Nouriched: Eat, Move and Rest Your way to Wellness

It’s 7:30 PM on a Tuesday in 2023, after wrapping up a coaching coaching call. My client, like every other woman I was working with at the time, was stressed because of her taxing 9-5. In fact, I review my session notes from all my recent calls, and there it was, staring me in my face: I spend more than 70% of my time doing what looks very much like career coaching.

So now, I’m sitting at my desk with a cup of tea, staring at the categories on my blog. There they are: Eat, Move, Rest – the holy trinity of wellness. Simple, elegant, and perfectly aligned with my mission to help women live their best lives.

But here’s the thing: something was nagging at me. We spend so much time working. Whether it’s a 9-to-5, a side hustle, or the full-time job of running a household, work is this huge, inescapable part of our lives. So why isn’t it reflected on my blog? Is it not part of wellness? Spoiler alert: it absolutely is.

Still, I wrestled with this idea. Nouriched is about women’s wellness, not careers. Would talking about work somehow dilute my message? Or would it make it richer, more complete? I kept thinking about all the ways work ties into wellness—the joy of a productive day, the stress of looming deadlines, the satisfaction of doing something meaningful, and yes, the occasional desperate need for a nap in the office break room.

I also thought about my own journey. Work has been a huge part of my story, and I’ve learned so much about finding joy, balance, and purpose in it. How could I not share that with you? How could I not talk about something that shapes so much of who we are and how we live?

So what do we do with “work”?

It’s been years since that night of musing. Believe me, my brand therapist could probably write this blog post beter than I ever will. I have tonnes and tonnes of “work” content that I shared with her, that (to me) just didn’t seem to gel well with what Nouriched had to say, so I compartmentalized all the “work stuff” and called her “Hey Chantelle!”, then tucked her away on a shelf for later use.

But then, somewhere in the grief of 2024, it was confirmed in my spirit. We need Joy in Work. That was the missing piece. It’s not a detour from my wellness message—it’s an extension of it. Because wellness isn’t just about what we eat, how we move, or how we rest. It’s also about how we spend our days, how we grow, and how we find fulfillment in the work we do.

So here’s the big announcement: I’m adding a new category to the blog called Joy in Work. This is where I’ll share tips, stories, and reflections on how to work well and live well, all at the same time. Because we deserve to thrive in every part of our lives, including the part that happens Monday through Friday (and sometimes weekends, too).