Occupational
Maybe you’ve heard.
Maybe you’ve read.
Rise Studios isn’t just about yoga any more.
We are expanding and growing into a complete lifestyle wellness community centered on the connection of mind, body and soul through shared experiences, individualized guidance and compassionate accountability. The SOAR method encapsulates the guidance and accountability part in a 90-day lifestyle transformation. This email is part one of a 4-part series where we will explore the areas of health and wellness that the SOAR method focuses on: spiritual, occupational, anatomical, and relational.
All areas of wellness are not separate aspects of our lives, but they intricately overlap, interact, and influence each other in both negative and positive ways. As you read this series, reflect upon your own satisfaction or dissatisfaction in each of the areas of health and wellness that we emphasize. Doing this will help you set your own intention and goal of what it is in your life that you most want to change and grow in. It will help you finally decide to take the time to prioritize your own health and mental well-being.
As we explore each of the 4 areas of health and wellness, you will most likely resonate with one or two areas that touches something in you that knows you could use some level of support and help with in order to grow as a person and feel more whole in. Today we will start with occupational wellness, and I asked Sara Baumgartner, the SOAR Method overseer to introduce herself while sharing her own story with you.
Occupational
Occupational wellness involves knowing what gifts, talents, and skills you have that come naturally to you, and then using them to contribute to the betterment of the world. Knowing we have something to offer to others is essential to our well-being and can bring us personal satisfaction and enrichment in our lives as we serve others through our work. Occupational wellness can include being willing to make an investment in receiving training in a vocational area that best suits your gifts, passions, and creative abilities so that you are better positioned to serve others in ways that are meaningful to you.
Sara’s story:
As I set off for college to pursue my own occupational desires, I knew I wanted to help people, but I didn’t know how. I went to college in search of how I wanted to invest my time, energy and gifts as I entered the world of adulting. I landed on becoming a speech therapist and pursued this goal for the next 4 years of college, and 2 years after that to obtain the required master’s degree.
I practiced as a speech therapist for 10 years total. The last 5 years of that job were spent going through the motions, for my heart longed for something more. Something that tapped into my desire to go deeper with people, to truly come alongside of them and support them in ways that were healing and brought freedom into their ways of showing up in the world.
For you see, I had become bulimic during my second year of graduate school back in 1998 (yes, I am dating myself here). I then spent the first 5 years as a speech therapist battling an eating disorder that had started many years before but had become worse during that time frame of my first job.
Struggling with an eating disorder, or any addiction for that matter, is a life-changing battle. A vicious cycle that begs for outside help from others, along with much compassion and guidance. Part of the battle is that the one in the throes of any bondage is often too ashamed to reach out for that kind of relational support. For me, my faith in God and eventually sharing with others what I was struggling with, did truly bring about my recovery and healing from an eating disorder.
During that process of a year-long recovery, I embraced that change of any kind will come about one day at a time, one decision at a time. Left foot, right foot. Six steps forward, 4 steps backwards. Until one day you are moving forward with greater strength and connection to yourself and others.
As I discovered freedom and greater wholeness through my recovery, I knew I wanted to give that hope away, so I started an eating disorder group that I developed and ran for the next 5 years. This path led me to realize that I wanted to become a counselor so that I could more fully lean into my occupational desire of having a job where I could help others deal with the underlying issues in their own lives that keep them bound in different ways.
I entered the 3-year journey to obtain my counseling degree excited and hopeful. I ended the 3-year journey with my degree in hand, but depressed and in a state of severe, delayed PTSD. As I had sat with clients during part of my training to become a counselor, I was being triggered in significant ways. Triggered by past trauma in my life that I had not dealt with at the time. I learned first-hand how trauma is held and stored in our bodies and we can get stuck in a state of flight, fight and/or freeze. I was definitely stuck. Stuck, disconnected, and with a life story that was not yet integrated in my mind, body or sense of self.
As I pursued my own healing and wholeness yet again, I learned how to consistently reach out for help from others, digging deep to deal with the root of my unresolved trauma and loss. This process was and continues to be a crucial part in my ongoing journey towards health and wellness.
I had other jobs during this time, but ones that did not hold my interest for long, nor did they tap into my passion for working with a team of people whose goal and mission was to help others towards greater health and freedom in the areas of life that most kept them stuck. Over time, this hole, this frustration of not finding a role or place that I could lean into all those aspects of my occupational desires, left something in me sad and empty. I was left wondering, is it even possible to find lasting fulfillment and enjoyment in a job? Shouldn’t I just be content where I am, in a job that pays well overall and is secure?
Something in me wouldn’t let it drop though, for I needed to keep being honest with myself and others about this struggle and longing because it was negatively impacting other areas of my life. Over time, I invested in seeing a life coach and a career counselor, both of which added pieces of the puzzle towards helping me find missing pieces of what could lead to my occupational satisfaction and goals.
The turning point for me came when I decided to share a dream of mine that I had tucked away years before telling anyone about it. I shared with Aubrey about my dream of opening a place where others could come and gather in order to find the help and support they need in order to gain traction in finding greater health and wholeness. Basically, the exact thing Aubrey was laying the foundation for and putting into place here at Rise Studios.
As Aubrey and I discussed the incredible similarities of our visions, I began to lay ahold of the clarity and courage to go where I needed to go in order to better position myself to help others in a way that would also directly tap into my occupational fulfillment and well-being. It has led me here, with you.
As Aubrey’s right hand helper, I will help oversee the SOAR method. This is where my passion for helping you find greater freedom, health and vitality in the many aspects of your life, aligns with my skill set, education, and life experiences. I would be honored to come alongside of you as you explore your own desires and goals for each of the areas of health and wellness. There is no one “right way” to do this. We all have our own unique journeys and twists and turns. Yet there is hope in every remaining desire you have for greater well-being, whether that is in your occupation, your spiritual life, your relationships or within your physical body. We have the support and tools you will need to lean into each of those areas of your life, and we will be with you every step of your journey.
You are worth the investment.
As you begin to reflect upon your own satisfaction or dissatisfaction in each area of wellness that we will discuss over the next two weeks, I encourage you to work through this process:
Honesty: Be honest with yourself about how unhappy, happy, satisfied or dissatisfied you are in this area of your life. How is that impacting other areas of your life? (whether in positive or negative ways).
Willingness: Be willing and open to seeking help and support as a sign of your intention to begin to invest in your health and well-being.
Community: Invite others into the area(s) of wellness that you identify as unhealthy or one you want to make changes in.
Invest: Choose to invest in yourself by engaging in the classes, services, and education offered at Rise Studios. We are here for you to help with your occupational health and wellness.
If you want to talk more about your specific struggles and hopes for your health and well-being, please contact me. We can set up a free consultation to discuss this, as well as a time to discuss what service you could benefit from.
Click here for the services we offer.
Join me next time as we explore the spiritual aspect of our health and wellness.