I’ve been ecstatic all day. The Health & Wellness Coalition just announced that our firm’s been selected for a Working Well award. What an honor to be recognized for a program that I helped launch and one that’s so greatly benefited our team. None more than myself.

My metamorphosis began when we started our worksite wellness program in October 2007. You can’t lead a wellness initiative, encourage employees to be healthy and then light up a cigarette. So I quit. And haven’t looked back. One bad habit extinguished.

Who knew yoga would captivate me so? I was addicted to our on-site yoga classes right from the start. Yoga isn’t just for the limber. While it does builds muscle and core strength, it’s also meditative and calming. Nothing like tuning out the busy world and focusing on your inner flame to find and maintain balance.

Eliminating the Negative

I recently finished a week-long detox diet. Not a hardcore detox mind you – I ate food, but cut the salt, caffeine, sweets, processed foods, alcohol and meats for a week. (I know it sounds severe, but it wasn’t so bad.) When the week was over my taste buds celebrated with the delicacy that is food. It never tasted better. I swore I was eating the best, juiciest apple in the world and then realized it wasn’t the food that had changed.

And this butterfly keeps gaining momentum. Once I started making healthy changes and feeling better, I wanted to do more. Now I’m riding bikes, running 5Ks, hula-hooping in the back yard and trying new healthy recipes. My latest passion is cooking Indian food. And thank you Manjula for the best recipes ever. I’m grateful that I work at a company that embraces wellness, and I look forward to where this journey leads next.