Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kylie Ota. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kylie, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.
In 2017 I was medically diagnosed with Adrenal Burnout, with a cortisol level near zero. My doctor said that while he could give me a quick fix with supplements if I continued my career at that pace, a year from now, there would be nothing more he could do as I would completely crash my endocrine system.
It put me in a tailspin as I was trying to figure out exactly how I would replace a lucrative career, that I had built from the ground up, having no transferable skills or experience outside of oil and gas, since it was all on-the-job experience, not being able to finish my degree.
It was then that the opportunity to attend the Health Coach Institute appeared. They had an adrenal-specific curriculum that I was able to study and found clients who had similar health challenges due to years of overindulging in overachieving.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
After becoming a Master Health Coach, I realized that health was more than just the body, it also included the mind. I began to apply techniques I acquired as a Mental Health Specialist in the Army as it applied to PTSD and other childhood traumas.
I also got two additional certifications as a Christian Life Coach, to incorporate my love for Jesus and use scripture and prayer in my sessions.
I have also studied additional ways to remove trauma from the body through somatic healing and breathwork, as I have found that “stuck emotions” are the pre-cursor to burnout, and without being able to release them, my clients stay stuck in a pattern of over-working in order to heal the part of their souls that have been wounded.
I have combined these modalities into what I now call the Aloha Unveiled Transformational Coaching method, which can be applied and have immediate results, which is why I offer everything from 15-minute Rapid Results sessions, where clients can experience quick release of ruminating thoughts that weigh them down for years, all the way to my signature 12-week Burnout Recovery Formula, where I meet with my clients 1-hour each week, with text messaging support between calls, to get to those deep-seated limiting beliefs that have kept them stuck for decades.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
The biggest part of my own burnout recovery journey is all about unlearning!
I had to decouple my self-worth from my output, something extremely difficult for perfectionists and overachievers, like myself and the clients I attract, to do.
The biggest hump to get over is “How do I slow down without letting everything slip?” This is why my clients haven’t taken a vacation for YEARS before they work with me, and have acquired so many days of PTO that they could probably retire a couple of years early if they really wanted to, which had been the plan for some.
In my workplace, it was use it or lose it PTO, so I would take time off just to whittle down the at-home to-do list, or tackle bigger home improvement projects that would take more than a weekend to finish.
On my own healing journey, my doctor noticed I wasn’t getting any results after being taken off work for a month. He asked if I had been taking my supplements consistently, which I had. Of course, I did! I was an overachiever and I think I doubled up on some to “get results faster”.
Then he asked what I was doing every day, since I wasn’t working he wanted to know why my cortisol levels hadn’t really budged.
I told him “Nothing”, just doing stuff around the house. He let out an exasperated sigh. “You need to REST. Do absolutely nothing to spike your nervous system.”
I looked like a deer in headlights. I blinked a few times and did not want to admit to him that I had NO IDEA what that looked like.
I had been taught through emotional manipulation as a child that doing nothing was lazy, and I had been working extra hard my entire life to prove that I was not a lazy-good-for-nothing kid.
But now, I had doctor’s orders to relax, so I took a “Netflix and chill” approach because I realized that binge-watching shows calmed my nervous system down I would fall asleep quickly in front of the tube.
Doctor’s orders also included 10 hours of sleep per day and this helped me reachthat goal rather quickly. Over the next 2 months, my cortisol levels were back up to the lower end of the optimal range.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
I’ve always wanted to be in the mental health space, inspired by taking my first AP Psych class in high school. I was always the go-to “shoulder” in my friend group, the person on speed dial when one of my friends was in a crisis. I even talked a boy off the ledge, (literally, he was about to jump off the 3rd story).
I wasn’t able to finish college due to financial reasons, so I enlisted in the Army as a Mental Health Specialist, which I thought was the best next step to getting a BA in Psychology. While working on the mental health ward in a military hospital, I got disenchanted by the Psych space because I felt my hands were tied by the government in the level of care I was allowed to administer to patients.
This led to a 19-year detour in the field of oil and gas, where I was still able to use some of that Psych training in leadership development for my direct reports.
After my bout with burnout, and life-changing words from my doctor who suggested a career change to get rid of burnout for good, I was blessed to have the opportunity to become a health coach and help others heal their cortisol issues with an adrenal-specific protocol from the Health Coach Institute.
The timing was absolutely perfect and I am so glad I am back on the mental health path, which is what my Aloha Unveiled method is based on.
Contact Info:
- Website: kylieota.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kylie.ota/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kylieotacoaching/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyliekumalaeota/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrZxxpIGsXu29xypuk6ZDog
- Other: kylieota.com/consult – they can book a free no-obligation session. burnoutarchetypequiz.com – readers can find out their burnout type and grab a custom burnout-recovery plan based on their personality type. https://www.kylieota.com/podcast/ – my podcast called The Burnt Out Entrepreneur for easy listening burnout tips on the go.
Image Credits
Caitlyn Baker Photography