We recently connected with Mary Bower and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mary thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you ever experienced a times when your entire field felt like it was taking a U-Turn?

I have been in the health coaching industry for over 12 years now. I first got attracted to this field and network marketing as a career minded mom, stepping out of the work field and into the roll of stay-at-home-mom. Back in the early years of my entrepreneur journey there was a message of finding your outlet, a “purpose outside of the 24/7 of motherhood” that was attractive in the online world. And as a former teacher looking to grasp control in a season of life that felt many times out of control, this become my anchor.

Looking back, I see so many positive touch points, lessons learns, and the ripple effect of my passion for helping moms get in shape and learn how to feed their family simple healthy balanced meals, but I can also see the path that lead to burn out, pride and dissatisfaction because my focus was filtered through me.

It was July of 2021 when the veil finally tore and the U-turn began. Some good friends, who had been an inspiration for the start of my career years prior, met with me on vacation and shared the Gospel with me. I grew up in the church, had a solid relationship with the Lord, but through the last 8 years, the love of business and self growth, had clouded that relationship and I was seeing the reside of pursuit of self rather than the Kingdom of God.

After our conversation I spent some alone time with God, really letting Him search me and pull out things like pride and looking to praise from others. It took about 2 months to allow the U-turn to take place but as I began to lay down my fears, my schedule, my ways of doing things…. my heart began to change. I was so afraid I would lose customers, followers, and “my branding strategy.”… and I did, but some how the fear went with it. It took another 6 months of changing content and allowing the foundation of everything I built to crumble. God is so good though, cause at the beginning of 2022 I launched a Gospel Centered wellness group that is rooted first in Jesus, and then fitness and food come second. Through this I have seen women’s lives changed WAY beyond what I could ever provide before AND my heart is in a much better place. I’m no longer trying to guard control, my kids are back as priority and not competing for my time, and I have peace.

Mary, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started as a network marketer with a health and fitness MLM, but expanded to include support and tools for individuals wanting to learn how to make simple changes in the kitchen and create balanced meals for their family. A few years back when my family was going through a season with food allergies I learned how to read labels, cook from scratch and navigate the grocery store strategically. Since then I have created videos, posts and tutorials for followers and clients in order to help them do the same.

I also battled diastasis recti (an abdominal injury) after pregnancy and documented my rehab and later surgery on social media. This taught me a lot about patience, listening to your body, and the long game when it comes to fitness. I have since been able to coach and support other moms going through a similar journey within my wellness groups and social media pages.

Recently my focus on health and fitness has taken a faith based turn as I have left the main stream focus of health and fitness being the way to achieve freedom in life but as a secondary to relationship with Jesus. Since this shift I have created a Gospel Centered Wellness Coaching business where women can work with me in community and one on one. I believe that worth, purpose, and value is found in Christ first. Fitness + nutrition goals are then based off current seasons of life and what the Lord is asking of you. I help women focus on consistency, finding a fitness routine that builds strength and intentional movement habits, creating balanced meals, reading ingredients, and listening to hunger cues.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Stories! Stories are how all of us connect, relate, and build trust. The majority of my following and business has been generated from Instagram and/or Facebook and has grown through posts I wrote sharing my journey in relatable seasons. Things like motherhood, food allergies, post-partum complications, faith wrestles, parenting and more. I have done my best to share the un-curated moments and go beyond the typical “social media” posts. This grew my audience because people could relate to my humanness. People, these days especially, can see through the fake, but they TRUST and are willing to invest in real people who are willing to show their flaws as much as their strengths.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When I walked through post-partum complications and Diastasis Recti, documenting this journey online got very tricky. I spent years in rehab helping others in the same situation avoid surgery, and then in August of 2018 I had a surgery. It was a decision I was happy I made but publicly sharing my decision to stop rehab and even the surgery recovery not going as planned, was not easy. Though in the end was such a blessing! Many things in life go different than planned and we need to change course. Through sharing, I was able to connect with 100’s of other women who had the same thoughts, and challenges I did, and in the end my non-linear journey was an encouragement to man of them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sites.google.com/view/rootsfruits/home
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themarybower/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mary.fitnessfreak
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MaryBowerWellness

Image Credits
Mary Bower (they are all my photos)