Moving from the corporate world to Wellness

Talk about a leap of faith! I never imagined 10 years ago that I would be working for myself as a Wellness Coach.

I come from a pretty unhealthy background, 28kg’s heavier than I am now. Working in a corporate job that I despised but was getting paid shit loads. A job that, every day I felt like there was a rock in my gut. A rock of constant anxiety.

In my corporate job I was climbing the ladder, constantly looking for a job higher up and often I was successful. But the more I climbed the more I despised what I was doing.

Money was great! We never had to worry about anything because if we wanted something we just went and brought it. What a fabulous place to be, I hear you say… so why was I feeling so crap and disjointed?

It was because I had not found my passion and I was trying to take my life on a path that was not laid out for me. I was going against the grain to a place where my life was not meant be going.

When I went on Maternity leave 4 years ago, my passion for wellness grew and grew. All I could think about was getting myself as healthy as possible so that I could be the best and healthiest mum my daughters could dream of. Now, this meant a lot of change needed to happen. I was already eating in a way that I was nourishing my body with every mouthful and I was engaging in physical activity almost every day, but I still had this anxious feeling in my body that was doing my head in.

I needed to find my path and I needed to do it quickly. I racked my brain and talked to a lot of people about different things I could create a career out of. I thought about project management as I am extremely organised and like to lead people. I searched for information on it, but in the back of my mind, I knew that working as a project manager was not going to achieve anything. I would be still in the corporate world.

I thought about being a Bee Keeper, because that is what my parents are doing in their retirement. I loved the thought of working with nature and being outside in the sunshine, and to be honest, I think I would have loved this path, but something inside of me kept pushing the issue, I knew I hadn’t found my path yet.

I looked online to get some direction. I knew I loved food, so I did some Nutrition papers which I really enjoyed but I got to the end of them and thought, I’ve got all of this information but I still cannot make a career out of this. I needed to find a course that was going to set me up to create a career out of my passion.

I went back to my job in the corporate world after my maternity leave, I was working 2 days per week to start with, then increased up to 3 days per week – only because I felt guilty about the small amount of hours I was doing.

I found a course called “The advanced certificate in nutrition & Health Coaching”. All of a sudden, I was excited and just wanted to crack on with this course.

I studied 1 day per week and then if I could fit it in, I would study on the weekends too. I just loved it. Finally I had found what I was meant to be doing. A sense of calm came over me and I worked through my course over a 16 month period. I was stretched in every direction, working in corporate, doing my best as a mum and studying my ass off.

But… The rock in my gut was still there because I was still working in a job that was not serving me. I changed corporate jobs so that I could work from home. I was working my butt off, stressed and feeling like I was never enough for these people. I had so much work on my plate daily that most days I was glued to my computer rushed off my feet. I would get to 3pm most days feeling completely puffed and overwhelmed and sometimes shaking. I had definitely not stopped for lunch but I also had not even drunken any water through the day.

This job was going against everything that my body needed and also against everything that I was studying. Because of this, I was a grumpy mum and never had any time for my girls. I knew I needed to take that leap of faith and leave the corporate world so that I could finish my study and just get on with starting my business.

I was so scared because all I could think was, how am I going to pay for anything? What about job security? What if I can’t put food on the table for my family?

I have always been a worker and always made good money, but this nagging feeling of “Stop it” “Get out of there” was constantly on my mind.

So, I did it and I felt so liberated! I knuckled down and finished my course and really got stuck into my coaching. I took on as many pro bono clients as I could fit in to my busy life.

Out of those Pro Bono’s I ended up with my first paying client and I was so proud.

I have to say, this journey has not been an easy one and there have been a lot of times where I have thought, gosh, where am I going to get money from to pay for the necessities. But I have a sense of calm about me and I just know deep down in my heart that I have made the right decision and even though it is tough building my business, I know I will look back in the future and know that I did it. I took that leap of faith, followed my heart and I built my business from scratch and I’m so proud!

So, wellness is not just about eating perfectly and exercising, it is about living everyday feeling good about what you are doing. It’s about having your head in the right place so you are able to have your life on track. Once you have everything aligned in your life, your wellness will sky rocket and you will just know deep in your heart that you are where you are meant to be.