hygge cares about leadership

Once a month, we take a week to share stories on our social media from our hygge fam about how they keep themselves well. We call it hygge cares and we’re lucky our pals at OrthoCarolina make it easy to share these stories with you. In May we focused on leadership – specifically, we wondered how the many leaders in our fam keep themselves well. When you’re a leader the pressure can be debilitating, so keeping yourself physically and mentally well is a must.

Read on to learn how the hygge fam leaders keep themselves well in different ways.

Jim Kittridge

“It’s a lot easier to talk about than do. I try to go to the gym early in the morning because I can’t do it in the afternoon – I’ll just make up excuses and more work to do. Mostly I do compound movements like weight lifting. I’ll occasionally go to the White Water Center and do rock climbing and white water rafting. We do some 5Ks that my wife convinces me to do which is always fun… as long as there’s beer at the end. It’s easy to grab fast food or Chick-fil-A or whatever, but I try to get a salad for lunch or something. I also do intermittent fasting which means I fast for 16 hours a day. I only eat in a 6-8 hour window. It helps a lot with controlling eating and energy. You wake up and feel awesome. I eat 2500 calories between 12 and 7 p.m., which is a lot. You feel like a glutenous king. You almost have to force yourself to eat, which feels really good, it feels like you’re cheating. But during the 16 hours you’re fasting your body is burning all the fast you’re storing for energy, but it doesn’t burn muscle at that point. It feels like you have a cheat code in life. Everyone else is working so hard, and I’m at iHop chowing down.”

DeAndrea Salvador

“I’m not the best outside runner, and in acknowledging that I found a really super cheap treadmill online one time and I bought it and put it in my house. I find that, not just from a wellness from a physical activity standpoint, but also for peace of mind, if I take the time to walk for 30 minutes, it helps me listen to music, put everything else aside, and it really helps I can do it in my house without having to leave my boys and go to the gym. That’s probably one of the biggest things I do. I also do things like color. I try to get a separate coloring book from my kids because they’ll take it over, but I do try to chill and listen to some music and take my mind off work. It’s good to have the focused alone time, but it keeps me active too.”

Carrie Cook

“I think about an African Proverb “Ubuntu.” It means “I am because we are.” I am well when our community is well. For me prioritizing the wellness of others helps me to feel well. Investing in people helps me to feel like I’m investing in myself and our broader communities. I want quality interactions and things where both of us leave each other feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, our spirit feeling renewed. And granted some days you just need some damn wine, and you need to run, and you need to scream and curse, but you know, for the most part just seeing people well is the wellness for me, it is the thing that refills my cup. Recently me and my fiance moved in together and he just thought it was the weirdest thing, he’d come inside sometimes and I’d be sitting on the couch in the dark. He’d be like “…. is everything okayyyy?” That’s just me unplugging. I don’t want to have a tv on, I don’t want to have a podcast on, I don’t want to have my phone on, I just want to absorb and be. People make a big to do about meditation. You don’t have to be sitting and going “ommmm.” You can just give yourself 5 minutes not to think – that is meditation.”

Kevin Pratt

“It’s definitely the toughest part of the job. It requires the most discipline in my opinion. We think of wellness so much as a physical characteristic, and absolutely that’s part of it and that’s the part I enjoy the most when I go workout, but the most challenging part is the mental health. The ups and downs, they can throw you. From that perspective, I would say having people I would consider mentors and friends and sharing stuff with them, and also leaning into my family as a way I keep myself well. It’s an every day thing, some days are good, some days I’m not so well. But I think that’s the important thing, leaning into that uncomfortability and understanding its all temporary. I work out at MADabolic. It’s a good crew. They really embrace body positivity which I think has meaning across everyone. It’s about trying to do the best you can do, and that’s good enough.”

Meggie Williams

“I work out every morning at 5:30 at MADabolic. Really, carving out time in the beginning of the day to really start me off right puts me in a really good place so I can feel like I can bring my best to the office, bring my best to my family, bring my best to the people I love and care about. I am conscious of what I do from a health standpoint to be the best person I can be, and I really like to feel good. Working out, eating clean is something I prioritize because I feel very rewarded by having good health and I’m very grateful for that good health. Keeping my body in the best shape it can be is what enables me to think smarter and work faster and be a better leader and team member. It’s part of my identity that I care very much about it.”