Most of my clients are middle-aged professional women who are struggling with high levels of stress. Many of them keep their own health and physical wellness on the back burner while attending to career, family, ageing parents…
Now, that has proven to be unsustainable – women are depleting their batteries and burning out.
Poor Work-Life Balance
Obviously, the pandemic has introduced another dimension too. Parents are juggling multiple roles concurrently – executive director, assistant teacher, and domestic worker amongst others. The boundaries between work and other areas of life have become further blurred. Many are on duty 24/7.
Before I entertain any other coaching topics I do a wellness assessment with the client. Depending on the outcome we chart the way forward together. There is often a need to go back to basics: work on poor sleep and eating habits, learn to integrate small breaks or breathers through-out the day, and schedule time for basic self-care.
Extra Challenges in Midlife
And all this gets even more complicated during middle-age. It is often difficult to differentiate what causes the changes in our physical wellness. Is it excessive stress? Insulin resistance? Perimenopause? Common symptoms for all these are gaining weight, changes in the skin, fatigue, poor sleep patterns and brain fog. These changes also affect our emotional and mental well-being.
How to Handle the Top Three Saboteurs
If you recognise yourself in the above descriptions, I would like to invite you to make some adjustments to your lifestyle. You may be sabotaging your optimal wellness and not feeling good in your body due to:
- Poor work-life balance or other big stress factors. The very common challenge professional women face is to deplete their ‘batteries’ by working too hard and for long hours, and just being too hard on themselves.
- Not embracing and accepting yourself. A common challenge revolves around measuring ourselves against unrealistic “youthful beauty” standards. Or perhaps your personal background – what you experienced earlier in life – has something to do with this.
- Weight gain or obesity due to insulin resistance. A condition where high-carb low-fat dieting and exercise does not work. This condition may further develop into a metabolic syndrome with high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high acidity, and high cholesterol. Eventually, this could lead to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, and cancer.
So – Consider Being a Good Friend
Could you consider helping your body by:
- Setting clear boundaries between working hours and other areas of life. Diarising time for chilling and relaxing – chelaxing – regularly.
- Showing some love to your body. Appreciating all the hard work it has done for you over the years. Embracing the changes. Telling your body that it is beautiful inside and out.
- Checking whether you are insulin resistant, have metabolic syndrome or chronic disease and make the necessary lifestyle changes to restore your health or better manage your condition.
The good news is that your body is likely to accept and appreciate your friendship even after all the nonsense it might have taken over the years. What is the first step that you are going to take to improve your physical wellness?
Pauliina Mapatha has twenty years of experience in both the government and non-profit sectors and is a certified life coach. She established her own consultancy company in 2006 and has found her passion for supporting individuals and organisations with change, transformation and wellness.
To contact coach Pauliina click here.
