Feb 6, 2020
I was so excited to talk with Emily this week! Her message about being enough is so powerful, and she really opened up about her own struggles in this area during our interview. We also talk about what it means to listen to your body, and how to become more aware of what our bodies are telling us. And if you only take away one thing from this episode, let it be this: You are enough.
Emily is a health coach who currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her goal is to empower her clients to live their lives in a way that feels really good for them. This means that she often helps with a bit of business coaching as well (many of her clients are aspiring entrepreneurs). They cover both emotional & practical elements of living a life that makes sense for you.
Energy is Real
Emily shares that she strongly believes that energy (and the vibrations you put out into the world) are real. As she works with others who want to give back via service-based businesses (and as she desires to serve others herself), she's seen again and again that you need to be taking care of yourself if you want to show up for others.
I've experienced this in my own life! My worst business-related launch occurred when I honestly wasn't really practicing the kind of self-care that I teach others. As Emily shares, the vibration of honoring your own needs can absolutely be felt.
There is so much "noise" in the world about who are supposed to be, and what we are supposed to be doing. When we're trying to operate from a place of chasing after perfection, our energy reflects that. Emily shares that self-acceptance, and a belief that "this too shall pass", help her feel connected to herself. This connection is what allows her to continue operating from a place of self-compassion and self-care.
Living from such an amazing energy has a huge impact on how she's able to show up for both herself and those she cares about!
A Winding Path
Emily went to business school, then studied to be a CPA. She wasn't ever super excited about that career, but it felt safe and that made it seem like a good decision. A few years in, however, she started to feel an "itch" for change.
At the same time, she was exploring her own health and wellness. Digestive issues that had started in college had caused her to dive into nutrition and holistic wellness in her own life. She realized that when she had a chance to share about her food choices and yoga practice, she lit up.
While continuing her corporate career, she started researching alternative options. Eventually she came across the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. It was here that she learned about health coaching, and she knew she wanted to pursue it. She completed the program, and left her corporate job. She
Although she still identifies as a health coach, Emily is playing with the title of "empowerment coach". She's come to realize that health is not just about the food, or just about the yoga. Those things in and of themselves are not "health". Pursuing true health is really about the bigger picture, and about being empowered in your own life.
Part of that journey?
Struggling with not being "enough". She feels that this has gone hand in hand with the pressure of being perfect.
Perfection Seeking is Not Empowering
From a young age, Emily can see how the influence of striving to be perfect has impacted her life. Whether she was trying to get straight A's, or was eating the perfect foods, she's felt the pressure to be the "best". And that often means reaching perfection, which is an elusive place to ever find yourself. (And an impossible place to stay for any length of time.)
Having recognized this tendency within herself, she's done lots of internal work around self-care, as well as in loving and accepting herself as she is.
And yet, she recently realized that she was slipping into perfection seeking habits that were leaving her feeling anything but empowered.
After experiencing a flare up with her digestive symptoms, Emily started to pursue a few treatment modalities. At first they were helpful and positive, but she realized that eventually the journey had segued into something stressful. She was feeling a lot of pressure to "fix" herself and her gut. She noticed her eating was becoming more restrictive, and knew that she was pushing herself to "heal" her body. It wasn't about wellness; it was about perfection.
She also recognized that this pressure was leading her into feeling that she was not enough.
Showing Up For Yourself
She chose to take a step back, and in doing so realized that she wasn't showing up for herself the way she wanted to.
Once she recognized this, she chose to shift into a reality in which "perfectly healed" didn't need to exist.
Instead, she embraced the idea that her digestive issue might just be something that she needed to be aware of and take care of throughout her life. There was nothing she needed to change, and there was freedom to be herself, regardless of struggles.
I loved that she shared this, because I see so many clients who have put weight on this same sort of pedestal! They think that if only the scale will say a certain number, THEN they will be enough. And until then....they experience so much stress, pressure, and harmful perfectionistic tendencies.
When we choose to release the idea that we are responsible for reaching perfection, and instead allow ourselves to just be as we are....
Powerful healing has the chance to occur!
This principle is one of the things I love about intuitive eating: there is no "right" or "wrong". There is just information that can guide us towards what feels best for us.
And the reality always is: You are enough!
Listen to Your Body
First of all...
What does it even MEAN to listen to your body?
Emily shares that, as a former accountant, she definitely brings practicality into the "woo" of manifesting, listening to your body, or tapping into less tangible areas of health.
Some tools that she really enjoys: meditation, deep breathing, yoga, journaling, tarot cards, and even just putting her hands on her own body and asking how she really is. These have been transformative, and have allowed her to learn to listen to her own body.
For example, she shares that just sitting with herself and taking some breaths in the morning feels really good for her. After a few breaths, she asks, "What do I need right now?" or even just "Where am I at today?"
It's not unusual for us to be so busy that we don't even ask those simple questions of ourselves very often!
She also shares that she sees tarot cards as a way of connecting with her own intuition. Rather than trying to predict the future, she uses the cards to connect to the present. We've both found that sometimes more comes out than you'd have ever guessed was inside!
Reclaim Your Power: You Are Enough
When you diet, you hand over your power.
You start to believe that some outside authority has to tell you what is good for you, and what is good for your body. And if that's the case...
You might start to think that your own thoughts or feelings about what would be good for you don't mean anything.
However, you can choose to reprogram your mindset and TRUST your body and yourself.
After years of treating yourself and your body as if they couldn't possibly "know" anything about what is good for you, it feels phenomenal to let go of all the rules and finally trust yourself.
And along the way, you might even come to truly understand this core truth: You Are Enough.
You can find Emily at www.emilynachazel.com.