I’m sure you have heard of Health and Life Coaches, but what are they really? Have you ever wondered if maybe you need one but don’t really know or understand what they do? Maybe you are experiencing a health issue or a situation in your life you don’t want to experience anymore but don’t really know how to change things for the better. Maybe what you are doing is not working and want some advice on what might work better, or maybe you have gone as far as you can on your own and want to take things a step further?
These are issues a health/life coach can help with. One big area these types of coaches help with is to help others cope better with stress. We all experience stress mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Basically, stress affects the “big 5” areas of life, and these areas mirror back to us whether or not we are being the most balanced, truest version of ourselves.
These “big 5” areas are health, money, love and relationships, career/calling, and our connection to that which is greater. If one area is out of whack, it affects all the other areas. So, stress can affect all of these.
For instance, if your health isn’t great, it could affect your relationship with your kids – maybe you can’t or don’t feel like or aren’t physically able to go play with them at the park or have energy for them. You don’t feel good and can barely keep yourself going, much less fit time in or energy for them.
Another example would be that if you aren’t happy with your job or career, it could impact your health. You get stressed, so you come home after work and just don’t feel like planning a nice meal so you get something to-go, which may not be as healthy. OR, maybe to escape your bad feelings, you shop all the time to escape, which can affect your finances.
OR, maybe you just had a child and you are struggling trying to keep it all going, you’re tired, you have to get up and work anyway. This could also affect your relationship with your husband or wife. See how one area starts to affect the others?
Last example, what if you are in a relationship that isn’t healthy. You may start to feel sick, which affects your job performance, health, career. Again, one area that is stressful can affect all areas. Everything is intertwined.
So, in health or life coaching, it’s all about balance. You may think that Health coaching is mainly about trying to help someone get healthy or lose weight. And it is – it’s definitely a part of it, but not all. Health may be the biggest factor in transforming someone because it’s really hard to make big changes in life when you don’t have energy or feel good.
But a lot of times in coaching session, other things in life come out. Maybe you started talking to a Health Coach to help you with digestive issues, deal with fatigue, or pain. But while discussing these issues, life comes up and maybe it’s now about how to get to the next stage of my career but you are so tired you don’t have the energy to do what it may take to get to the next level. This is where Life coaching also comes into play. So, when you are considering looking for a coach, you want to look for one who can help you with both Health and Life issues.
Health and Life Coaches help you take a step back and help you see what is draining your energy. Maybe they look at your sleep habits, your diet, who knows what may come up. They look at everything as a whole, because again, everything is connected.
So looking at everything encompasses who, what, where, when, why, and how. We need to approach food, body, health, and life from these 6 questions. Consider, why do we eat, how what we eat works (or not) in the body, what to eat, how are we doing in life? Who are we when we eat? Health and Life coaching looks at all of these things and considers our identity and our beliefs in relation to everything.
An example of this is how are we making sure we have healthy food at home or on the go, but also, what environment are we eating our food in? How can we have healthy environments that support us?
If you had someone who could help you through some of these issues, how would that make you feel? These are just a few examples of ways health/life coaches may be able to help you, by helping you get to the deeper reasons why you may want something. They may have to ask you a series of questions to help you get to the bottom of your situation, but they are just trying to give you what you came to them for. It may be intimidating, stressful, and a bit scary to talk about these things and your feelings about them, but a coach can help you come from a place of curiosity not judgement about yourself because you are in a certain situation.
A coach can also help you uncover the real reasons behind how you got in the situation you are in or are experiencing what you are and what you can do about it. We get to a point of talking about our desires, which a lot of times we don’t let ourselves think about. When working with a Health and Life Coach, you can get into personal reflection about what you are experiencing and what your true desires are and make a plan on how to get to that point.
Everyone has desires. We all feel things in life are either/or. Like, I could either have a career or have a family, for instance. Sometimes we need help in transitioning from thinking in an “either/or” mentality to one of “both and more”. You can actually achieve both things and win! What a concept! Are you stuck in an “either/or” mentality where you feel you can only have one thing or the other (and maybe either way you will lose)? If so, wouldn’t it be a powerful thing if you could work with someone to help you transform that thinking?
When we are in an “either/or” setup, we deny our desires. Some may feel this way because they haven’t achieved something. For example, maybe they feel they can’t get what they desire until they get to a certain income level or status. Some may think it’s just too hard to achieve their desires. Maybe you think you are too old, it’s too late, or you are already set in your ways for you to get what you desire.
Do you go around saying, “I’m fine” all the time? Sometimes this is very limiting because we don’t allow ourselves more good things in life. Instead of going after those good things, we say, no, I’m fine. Does that ring a bell?
Did you know one of the greatest things about being human and having a brain is we can grow, learn and change. We can make our lives better. It doesn’t mean we are ungrateful for what we currently have. Sometimes we deny ourselves desires because we are afraid wanting more is saying what we have isn’t good enough, or that we will appear greedy.
We all at some point have worried about what others think of us. So, what if we voiced our true desires? What will my family/friends think of me? Also, it can be painful to think you can’t get what you really want or feel like you won’t ever get to have it. When this happens, you close off opportunities to connect, to feel alive.
Health/Life coaches can help you connect to what you truly desire and to see what you may have been suppressing. They can give you permission to start planning for what you want. They can help you feel powerful and capable of creating anything you want in life and give you accountability.
When you first hire a coach, you may not have the conviction that you can have or achieve your desires, but that is one reason to hire a coach. They have that conviction for you and help you get to a point where you eventually have it too. That is very powerful! If you felt you could achieve your desires, how would that make you feel? Powerful? Alive? Energetic?
One last point – a health/life coach is not about “fixing” someone. People don’t need fixing. They aren’t broken, helpless, nor powerless. It’s about showing someone they have the power to help themselves! This is what a Health/Life coach can do for you.
If you have been reading this blog and feel this is something that rings true for you, you may want to consider hiring a Health/Life Coach. Soon, I will be fully certified as a Health/Life coach and would be happy to help you in any way I can. If you want, reach out to me – info@totalyouhealth.org with any questions, thoughts, or comments. I hope to connect with you soon!
