Is This You? Joyous Success Can Be Yours!

Her name is Susan and she’s the #2 person at work. She’s in the fast-paced media world where the workday never seems to end. She’s 38, a wife and mother of a toddler. She is feeling really off and out of balance. She is having trouble conceiving.

During her first session, Susan expresses her frustration with very low energy, intense moodiness, lethargy, unwanted weight, feeling heavy and uncomfortable, no sex drive, crazy PMS, sugar addiction, bad back and recurrent early pregnancy loss. She wants to feel less old, less worn out. She wants to be healthy, to get her mojo back.

Susan exhibits many of the traits of a typical WOBO woman: athletic and active, highly-motivated, disciplined, optimistic and hopeful, tenacious and can push through just about anything, successful and used to getting lots of stuff done.

She also has a very typical WOBO lifestyle: usually lying awake at 4am, drifts off until the alarm at 6am, jumps right out of bed and starts her day. Within 15 minutes, she’s out the door to the gym usually without breakfast or something minimal. During her 40-minute workout, she watches the morning news. She rushes back home to grab a quick breakfast (usually coffee and a smoothie) before her daughter wakes up at 7:30. While her daughter drinks her morning milk, Susan squeezes in some physical therapy (~ 7 min). Within 20-minutes, she’s showered, done her makeup and hair. Does a couple household chores for about 30 minutes, then back upstairs to get dressed before the nanny arrives. Out the door 10 minutes later and in the car for daily AM conference call. Gets to work around 9:30, checks email and voicemail, catches her breath before a long day of non-stop meetings. She runs all day from one meeting, problem, or crisis to another. Lunch is usually quick and eaten at her desk – something frozen or a crummy sandwich. 6:45pm head home. Arrive at 7:15 and have 10-15 min to catch up with hubby before starting evening kid routine (bath, storytime). 8pm she and hubby finally eat dinner, watch a little TV, do some chores, putter around until head up at 9:30pm. Read for about 30 min.

Are you exhausted just reading this? Can you relate? This daily frenetic pace from the time she wakes up until she collapses in bed is clearly behind her complaints. But what can she do about it? She has to be a leader at work, take care of her family, maintain a household, stay connected to friends. None of these things can go away.

While it may look hopeless, there are things that can be done. Susan and I worked together for 6 months and during that time she experienced some wonderful benefits by making small changes over time. What did she do?

  • Improved the quality of her lunch (stopped and picked up something on her drive in)
  • Made lunch the biggest meal of the day; ate a light dinner
  • A couple days a week took 30 minutes to eat lunch away from her desk (even if just in the break room)
  • Increased the amount of vegetables in her diet (kale became a standard addition to morning smoothie; drank an Evolution juice daily)
  • Learned a high-protein breakfast is key to managing hunger and sugar cravings
  • Started taking an evening walk
  • A 5-10 min guided meditation, 3x week (includes hiding in bathroom at work, sitting in lotus for 3 min with daughter in the morning)
  • Improved quality of afternoon snack (e.g, junk candy to dark chocolate)
  • Created some order in her environment (clean car and top of dresser)
  • Conspired with her assistant to block off time on Friday afternoons to get organized and take care of personal things that can only be done during the work week
  • Created a transition time during evening commute (no listening to news; no work communication 2x week, listen to fun and calming music)

What were Susan’s benefits?

  • Within the first month, she dropped a few pounds, had more energy, was sleeping a lot better, fewer hunger pangs and less digestive distress. Overall felt so much better; Plus on her next visit, Mom commented on how much better she looked. You know Mom’s tell it like it is.
  • 6 weeks in she was continuing to lose weight and getting comments from co-workers “you look thinner.” The intense sugar cravings in the evening had gone away. Felt more in control.
  • By the end of her program, her husband commented on how much calmer she’d become. She was feeling more positive emotionally. Had lost more than 10 pounds
  • 4 months later Susan was also pregnant and past the critical period. While she was doing some infertility treatments and acupuncture, I’d like to think that our work together was supportive of a new life as well.

What small steps can you take to restore your health and vitality? Yes you can do these things and others but if you haven’t or they don’t stick then perhaps it’s time to get support.

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Feel free to ask questions too.

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