Christina Ayala from Make It Happen Coaching is a multifaceted individual, embracing the roles of a mother, coach, and registered nurse. MysticMag has the pleasure of chatting with Christina. She’s a fervent dreamer and go-getter, with a passion for breaking generational trauma cycles. Life’s excitement fuels her, especially when helping others achieve their aspirations. Her mission is clear: guiding people to find their optimal life path, realize their dreams, and conquer their goals by prioritizing self-care. Christina employs a holistic approach, recognizing the interconnectedness of every facet of life. Witnessing many suffer from neglect and unfulfillment, her coaching method serves as the spark that ignites personal reinvention every single day.
Your coaching focuses on helping mothers master the art of work-life balance and elevate their self-care. Could you share some key strategies or practices that busy moms can implement to regain their energy and balance in the midst of a hectic schedule?
First and foremost, a proactive approach to self-care is going to have a profound effect on your life. That’s number one: start thinking about yourself and where you feel like you need to start nourishing your mind, body, or spirit. Moms often forget to include themselves in their daily to-do list. The whole day easily fills up with everyone else’s needs and the next thing you know, it’s bedtime and you forgot to drink enough water or take a break to even think. This means checking in with yourself in the morning and throughout the day to see how you are feeling and if there is something your mind, body, or spirit is saying it needs. If this is hard to remember, either set an alarm to remind you to do this or pair it with something you do frequently throughout the day, i.e. prepare a meal or go to the bathroom.
Next, figure out where you are spending your time everyday. Are there “openings” in your schedule? Is there any time in your schedule that you’re doing things that you can delegate, put up a boundary, or let go of? What about the amount of time you’re spending on activities like endlessly scrolling social media? Could you spend this time on activities that would fill you up more.
Using pockets of time in your schedule to implement self-care in little doses can add up. The key is to remember to do them! If you have 10 minutes you can do a quick check in to see what you need.
Some quick self-care activities you can do in 10 minutes or less:
- Deep breathing to calm your nerves
- Stretching
- Drink a glass of water
- Go for a brisk walk
- Read a page or two in a book.
- Grab a healthy snack
- Create a list of other ways you want to fuel yourself
- Daydream or plan
My favorite tip though, is to have habits and routines that set you up for success, especially a self-care morning routine. Having a really great self-care morning routine (hopefully before the kids get up) will not only help set you up for the day, but it will give you the ability to have more energy and be more mentally present with your kids. Why? A lack of self-care builds up and even though you may not have those needs in the front of your mind, your mind, body, and spirit knows and it will get your attention through fatigue, irritability, illness, and more.
Many mothers often prioritize the needs of their family, leaving little time for self-care. How do you help your clients overcome the guilt or challenges associated with putting themselves first, and why is self-care crucial for overall well-being?
We start with a proactive approach to challenges, right away. During my coaching sessions I ask a question like, “What kinds of barriers or issues do you expect might come up while you’re implementing these new tasks,” and then we discuss them. We talk about mindsets and limiting beliefs they might have and together, we come up with strategies to overcome them. Every mom is going to have their own set of challenges or guilt that comes up, which is why we talk about them right away and discover their own unique solutions. I show them mindfulness and somatic practices that can empower them to use these tools in their day to day life, so when that guilt or overwhelm arises, they can use the tools to overcome it.
I also offer support in between sessions, thus when a client is really feeling the guilt or struggling to implement what we discussed, they can message me and we can talk about the struggles they’re currently facing and new ways to overcome them. The guilt or challenges don’t go away overnight, which is why I love to offer this kind of support. It’s a process. I can honestly say though, when a mother begins to really look at herself and her self-worth and makes “me” time a priority, they don’t regret it. In fact, usually they see an improvement in multiple areas of their life because they’re fueling themselves which then overflows to everyone else.
Self-care and making themselves a priority is absolutely crucial because mothers are more than the glue that holds everything together and gets things done. Moms are amazing human beings that deserve to have their desires, needs, and health matter as much as the ones they love and take care of
Your approach involves mindfulness practices, establishing boundaries, and making self-care a priority. Could you give us some insights into how these components work together to create lasting change in a person’s life, and why is it more than just pampering oneself?
