I am really on the fence when it comes to health fads / life hacks that swish through the internet. Part of me thinks that putting spinach in a smoothie is genius, and part of me thinks turmeric lattes are laughable. Or, as I put eloquently in my flatmate finders ad, ‘sometimes I eat superfood tabouli, but if you keep Coco Pops in the house I’m as helpless as a kitten’. I maintain a ‘healthy’ scepticism, and keep my discipline sufficiently weak to enjoy life.
But last year in July all my energy got drained from me, for no apparent reason. After a few visits I determined my doctor was 50 shades of useless, so upon the stellar recommendation of a trusted colleague I went to see Jo Grabyn and in my pale, pathetic state implored her from my half closed eyes to ‘fix me’. Which she did. In about 3 weeks, which blew my mind and I’ve been buoyant ever since. (‘Buoyant’ for me is consistently 8/10. At my worst I was 4-6/10)
Jo is kind of like a teacher, mother, and girlfriend in one. But a superhuman version of the aggregate.
These days healthy and energetic is the new normal. But oh how we humans love complacency!
So this was the challenge: while staring down the unfortunate combination of ‘povo week’ (the lacking 7 days preceding monthly payday) and a heavily stressful period at work, I laid it out for my health coach Jo. While I understand that in busy times more than ever I have to take care of myself blah blah blah, I had run out of supplements and money and PROMISED myself not to use my credit card ever again. Internal conflict. She posed a very obvious, simple question: ‘And which is more important to you right now, your commitment to your health or your commitment to your finances?’. I pondered amidst the shame of having a stable job and still, as an adult, running out of money at the end of the month. But she knew she had me. “And what will happen to your finances if your health declines?”.
Elegant, simple and non-judgemental.
— Elise Watson, Project Manager, Savills Australia