For most, Wellness is about maintaining a healthy balance and improving their day-to-day quality of life. With this in mind, we had a chat with Account Manager, Melissa, about her journey to improve her overall fitness so she can continue to enjoy some wild weekends with her daughter!
What is your favourite thing to do to keep healthy?
My absolute favourite thing to do is play with my daughter, who loves to run around like most kids leaving chaos in her wake. Although this can be quite a handful, I can’t help but find her seemingly endless amounts of energy captivating, which has ultimately driven me to get back into the gym. As I’m sure any parent out there can relate, trying to pick up your child as they continue to grow is much harder than it looks! They’re often squirming or flailing and even on the odd occasion actively trying to fight you off, when combined with 20 odd kilos, it’s incredibly important to be some level of fitness.
Although my priorities towards wellness have changed since having my daughter, I’ve recently started making it back to the gym before work, enjoying some time to myself and working towards improving my functional fitness. Now the spontaneous nature of children definitely makes that difficult sometimes, so trying to make it in at least 2 to 3 times a week is my current goal.
Why is this so important to you?
Well, being a woman in my mid 40’s I have to pay pretty close attention to my diet, activity levels and most importantly of all, my bone density. Osteoporosis or a decreased bone density (brittle bones), is an increasingly important concern especially for an older mum who needs to be able to keep up with her daughter. Evidence indicates that load bearing exercise helps to stimulate muscular development and helps to offset the process of osteoporosis.
As I want to enjoy as much time as I can with my daughter, the last thing I want to do is hurt myself by falling over (increasingly likely with age) when playing around or running about. That’s why getting to the gym has once again become a key priority for me, as studies have shown strength training over a period of time can help prevent even reverse the bone loss process. I know I’m still a while away from 70; however, making sure I focus on prevention rather than treatment is a far better approach in my book!
Have you had any peaks and troughs with your Wellness journey?
I started in my new role only a few months ago and although I have experience in the industry, learning the new processes and adjusting to the workload was quite full-on. As you can imagine, something has to give when trying to balance all of this, which ultimately lead me to sideline my commitment to Wellness. Combining all these changes with an unrelenting sleep terrorist (aka my daughter) was pretty exhausting. However, I’m glad to say that I made it through that rough patch, and have come out the other side ready to get back into my Wellness journey.
I’d have to say that having jumped back into the gym recently and being stronger than I honestly thought I’d be, was amazing! I can’t help but think that all the lifting up of my daughter is what has kept me fitter than I would be otherwise.
Do you have any recommendations for parents or others looking to start their wellness journey?
I think that prioritising your goals is absolutely essential, especially for parents. You won’t do yourself any good if you’re trying to balance work, time with your family your own wellness journey amongst everything else we have going on in our lives. Setting these priorities allows you to keep track of your commitments to yourself and others. I think it’s important to remind yourself that wellness is an ongoing process focused on living your best life, not necessarily looking like an airbrushed supermodel (however much we might want to).
Ultimately, it’s about having fun and being happy, so if you focus on things in your life that allow you to enjoy both of these then you’re already well on your way to Wellness!
As always, please let me know if there are any particular topics you would love us to look into or if you have any queries or concerns.
You can call me on 03 9963 4804 or email me directly.
Oliver Szklarz
