Episode #48 - Unhinged: Uniquely Us. The Little Things Edition

What Are "Isms", And Why Knowing Yours Could Change Everything About How You Show Up in Life

There's a word we threw around in one of our most-loved podcast episodes lately, and I've been thinking about it ever since.

Isms.

Not capitalism. Not Buddhism. Not any of the big, heavy -isms that dominate the cultural conversation. I mean the small, quirky, deeply personal ones. The ones that are so uniquely you that the people who love you most could spot them from across a room, or across a group chat.

An ism is that little thing you do. The way you communicate, the phrases you default to, the habits you've built that are just unmistakably yours. They're part of how you express yourself, how you connect with other people, and if you really think about it, how you've become the person you are today.

On our latest Unhinged episode of The Eversio Experience Podcast, Dr. Desiree and I went deep on this. No script. No plan. Just the two of us pulling back the curtain on the real Team Eversio, the humans behind the mushroom education, the laughs that happen before we hit record, and the personal quirks that make every single one of us beautifully, unapologetically ourselves.

If you haven't listened yet, I promise you, it is the most fun we've had behind a microphone. But I also want to share it here, because I genuinely believe that understanding your own isms, and learning to love them, is part of the path to becoming your most authentic self.

So let's get into it.

What Is an "Ism", And Why Does It Matter for Personal Growth?

Here's how I think about it: as humans, we are constantly in the process of becoming. We pick up traits from people we admire. We shed behaviours that don't feel like us anymore. We try things on, we grow into some of them, and we grow out of others.

That ongoing process of adding and releasing? That is how we become our authentic selves.

And the isms? They're the evidence of that journey. They're the fingerprints of your personality. The very specific, very human ways that you move through the world that are entirely your own.

When I started thinking about the isms of the people I love and work with most, I realized something: these little quirks aren't things we need to fix. They're things we need to notice, appreciate, and in most cases, absolutely love.

Because here's what I know for sure: the things that make you a little different, a little unexpected, a little you? Those are the things people remember. Those are the things that build real connection.

The Eversio Team Isms: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the People Behind the Mushrooms

Let me walk you through some of my favourites from our team, because honestly, these people are everything.

Brandi's Shouty Caps (Yes, I'm Owning It)

Let's start with mine, because fair is fair. I use ALL CAPS in texts and emails. Not because I'm yelling at you. NEVER. In my Gen X brain, all caps is emphasis. It's enthusiasm. It's THIS IS SO AWESOME AND I NEEDED YOU TO FEEL THAT.

For years, I had absolutely no idea that millennials read shouty caps as aggression. When our team finally told me, gently and lovingly, that they'd been side-eyeing each other every time an email came in with a word in full caps, I was mortified. And then I was delighted, because I'd learned something new.

Now I still do it. But I do it with full awareness and full intention. If you get a shouty caps message from me, just know I'm basically throwing confetti at you through the screen.

Lori's Exclamation Marks: A Passion Metric

Our beautiful Lori, the heartbeat of Eversio Wellness, the voice you might know from calling or emailing us, communicates in exclamation marks. Multiple. Always multiple. I think the record I've counted is seven in a single sentence.

If you ever get an email from Eversio Wellness and it feels like someone reached through the screen and grabbed you with pure warmth and enthusiasm, that's Lori. That's just her. Those exclamation marks are how her passion comes out, because she is authentically, genuinely that excited about health, about mushrooms, about you.

We secretly delete one or two sometimes before things go out. Lori, if you're reading this, we love you and your exclamation marks and we wouldn't change a single one. Well. Maybe one or two. !!!!

Shannon's "That's Bananas": The Meme Queen Strikes Again

Shannon is our formulating naturopathic doctor. She is responsible for why I can say, without a shred of hesitation, that we have the best mushroom supplements on the market. She takes quality assurance so personally that it borders on art. She is serious, meticulous, brilliant — and then, in a meeting when everyone is deep in the details, she will look up and say:

"That's bananas."

Every single time, it lands like medicine. The whole room stops. Everyone laughs. The energy shifts. And that's the magic of Shannon's isms — the contrast between her incredible expertise and that perfectly-timed, completely unexpected delivery.

She's also the undisputed meme queen of our team. Nobody sees a meme coming from Shannon. But when it arrives, it is perfect.

Craig's Made-Up Words: CEO of His Own Vocabulary

My husband and our CEO, Craig, has two iconic isms. The first is his fidget collection, gold slinky, actual spinner, squishy balls, gear sets, and if you're walking into a hard conversation with Craig, you want to see something in his hands. Trust me on this.

The second is that he invents words. Regularly. With complete confidence. He will melt two words together to make one new, highly specific word that somehow means exactly what he needs it to mean. I have a running note in my phone titled "Craig's Awesome Vocabulary." I will not be sharing it publicly, but I will say it is one of my favorite documents in existence.

He's not doing it by accident. He knows. And he is absolutely right that sometimes you just need a word that doesn't exist yet.

Veronica's "Struggle Bus": The Art of the Analogy

Veronica, our brand manager, communicates in analogies and she does it beautifully. Ask her how her day is going and she might say she's "on the struggle bus today." Or that her "acceptance pants are very tight." She loves Disney, she loves a good movie reference, and she is one of the biggest kids at heart I've ever known — while also being one of the most hardworking humans on the planet.

