MISFIT WELLNESS

WORKPLACE MENTAL HEALTH: WHY MEDITATION APPS & ON-DEMAND THERAPY WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH

Now more than ever, it is imperative that companies create cultures where employees have the awareness, language and psychological safety to speak up, ask for help and leverage the mental health and well-being resources available to them. Changing the culture and communication around mental health won’t just increase utilization of mental health benefits, wellness programs and preventative measures. It will increase productivity, job satisfaction and sense of community within the organization, while decreasing attrition rates, absenteeism, presenteeism, organizational risk and disruption to teams. Perhaps most importantly, it will also give employees the tools, resources and support they need to survive one of the most challenging years in our country’s history.

A GUIDE TO WORK-FROM-HOME WELL-BEING

Modern workplaces are designed to foster the productivity, focus, collaboration and well-being of employees. Conversely, our homes are typically designed around functions like sleeping, eating and relaxing. They also tend to be filled with distractions that have the opposite effects of thoughtfully designed workplaces - barking dogs, blaring televisions and shouting children. So how can we transform our routines and home environment in a way that eases the stress caused by this dissonance? How can we protect our mental and physical health while working from home?

MY 12 FAVORITE TOOLS FOR ANXIETY, DEPRESSION & STRESS

Over the past 10 years, I have continued to add more tools and build upon the ones I find most helpful. Thanks to individual therapy, couples therapy, workshops, retreats, continuing education courses, books, podcasts and confidants, I’ve built a robust toolkit that helps me both proactively and reactively manage anxiety, depression and stress (because aren’t they all so intertwined?!) Nothing changes overnight, but together, these tools have helped me stack up more daily moments of peace, calm and joy than I ever experienced before they entered my life. They are like beautifully simple little bricks that have helped me build higher levels of consciousness, gratitude and content. I hope they do the same for you.

IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT. IT’S YOUR HORMONES.

Understanding the importance of hormone health, what affects it, and how to protect it allows us to be better advocates for our mental and physical health in an incredibly powerful way. It also allows us to be more patient, compassionate and supportive of ourselves and other women. Below is everything I wish I had known about hormones from the start.

FINDING JOY AND HEALTH DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

I work with all sorts of people. Young professionals in their 20’s, c-suite executives in their 50’s, retirees, stay at home and working moms of all ages, athletes, artists, yogis, scientists, counselors. They are unique and singular human beings that come to me because they want to be happier, healthier, kinder to themselves. They, and we, are all incredibly different. But in this moment, we have never been more similar. We are all struggling. And we are all in this together.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been offering single session services focused on helping people survive, cope and in tiny ways, thrive in this bizarre alternate reality. There were many common themes that arose in these discussions that gave birth to the tools and resources below. These are the coping mechanisms my clients, friends, family, and own little household are finding most helpful right now.

A LETTER FROM LIZ O'CARROLL, QUARANTINED IN CENTRAL OREGON DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Inspired by Nick Farriella’s F. Scott Fitzgerald quarantine letter that has been floating around the internet in the past few weeks, my sister wrote a quarantine letter of her own from her little boat in a sleepy marina in a tiny village in Nicaragua. She’s asking friends and loved ones around the world to do the same. I think it’s a wonderful way to return to the power of simple letters strung together with simple words to connect us all in these complicated times. My contribution is below.

WHY I'LL NEVER HAVE IT ALL (AND I'M LEARNING TO BE OK WITH THAT)

I’ve always found the concept of “having it all,” for women and men, to be terribly flawed. If you really break it down, it simply isn’t possible. There aren’t enough hours in the day to show up fully as our best selves in our careers, partnerships, families, friendships, communities, service efforts, spirituality practices AND still have time to proactively care for ourselves mentally and physically (which is what allows us to show up fully in the first place). Add in the basic human needs for joy, connection, fulfillment, adventure… How can we possibly expect to find time for all the aforementioned in the 24 short hours we have each day? I don’t believe we can, and I don’t believe we should have to.

HOW I LEARNED TO TRUST MY BODY AND HAVE FAITH IN MY ABILITY TO HEAL

I struggled on and off with disordered eating in some form or another for the better part of two decades. Combined with clinical depression, hormone imbalances, infertility, hypothyroidism and spinal osteoarthritis, my ongoing battle with my body was fueled by fear and a desire to control everything I couldn’t control. For years into recovery and my holistic health journey, I couldn’t quite figure out what kept me in the two steps forward, one step back cycle. And then I realized, I was missing two important things I had lost when I was a little girl: trust in my body and faith in myself.

SNEAK PEAK: THE MFW 10-STEP NUTRITION & LIFESTYLE RESET

Over the past few years in my coaching and corporate practices, I’ve noticed that a handful of simple concepts have become the most popular and effective tools across all age groups and socioeconomic backgrounds. These little tweaks, these magically simple steps, are the things clients tell me time and time again have had the biggest positive impact on their health and happiness. And so they became the building blocks of the MFW 10-Step Nutrition & Lifestyle Rest, a refreshingly kind approach to improving your mental a physical health.

