Today we’d like to introduce you to Marissa Szabo.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I started my health coaching business, Your Best Life Wellness Coaching, just over a year ago and it was a huge change for me. I suddenly went from someone whose only work experience since college had been in the government and nonprofit sectors to a small business owner. That was a big, scary change for me, but it was definitely the right decision.
I became a health coach as a result of my own past health experiences. For much of my life, I struggled with an unhealthy relationship with food. I didn’t know much of anything about healthy eating, but I knew that I didn’t want to have the same struggles with weight and illness that many of those closest to me had. There was one very popular diet program that I had tried and, coupled with my personality type, it was a slippery slope into some obsessive, unhealthy habits. By the time I was in college, I was working out excessively and eating almost entirely salads and yogurt. To me, food was the enemy. It was a source of shame and guilt, not enjoyment and nourishment.
I don’t have a dramatic moment when things changed for me. Fortunately, at some point something just clicked and I realized what I was doing wasn’t working and was making life pretty miserable, not to mention making me very unhealthy. That’s when I started learning about what it truly meant to eat healthy, to be healthy, to live a healthy lifestyle. Health didn’t have to be all struggle and deprivation. It didn’t have to be something added to my to-do list every day. That was eye-opening for me.
After about 8 years in the nonprofit then the government sectors, I found myself very unhappy. I wasn’t making a difference for people in the way I wanted to and I was tired of the commuting, the rigid scheduling, the hour-counting of my work life. After a lot of searching, I realized health coaching was for me. This is exactly what I could do that was going to change things for me and for others. So, I got my certification and, within a few months, had started my business.
Please tell us about your art.
As a certified health coach, I work with busy people to help them incorporate healthy changes into their busy lives. This means working on what they eat, but also the how and why behind it as well – how are your stress levels? What’s your work-life balance like? How can we work changes into your life that last and are practical for you? I work with clients in a one-on-one setting and I also do corporate and workplace wellness programs.
My goal is to help people live better lives. I don’t want people feeling overwhelmed by all of the nutrition information out there, or getting stuck yo-yo dieting, or feeling like they’ll never lose weight or reach their health goals. I’m tired of people spending money on diet programs that are designed to keep them coming back. My message is that everyone can make healthy lifestyle change and it doesn’t have to mean being miserable or hungry or deprived. Wellness can fit into your busy life and you can still eat cookies once in a while.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
There will always be naysayers, people who will tell you that you should give up and just “get a real job.” Not listening to them is even harder than it seems. Very often, whether you know it or not, their words will be behind the doubts in your mind that keep you from jumping on opportunities when they come up. My advice is to pay attention and learn to recognize when doubts are stopping you from doing something you need to do. Whatever it is, whether it’s signing up for an event or just sending a cold email, just do it. Don’t even give those doubts a second to creep in because, once they do, that opportunity will be gone.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
The best way to support my work is just to spread the word. I love doing workshops because I can impact even more people that way, so if you have a location or contact or a desire to host, that would be an awesome way to support my work as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yourbestlifewellnesscoaching.com
- Email: yourbestlifewellnesscoach@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/wellnessmarissa
- Facebook: facebook.com/yourbestlifewellnesscoaching
Image Credit:
Heather Reardon
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