You’re overwhelmed, overscheduled, and exhausted. You know you can’t keep this up.

Your stress has become chronic, and life seems chaotic. You’re exhausted, but you continue to take it all on: at work, home, and with friends and family. 

You want things to change but don’t know where to start. 

I’VE BEEN THERE, TOO, AND HAVE COME OUT ON THE OTHER SIDE.

I’m Kathy, a health and wellness coach who helps busy women create sustainable habits to stress less, find more energy, and feel healthy without feeling guilty or selfish.

My stress was literally making me sick.

From a young age, I’ve lived my life aiming to please those around me. I took care of everything and everyone else and ignored my own needs. I was under a ton of stress trying to keep everyone else happy at my own expense. 

While my mind tried to ignore the stress, exhaustion, and overwhelm, my body couldn’t.

The chronic stress was affecting my sleep. I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking about everything I needed to do or hadn’t done well.  Lack of sleep and the anxiety it produced had me waking up feeling exhausted. I was in the never-ending cycle of being exhausted but unable to sleep. The fatigue made it hard to want to do anything that would make me feel better. I was locked in a series of bad habits that were making me feel worse each day.

Eventually, my unchecked stress caught up with me, and I found myself in a situation I couldn’t ignore. I was diagnosed with early stages of uterine cancer. My stress was literally making me sick.

This was a pivotal moment in my life. It scared the shit out of me. My body was giving me a clear sign that things had to change, and they had to change now. I started to prioritize sleep, changed careers, cleaned up my eating habits, moved more, created healthy boundaries, and started to pay attention to the connection between my mind and body.

Everything improved! But old habits die hard. Slowly, as I put myself on the back burner and started prioritizing everyone and everything else, my stress levels began to increase. I started feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Once again, my mind tried to ignore it, but my body couldn’t.

I felt horrible and was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic Epstein Barr Virus, and Lyme. 

It took all of this for me to realize that I needed to prioritize myself finally, or I wouldn’t be able to be there for the people I loved, including myself. 

I was getting through my days and existing, but I wanted to have the energy to thrive. I wanted to wake up feeling rejuvenated so I could approach my day with clarity and focus. I wanted to make it to my priority list and not wait until my body forced me to. 

It hasn’t been easy.

When I first found out I had cancer, I started practicing yoga. Movement is healing for me. In the beginning, yoga was just another tool I used to push myself to the breaking point. Fortunately, yoga can put a mirror up to your face and show you what you often don’t want to see. Over time, I used yoga as therapy to help heal my body and mind.

I loved the way yoga connected me to my breath and my body. It led the way to deeper practices like meditation and pranayama. These practices taught me how to be kinder and gentler to myself, a very foreign concept. 

This was key to the rest of the changes I wanted to make. Until I started treating myself half as kind as I treated everyone else, I wouldn’t be able to heal. 

It has been a challenging process. I am a constant work in progress. Figuring out how to treat myself compassionately and kindly has been more difficult than anticipated. I had to start with little things like buying myself a cup of coffee when I wanted to and not only when I was going to meet a friend or taking myself out to lunch for no reason. I felt guilty and selfish doing things for myself. 

Eventually, I found my voice and the courage to ask for what I wanted. I began saying no to people when they asked for my help (one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do). I also learned how to ask for help when I needed it (the other most challenging thing I had to do). I realized I didn’t have to give and never receive. 

It has been a long, slow process. I have messed up many times and fallen back into my old habits. The difference now is I don’t criticize myself when I mess up and can stop at that moment and start again. I no longer feel guilty and selfish when I do take time for myself or ask for what I want because I know I am better for everyone else when I do.

The secret to my success

Creating small, sustainable habits was key to my success. The habits were so small in the beginning that there was no way I could fail: buying myself a cup of coffee, taking a bath, going for a walk, spending 10 minutes reading, sitting outside in the sun, taking a nap, or any other small thing I did just for me. Over time, those habits became second nature and gave me a solid foundation to work from. The layering of habits helped things fall into place organically. 

I found a way to heal by establishing routines and showing up consistently. Things like yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises created a strong connection to my mind and body. Taking the time to cook my food, finding time to pause during the day, creating a nighttime routine, and doing things that bring me joy helped me feel grounded and strong and gave me the foundation to take on any challenge life throws at me. I recognize the signs my body sends BEFORE things get out of control. I no longer feel guilty or selfish for taking the time I need so I can manage my stress and feel healthy, grounded, and balanced every day.  

I understand the battles you face. I know how hard it is to create space in your life to take care of yourself when you are not even on your priority list. This is precisely why I became a health and wellness coach.

Women come to me for a variety of reasons:

• starting a meditation, yoga practice, or breathing practice

• sleep issues

• work-life balance

• career changes

• autoimmune wellness

• finding purpose

• movement routines

• recovery from injuries and illness

• healthy eating
  

Let’s partner together to manage your stress so you can let go of things that don’t serve you and begin to thrive.

 Ready to get started? Click below to schedule your free discovery call to see if we’re a good fit.