Forget the Plan—Start With Yourself

After losing my job, I completed an Ikigai exercise. Ikigai is a Japanese concept meaning “reason for being,” and the exercise offers clarity on values, strengths, meaning, and purpose. Using the results, I did some research and shortly after applied for a health coaching training program—something I hadn’t even heard of before. While this program expanded my career path, its greater impact was giving me structured space to reflect on my own health and well-being, within and beyond food and nutrition. Through the program, I was asked some simple yet fundamental questions:

·       What do I actually want?

·       What fuels me and gives me energy?

·       When do I feel my best?

·       What is missing from my life and my health sphere? What is present?

·       What does health actually mean and feel like to me?

·       What is getting in the way?

Some answers were complex, but one clear result emerged: I needed more rest and more mindful practices to better manage my stress and strengthen my boundaries.

I began to explore what authentic self-care and sustainable wellness look like in practice for me. I gave myself space to be curious and learn, to rest my body and mind, to reflect on my past, to envision my future. Over time, I began to say “no” more often to things that drained me and “yes” to what fueled me. This experience reinforced my holistic approach to health and wellness.

While food and nutrition are at the core of my work, I believe health is more than what’s on your plate. Health is shaped by food, but also by culture, family, sleep, stress, finances, relationships--the list goes on. Knowing my body, what drains me and what fuels me helps me measure my health by how I feel.

I want to feel rested after a night of sleep, nourished and satisfied after a meal, joyful when spending time with loved ones, and capable and accomplished after work! If health can be measured by how we feel, rather than a number on a scale for example, then progress can be measured by how supported and connected we feel over time, rather than by how perfectly a plan is followed.

So, what if we started at the beginning—with self-reflection? By building awareness of our needs, strengths, and desires we can return to our core-our center. This allows us to reconnect with what we already know deep down and to trust our intuition enough to let it guide us. Once that foundation is strong, we can build small, meaningful practices that fit into real life that can weather whatever life throws at us.

Reflection Prompts: Start where you are. Small steps count.

These are meant to help you reconnect with what supports you—not what you think “should” work.

• When you think about your health, what does “feeling well” actually mean to you?

• What is missing from your health right now—rest, exercise, joy, boundaries, or something else?

• What is one area of your life where things feel out of balance—and one small, realistic way you could offer yourself support?

• If wellness were allowed to fit your real life (busy, messy, imperfect), what might change?