Firstly, the concept of self-care is often thought of as tasks like, taking a warm bubble bath or getting your nails and hair done. Not to discount these actions because they have a place, but real self- care is the actions you take to nourish, nurture, and fuel your mind, body, and spirit.
As for the mindfulness practices I introduce, they are meant to empower you to slow down enough to hear your own inner voice, notice what you need, and take action. They also help promote a slew of health benefits on the physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health side of things. The practices are introduced as tools to encourage my clients to slow down and benefit from them.
Boundaries are a must as a mom! When you become a mom, the list of todos becomes overwhelming! Many times, moms take on all of the cooking, the cleaning, all of the mental todos (school fundraisers, halloween costumes, gifts,etc), doctors appointments, not to mention careers. It’s easy to get caught up in everything that’s “expected” and not say no to anything. With boundaries, the lines become more clear. You tell yourself, your family, and the world what you’re willing to do or put up with. You begin to recognize what you absolutely need and don’t need. It’s also teaching your kids how to create boundaries for themselves, which is also a win.
Establishing mindfulness practices and boundaries are some of the tools we use during our time together. However, the secret to getting lasting change and true transformation is figuring out what exactly is causing the person to not want to make themselves a priority and then from there, figure out what’s the course of action(s) they need to take to get there. Is it mindset work? Somatic practices? Self-compassion? Belief in themselves? For everyone it’s different.
As a registered nurse and self-care coach, you bring a holistic perspective to your coaching. How do you address the interconnectedness of various aspects of life, and how can improving self-care impact not only an individual’s health but also their overall fulfillment?
Yes, I love taking a holistic approach. We are whole beings and whatever we do has an impact on our entire being. When I start working with a client, we do a holistic assessment and discover what they want and need to work on. I’m going to answer the rest of this with an example:
Not having enough sleep. When you don’t have enough sleep, your physical health starts to suffer. Your hormones in your body get thrown off. Your reaction time decreases. You become moody, short tempered. You crave more carbs because your body is looking for that energy it missed from not sleeping. Your relationships could be impacted by your responses during this time. It becomes harder to control your emotions and you might become emotional. You can have brain fog. Forget self-development and passion projects when you’re exhausted, they get pushed aside because that takes energy. In general, things get missed. If this is a common recurrence, over time your physical, mental, emotional health and overall life satisfaction will start to decline. Your relationships will suffer, maybe even your career.
Whereas, you make sleep a priority. You function better overall. You are able to respond to others instead of react, your hormones are better balanced. Your thoughts flow easier. It’s easier to take on passion projects and work on self-development when you’re well rested. Your quality of life and overall satisfaction increases because you are actively working to improve your mind, body and spirit. Everything is connected. Ultimately, holistic self-care leads to overall fulfillment because you are taking care of YOU, which gives you the capacity, and energy to live the life you dream of.
Can you share a success story or a client transformation that stands out to you, where your coaching made a significant difference in someone’s life and well-being? What was the journey like, and what outcomes were achieved through your guidance and support?
Sure! I had a client that came to me stressed, unhappy, unfulfilled, and feeling completely out of alignment. She wanted to have more balance between her business, her 9-5 job, and her family. The balance being she wanted to work more in her business and less in her 9-5. She also wanted to incorporate healthier lifestyle choices, like eating healthier food, drinking more water, and incorporating exercise. She wanted to improve the communication between herself and her family
While working with me, she was able to quickly make her 9-5 job a part time job, earn more in her business, and attract more clients.. She learned where she needed to set stricter boundaries, outsource tasks, and delegate. She stepped into her CEO power and I saw her self-worth, confidence, and success increase, week by week. Her communication skills improved with her family. She made self-care a priority and started eating more nutritious foods, going for walks, and drinking a lot more water.
Ultimately, she took massive action during our time together. She did things that made her uncomfortable, she held onto that vision she had, and week after week, she showed up for herself and she not only saw an impact in multiple areas of her life, but she exceeded many of the goals she set for herself.
If you would like to find out more about Christina, visit https://www.makeithappencoach.net/
