One of the reasons why Salt Rock lifestyle and wellness coach Sharon Castle recently started her life coaching academy, she says, was because of the absolutely devastating effect the pandemic has had on mental health. This Mental Health Awareness month we asked Sharon to give some insight and offer a few tips for managing your mental well-being.
“It was really bad. I was getting calls every day, from neighbours, friends and just people asking for help for both adults and children who were not coping with the mental side effects of lockdown and the pandemic. The suicide rate starting going up and there just weren’t enough hours in the day for me to help everyone.”
As an experienced and highly-qualified lifestyle and wellness coach with more than 38 years in the personal growth space, Sharon was offering free webinars and sending out resources to help where she could but, eventually, she realised she needed to do more. The answer, she says, was rather to empower and upskill more people to be able to help facilitate healing for those struggling. So, she fast-tracked the opening of her school, the Mindfit Coaching Academy.
Sharon says, because of the pandemic many people have had to readjust their way of thinking and accept change. “It’s like the world has undergone a massive ‘reset’ and there is a real need for change. Everything, from government and health to education and business collapsed and we’ve had to wake up to the fact that the old paradigm of life is broken. We’ve been led to believe that getting a PHD and working a 16-hour day is the only way to be successful, but Covid has shown us that’s not true.”
The first stage of Sharon’s coaching programme is called The Awakening and is actually open to anyone who wants to understand themselves more. “It truly is life-changing when you realise that you can self-correct … that the thoughts will pass and you already have everything you need to be all that you need to be.”
Sharon teaches ‘transformational coaching’, which simply guides and facilitates people to point back to themselves and find their own answers and solutions. “So often we feel we need something from the outside world to make us feel better – gambling, drinking or accumulating stuff like cars, fancy houses and material things. The truth is that you have what you need inside yourself. It’s a good idea to get guidance (and that’s where life-coaching can facilitate and guide you), but you should always still go back and check in with yourself. When you understand how your mind works you will never question the next step again. We’ve overcomplicated life and living. All you need to do is fall in love with life and yourself and you can’t mess up.”
Sharon shares some important things to remember:
1. Life is short. Choose kindness. You don’t know what people are going through, drop the judgement.
2. There is enough to go around. Lose the greed.
3. If you have a roof over your head, a bed to sleep in and food in your belly, be grateful.
4. Show love at every opportunity. You could change a life.
5. Be the first to smile. People are often just shy.
6. Forgive and let go. Holding on makes you sick.
7. Laugh and be playful. It keeps your immune system strong and your vibe high!
8. Get up, dress up and show up, even if it’s just for yourself. You’ll feel better and when you feel better, you do better.
www.mindfitlifecoaching.com, [email protected], @mindfit.lifecoaching.academy
