, my body just did that. And then for the second time, I did it with a group of other wellness coaches that sort of live around my area. This was in November. So a few of us got together. It was like four of us and we just ran. And again, my daughter was with us. So impressed by the way that she would push through. Faith was the second one to get into that, to the finish line out of

We were six of us. I think it was six of us. Faith was the second one. She was 10. So we were all like impressed by, oh my gosh, if this little kid can do this, we can do anything. So yes, we were all kind of like celebrated together, taking pictures. Like we really did that. You know, when we didn't think that any of us could do.

We really pushed ourselves past our limit and realized that we were created to do so much more. And I love that running. I've been a runner for over 11 years, and that's one of the things I love most about it is just running.

realizing that your body is so much more capable. And that like, when you follow the steps, and you follow a plan, then you can achieve things. And it's just really empowering. Yes, it really, really is. With that in mind, my tagline of this podcast, the title of the podcast is chasing life. So what does that mean to you? Chasing life? I, you know, when I saw this question,

I'm taking a pause because the first time my eyes watered and the second time they water again, because it speaks into my heart again. I,

From the age of 13, I was diagnosed with several mental health disorders. I was pregnant and married at the age of 16. And I really just, my life kind of crushed in all of my dreams. And I didn't think I would be able to do anything. And that's when that voice of you're created for more years later, many years later, began to kind of like chime in. So chasing life, chasing life while I am alive.

Chasing that dream, figuring out what created for more means to me is being intentional about my goals and finding my life's purpose, you know, finding purpose in my every single day. Because I believe that every single day we have a reason for being even when not every single day is the best day.

we can learn something from it and we can do something to grow a little more. So I think that's what chasing life means to me, just that moment of growth and finding out those other areas that I never thought that I was capable of having, doing, accomplishing, those other areas that I can grow and develop and leave my grain of sand so that I can grow.

And show, you know, show my girls, teach my girls and those around me that their lives, they have purpose too. And just because you're a mom or just because your plans failed, you know, many times over does not mean that life is over. It does not mean that your life is gone. You have a chance to start over again and keep going and keep moving forward.

I think that's what chasing life means to me. Thank you. I got chills when you were talking. I just love the message that you're sharing about the intentionality and living your life with purpose. It's so easy to fall into the monotony and the routine of your days and then have weeks or months or even years go by and you look back and say, what did I do with my time? Am I making a difference? Am I being purposeful in my actions? And so I think...

you know, that's one of the things I've learned as being a coach or a runner too, is just having goals to work for helps to give your life. Yes. And just being intentional about them every single day, just being intentional. I've also, I'm working on this year is like with my planner is intentionally like looking at how I'm spending my days and making sure I'm spending my time wisely, not getting sucked into just hours of scrolling on social media or sitting mindlessly in front of television. Like,

doing things that bring me joy and help me to reach the goals that are important to me. Yes, that is actually so, so important. And it's, yeah, we could all get so easily sucked into like, you know, the whirlpool of things like I mentioned before. So having that intentionality, that step behind and setting up that plan is so important. In my case, I was

a big procrastinator too. Again, one of the reasons why I would hold back because I would let all these limiting beliefs just kind of like hold me back and then I would create all these excuses in my head or I just perhaps it's not my thing or it's not my time or perhaps tomorrow when truth be told, we are here now but tomorrow is not granted.

But today is. So that was just one of my things of just taking the action right now. Like, do it now. Do it now. One of the things that I learned from John Maxwell, he says that when he was also a big procrastinator, he had done this thing that he would wake up for 30 days and every single morning he would say several times before getting out of bed, John, do it now. Do it now. Do it now. So it sounds funny. But then I began to do it. Samia, do it now. Because

I would create all of these things, you know, reasons why I should do it later. And I'm like, no, no, Samia, do it right, right now. It matters now. Do it now. And how I was able to just kind of not crush everything that I do, because truth be told, I mess up all the time. But that's how I am able to manage and do everything else that I have to manage between church and being on the John Maxwell team. And also I'm a full-time college student and working and all these things and

