Teachers in Transition

Teachers in Transition - Episode 8 - Interview with Melissa Wolf of Balance Health and Wellness

May 15, 2019 Kitty Boitnott / Melissa Wolf Season 1 Episode 8
Teachers in Transition
Teachers in Transition - Episode 8 - Interview with Melissa Wolf of Balance Health and Wellness
Show Notes Transcript

In today's episode, I chat with Melissa Wolf, the founder of Balance Health and Wellness.  Melissa is a School Psychologist, so she has seen up close and personally how teachers are stressed, and she has experienced her own sense of burnout. She started Balance Health and Wellness because of her own passion for fitness and wellness. She has helped her clients manage their weight and their stress which, frankly, go hand in hand. Stress often causes people to overeat and thus to gain weight. Managing stress can help to manage your weight as well.

Listen in to our conversation and learn what single tip Melissa offers to her clients for how to experience health and wellness.

To find Melissa, you can check out her website at https://balancehwde.com.
You can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Balancehealth.mel/
She is on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/balancehwde/
And finally, you can email her at balancehwde@gmail.com.

Kitty Boitnott:

Are you a teacher who's feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? Do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing some other kind of job or perhaps pursuing a whole different career, but you don't know what else you're even qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search. You just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you're not alone. My name is Kitty Boitnott. I'm a career transition and job search coach and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal not only with the stress and overwhelm of your day-to-day job, but to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. Join me for"Teachers in Transition." In some episodes I'll be speaking to stress management techniques and how you can manage your stress on a day to day basis. In other episodes I'll be talking about career transition. What tools do you need to be successful in a job search when you're moving from one career into a totally different track? These are questions that you need answers to and I can help you find those answers. My name is Kitty Boitnott. Welcome to"Teachers in Transition." Welcome, this is Kitty Boitnott of"Teachers in Transition." And today is a special episode of the"Teachers in Transition" podcast and a Youtube channel because I have a special guest here. Let me pull up. Here we go. So Melissa Wolf is the owner and operator of Balance Health and Wellness. And I appeared on a Summit that she offered her followers a month or two ago and got to know Melissa that way. And when she found out I was doing this podcast, she was excited and offered to be a guest sometime and I grabbed the opportunity conversation with are. So Melissa, I'm just gonna let you talk from this point and uh, tell us a little bit about your background and what's led you to this point and what advice do you have to offer our listeners?

Melissa Wolf:

Wow. Yeah. Well thank you so much, Kitty, for, for having me. I think this is a wonderful show and it's going to impact a lot of of people and especially educators. So I am a school psychologist. So before I created my wellness business balance,"Balance Health and Wellness," I was a school psychologist and I still am, I still am and I still contract here and there with the school districts and I learned so much from in the school system and learned so much when it came to behaviors and and just overall wellness and saw a lot of things as well in terms of the stress part of, of the job and experienced a lot of stress on the job, both both positive and you know, stressed. That also led me to a, a period of burnout and made me kind of rethink the things that I wanted to do in my life. And I knew that I had so many other gifts to share and that's what kind of led me to create Balance is that I wanted to still be able to utilize my background in psychology but also create wellness programs for people who are passionate, ambitious, committed, high performers, just like educators are. So that they can still continue to do what they love, but then also have these wellness programs at their fingertips so that they can better manage their stress as well.

Kitty Boitnott:

That is perfect. So tell us some of something about the programs that you offer and and of course at the end I want you to offer how folks can get in touch with you.

Melissa Wolf:

Oh sure, sure. Yeah. So my programs and what I've learned just through being in the system and just experiencing life in general, my programs are very comprehensive and that's something that I really instill in my clients and in my community is that there's not a one size fits all when it comes to stress management. And the best way for you to get a better handle on your stress is through a multimodal approach and being able to work on your physical wellness, but also your mental and emotional wellness. And when we can integrate these three components, the results that you get are amazing; and they're really transformational; and they're also very meaningful to you and they're sustainable. So my programs incorporate those three main components of wellness. The mental, the physical and the emotional.

Kitty Boitnott:

Okay. And did they combine those three modalities and each program or do you offer individual programs that address one individual modality?