RESHAPING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH EXERCISE

Many of us forget too easily that it is a gift to be able to move even in the most basic ways; and in a world where many people don’t have the time, money or ability, it is a privilege to be concerned with exercise at all. Over the past 7 years, I’ve found that the below have helped me make the most of the gift and privilege of regular movement.

MY FAVORITE RESOURCES FOR DELICIOUS HEALTHY RECIPES

Because the most common request I get is for healthy recipes that are both tasty and approachable, I thought it was about time I create this list for you! In my opinion, these are the best blogs, cook books and resources that help keep eating healthy exciting. So many of the recipes contained within are knock your socks off delicious, even if “healthy” is a dirty word in your house!

WHY I (MOSTLY) BROKE UP WITH BOOZE

Food comas, books and escapism helped me avoid my feelings through the first decade+ of my life, but once adolescence and the associated hormonal hell came a-knocking, they weren’t enough. By junior year in high school, I discovered how blissfully detached alcohol could make me. For a naive teenager looking to avoid feelings of discomfort, fear, sadness and loneliness, alcohol seems like a good option. For a lost young woman struggling with depression, disordered eating, body image issues and a desperate need to escape all of the aforementioned, it seems like a great option.

MISFIT WELLNESS HEALTHY GROCERY SHOPPING TIPS

Eating more whole, real foods that support the health of your brain and body begins at the grocery store. Filling your cart, your pantry and your fridge with foods that help you harness the power of nutrition gets you one big step closer to improved energy, mental clarity, immunity, digestion, moods, skin and so much more. But what to do when you’re surrounded by highly palatable, convenient packaged and processed foods in every corner of the grocery store? How do you navigate the aisles without unintentionally loading your cart with hard to resist comfort foods, cookies, candies and sugar cereals? Below are my tips to help you create a sustainable, affordable healthy grocery shopping routine that still leaves room for treats and chocolate. Plenty of chocolate.

WHY I SOLD 90% OF MY CLOTHES AND WHAT I LEARNED IN THE PROCESS

To be honest, I am still a little surprised by the resistance I felt every step of the way to accepting myself in whatever shape or form prioritizing health created. Intellectually, I knew it was the right choice, a no brainer. Logically, I knew there was no other choice but to put my health first. But emotionally? That was a whole other story. All of a sudden, I became painfully aware of all the negative associations I, and society, have with bodies that aren’t slim and tight and taught and perfect. It took a lot of therapy, hugs from my husband, reassurance from a few dear friends, reinforcement found in my work as a health coach, journaling and more therapy to free myself from the limitations of those associations.

WHAT NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT MAKING PEACE WITH FOOD & YOUR BODY

Although I’m grateful that there is more openness and dialogue around making peace with food and our bodies in the media, often what we see is over simplified, prettied up and packaged (often to sell products or services) in a way that I believe is a bit misleading and does a disservice to people embarking on this journey. If the expectation is that this is a simple, 30-day, sunshine and roses process, people are destined to feel as if they’re doing everything wrong when it’s anything but, and they’re likely to give up. The truth is a lot more complicated and loaded with things I wish I knew from the start. Below is my version of it.

HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS AT WORK (AND BEYOND)

Unfortunately, stress is so woven into the fabric of our lives these days and it’s often unavoidable. We can’t control many of the variables that contribute to stress, but we can change how our brains and bodies react to it by choosing healthier coping mechanisms that minimize the detrimental effects without causing any harm. That is where the stress management tactics below come into play. You might not be able to fire your boss (or your kids) but you can reduce the stress they cause with these tactics.

HEALTHY DINNER IDEAS FOR TWO (OR MORE)

All of the recipes included in this round-up are healthy dinner ideas that I return to time and time again. They’re all relatively easy to make, impressive enough to serve guests and delicious enough to crave the leftovers the next day!

THE HEALTHIEST, BEST TASTING SNACK & PROTEIN BARS

I’ve been testing bars for a couple of months now, and here are a few of my favorite healthy snack and protein bars. I feel good about eating these when I’m pressed for time and feel good enough about the ingredients to share them with family, friends and coaching clients.

FUNDAMENTALS OF HEALTHY EATING PART VIII: COOK AT HOME (EVEN A LITTLE)

You don’t have to be a wizard in the kitchen or spend hours every day cooking complicated meals entirely from scratch, but spending a little more time creating balanced meals with whole food ingredients is an investment in your health that you’ll never regret. With just a few hours spent in the kitchen each week, you can reap the benefits of more health promoting nutrients in your diet. Think better digestion, increased energy, more stable moods, clearer skin, improved immunity and so much more!

MY EXPERIENCE WITH DEPRESSION: FINDING MY WAY FROM SHAME TO ACCEPTANCE

I’ve spent much of my life hiding my depression, avoiding the causes, or trying to escape the effects. I used to view depression as a weakness, a failure, a flaw. I was both afraid to admit I struggled with depression to myself and to anyone around me. I was so focused on trying to project an image of the perfect person I wanted to be, I never considered embracing with compassion the imperfect person I am.