We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tracy Shearer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tracy below.

Tracy, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I got my first job in my field by proactively reaching out to decision makers of various companies to offer wellness motivational presentations, mindfulness workshops and stress reduction services to employees. My pitch included my story, first-hand experience, return of investment, and an offer of promotional discounts for individual participants. I was very realistic and careful in how I set and managed expectations. With the manta “one goal, one moment, one client at a time”, I focused on securing just one client. I was extremely happy as I landed my “first, one client” – a motivational holistic health presentation for an large organization. It resulted over 100 participants, 40 of which signed up with me using the promotional participation discount I created, 3 of which signed long-term individual coaching contracts. The positive post-event feedback resulted in 2 return group visits and a contract with the organization to provide weekly yoga & meditation sessions for their employees. The gap from where I began and where I landed with the first job was about 6 months. During that time, I stayed dedicated to my goal and mantra. I focused on affirmation, “seeing” myself positively executing in my new role. This first job in the field boosted my confidence. led to strong, positive recommendations and more work.

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?

I am a former corporate executive who got sick and tired of being sick and tired. Heavy load, long hours, poor work-life balance led to exhaustion, burn-out, poor food choices, and stress. I knew I could no longer sustain this way of living. After making a concentrated effort, I overcame these hinderances, and improved my health. As a result, I was eager to learn more and desired to help others do the same. I eventually was able to launch my platform, Flourish With Tracy, a wellness advocacy business. The problem I seek to solve is to help people eat better, move better, and live better. What sets me apart is that as a Board Certified Holistic Heath Practitioner, Certified Holistic Nutrition Wellness Coach, and Registered Yoga & Meditation Instruction, I am able to “meet you where you are”, to looking at the “whole” picture to peel back layers, identifying root causes to assess, align, and affirm a course of action. I then design a tailored plan specifically for each client based on their needs from integrating nutrition/meal prep and planning, motivation, and weight management, to yoga sessions, guided meditation, and mindfulness techniques. Through this holistic approach I also develop programs to provide motivational, health education, well being presentations, workshops and programs for corporate wellness initiatives. I am proud of being able to offer these services live, online, and virtually through individual sessions, classes, and groups. I am currently most proud to be able to “pay it forward” by launching a new endeavor, the facilitation of my first 200hrYoga Teacher Training Certification program.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

A story along my journey that illustrates resilience occurred about 30 years ago. I was asked to take on a project manager oversight role directing a group of tenured, senior leaders. It was scary! I had not been trained to do it, I had no “background” and I was very “young”. Any mistakes could result in a financial blow to the organization. My manager saw something in me what I did not see in myself. She saw that I had the “ability” to learn, the ability to grow, the ability to not only become stronger as I acquired the skills, but that I had the ability to lead and strengthen my new “team” as well. Instead of turning down the opportunity, I swallowed the fear, dived in, and pushed forward. Not only did I achieve what the manager foresaw, I exceeded. I brought the project in under budget, and the company saw an immediate return of investment within the first month of implementation and I earned the respect of the senior leaders who became my peers and colleagues. I realized that they too were alongside growing, learning to accept me as part of their “improvement opportunity” journey. It was the beginning of my change management, process improvement, re-engineering career. If I had listened to my fears, if I had stayed in my corner, if I had declined the opportunity to invest in the areas I was not initially strong, If I had not remained resilient, I would not have acquired the very skill set that became the catalyst of where I am and what I do today. I now welcome and cherish the ability to transform, change and I am stronger because of it.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn is that people are “afraid of change”. Gradually, over time, I have come to learn that this is not true, the real reason we are afraid is because we are afraid of failure and of the unknown. “I’ll stay in this comfort bubble because I know exactly where I am” is what we hold close however, that too is not true. The backstory for me as previously mentioned, is that I realized that I stayed in a stressful role longer than I should have. I stayed because I was compensated well, could execute duties easily. I wanted and craved a change. I wasn’t afraid of changing. I was afraid of modifying finances, of what was unknown to me, to starting over, etc. I then realized the only holding me back was me. I had already changed. I just had not accepted it, I was not the same person I was when I began in the role. I had to realize that nothing stays the same, even that which we are familiar with. Our houses change, the people in them, the colors and décor, our cars, jobs, pets, clothes, even family and friends change. If we were afraid of change, we would never enjoy the intricate sensation of tasting a new favorite foods. If we were afraid to try it, we would still be eating “baby food” or eating the same things every day. If we thought we would really fail, we would never go for the job interview or promotion. What is there to be afraid of? It’s all about perspective and positively looking at any situation as an opportunity to expand and increase our knowledge, abilities, likes, dislikes, and skills. I unlearned being afraid of change. shifting to instead embrace learning to look at change positively welcomes opportunity for growth.

Taking the “risk” to learn or understand an area you know nothing about increases your knowledge. You may discover that you may strengthen areas you previously thought were challenging, discover something new, find new tools to add to your skill set or all of the above. Finally, you just might discover that you actually enjoy it. Shifting paradigms allow new fresh perspective. Go for it. Open yourself to be willing to “unlearn” to clear the path for new “learning”. Finally, look around, you’ll also discover that you are never alone in the journey, there are always others learning right alongside of you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.flourishwithtracy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flourishwithtracy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Flourish.With.Tracy
• Linkedin: https://www.instagram.com/flourishwithtracy/

Image Credits

Mikel Thomas, Tracy Shearer