“We Constantly Have Labels Placed On Us. We Are Somebody’s Mother, Daughter, Wife, Partner Etc. We Are Never Allowed To “Just Be”.

With Bridget Zyka

I had the pleasure of interviewing Bridget Zyka, co-author of the bestselling book She is Unstoppable and Body Positivity Coach. Bridget had it all on Paper. The High flying IT Job, but Something was missing. It was the need to find inner happiness and joy. Her body was crying out for love. She abused it in all the wrong ways. She decided to start loving her body and turned her life around.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path as a body positivity coach?

I’ve spent the last number of years figuring out how to combine all my skills into a unique business idea that would bring happiness both to myself and my clients.

I would be described as being a “Multipotentialite “ or a “Magpie” regarding my career trajectory.
I’ve always loved being creative and wanted that freedom to express myself.

I was initially a Graphic Designer and learned to be highly adaptable and flexible by living in 7 countries around the world.

A few years ago, I took a career Break and spent time living in SE Asia and volunteering as an English teacher. When I returned to New Zealand, I picked up an IT job and eventually left to retrain as a Makeup Artist and Personal Stylist. This path led me to pursuing a Special Effects Makeup Course in London.

It was while living in London that I finally learned to love my body. I was practising intuitive eating before I knew that was what it was called. I was making decisions from a place of love and respect for my body. I wasn’t punishing it, I was learning how to work in tandem with it.

It was during a conversation with a friend where we were discussing what I was passionate about that Body Positivity came up. I’ve always been annoyed by the way women are treated, sidelined and marginalised by society.

We constantly have labels placed on us. We are somebody’s Mother, Daughter, Wife, Partner etc we are never allowed to “Just Be”.

I started my facebook group “Just Be — Listen to your Body” as a 21 Day challenge where I was posting live videos and motivational posts every day and the rest is history.

How have your personal challenges informed your career path?

I have always fought to be allowed to be creative in my various roles. People would constantly try to put me in a box.

Can you share five pieces of advice to other wellness coaches to help their patients to thrive?

1. Really get into the mindset of your client and identify how you can serve them in the best way possible.
2. Help clients to self-identify their issues and take responsibility for their actions and choices
3. People have different ways of processing information and some need more time than others to act on our advice
4. Make your treatment plans relevant to the client’s current lifestyle, it has to be easily manageable or they won’t follow through
5. Make the process as enjoyable as possible and don’t forget to keep your sense of humour intact.

Social media and reality TV create a venue for people to share their personal stories. Do you think more transparency about your personal story can help or harm your field of work? Can you explain?

I believe in being honest and showing transparency where appropriate. We don’t need to share absolutely every part of our lives. We are Human too and we need to create boundaries to protect ourselves and our families. Social Media can make us all fall into the comparison trap and it is not healthy to spend an inordinate amount of time on it.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant to your life?

My favourite quote is by Oscar Wilde “Be Yourself; Everyone else is already taken.”

I’ve always strived to be different and followed my own path anyway no matter what other people thought of me. People have thought I’m crazy — I’ve gallivanted around the world and seen amazing things and places.

I’m glad I took those risks and it all worked out pretty good in the end. People spend most of their life living in fear and afraid of judgement. We worry so much about what other people are going to think of us. YOU live your life, not somebody else. Life is short so go out and make it count. Go travel now, not when you are retired and too old to enjoy it. We never know how life is going to work out. My advice is to stop waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect time will never come.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

My dream is to set up the Body Positivity Collective, a group of women who are available to help other women starting up their own businesses. I want to offer scholarships that will allow young Women to pursue their Business ideas and turn it into a reality.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

I’m available on all the usual channels, feel free to reach out by dm x

She is Unstoppable Book: https://www.instagram.com/she_is_unstoppable_book/Instagram: http://www.Instagram.com/thebodypositivitycoachFb: http://www.facebook.com/thebodypositivitycoachTwitter: @thebodyposcoach

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!