Wellness Coaching: The Next Big Thing

Credit: D Sharon Pruitt

The following is a post sponsored by Licensed Wellcoach Terri Robery. For our sponsored post policy, click here.

As you already know, I’ve been going through quite the life journey lately. From running a marathon to surviving an injury (and running after it!) to learning more about me and breaking my own limitations, I’ve been on a bit of personal, introverted adventure lately. Although I’ve been able to reach some of my goals on my own, reader Terri Robery recently reached out to us to see if we’d ever experienced “wellness coaching.” I knew a little about it, but was intrigued to find out more. She offered to coach me just as she would any other client and then we agreed that I would write honestly about the experience for at least one post, more if warranted (full disclosure—we were paid!). This is that post…

Not to be confused with personal training, meeting with a wellness coach isn’t about you being told what or what not to do. In fact, it’s a very collaborative process where you—the client—are totally in charge and held accountable. And while it can be about losing weight or eating better, it’s truly designed to help you meet any wellness goal, be it sleep, energy, work/life balance, stress reduction, happiness and more! It’s really all about you and reaching your goals. (I’m such a fan of goal setting!)

My first consultation with Terri was an informal get-to-know-you session where we chatted about where I was in my life and Terri spoke with me about what wellness coaching is and isn’t. In a nutshell, wellness coaches are facilitators of change. They step out and look at the big picture, working with you to help you identify obstacles that stand in the way of success. And then they collaborate with you to come up withideas, goals and a path to get there. They are truly coaches of wellness.

After that first short call, Terri had me fill out a short wellness questionnaire that asked me basic questions: Was I happy? Fulfilled? Sleeping enough? Feeling energetic most of the day? After getting the results back (you get a nice little report at the end), my suspicions were confirmed: My work/life balance was nonexistent. And, surprisingly, my energy had some severe highs and lows. While I knew I worked too much, the survey really brought awareness to my daily energy surges and drains—I’d never really thought seriously about the fact that I hard-core crash every day at about 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., and that on every Friday night I am dead to the world. Talk about eye-opening!

Soon thereafter I scheduled my first 90-minute Wellness Planning Session. In it, we talked about my wellness survey results, and brainstormed changes I could make to improve my overall wellness (namely my work/life balance and stress). I ended up choosing four different do-able small things to do to get me to bigger, more elaborate goals.

With her help, I also created a wellness vision for myself. This vision is basically a perfect day for me where I work, but not too much, I work out, but not obsessively, I eat right, but with tasty foods,and I live life to its fullest feeling energized. (Sounds great, right?!) From there, I listed my motivators, my strengths, my challenges and some strategies to help me conquer any bumps in the road.

Without giving away too much good stuff, the experience has been EMPOWERING. Meeting with Terri has been an amazing experience and a time to focus on just me. I don’t get to take out a lot of time just thinking about improving me. (We see me-time as a luxury, but it’s really a must, ladies.) It’s been awesome. And Terri is amazing. She’s easy to talk to, she really listens, and she points you in the right direction without doing it for you. Not to mention how helpful it is to have an outside, unbiased person looking at your life from a big-picture perspective.

So I adamantly encourage anyone who feels like they aren’t living their best lives possible, be it extra weight, lack of energy, stress, or whatever, to consider booking some wellness coaching sessions with Terri. Girlfriend just rocks.

Stay tuned for a follow-up post next month on my wellness-coaching experience where I check in on those goals and set more baby steps! —Jenn