Her isms are a reminder that you can hold both. You can be serious and silly. You can be high-capacity and lighthearted. And you can always, always find the words to tell the truth about how you're feeling in a way that makes the people around you both understand and smile.

Paige's Pop Culture Genius: The Office Called, It Wants Its Ideas Back

Paige is our graphic designer and she is wickedly witty. She communicates through memes and show references — specifically, references that I almost never recognize because I don't watch enough TV.

Case in point: she and Dr. Desiree filmed this incredible Halloween Instagram series where we hired a zombie and a ghost to help with accounting and marketing at Eversio HQ. It was genius. I watched it a thousand times. Months later, Paige mentioned she'd taken the concept straight from The Office.

I had no idea. I watched the original after the fact. I will do better, Paige. I promise. In the meantime, everyone go watch: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three, and then come back to appreciate her work on a whole new level.

Dr. Desiree's Isms: The Giggle-ism Heard 'Round the World

And then there is Dr. Desiree. Where to even begin.

The giggle-ism is the most famous. It comes when she's tired. It comes when she's hungry. It comes when she's overwhelmed. And it comes, most reliably and most powerfully, when she has to say the words turkey tail.

Early in our time working together, we booked a videographer, set up a teleprompter, and Dr. Des was going to record educational videos for each of our mushroom supplements. She sailed through lion's mane, reishi, all of them, and then she hit turkey tail.

The line she needed to read was that turkey tail mushroom gets its name because it has rings of colour like the tail of a turkey.

She could not get through it. The giggle came. Three times. It was something about the phrase itself triggering a mental loop of shake your tail feathers. We all left the room. The videographer was crying laughing. I was sitting in the hallway. It took approximately thirty takes.

And now? Every single time the words turkey tail come up on this podcast (which is often, because turkey tail is one of our most beloved mushrooms), there is a moment. A pause. An edit. A shared giggle between the two of us that carries years of memory in it.

That's what an ism is, at its best. It's not just a quirk. It becomes a shared language. A shortcut to joy. A thing that, when it happens, means we have history, and it's good.

The Deeper Truth About Isms: They Are How We Become Ourselves

Here's what I want you to really sit with: we are a culmination of the traits we've admired in other people and chosen to make our own. That's not imitation, that's growth. That's how character is built.

I quote Dr. Joe Dispenza more than I quote almost anyone else and honestly, that's an ism of mine. His work in neuroscience and human consciousness has shaped so much of how I think. 

Where you place your attention is where you place your energy. Your personality creates your personal reality. These aren't just phrases to me. They're operating principles I've absorbed so deeply that they come out in conversation without me even planning them.

That's what happens with the things that truly matter to us. They become part of how we talk. How we move. How we show up.

And the isms you carry that feel most like you? Those often have roots in the people who changed you. The things that moved you. The experiences that rewired something in your brain and your heart.

Misconceptions, Realness, and Soft Rebellion

While we were on the subject of isms, Dr. Desiree and I also got into the misconceptions people have about each of us, and I think this is worth talking about.

People sometimes think I'm not really that happy. That nobody vibrates that high genuinely. That it must be a performance or bypassing of emotion.

I want to be clear: I am truly an optimist. I love my life. I am so grateful for the abundance I have in health, in relationships, in nature, in connection. That happiness is partly a choice and partly, honestly, just something in the chemistry of this body that makes it easy for me to see the bright side.

That said — I am human. There are moments. There are hard things. What's true is that it takes a lot to knock me down, and when it does, I trust the tools I have to come back to myself. The mushrooms, the meditation, the community, the movement.

For Dr. Desiree, the biggest misconception is that people assume she's all science with no depth, or conversely, that she's all woo-woo with no rigor. She is both, fully and intentionally. She is a naturopathic doctor who grew up alongside illness, who walked her own healing journey, who cares deeply about outcomes and evidence and about the intuitive, spiritual dimension of health. The science and the soul are not opposites. They are partners. That's the whole point.

And I will say this for both of us: we are not about rejecting medicine. We have a tote bag that says "more fungi, less pharma" — but that is less, not none. It's about expanding options. About empowering people with information. About root cause alongside acute care. We love you, modern medicine. We just also love mushrooms. Deeply. 

Your Isms Are Worth Knowing. Here's How to Start:

If this episode and this post have stirred anything up for you, here's what I want to leave you with:

What are your isms?

Not the ones you're embarrassed by. Not the habits you're trying to change. The ones that, when you really look at them, are just you. The ones that might even be a little misunderstood by the people who don't know you well yet.

And maybe even more importantly, whose isms have you picked up along the way? Who changed how you talk, how you think, what you say when you're excited or overwhelmed? That's a map of the people who shaped you. And it's worth honouring.

If you want to go deeper on understanding yourself, your patterns, your wiring, your natural way of being in the world, we'd also love for you to listen to our episode with human design expert Mindy Crawford. She worked with all of us individually and as a team at Eversio, and I have never felt more seen than I did hearing my chart for the first time. She also offers free chart readings — just Google Mindy Crawford human design.

Listen to the Full Episode

This blog only scratches the surface of what happened in this episode. The speed round of "this or that" questions. The story of how I discovered voice notes existed. The revelation that I write with Spotify's Deep Focus playlist when I need to get into alpha brainwave states and create. The full turkey tail saga in all its glory.

Come hang with us. 🎧