Just that do it now and keeping that planner and being intentional about my time. That's what helped me to just do everything else that I had to do. That's really important. It reminds me of a couple different like productivity hacks of like either the Mel Robbins. Yes. You want and just like.

do it. Or also there's like the tip of say, setting a timer even for two minutes or 10 minutes. And you know, whether it's cleaning your house, like say, okay, well, I'm just going to do it for 10 minutes and whatever I get done in 10 minutes, at least it's more than just thinking about doing it. And then you, many people are surprised, including myself when I've done this is how much you can actually get accomplished. If you say, okay, just 10 minutes, you can find time for it. And then you can just cross those things off your list.

It sounds really funny that you're saying that, which actually I thought I was crazy for, but there are times that I'm like cooking something on the microwave or like something. And I will say to myself, I wonder how many dishes I can wash in like the next five minutes while I do that too. Just like the race. I mean, even if it's a minute, you find your, I put dishes away, you know, from my dishwasher and like, I can almost empty my dishwasher in like a minute and it really doesn't take that long. Yeah.

I'm sure we're not the only ones who raised the microwave timer. Like, darn it, there's still one dish left. But yeah, it's just being that intentionality behind it and just making it fun. Making it fun. Absolutely. Along that track, do you have any career, fitness, or life advice that you've learned the hard way or that you want to share with our listeners? I think that in my journey, doing this yo-yo dieting thing for many years and just failing and just...

struggling within everything else. One of the things that I discovered myself is that one of the reasons why I would keep failing is because I would focus on one thing, but then leave the rest. And what I mean by that is that

We sometimes forget that we're not just physical beings, you know, like, yes, we have a body, but we also have a mind. We have a heart or a soul or spirit, whatever other people want to call it. But we are divided into three different beings per se, you know, and we need to work on all three. Sometimes we work so hard in this dieting thing and we go into fad diets very, very crazily, which, by the way, are not the greatest for obtaining long term results.

results or like a lifestyle thing because they're fad diets for a reason. But one of the reasons why we fail is because there are many other areas in our lives that we haven't dealt with for so long and tend to hold us back, you know, either fears or anxieties, just limiting beliefs. So I have learned that the way for me to be able to excel and grow and move forward in my life is to be able to work in these areas together.

sort of at the same time, but moving forward little bit by little bit. So one way that I do this every single day is that, yes, I do try to watch the way that I eat because it is very important that we fuel our bodies properly. Of course, I do exercise pretty much almost seven days a week only because it is part of my lifestyle.

my treatment per se I like I said before I have battled mental health for many years so that's part of my treatment this is how I keep myself well it's part of my therapy there we go that's the word that I was looking for the words in English and in Spanish are like banging in my head at the same time therapy that's that's my therapy my workouts are my therapy but also my personal development

So I make sure that I am very intentional about my personal development every single day. And I take time every single day to, you know, some people will call it meditate. Other people will call it pray. But this is also very important for our hearts, for our spirits, just growing in every single area and finding that peace, peace and stretching a little more. Stretch, we expand and we can grow.

So that's what I have learned in my journey that I have to work on it all little by little. It is not a race. I'm not racing against anybody else.

but myself. I appreciate that. Thank you for sharing. And I agree that you got to take it one little step at a time instead of trying to completely overhaul your life and change everything. Try one thing, like whether it's okay, I'm going to drink more water today. And then when you get that out of control, okay, I'm going to walk an extra mile today and then get that as a habit and then just add, add on to that. And that's,

that's how you slowly change your life. And you're absolutely right. And best of all, sustainable that way. No, absolutely. That Rome was not built in a day, but there were steps that they had to make every single day. So as we create all these healthy habits,

one by one, we are able to accomplish so much more. And then when you turn around, you're like, oh, wow, I really did change my life in a year. Like, wow, I began to just add a little bit more water every single day. And then from adding a little bit more water, I began to work out three days a week. And now I can work out four or five days. And then you turn around and you're like, I just did that. Right. And it's such a fulfilling experience when you do that and say, look how far I've come. Absolutely. On a fun note, this is a great conversation, by the way. One of my last

questions to end it. What's something you are obsessed with right now? Interesting. Okay, so I am really obsessed right now with

learning more about between mental health and internal health. And I have this thing right now of learning how our gut health is linked to our mental health. Because for so long, once again, I had been diagnosed with all of these mental health disorders and I was just given medications, medications, medications. But I realized that the medications were not helping me get better. It was just kind of like a bandaid. I respect everybody else who does, but I was just trying to find something different for me.

