One of the aspects of my coaching that is so important for my clients’ health, is to really look at their work and whether or not it makes them truly happy. Are they just collecting a paycheck and counting the seconds til Friday at 5:00pm? Are they always wishing they could make more money, move up in the company or have a nicer boss that valued their work? Are they binge eating from the vending machine at break time and then rushing home to veg in front of the TV or computer? The majority of us could say yes to all of these questions without hesitation. In today’s economy, we take what we can get, even if we have a first rate education. There is very little job security left in America and we all just do the best we can.
Still, knowing all of this, I vowed that after my kids were in school I would go back to work doing something that made me happy and would help people. It was scary and daunting to even think about. I never graduated from college, so I knew I’d have to go back to school in order to have a real chance at doing the work I wanted to do. Before my kids, I was working in a cancer treatment center as a secretary/receptionist. I had started out as the file clerk and over the years, worked my way up to the front desk. It was rewarding in it’s own way, but mostly it was stressful and depressing. It wasn’t how I wanted to spend the rest of my working days until retirement. There are many wonderful people that make it their life’s work, but it just wasn’t for me. Having a passion for health and nutrition made it easy to know what direction to go in. It took me a while to zone in on health coaching, but once I found it, I knew it was the perfect fit. Guiding clients to better health through nutritional education is what I was put on this earth to do. I light up when I talk about it at a party and my heart speeds up when a client, friend or family member texts me with a random nutrition question. I’m just that into it! That’s why I am so glad that part of what I do is to help people find happiness in their own work.
To clarify, I do not tell all of my clients to go in on Monday and quit their job. Ever. What I do is help them to see how their relationship with their job effects their health. From how stressed out they are, how valued they feel and how it effects their eating to how many times a year they are out sick. Sometimes this leads to them seeking out new employment and sometimes it helps them to see how they can make their current work a healthier place to be. Sometimes it’s can be as simple as a shift in how they view their work and other times they need to make some major changes in their work day to feel more fulfilled.
So today I’d like my readers to ask themselves, “Do I love what I do?”.