Creating a New Space for Wellness Online
The title of this post is very fitting because I originally scheduled a completely different post to be released as part of the Wellness Grind’s launch week. However as life continues to make choices for us, my life has changed and I’m not able to post it at this time. I will share it in the future, someday. Since I own this site, changing the schedule is completely up to me.
Wellness grind began as WellnessGrind.org in 2018. As I have continued to evolve my thinking and my life journey, I’ve realized that I’m really an entrepreneur at heart. WellnessGrind.com is a vehicle to start a longer-term path that will change how the world thinks about wellness. To me, being on your wellness grind means that you’re always thinking about how every aspect of your life can contribute or take away from your wellness.
When you realize that you have complete control over how you respond to your emotions, situations, stimuli, and to other people, you begin to understand that you have complete control over any situation. That’s one of the most empowering feelings you can experience.
From Employee to Founder
As I began to explore my entrepreneurial self, I discovered a different path than I had originally envisioned. I realize that I wasn’t creating a nonprofit and having a .org website didn’t serve my purpose. In May 2019, I invested a fair amount of my savings into buying WellnessGrind.com. This decision wasn’t easy for me because of the investment and all the work that I will be undertaking to create a business. Thus, changing the purpose of this website. Wellness Grind was no longer a place where I simply wanted to post my workouts and other random thoughts. Instead, it’s become a place that I have conceptualized as an online community of like-minded people who are putting their wellness first no matter what.
With that in mind, it became freeing for me to understand what needed to happen next. It took me two months to figure out how to build a website. I’m sure many of you saw this website being built as I did it. Over 2.5 months I figured out that I could leverage my network of wellness warriors to become a primary audience for this website, and ultimately join the community.
As I begin to speak my entrepreneurial truth to audiences and people in my networks, I’ve understood better that this is exactly what I need to be doing. The Wellness Grind isn’t about my story or any one particular story. It’s about the collection of people’s stories and the collective power of people who are all motivated to work towards the same goal. You might’ve heard this called collective impact. I’m a huge believer in the power of the collective to change the status quo.
The idea of a collective of wellness warriors has empowered me to move this concept forward as my purpose on this earth. I am here to inspire and motivate a collective of people to continue to live their wellness journey, every single day, to the best of their abilities.
So what does this have to do with change? Everything. As I began to understand my truth, I have begun to embrace my personal power. The better I can learn to leverage and harness my personal power, the more I can overcome any adverse situation that life brings. By focusing my energy on building rather than breaking down, challenges that once seemed insurmountable have become cake-walk.
The collective support that I have received in order to move forward on this entrepreneurial journey has shown me that I am on the right path. I will continue to face challenges and new opportunities to learn and grow. What I now realized is that I am capable of facing these challenges on my own terms.
A Few Change Management Strategies to Support Your Well-being
Here’s a few quick things that might help you when you face your next challenge or adverse situation.
1. Activate Your Support Network
You need support and it can come in a lot of different forms. Don’t be afraid to ask the questions you have to anyone who might be able to help. Check-in with “your people” in person and online, let them know you need help, guidance, or an opportunity to vent. The people you know are your biggest fans. Those who truly care about you will always be there to support you.
2. Calm Down
Nothing in life is easy. If you react to adversity with calm and understanding you will likely find it easier to process the change. Instead of getting angry at something that you likely have no control over, ask questions to try to understand the situation better. You will begin to feel like you have more control over the situation if you know more about it. Even if the questions are just ones that you ask yourself. You must take the time to process the information being presented to you in a calm mindset.
3. Take a Moment to Focus on Your Breathing
Breathe. Take a deep breath and fight through any hard times you’re facing. Even if you feel like crying, and it’s inappropriate to do so. Breathe and focus your energy on finding stillness inside before you rage on the outside.
4. Smile and Laugh at the Trivial Stuff
Smile and laugh at whatever you think is even remotely funny. When you feel horrible inside, laughing can make you feel better. How you feel inside can actually change as a result of you smiling and laughing. Sometimes it’s not possible to laugh in a horrible situation, but a lot of times it is possible to find humor in most situations.
5. Never Stop Speaking Your Truth
In the end, all you have is your power to speak what’s true to you. All those supportive people I mentioned before, they want to hear the truth from you. Your true feelings, thoughts, emotions, and actions to move forward are golden pieces of information that your true fans want to hear. Always speak your mind, your heart, and your gut.
6. Let That Shit Go
We hold on to years of baggage- physically and emotionally. Let it go!! You don’t need anything that will no longer serve you in your future or on your well-being journey. Aside from people, anything you lose most likely can be re-purchased or re-download it on the Internet anyway. Feel the freedom in letting go of things that can be toxic or harmful to you, no matter how long you’ve held onto them.
7. Go Chill Outside
Go for a walk, a run, or any activity outside. Not only will it help you calm down, physical activity will change your mental state. The physiological response to exercise will change your emotional response to an adverse situation. Take a deep breath and go for a walk.
8. Connect With a Pet
If you have a pet (or even if you don’t have a pet) try to find an animal to love on. You will feel much better after playing ball with a puppy. Any time you feel like you need a check out from a difficult situation, try hugging a fuzzy kitten or puppy.
Accept. Appreciate. Act.
In the end, managing change is up to you. How you respond to change is your decision, There’s never a right or wrong decision, only the decision that is best for you. The more control you have over your response to change, the more that you’ll be able to respond appropriately.
If the 8 steps above are too much to remember, try this: Accept. Appreciate. Act.
Accept the change: Become friends with your new reality.
Appreciate the change: When you find the good in the situation you can begin to move past any anger, fear, or anxiety.
Act accordingly: Decide what the best course of action is, and follow your gut. When you remain in a state of panic or shock, you will feel helpless. Take action to support your truth.
As I built this website, I often felt that I was not in control. I didn’t know what I was doing and I’m sure there are still plenty of things that need to be fixed, altered, or will be changed in the future. This journey of different is never over. Whenever I get comfortable, life presents me with a new situation that requires me to understand that different it’s not always bad. Different can be better and I have faith in myself to overcome any challenge that I face.
Comment below with your change management strategies!
