About 10 years ago, I was sitting in my office at work, bored, and probably reading healthy living blogs. At this time, I had been in the corporate world for about 3 years and the excitement of this “adult” job I was so thrilled to have right out of college, was fading. My company was bought by a bigger company, so lots of management changes were occurring, too many organizational changes, and also a relocation (to a further away site) was about about to happen.
I loved my job at the beginning when I first started. I felt very lucky to have been employed by a big well-known company and making good money. I had good benefits and a 401K….the works. I loved what I was doing. I had a wonderful manager and worked with really great people. It was what I wanted. But after nonstop changes and when the company changed, and when I felt like the only way to get ahead was to play those games, I was done. It was slowly taking a toll on me, both mentality and physically.
I was miserable every day at work. It was constant drama and everyone was always gossiping and just bitching. Everyday was a bitch-fest. Because everyone else was just as miserable. I was gaining weight, even though I was exercising and running everyday (and eating what I thought was healthy at the time, which really were foods that my body didn’t want). I felt lost and didn’t know what I should do. Was this my life? This sucks. I was constantly stressed and miserable and only wanted to be home.
However, it would take another 4 years and a layoff for me to leave. Again, it was a good job that paid well, so it was very hard to leave on my own. I didn’t have the guts. So, I was basically forced out (via one of the many rounds of layoffs that occurred over these years), which was the best thing that ever happened to me. Because if they didn’t let me go, I could very well still be there, and be incredibly miserable right now. That life wasn’t really what I wanted. The universe knew it and forced me to pivot.
I am thinking about this today because I finally feel at peace with what I want to do. Someone on my IG commented that I am “very wise, ” to know this. But the truth? It took copious amounts of self-development books and audio recordings, a full year-long course in getting my health coach certification (and those trainings), and purposely surrounding myself with like-minding people for 6 years, to get me here. I had to do little things, consistently over time, to get me here.
I understand now that life is more than just a job that pays the bills, and you really do have to find something you LOVE doing. Because you are at work all day, everyday. If you hate it, how can that be a happy life? But for many people (myself included), this is super hard to find and do. I am scared all the time because when you work for yourself, you have to keep yourself accountable and also put yourself out there. That is extremely difficult for me to do. It is completely out of my nature. I like comfort. This is out of my comfort zone, evening just typing these words and this post. But I realize that the alternative will leave me in an even worse place, both mentally and physically. I shouldn’t have to settle for that. I want more and I want to be happy.
But your life literally depends on what you do for a living. Because you know what the top killer is? Not food, not chemicals… its stress. If you hate your job, or hate your situation or just miserable every day, its literally going to affect your well-being and life. Living with constant stress is the worse thing for your body and it will affect your health.
Once, I left that job and starting to figure out my own way and what I actually wanted to do for a living, my health actually improved. I literally thought differently. It was like the fog lifted and my brain waves shifted. I finally lost the weight too! It was the constant stress that kept me in that vicious cycle. Once, that was gone, everything else finally fell into place. But again, I also had to seriously work at it. Over the years, this is what I did:
- I stopped listening to and surrounding myself around negative people. This is huge. I’ve heard you are an average of the 5 closest people to you. So look at those 5 people. Are they happy? Are they successful? Do you actually enjoy being around them? Do they bring you up? If they aren’t bringing you up and making you a better version of yourself, then maybe you need to reevaluate your relationships. This will help you in so many ways to become happier, less stressed and overall healthier, then just focusing on diet alone.
- I started teaching and doing Arbonne. Teaching became something I actually loved doing and actually looked forward to doing. And by being apart of the Arbonne community, I surrounded myself with successful and happy people, which made me want to be that way too. Again, this brings back to working towards something that you are actually happy doing and being around other happy people.
- I ate better. I started to focus on real, whole foods, and cooked better meals at home. I ate more veggies and more full fat (stopped anything “low fat” or “diet”). Stopped eating things with chemicals in them. I really believe eating real fat (and less chemicals) helped regulate my hormones, which also made me feel more balanced and gave me more clarity. (Hormones literally run your body, so when they aren’t functioning, many things can go haywire and you need fat to make them). Eating foods your body actually needs will also help with decreasing stress and making your feel overall better.
- I exercised everyday, but only for 15-20 min and only doing something I loved doing. I did workouts that I actually wanted to do. I discovered I prefer HIIT style workouts as opposed to spending so many hours at the gym, running or doing what I thought I “had to to do.” This is important, because you will exercise if you look forward to it! You will never regret a workout! And you don’t have to actually run to have that “runners high.” It will be anything you enjoy doing.
In a nutshell, I worked on myself for years. I changed my mentality and I worked on bettering myself. This is what got me to this place.
If you feel this way now, you can change it. Yes, its hard and will take time. You can try some of my favorite books to start or find some on your own (there’s so many). Or, you can send me a message and we can work on this together (or if you just want someone to talk to ). I have gone through it and know what worked for me. I became a health coach because I want people to finally be happy and have peace in their lives too. Its not going to happen overnight or even in a few months. Its doing something small everyday that helps move you in a forward direction towards a life you actually feel at peace with.
What little things are you doing today to move you towards your best life?