I was recently at a networking event. Now, I am not usually a fan of these things and I was glad I went.
As I walked around meeting people and telling them about what I do, I found myself saying over and over again that I am a coach that works with high-achieving game-changing people who are killing it at work and as a result, also killing themselves and their relationships in the process.
It was the simplest way to define what resilience coaching is really about for me.
Why am I so passionate about doing this work? Because I was the very person that I now serve. In fact, as recently as this past year, I nearly burned myself out.
A couple of months ago, after feeling exhausted all of the time, I decided to get some tests done to see what the heck was going on with my body.
You see, empowerment and resilience are not just about the mind and the emotions, we have to take into consideration what our bodies are doing as well. One is not independent of the other. They are in fact, interconnected and interdependent.
So, I got these tests done to measure my hormone levels because I knew something had to be done. It didn’t make sense. I exercise, I eat well, and yet I was exhausted and gaining weight instead of maintaining or losing.
Well, as it turns out, I was suffering from adrenal fatigue to the degree that the doctor told me it was a good thing we found out when we did because I was just shy of levels that would require me to be hospitalized.
That was my wake up call. As a result, I got really serious about my self-care. It was bigger than just the basics. I had to get serious about rest and down time and really doing things to help me recover. I am not going to tell you what I did because it is so individual and unique for each person.
Over and over again I see my clients running the same pattern that I had been running for a year; run yourself ragged until you get sick or injured and then, and only then, give yourself permission to actually let your body rest and take physical, mental and emotional downtime.
Some of my clients fight to keep this pattern alive because it is all they have known and who they have been for so long. In some cases this patterns allows us to avoid the deeper wounds that we don’t want to face.
I get it. It took illness, injury, and almost getting hospitalized for me to get the message.
And the thing is, now that I have taken the measures to remedy it and created a new pattern, I have never been more productive.
I get up every morning at 5 AM with no alarm! I have so much energy sometimes I workout twice a day and my mental clarity and focus are better than they have ever been.
All this simply because I chose to STOP the insanity and make myself a priority.
I know that it isn’t necessarily easy, but ask yourself this, is it easier to care for yourself now, or wait until after your body feels broken? It is really up to you.
So dear one, if you are among the many incredible people who are just destroying it professionally but also destroying your health and the relationships that matter the most to you, I invite you to reconsider. It is NOT heroic to put yourself, your needs, and your self-care second. It is not a measure of your achievement to get sick in the process and you certainly CANNOT be of service and come from a spacious and open place of love if you can’t give that to yourself first and foremost.
It isn’t easy for me to admit that I wasn’t practicing what I teach for a long time and I can tell you, now that I do, I actually feel congruent, authentic and truly like myself.
You deserve that too. So, what are you going to do about?
From my loving heart to yours.
With Aloha,
Pegah
