Sarah's story is all too common.
This is Sarah’s story of how she overcame feelings of sadness, physical pain, and lack of energy and landed her dream job by incorporating a healthy diet into her lifestyle.
If you can relate to Sarah’s story, and want to create your own journey from pain to dream job, I’m here to help.
Schedule a complimentary coaching call.
Sarah was a collegiate volleyball All-Star. After college, she began an exciting career with a Fortune 100 company, got married and had two boys, Michael and Rick.
First signs of emotional pain
Fast forward 25 years... a Tuesday morning in early October
As Sarah’s getting ready for work, she walks past the same mirror she has walked past hundreds of times.
Today is different. She stops and stares back at the mirror.
“Do I really look like that? When did I gain all that weight? How did this happen?”
As she stands confused, she begins a downward descent on an emotional roller-coaster filled with guilt, disgust, embarrassment, fear and sadness. Overwhelmed with emotion, she slumps onto the floor and the tears begin.
As if a switch had been flipped...
The tears stop. Sarah pushes all emotion aside, fixes her makeup and heads to the office.
On the drive into the office, she repeats to herself…
“It’s not that bad. The mirror is making me look worse than it is. I’m fine, I just need to stop thinking about it!”
Sarah turns her attention to her dream job.
“John will be retiring next year. This is what I’ve been working for my entire career.”
She began working even more hours, late nights, and weekends too.
As she admits later, work allowed her to ignore what she desperately didn’t want to think about.
In addition, she either skipped lunch or grabbed a quick burger and fries from the café.
By mid-afternoon, she’d grab whatever was handy from the vending machine to keep her going.
Physical pain becomes a reality.
As tulips begin peeking out from under the snow
Sarah is noticing pain in her knees and back. She rationalizes, “I’ve just been sitting too long. Not a big deal.” As the pain worsened, she unconsciously began having more meetings in her office, instead of walking across the building.
Then one evening, her husband, Rob, notices as she carefully stands up from the couch with a grimace and clenched teeth. He says, “Sarah, Enough! You need to see a doctor.”
After avoiding the scale for months
The doctor’s scale forces Sarah to acknowledge she is 75 lbs heavier than when she got married. It was like a sledgehammer hitting her in the head. She knew at that moment she had to do something.
But, what?
All Sarah could think about
was that her dream job would be available in a few months. She knew she was qualified. She also knew the competition would be tough.
“I’ve worked so hard. I cannot let it be for nothing. I will not blow this.”
She knew that to nail this interview, she would need to be at the top of her game and that meant confident, energetic and pain free. She wasn’t feeling very confident. That had to change.
Over dinner, Sarah shared her thoughts with Rob.
“I need a plan. I know that by eating healthier foods my energy levels will rise and as I lose weight my knee and back pains should subside.
I’m not sure where to begin though. They will start interviewing for my dream job in a couple months. I need to be ready. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. I need some help.”
The journey from pain to her dream job begins
Sarah finds a lifestyle coach.
A healthy meal plan Sarah can follow.
With the help of her coach, they created a healthy meal plan Sarah could stick to.
Small, yet consistent changes. Foods she liked. Sarah was surprised that she didn’t have to cut out entire food groups.
There were no forbidden foods! She could still eat her favorite foods. Sarah also understood that for faster results she would want to limit how often she ate them.
It wasn’t a diet. She could do this!
Taking healthy lunch and snacks to work.
Taking her own healthy lunches and snacks was easier than she thought AND a whole lot faster than standing in line at the cafeteria!
She quickly realized she no longer felt sluggish after eating lunch AND she felt full and satisfied for several hours.
Say goodbye to vending machine!
Best of all, she no longer found herself debating over the cookies or chips in the vending machines.
Sarah found herself with a new problem.
All of her clothes were becoming baggy. That problem was easily solved with a shopping spree for smaller sized clothes!
Her biggest surprise of all...
Her sense of joy, happiness and pride were through the roof.
“I had no idea how down I was feeling. I guess you don’t even realize how bad you feel until you compare it to feeling amazing.
Although my journey is not complete, I already feel like I’m on top of the world. I feel like I can do ANYTHING. AND, first on my list is to rock that interview today.”
From Pain to her Dream Job
Sarah yelled...
“Wish me luck” as she ran out the door, with a new kick in her step and more than prepared for her interview.