Being a Health Coach – others' opinion vs. my inner reality

Today I feel like sharing with you what I have been experiencing lately as a Holistic Health and Fitness Coach.

And this is mostly all about others' perception of my job, of what I am doing, of how I am living and what they think it should be and look like.

The first reaction is often a look at my body from the bottom up to the top: "how does a Holistic Health and Fitness Coach look like?" It used to make me feel quite uncomfortable, almost embarrassed or ashamed, especially on days where I wouldn't feel at my best (YES, this happens to us health coaches as well!). Now it makes me laugh somehow, because I recognize the all-too-common human pattern, comparison and expectation behind it, and I know that it has nothing to do with me.

What people think about me, and even more specifically about my physical appearance, tells me more about them than about me. Whatever your opinion is on someone, it is only the reflection of your own perception and has to do with your own struggles and inner beliefs. A health coach's focus is being healthy, not being skinny or magazine-photoshopped. This is a main shift compared to the usual approach of society.

Another common reaction is to check what I am eating. If I am in a restaurant with friends I haven't seen for a while, they will observe every single bite I take. If I dare taste some red wine or have a non-organic meal, they will automatically make a joke about it. As if they were waiting for me to be "non-perfect". This used to stress me a lot at the beginning. Today, I do whatever I want, whether they are observing or not.

And now, as most of you must have seen: I am pregnant. And there are so many people around me waiting to see how I am going to handle it, how much weight I am going to put on, will I manage to be as healthy during pregnancy? Some hope that I will start eating "dirty foods" saying "stop controlling your food, just let it go and enjoy!" This sounds so wrong to me. I love myself enough to take care and enjoy real great foods that make me feel alive. I am not frustrated at all because I am not eating any sugar or chemical-laden food.

While pregnant, you have to take care of the quality of your food even more than ever before. My only focus now is to be healthy, more than ever before. Being pregnant is a normal natural event in a woman's life. It shouldn't be all about the body transformation. It is about the beauty of the process.

I hope I can inspire women to leave behind this "all about physical appearance" mentality. As women, a lot is expected from society: be charming, slim, fit, healthy, slim during pregnancy, slim after pregnancy, no stretchmarks, no cellulitis, no aging marks... Basically, we should be robots. This is all nonsense, and we as individuals can turn this tendency around.

Start living for WHO you are, INSIDE. Experience the real growth in you, connect to your heart, to your gut, listen to the signs. Feel aligned, love yourself so much that you can love the others unconditionally. When someone radiates from the inside, the outside is always glowing and shining bright.

When I say I am a Holistic Health and Fitness Coach, most people just think of what to expect on the outside. But they are missing the most important point. To become a Holistic Health and Fitness Coach, I had to work mostly ON THE INSIDE. I had to learn to love myself, to get to know who I really am. I had to learn what felt good for my soul. I had to learn to accept myself and become better every day.

Have I felt alone and isolated and misunderstood? Yes, probably, mainly at the beginning. But what I understand now is that I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN MAKE ME HAPPY. My happiness is within myself and doesn't depend on anyone else.

We don't have to prove anything to anyone, besides ourselves. So just live your life the way you want to. Be the person you want to be. Do everything with love. Love unconditionally - which also means loving yourself unconditionally, with all your imperfections. And that's the beauty of life: a never-ending journey of self-improvement.

In Love and Happiness,

Stephanie