From overwhelmed, stressed mumma-bear, to self-compassionate mother who prioritzes and models healthy habits.
I’m Marion, a certified PreKure Health Coach, actor, writer and a busy mother to two energetic children.
I’m also a reformed perfectionist who continues to embrace the messy juggle of parenting with my own ambitions and health.
Everybody else came before me
I used to think, “I don’t have time to focus on my health”. I was a busy mother, juggling family life with an unfulfilling part-time job and rushing from one drop-off to the next errand. There just wasn’t enough time for me.
I had had gestational diabetes with both my pregnancies, and it was worse with my second child. I was too scared to deal with what that may mean for my long-term health, so buried my head and soothed those feelings with food.
Dealing with difficult feelings in this way became my pattern.
And deep down I resented that. It came out as overwhelm, stress, and grumpiness. All the things I didn’t want to be as a mother.
Until I couldn’t hide from the blood tests anymore. I was pre-diabetic, and not even pregnant. Then the pandemic arrived, along with lockdown. Suddenly physical and mental well-being was under the spotlight.
This was a crossroads moment for me. Either take my health seriously, or descend further into the denial and destructive habits. I had to find a better way to cope with the extra stresses of working from home, psuedo-homeschooling and breaking up endless sibling fights.
Four years on from those blood tests results, I’m not longer pre-diabetic and have my blood sugar under control. Daily movement and wholefood nutrition are important to me, even if it means a bit of extra work and pre-planning. And I regularly challenge my comfort zone.
The most profound change for me on my health journey, is that I show up for myself in a meaningful way, I listen to my internal cues more and am much more self-compassionate when times are tough. I’m discovering that I’m less concerned with reaching a perfect outcome and more intrigued with the process of what’s changing, constantly.
And most of the time, I make sure my cup is full enough to be a more present and calm parent, while juggling creative projects.
Looking after our children takes a lot. We always want to put our little darlings first, but we can so easily forget about ourselves in the process.
In my crossroads moment, I started by changing two small things; Go for a walk early every morning and save the wine for weekends.
As we were in lockdown, the walk was my moment of solace to start long intense days. The streets were quiet, I had space for my thoughts and worries. The movement helped shift negative energy so I had space for my daughters’ big emotions.
Ditching the daily wine took a bit more willpower. But after a week, waking up with a clearer head and more energy for the day, made letting go of the evening drink a lot easier.
I realised being the kind of calm, present parent I wanted to be was so much easier IF I felt well, fit and energised.
My children have benefited from it too. They get to see my joy, rather than the stress from looking after them. Capacity to show up with abundance for them sends a message that they aren’t too much and that they are enjoyable to be with.
Prioritizing my health alongside their needs also models for them how to look after their own health when they grow up. I see this when my girls ask me to ‘play gym’ or feel their strong muscles.
Once I started to feel better in my skin, I realised that I deserved to feel well too, and could find so much more happiness in life. This shift has positively impacted my creative work, relationships, family life, and health.
Don’t you deserve that, too?
How I can help you improve your health
I know how hard it is to establish a regular exercise habit, to make healthier food choices the norm, to learn how to talk supportively to myself. It’s why I became a health coach.
As your health coach, I can help you get clear on what is important to you, what motivates you, and how to use that to establish the healthy habits you want. We will discover what works for you in particular. I can help you build your own personal set of knowledge and tools to empower you in your health needs
I know my journey would have been a lot easier at the start if I’d had someone by my side to help get me back on track when I lost motivation, unpack my thoughts and cheer me on!
My years as an actor, writer, and now a certified health coach have helped me tune in and listen on a deeper level to what’s going on for my clients. What’s getting in the way of where you want to be? How do your thoughts & feelings lead to certain behaviours you want to change?
We all benefit from giving ourselves permission to slow down and be present with our thoughts and feelings. Parents and creatives especially benefit from this as it allows connection to what’s in front of them.
I will be courageous when we meet your patterns of resistance. And trust me, we will. I will hold you accountable to the goals you set for yourself, remind you of your strengths and help you celebrate your wins.
Let's discover your motivation
Why I love working with busy parents and creative people
I think busy parents are amazing. They contribute so much to the world. They are raising our future humans; scientists, doctors, leaders, artists, and, yes accountants too. We all need a good, understanding accountant. These busy parents also contribute to society themselves, through their careers, or by supporting their friends, wider family, and community. Trying to be all things.
Creative people are deep questioners, driven by curiosity to find a new path or to solve big problems. They’re willing to go outside the box to make something work. They are purpose oriented and need their impact to matter. Their work usually is for an audience of some kind, so for me, they are community builders that help us see ourselves. And quite often, creative people are hustling and freelancing. This can be exhausting, never really giving themselves a chance to catch their breath before the next project starts.
What I often notice with my clients is that they so rarely take the time to see how much they do, and tell themselves kind, compassionate things. They’ve got so much capacity, but they’re burnt out from trying to spread themselves everywhere.
As well as reaching their main goal may be, I love helping parents and creative people reconnect to their awesomeness. I’m excited to see their zest come back, seeing their joy at establishing a new healthy habit, noticing the results and growing confidence in their own capability to make sustainable changes.
An invitation
If I sound like the kind of health coach you can relate to then I invite you to get in touch.
Our first call, a discovery call, is free and there’s no further commitment needed. It’s so we can work out if we both want to work further together.
There is still plenty of benefit for you in this complimentary session. We will work on bringing clarity to what your goals are, what it would mean for you to reach those goals, what’s holding you back and some actionable steps you can start with.
I’d love to hear about your future dreams.
