Kyle from www.thatgirlkyle.com

A big part of my wellness story involves having Lisa in my life.  I am not a fortunate recipient of her wellness coaching from my place of employment; rather, I’m a very lucky person to call her one of my close friends from childhood.  Watching her work on her PhD, writing a dissertation, keeping a blog to help inspire her writing and eventually starting fresh with Thrive Style inspired me to start my own blog.

My focus on wellness comes from a shift in my attitude as I turned 30.  I wanted to change the way I ate, exercised, thought and felt about my lifestyle and also my general outlook on life.  I’m exploring new exercise routines, loving green smoothies and making some gigantic messes in my kitchen.  I have a great time bouncing ideas off Lisa, and it’s always fun when she asks me to share something on here.

Lisa has taught me that sharing our stories is one of the best ways to motivate ourselves as well as encouraging others along their paths.  My path tends to be a twisting and winding one- the “one step forward, two steps back” type- but it’s a lot of fun and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Questions or comments meant for Kyle’s eyes only?  Drop her a note at kyle@thatgirlkyle.com.

Petra

I am not a wellness expert.  I don’t have a degree in nutrition or even years of experience as person dedicated to wellness.  I am the average person who wanted to make changes in her life, but was distracted by people trying to sell me on their quick fix for wellness.  That’s changed now, as I am the lucky recipient of Lisa’s wellness coaching.

As a company benefit, Lisa comes in to our office weekly to give interested employees advice about health related issues.  At first I saw wellness coaching as a ploy to keep health care costs down, which in my case I know it does, but the greater benefit has been that wellness coaching has given me the tools to change my life.

It may sound a little cheesy and overly dramatic to say it that way, but I have undergone a health transformation over the last two years directly related to the wellness coaching program at work.  My progress: I’ve have lost 35 pounds.  I’ve lowered my blood pressure.  I’ve rehabilitated a sprained ankle.  I sleep soundly now.  Most importantly I’ve revolutionized the way I think about food, what it means to be healthy, and got myself off the path to a life with chronic illnesses.

I am totally sold on the idea of wellness coaching.  Lisa showed me that if I made one small change at a time, I could make a huge impact on my health.

Over the last two years I’ve become fascinated with the concept of prevention and wellness.  It’s been a journey, with lots of little steps (forward and back).  I don’t know that I’ll ever be the perfect shining example of health, (or if I even want to be that), but I’m here to share in my progress.