What Living by Design Actually Means…
When I first launched my health coaching business,
I wanted to take my coaching skills and research experience and use them to help people learn to thrive, not just exist.
I wanted to help them live by design, not default.
Because I’d spent a good portion of my life feeling stuck, unmotivated, and just kind of ‘meh.’
Once I changed what I was eating and how I was moving my body, my entire life changed.
So I launched my business wanting to help others do the same.
The thing is, putting yourself out there on the internet is well, terrifying.
And so I wasn’t totally honest with my own health experiences and who I really wanted to work with.
You ready for the real story?
I wasn’t just unhappy and ‘meh’ before.
I was stressed all the time.
Laying wide awake in bed, unable to fall asleep till 3am stressed.
I had a soundtrack of ‘You’re not thin enough, pretty enough, smart enough, successful enough, or good enough’ playing on repeat in my head.
Some days I raced around obsessively trying to control every detail of my day, making sure I was never more than 4 minutes late and instantly assuming my friends and family were mad at me when they didn’t text me back right away.
Other days I could barely drag myself out of bed or do anything more than sit in the shower and cry.
I felt alone and honestly, like a freak. No one else seemed to struggle this way.
I was stuck and I had no idea what to do to change things.
I wasn’t just unhappy.
I had been cycling through bouts of clinical depression, stress, and anxiety since I was 14 or 15.
I discovered “health and fitness” as a drastic attempt to fix myself.
I thought if I just tried one more diet, finally lost 10 more pounds, or actually went to the gym regularly that I’d feel happier.
So I put myself through diet after diet, bought all the home workout DVDs and had 3 gym memberships that I occasionally used.
But I wasn’t very good at making anything last.
I tried a few different medications that didn’t seem to make much of a difference aside from the horrible side effects.
Therapy was helpful when I was deep in a pit of depression or anxiety, but didn’t seem to help when I was feeling sort of OK and wanting to feel great (and make sure I didn’t fall back again).
Life really changed for me when I learned I could take control of my mental health by changing my habits - but not from a place of trying to fix myself or stick to a fad for a few weeks.
I started waking up happy when I made real, lasting changes to how I was eating, moving, and thinking.
Today, my mood swings are gone.
I don’t have to constantly worry about when I’m going to slip back into a funk because no matter how stressful life gets - I have the tools, resources, and systems put in place to ride it out.
My life isn’t perfect but it’s balanced.
I spend most days feeling calm, confident, and carefree.
I wake up happy.
So that’s the real story of my health journey.
WHY AM I TELLING YOU ALL THIS?
One key part of my healing and journey this past year was learning to accept what is.
I learned to embrace who I am and share my story as a part of what makes me unique and strong, not ashamed or a freak.
The amazing part was the more I showed up and shared my real experiences with my clients, the more I learned I wasn’t alone, and the more they succeeded.
I know there are thousands of women wanting the exact same thing - to figure out how to live a good, healthy life that makes them feel good physically AND mentally.
They want to love on their bodies, free their minds, and wake up happy.
They want to get out of their heads so they can fully show up and make an impact on the world.
Today I’m fully embracing my story and using it to help other women change their habits to manage their mood.
I help them to change how they’re eating, moving, and thinking so they can stop feeling depressed, anxious, and stressed and start feeling calm, confident, and wildly carefree.
So what can you expect to see here on the blog?
- HABITS, YO. We’re going to be talking all about the lifestyle changes we can make to manage our mood. Which actually is just living by design - acknowledging that we deserve lives of outrageous joy, love, and connection and creating the habits to make it happen.
- Science. There is a lot of information out there from what you should be doing to how to do it. I believe in making changes to our health that are supported by evidence and recommended by trusted practitioners. I further believe in using coaching, psychology, and behavior change theory to make those changes happen without extremes or feeling deprived and like a failure.
- Me. I’ll share bits of my own journey, experiences, thoughts, and recommendations as I continue to learn, grow, and show up as the most real, raw, healthy, happy version of myself.
I’m real freaking excited about this next chapter and I hope you find it helpful.
If you have ANY questions, comments, or feedback I’d love to hear it. Leave a comment below or shoot me an email at hello@juliabalto.com.