First: Slow down, take a step back & then take small steps forwards

If I had the chance to have a chat with my younger self, this is what I would tell her.

When I look back at my life from my 20’s onwards I was (still am) a very driven individual, always striving to work harder, be more, do the best for my family, make my mum & dad proud! I know I am not unusual, especially amongst women in my generation who were really only the second generation of women who were really able to strive for their careers. I don’t want to sound like a feminist, this is just my experience, having seen my mum become a teacher and then a head mistress whilst also having 3 children, it came naturally to me, to want a career and have a family.

What I didn’t understand at that time was the cost to mum’s health. I knew nothing about menopause, mum never talked about it. But I know she suffered from terrible migraines, crippling pain from arthritic hips, always seemed exhausted at the weekends (although she bought work home)- And I have no doubt, many other symptoms which I was not aware of. She rarely rested and the summer holidays were the only time I really saw her truly relax for 2 weeks when we went away as a family.

What I realise now is that the chronic stress, lack of rest and self-care was taking its toll as she went through menopause. My older sister was the same. I went on to repeat that pattern to some extent, allowing work to become too important in my life, being chronically stressed and exhausted, but pushing myself to achieve more.

If I met myself, as a young woman my advice would be – SLOW DOWN!

Take more care of yourself, think about what you are eating and drinking, take time to exercise during the working day instead of sitting at your desk through lunch and not moving for 8 hours. Say no more often.

I see this in many women when I start coaching them. They are often so busy caring for everyone around them, and working so hard that they forget to take a pause, step back and take care of themselves. If you get to you 40’s & 50’s and find yourself exhausted, gaining weight, in pain and not sleeping. Then its time to stop, take a minute to evaluate your life and think about how you can make time for yourself.

In order to get back to being healthy, lose weight, get fitter – you need to do this before you start doing exercise that will only make things worse for you.

In my tailored 12 week program – I start with a comprehensive health assessment so that I understand everything about your health history, your current allostatic load (all the stressors that your body is coping with), your past and current eating habits and the exercise you do.

Just doing this exercise with me is a great way to take a step back and evaluate.

Then we can work together on a tailored plan that suits your lifestyle and your situation. We will discuss your goals and we will work out how to reach them in simple easy steps and I will be with you every step of the way.