If you missed part 1 you may just want to pop over to find out about my 'catastrophising' over starting a nutrition and naturopathy practice. But before I dive in, here is a definition of fear that really encompasses it for me.....
'an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat'.
So all those questions in part 1, stem from fear. Just read them again.....
I have never ran a business before
I have never asked people to pay me for my services?
I have never had to think about where next month's 'wages' are coming from?
I have never had to look for a clinic space, what does that even look like, or feel like?
I have never been responsible for people's health before in this capacity?
I have never had to think about contracts with people?
I have never had strangers tell me their life story, what if I start to cry with them in the session?
I have never had strangers tell me their life story, what if I start to cry with them in the session?
Oh my gosh what if I 'kill them' with what I advise?
All these fears, are created by our thoughts. It is not something outside of us. It all starts with a thought. Fear is healthy when you need to run for your life because you are in REAL danger, in these situations it is life saving.
However, all those negative looping thoughts? They serve no one. Who is this person inside your head?
All this fear stops us from taking action, moving forward. Have you asked, if there was no fear
..what would you be doing? What would life look like?
It does not matter what you want to do in life, thoughts can either make this happen or stop you from achieving your goals. Thoughts can make the journey exciting and wondrous or make the journey 'hell and torturous'.
What is the fear?
The fear of looking stupid?
The fear of making money?
The fear of not making money?
The fear of being judged?
The fear of letting others down?
The fear of being vulnerable?
The fear of being genuine?
We all have one thing in common, we are all human. No one has it all sorted, we all have fears, we all have our own belief systems that can have us 'stuck, ruminating, procrastinating, numbing and so on.
Once you have faced that emotion of fear, it is not so bad. But feeling into the emotion means you can be free, and it gets easier and easier as you feel that emotion. Fear never goes, it is part of being human. But you can make it your friend and fear when balanced is healthy.
Have you found that most stages in life that involve growth tend to have unpleasant emotions? So doing what you want, taking that brave step, does need courage but it also needs accepting that your thoughts do not control you.
The only thing in life that you have control over, is your thoughts. You may have thought you had control over your partner, your kids, your job, your finances, your health, but this is not true.
Learning to manage your mind
It is a super power to be able to manage your mind, your thoughts. This will help you feel better emotionally AND physically. You are not your thoughts, you are the compassionate observer of your thoughts. Observe them but avoid getting attached to them or nursing them, just observe them and allow them to pass.
We are human beings, we have feelings, we are not machines and we are not body parts.
All those questions at the start of this blog, are questions that are addressed on the two year integrated nutritional medicine diploma course in year 2.
I had to look into why I had all these fears? And here I am still running a practice and none of the fears came true, they were just my thoughts.
In year 1, we look at our thoughts, we look at feelings, we learn about self compassion, self worth, mind fullness and more. This diploma course is unique. The course is also about self exploration, getting to know yourself, as well as the world around you. Life is much more fulfilling that way.
In nutritional therapy we can easily get focused on the 'physical' and lose sight of the WHOLE. But we address the WHOLE person, we integrate mindbody, through integrating coaching with nutritional medicine.
In reality, some people come to see a nutritional therapist when they would benefit from seeing a life coach. Sometimes, we can use nutrition and all the wonderful insightful functional tests as a defence mechanism. What does this mean? .......
Feelings can be quite scary and as humans we are more comfortable to numb out the feelings, whether it is through food, drinking, social media, net-flixing, over exercising, etc these can all be mechanisms to avoid looking into the 'root cause' and this is not necessarily on purpose.
In 2 decades of practice, I have seen clients who spend a lot of money on functional tests as it is easier to 'intellectualise' the health issue at hand. We can move towards avoiding possible uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts and logic.
A case of migraines
A 34 year female client had come to see me for her migraines, they were occurring during times of ovulation and first day of her period. She had done various tests, namely DUTCH plus, OATs and a Hair Mineral Test. She was already seeing a homeopath and acupuncturist. What was clear was that the migraines started following an abortion. She wanted the child but her partner did not. He was not ready financially. Her diet was clean, she was quite 'rigid' with routine, self care, exercise but she was secretly 'seething' underneath. Angry at her partner, but scared to lose him or leave him. She is angry at herself for not being 'strong' enough to express how she feels to him, in case he leaves her.
This was not a case of analysing tests, but these tests were her 'safety blanket', avoiding the emotional turmoil that was being intellectualised in the from of functional tests. It was only once she went to the anger, cried out her grief and howled out her anger that her migraines cleared.
What was interesting when she repeated her DUTCH plus test (a comprehensive hormone urine test) 4 months later, not only were her hormones especially her adrenals more balanced but her migraines had all cleared before she did the test. This case is not unusual, but it takes trust and understanding on the part of the practitioner and client to open up about their feelings.
The way we think about our life determines how we experience our life.
21st century practitioners
Be kind and compassionate to yourself. Know your own current thoughts (the ones that hold you back and the ones that move you towards your 'dream') and then identify some thoughts and beliefs that FEEL empowering. Doing this regularly, you will start to feel more empowered, you will start to notice small shifts. Over time, someone may say, 'there is something different about you' or you will notice opportunities popping up that you had no head space for before, because your head was too full of 'unkind 'judgey' thoughts.
Setting up practice
For me in setting up my practice, I had to look at the thoughts that were creating the fear, and also I identified with working for myself, having the freedom to work my own hours, doing 'work' that involved supporting people in achieving their health goals without resorting to medications as much as possible. I managed to start my practice, set up monthly newsletters (no social media in those days), go out networking, writing for health magazines and newspapers (this was all in the early 2000s).
I had never written articles before, I had no PR person, and I managed to be published in National and International Newspapers and health magazines. This was all about mindset, this was all about feeling through the fear and knowing there is excitement on the other side.
Dare to think 'What if it all works out?' To WHOLEhealth! From Khush!
The New School of Nutritional Medicine, has an accredited nutrition course as well as an accredited life coaching course. The integrated diploma course is both in Nutritional Medicine and in Life coaching.
Learn about the Founder & Principal of the New School of Nutritional Medicine, Dr Khush Mark PhD HERE.
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