So I began to realize that there were different ways that our gut health is connected with our mental health and our mental health is connected to our gut health. So, you know, this is one of the reasons why you find so many people who battle mental health are also unhealthy in other areas of their body physically.

And, you know, again, other people who perhaps battle high blood pressure and other things do battle their mental health as well. And that's when I began to find this connection. That's what I've been saying.

The different hormones and our hormonal imbalances and how they are connected to our gut and the foods that we eat and that we don't eat and our lack of sleep and how all of these things are connected with our brains as well and how it affects our everyday lives.

So that's been my thing for the past, like, several months now, just reading and going a little bit deeper in that because as I go into that, I learn a little bit more about myself too. So it's kind of interesting. Yeah, that sounds really interesting. Do you have any particular books or resources that you want to share with our listeners? I have been, well, I do a lot of like online reading. Definitely one of the books that I have been reading has been Miracle Morning, which is

a little bit more about habit, but no, there is a book that I had read. There are definitely many different resources out there if you read in. And it will, again, it will teach you so much about the way that our bodies work and why they work the way that they do and behave the way that they do. You'll be very surprised.

Yeah, that's really interesting. I haven't ever dabbled into that topic myself, but I've heard or read different articles or headlines that when you're stressed, especially someone who maybe has some already GI issues, it's just going to exacerbate the issue. And so by kind of being conscious of those things, eliminating stress, then you can reduce the likelihood of having these GI issues. And so it's just this cause and effect. And thank you for sharing

enlightening us on that.

and bringing that topic to our conversation. You mentioned a planner earlier. Is there any particular planner that you use or any other resources that you found helpful in balancing all of the things that you do in your life? I know I'm going to kill her name, but one of the planners that I use, which helps me to, again, be able to record and keep track of between church and college and work and life and business, because I run my own business too, is called the Rise Up Planner. So I love the way that it is.

broken down into different areas, not only throughout the day, but it also helps me to like write down my goals and my vision, short-term vision, long-term vision, so on and so forth. So that's the Rise Up Planner. By Moria. Yes. Thank you for saying her name because I was going to kill it.

I also have that planner and I dabbled with it. I have to admit that I haven't fully immersed myself in it. One of my favorite planners is the fashion planner, but the rise up planner is also good for business activities. Yes, yes, yes. I love it.

I personally love it. So I want to wrap up our call. It's been very enjoyable. And I'm so glad that I asked you to be a guest so that you could share your message with more people. Where can we find you? Well, I guess that you guys can find me on Facebook, Samia Ruiz Santos, or if for our Spanish speaking community, you could go into Creados Paramás.

which is on Facebook as well. We do do our podcast on Sunsino Radio every single Wednesday at seven o'clock. And again, this is a Spanish programming, but we I am more of a Spanglish kind of girl. So all of my English comes in at times and my husband, you'll see him shaking his head like, what are you saying? Yeah.

And then you'll hear my girls in the background just kind of like laughing and shaking their heads too because they are little producers. It's kind of like a family thing. But yes, in Facebook, you can find us as Creados para Mas or on Instagram, it would be faithfully underscore fit underscore journey. Great. And I will link those posts

pages in the show notes. Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. I am so, so honored and I had an amazing time. Oh, the pleasure is all mine. I'm so glad that we were able to find a time that worked for us. Yes, absolutely. It's been a great blessing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review. I would love to hear from you. Even better, take a screenshot and tag me in your Instagram stories at SarahChasingLife.