Sunday Thoughts: Mentoring in Health and Wellness
Business wasn't an option for a major at my university, but I studied the closest thing to it: Human and Organizational Development. Despite being different than the traditional business major (think positive psychology classes instead of accounting classes), we were constantly encouraged by professors to find a mentor in order to grow and succeed. This sentiment was only further amplified when I started taking classes for my Corporate Strategy minor (the more traditional business classes like Strategy, Accounting, etc.).
During all of this, I'm sitting there scratching my head thinking, "where do I get myself a mentor?". Eventually I learned that this is kind of like the dating process, but it happens naturally. Over time I found that I had created a network that allowed me to find these mentors and have them help me when I was lost and needed guidance.
Yesterday, I was driving with my mom in downtown Buffalo and we were having a conversation about recognizing our inner potential and having confidence. As an adolescent, I lacked the confidence that many young girls did. Luckily, I had people in my life to recognize what I didn't see in myself and push me to achieve more than I thought I could.
During a pause in our conversation, I had the thought - in the professional world, we are encouraged to mentor and be mentored. But what if we applied this concept to our personal worlds, specifically in health and wellness? I'm imagining it like this: in our never ending journey to better ourselves and become the healthiest and happiest versions of ourselves, we reached out to people who maybe have a bit more experience in this realm than we do. I often see communities of people going through their health journeys together, which I think is fantastic, but what if for the newbies of the group they were able to connect with other women (and men!) who may have a bit more knowledge, spot the potential in those who are still learning, and can motivate and encourage.
My mentors saw qualities and abilities in me that I hadn't uncovered yet, and I imagine that mentors in health and wellness can see the same thing in their mentees. If the mentee doesn't think she is capable of losing the weight, getting the crap out of her diet, etc., maybe the mentor can see that she is and will push her to learn that for herself.
Accountability often helps us reach our goals - it's been proven that if you say a resolution out loud to other people, you're more likely to follow through with it. Having a mentor/mentee relationship brings that sense of accountability into your personal life and helps you achieve more than you could alone.
Those are my Sunday thoughts. Do you have a "mentor" relationship for your health and wellness goals? Do you find that having mutual accountability increases your chances of reaching your goals?
XO,
Hilary
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