Melissa Wolf:

Yeah, so I have a program that combines all three, which is like the big, the BIG one. And then I also have separate programs that just focus on specific.

Kitty Boitnott:

Okay. Can you give us an example of a specific, oh, how about a specific example of a type of stress that you might offer a remedy for?

Melissa Wolf:

So if you are feeling really depleted, so you're a high achiever, you're super ambitious and you just go, go, go, go, go all the time and you're achieving and accomplishing things. But it's leaving you feeling stuck and robotic and detached. Even though you're getting things done, you're not truly happy. It's not bringing you that joy that you, that you really want out of life. And I have a program that's completely dedicated to increasing your performance and bringing more joy and success into, into your performance by creating this authentic wellbeing that we all we all possess in that we all deserve.

Kitty Boitnott:

Well, it sounds wonderful. So are all of your followers, um, and members of your community, are they all educators or do you serve other folks as well?

Melissa Wolf:

Yeah, great question. So a lot of my community are educators, but also have a lot of health care professionals, business owners, because we all have those similar characteristics of being very passionate and committed and we want to help others, and we have that higher correlation of burnout and stress because of what we do because that's our, our calling.

Kitty Boitnott:

Right, right. Yeah, that is absolutely true. So how long have you been doing this, Melissa?

Melissa Wolf:

So the whole wellness piece of everything. Um, over 10 years. And then, yeah, so it's been a long journey and just kind of fine tuning everything so that I could build this wellness community and Balance has been in business since 2017.

Kitty Boitnott:

Okay.

Melissa Wolf:

And Yeah.

Kitty Boitnott:

And how would people find you if they wanted to find out more about you?

Melissa Wolf:

Sure. So you can find me on my website balancehwde.com or on Facebook balancedhealth.mil or also Instagram, balancehwde/.

Kitty Boitnott:

Wonderful. Now I want to ask you one thing, if anybody asks me what's one thing that they could change in their day to day routine that might help them to feel less stressed out, a little more resilient, you know, able to go with the flow day-to-day. My favorite go-to because it's the easiest one. Even though, um, people, teachers especially balk because it means having to go to the restroom more often. But I think staying hydrated is really important. So that would be one of the things that I would recommend. Is there any one thing that you might recommend?

Melissa Wolf:

Oh my gosh, there's so many.

Kitty Boitnott:

No, there are is, it's a tough one to pick out just one. But I was thinking if you could, if you could isolate one or two that, because I know people are busy and they don't always feel like they're in a position to integrate a whole comprehensive program, unfortunately. Um, that would just stress them out even more. Tha idea that they have to change everything. So, right. I was just wondering if there was one something that you could think of that you would recommend?

Melissa Wolf:

Honestly give yourself rest--time to rest. That's a good one too. Time out and sleep. Sleep is underrated too, don't you think? Oh yeah.

Kitty Boitnott:

Too many people think they can defer and delay sleep? I'll catch up on the weekend and it doesn't work that way. Just doesn't work.

Melissa Wolf:

But if you could carve out some time for you just to reset and recharge, it makes a huge difference.

Kitty Boitnott:

It does make a huge difference and it's don't you think it's even harder for teachers and then there, this is a particularly difficult time of year, so this is the timely, we will probably be I'll post this not this week, but next week we're right in the midst of testing and most places, some schools are starting to get out at the end of this month, but in in my area, they still go til the middle of June. You know, the weather's been crazy and so it's just, it's a really tough time of the year for people to be trying to balance it all and they're burning the candle at both ends, but then they end up just feeling like you said, stuck and exhausted at the end of the day.

Melissa Wolf:

Hmm-umm

Kitty Boitnott:

So it's a dilemma for everybody. But I think this time of year it's double trouble for teachers.

Melissa Wolf:

Yeah, and I see it. I'm there. I'm sure

Kitty Boitnott:

too when I remember it's been awhile since I was in the classroom, but I remember very, very well how stressful this particular time of year it is. So tell us one more time how people can get in touch with you if they wanted to just email you directly. Can they do that? Yeah,

Melissa Wolf:

Yeah, yeah. You can email me at balancehwde@gmail.com

Kitty Boitnott:

Okay.

