“If you are stressed about your wellness routine, it’s not really true wellness.”

Last week was National Stress Awareness Day, and it inspired me to touch on a part of our wellness that has become one of the main focuses within my wellness coaching. 

Stress has one of the largest negative ripple effects into our life and wellness. I see if every single day, in the world around us, with clients and even in my own life during stressful seasons for myself or my family.

Becoming stress aware and developing tools to evaluate our stress levels, manage stress and become more emotionally resilient is one of the most powerful tools we can practice. 

The fact of the matter is, if we are stressed out about our wellness and health routine, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. What use is a wellness routine, if it is causing more stress and guilt, as opposed to joy and happiness?

Our wellness routine gets to be our salvation. It gets to bring us peace, joy, love and honor within our body and mind. 

And for those who do desire weight loss, something I encourage most to not have as a top focus, but that is of course still possible, stress is one of the number one killers of that process on a biological level. 

Greater cortisol levels = greater body fat stores.

Biologically when we are holding onto a “wellness and health journey” that is causing stress and guilt due to only focusing on restriction, obsession, numbers, tracking, etc. we may be counter acting the very goal we had in the first place.

There’s a better way. A powerful, honor your body, feel amazing in your own skin, LOVE yourself kind of way. 

So, my question to you…”Are your ‘wellness’ habits causing you stress and guilt or joy and happiness?”

Here are few questions to ask yourself to evaluate if your wellness routine is serving you well:

1. Do I enjoy my physical movement routine? Have you found a workout or physical activity that your body feels good doing? 

Sometimes this requires us to get a bit creative. Physical movement doesn’t need to look like going to the gym and lifting for two hours. It could be getting out in nature and going for a walk, playing an active game with the kids, yoga and active stretching, fun boutique fitness classes, etc.

Finding a way to move your body that you mentally and physically benefit from is key. Just because your best friend loves hitting it hard at the CrossFit gym, doesn’t mean you have to love it too. Find your soulmate workout.

2. Are you stressing out about your nutrition? Do you feel guilty more often than satisfied after eating your meals? Do you struggle with honoring your body with food? Stress eating? Emotional eating?

Nutrition is one of the main reasons people gravitate towards wellness coaching. We are always looking for a one size fits all, quick fix, when it comes to our food journey. 

I’m here to say, there isn’t one. At least not one that I’ve found that is actually enjoyable and sustainable for life. 

Mindful nutrition is my jam. It allows space for both foods that fuel our body well with nutrient density AND the fun foods that may not be as nutrient dense, but that fuel our bodies and minds with joy. 

We get to have both, and mindful nutrition, releasing guilt, food education and knowledge are how we get there. 

3. What’s your relationship with your scale like? Are you emotionally detached from the number? Or does that number dictate your mood, how you feel about yourself, how you interact with the people closest to you and your food choices/emotions around your food and your workouts?

Ohhhhh the scale. Personally I broke up with the scale about 4 years ago, and to be honest since being on this mindful wellness journey, I can now step on it and not feel any emotion, knowing that it is simply a number and does not quantify my worth.

But let me tell you, that was not always the case. I have seen it in myself, I have seen it in my clients, I see if in family and friends every day. 

The power that the scale has over us is immense, and at the same time it is so widely accepted that its detriments to our mindset have become normalized.

Our relationship with our body is one of the biggest pieces of loving our wellness routine and our life. Self acceptance, beyond a number, is a huge step in developing a lifelong wellness routine that you love.

4. How do you manage your stress? Do you feel you are emotionally resilient? Do you have tools and outlets for managing your stress in a healthy way? 

Stress as a human being is pretty much inevitable. We are all susceptible to loss, grief, navigating life transitions, anger, fear, worry, etc. 

It is how we manage these moments in life that can make or break us. 

When we develop tools to help manage our stress as we encounter it, instead of allowing it to build up inside of us, it doesn’t seep into other areas of our life and wellness. 

Whether it’s journaling, communicating with a trusted friend, working out, going for a walk, doing your favorite hobby, listening to a positive podcast, reading a motivational book, etc. find what helps you to manage stress. It’ll make an amazing impact on your mindset and your overall wellness. 

Be gentle with yourself as you reflect on your stress levels and as you build your own stress awareness. Know that you are not alone in your stress, we all have it from time to time. 

Use this as a FUN opportunity to explore activities that you’ve always wanted to try, hobbies that have been on your heart or that you haven’t done since you were younger, opening up conversations with loved ones to build better connections together. 

We don’t have to live in the negativities of our stress. We get to see this time as a new opportunity to flip the negativity into a positive experience, and in turn adopting habits in our wellness routine that bring more joy, happiness and stress RELIEF.

If these questions have brought up some ‘stuff’ for you and you are feeling called into a space of positive support, guidance, coaching and developing more wellness knowledge for yourself and your life, I invite you to join my 3 day sneak peek where you will get: 

•  A look inside both my Wholistic Female and Wholistic Picture Mama coaching experience course libraries
•  Access to my BONUS trainings bundle that is filled with mindset transformation coaching sessions
•  PLUS a free 1:1 quick call with me to discuss your own needs, goals and intentions for your wellness and life, as well as answer any questions you may have

Reserve your spot in the sneak peek here: https://www.jesshatheway.com/offers/4EdvBzfn 

Talk to you soon! And until next time, I hope you find more joy in your days and less stress, as you continue to release the thoughts and habits that are no longer serving you <3

Xoxo,

Jess