3 Ways Self-Awareness Leads to Healthy Outcomes

The WellNow co Happy Place Self Awareness

Despite being a health coach, I definitely never claim to be perfect. I don’t love rigorous exercise and I have a sweet tooth! Having this self-awareness can really improve the outcomes of goals I set for myself and my health. I have to work on getting balance in my life knowing these things about myself.

I also run a business and have three kids, each with increasingly busy lives. While I recognise that I need to be there for them, I also need to look after myself and my own needs so that I can show up in the way that I want for them.

I took a leaf out of my own book and started the year intentionally with better self-care at the heart of it. But to really make this work I needed to do self-reflection and use self-awareness to address what’s out-of-whack, what’s working and then figure out how to make the right changes for me.

That’s exactly what I did (and what I do with my clients all the time!) and I’m really feeling the difference now. How did I do it?

Self-awareness
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1. OBSERVE THE CHALLENGES & BARRIERS

Recognising what’s getting in my way to achieve what I want is a good starting point for change using self-awareness. I often let my work get in the way of taking the time for simple self-care activities, and that’s just not a runner for a health coach! Creating clear boundaries for the different aspects of my life makes it much easier to manage. And finding people to be accountable to has helped me break through the hurdle of making the changes I wanted in the first place.

The WellNow Co Goal Setting
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2. CREATE CLEAR SOLUTIONS

I prioritised my workload (which is why I’m on social media less). Like with most people, there is always something to be done in work. I could literally sit at my desk 24/7 and have things to do. But that really is not going to serve me or anyone around me either. I’ve prioritised what needs to be done in the short, medium and long term and I’ve created boundaries around these. It’s a great form of self-awareness and reflection. It means I can close my laptop at the end of the day and with it my work-mind closes too. It’s a real relief.

I’ve intentionally moved more with daily yoga and walking. I chose these activities because I wanted a sense of being gentle with a view to building energy and strength over time, and it’s working already. I use online yoga classes and stick to an almost daily routine.

I was lucky to be part of a small accountability group since the start of the year. This threw a healthy dose of competitiveness into my plans which meant I always did what I set out to do. But to keep aligned with my core values (another great part self-awareness), I also want to make my movement something I will always do, and I know I could do these activities till I’m rocking a blue rinse.

I have been reversing some eating habits that have crept in over the last few years where I let myself away with making some dubious food choices. I’m feeling back on track with this now and in a balanced way that works for me.

WellNow
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3. ACKNOWLEDGE & CELEBRATE RESULTS

I’ve noticed my head is clearer, I’m more present, I’m making better food choices, I have more energy, my kids are absorbing what they see and it’s being reflected back at me through them.

So, while there seems to be a bit of a backlash towards New Year’s resolutions, I found that the break for Christmas allowed me the bit of space I needed to regain perspective, self-reflection and check-in with myself for practical self-awareness. January felt like a natural time for me to make the changes I wanted. I then applied some of my own work on myself and have got to where I am now.

Suzanne Leyden Health Coach
Suzanne Leyden, Health Coach and Owner of The WellNow Co.

HOW CAN I HELP YOU?

Learning to succeed with positive behaviour change to improve health outcomes is what I do. Whether it’s a workplace wellbeing talk, more immersive teamwork or individual 1:1 coaching, I listen, inform (where relevant) support and guide with clear structure.

If you’re looking for meaningful workplace wellbeing solutions, or you’d like to explore 1:1 coaching options get in touch for a no-obligations chat. You too could have a clear head, feel more calm and enjoy living so much more!

Suzanne xx

5 Top Tips for Beating Overwhelm at Christmas

WellNow Overwhelm at Christmas

By Suzanne Leyden, Nutrition Health & Wellness Coach and Owner of The WellNow Co

Overwhelm at Christmas, and throughout the rest of the year, is rife. We are all wrapping things up for the end of year and planning things for next year, organising Christmas and all that it entails. There’s rarely a moment for yourself, but you’ve never needed a break more. So what can we do about it?

There’s no point in pretending to be having a ball and actually not enjoying a moment of it (possibly like our gorgeous fur-baby ;-)), and becoming exhausted from it all. This feeling of burnout can lead to low mood, irritability, exhaustion and more. I don’t think any one of us is striving for that existence. Christmas should be about joy and family, gifting and eating, connecting and laughing. Make that the goal. Turn the stress upside-down and take back control. I’ll give you a few starter tips to get you on your way.

GAINING PERSPECTIVE

The first thing is to gain perspective. It’s essential to carve out a dedicated time (it may be just 5 or 10 minutes) to see what is important, and prioritise your list of to-do’s. It may be that some of the things weighing you down can be sorted within a a few minutes – like ordering an online food shop to arrive on the 23rd of December, which means you don’t need to think about that again until it arrives. Or popping to your local shops to get your nieces and nephews gifts in one fell swoop. Or sharing the workload that’s pushing you to breaking point with your team – sometimes just asking can get you very far. 

TAKING BACK CONTROL OF BALANCE

Whatever it is, you can approach taking back control of balance in your life in a similar way and here’s my approach:

  1. Write your full list of to-do’s.
  2. Group the list, if possible, into things that can be done together at the same time, or delegated, or pushed to the new year.
  3. Take the list and put the items one-by one into your calendar. This way you are no longer facing one long to-do list, but managing each day as it comes, hour by hour. 
  4. Work through your list without the overwhelm. And if you don’t get to an item on a particular day, you can re-schedule easily.
  5. While scheduling these items in, block out a few windows for yourself. They may only be a few minutes, or maybe you can manage an hour. There is no doubt, that with some clever scheduling there is definitely time for you that you can squeeze out of your day.

FINDING WELLBEING

Time management, organising and finding some time for yourself is an essential part of finding balance and wellbeing in an otherwise always-on, highway-to-burnout, overwhelming world.

Once you do get those regular time slots for you into your day, or week, then you need to figure out what to do with them. Hint: it’s not about spending that time doing things for other people. I’ll focus on that in my next post.

Suzanne Leyden Health Coach Contact