Melissa Wolf:

And then website again is balancehwde.com. Also Facebook is balancedhealth.mil, and then Instagram is balancehwde.

Kitty Boitnott:

Oh, awesome. I didn't need to look for you on Instagram. So what I want to say about you before I let you go and thank you. Just thank you for, for one thing, for yourself and your expertise this morning. I really appreciate it and I hope that people will reach out to you and learn more about your program--programs. So, what I want to say is that back when we were preparing for that Summit, I found out that you were just getting married. Is that right?

Melissa Wolf:

Yeah, I did!

Kitty Boitnott:

So how long has it been since you actually tied the non, it's not been very long at all.

Melissa Wolf:

No, we tied the knot December.

Kitty Boitnott:

Yeah, you guys. So you're still on the first six months and I happen to know from having gotten married myself years ago that that is a stressful event, too.

Melissa Wolf:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

I tell people in my workshops that stress can come from happy events as well as sad it's not just the sad or distressful events occur to us that stress us out. We may not think of it so much as a stressful event, but preparing for a wedding, preparing for a new baby. I just shared with you, I've gotten a new puppy this weekend. I can feel my own stress when she started winding up to uh, you know, she's not a happy girl. So we all have life events that create stress for us. And the secret, I think, is taking care of ourselves on a day to day basis with the hydration, with the good nutrition, with getting the rest that we need, unplugging and taking care of ourselves. You know, the occasional massage, doing something for fun, spending time with family and friends and not feeling like you're on that constant hamster wheel of productivity.

Melissa Wolf:

Yes.

Kitty Boitnott:

Because we've been conditioned to think that more is always better. More work. Americans take fewer vacation days than any other western culture on the planet because we've been driven to believe that productivity is the key. That ambition is the, you know, the, the magic elixir that will lead to happiness. And you and I both have experienced burnout, which is the, yeah, the, the ultimate payoff of too much doing, always going and never giving yourself time to recuperate. So we need to take better care of ourselves and be easier with ourselves and not so hard on us. None of us are perfect, and none of us do things perfectly. So we just do the best we can. But we should do the best we can with the information that we need, that you offer and that I offer how to manage that stress on a day to day, week to week, month to month, um, effort. And then when something does come along that would otherwise not as flat you might get knocked down, but we're able to get back up pretty quickly. And that's what resilience is all about. And I don't mean grit. I don't mean working your way through something with your teeth gritted in your, you know, white-knuckling it. I mean, truly being resilient and able to bounce back from a negative event or you're happy event that's taken a lot out of you getting back up on your feet sooner than you would otherwise. So yeah.

Melissa Wolf:

And I always tell people to like, just give from the overflow. You have to take care of yourself, you frankly, because you can't

Kitty Boitnott:

Exactly, you can't take care of anybody else if you have not taken care of yourself. That is exactly true. And yet a lot of as, and again, teachers seem to fall into the trap of buying into this narrative that they need to give 110% all the time. Yeah. And that just leads to illness that's precipitated by stress and, and you know, one way or the other, your body is going to let you know that you need to take a rest, so you eat where modulate yourself or you let an event knock you flat and then you'll learn that you've got, yeah. Give yourself the time it takes to heal. So I'm a big fan of preventative measures.

Melissa Wolf:

Yeah. Proactive,

Kitty Boitnott:

Proactive. Instead of waiting for, um, you know, something that knocked me flat. So thank you so much. I really do appreciate your time this morning. And um, this is Melissa Wolf who has uh graciously volunteered our time to share her information about how she manages stress and how she helps other people handle stress and strive for balance, health and wellness. And have a wonderful, wonderful day.

Melissa Wolf:

Thanks Kitty.

Kitty Boitnott:

So there you have it, an episode of"Teachers in Transition." I hope you enjoyed the information and I hope you'll plan to come back. Please subscribe to"Teachers in Transition" so that you can be alerted of future episodes. And let me know if you have any questions or topics that you would like me to specifically cover in a future episode. I'm more than happy to help with individual questions as well. So email me at KittyBoitnott@BoitnottCoaching.com. If you are interested in finding a new career or just enjoying your life more, this is the place to start. Hi, I'm Kitty Boitnott, and this is"Teachers in Transition."