The Day My Body Said "Enough"
I once threw up in a potted plant at work (Ok, technically it was the bushes in the courtyard, but edited for dramatic effect. Ha.).
I wasn't sick. I wasn't coming down with anything. I was burned out and completely depleted from months of long days, high pressure, poor sleep, and no real recovery.
At the time, I was working in a demanding corporate role, trying to show I could handle whatever came my way. I was up early, taking calls on my commute before I even got to the office. I drank coffee to feel functional and used wine at night to quiet my brain. I wasn't sleeping well. I wasn't eating in any way that helped me feel stable or energized. I didn't have any healthy outlets for stress. But I kept going, because I thought that's what I was supposed to do.
No one told me I had to take calls before 8 a.m. or stay at my desk past dinnertime. No one explicitly asked me to skip breaks or run myself into the ground. But I did it. That was the culture, at least, the part I absorbed. Be available. Be productive. Be impressive. The rest is your problem to figure out.
I had a strong work ethic, but looking back, I can see how that strength morphed into something that started working against me. I didn't know how to set boundaries or what it meant to take care of myself in a way that helped me show up better at work. I just thought I had to push harder.
Health and Work Are More Connected Than You Think
Now, years later, I work with clients who are navigating versions of that same pattern. Smart, capable people who are great at what they do, but are running on fumes. They tell themselves they'll get back to their health once things calm down. But the calm never comes.
Everything feels urgent, and their own needs quietly fall to the bottom of the list until something gives.
The way you eat, sleep, move, decompress, and recharge affects your ability to lead, communicate, focus, and stay resilient. When those habits fall apart, it becomes harder to show up at work with clarity and confidence.
Many of the people I work with are great leaders. They're thoughtful, smart, capable, and reliable. But they don't always apply those same qualities inward. They push through instead of checking in. They focus on outcomes instead of inputs. They take care of everyone else but treat their own well-being as optional.
It doesn't have to be that way.
Taking care of your health helps you refill the tank so you can keep showing up without constantly crashing.
People think they have to overhaul their whole life or become a completely different person, but many time they already have the skills.
In my personal training work, I remind people that we don't work out in a bubble. What you do outside the gym impacts what you get from your workouts. It's the same with work. You don't lead, think, or perform in a bubble. If you're not taking care of your body and mind, it's only a matter of time before it catches up. You have to take care of yourself before you can effectively take care of everyone else.
How Leadership Skills Can Support Your Health
If you've ever managed a team, led a project, or carried responsibility for a business, you already know how to do hard things. You're not lacking discipline or motivation. You may not have always been encouraged to apply those skills to your well-being.
Here's how the skills you use at work can carry over into your health:
Strategic thinking – If you've ever launched a product, organized a team, or planned a family vacation around a dozen moving parts, you know how to manage complexity. You can take that same approach with your health. Step back, assess what's working, and create a plan that aligns with your season, rather than reacting day to day.
Decision-making under pressure – Maybe you've had to approve a budget at the last minute or respond to client issues on a tight timeline. That ability to stay focused helps when your health habits are put to the test. You know how to keep showing up even when the conditions aren't ideal.
Delegation and asking for help – If you've ever hired someone, outsourced a task, or leaned on a mentor, you've practiced this already. In health, it may look like working with a coach, joining a group, or having someone check in on your progress toward your goals.
Clear communication – You've probably advocated for a team member's raise or set expectations with a difficult client. Use that same clarity to set boundaries around your time, protect space for workouts, or ask for what you need at home or work to support your health.
Problem-solving – You've worked through supply chain delays, schedule conflicts, or tech problems. That mindset is helpful when your meal prep doesn't go as planned, your routine gets interrupted, or your motivation dips. You don't quit, you troubleshoot.
Follow-through – If you've earned a degree, built a business, or stuck with a project over months or years, you already know how to commit. That same consistency is exactly what builds results in health; it's follow-through.
Adaptability – You've adjusted to new managers, new roles, and new life phases. That ability to pivot comes in handy when your plan needs to shift. You can modify a workout, reset your priorities, or start fresh without having to start over.
If you're already doing these things at work, you're more equipped than you think to support your health. You just haven't been asked to see it that way before.
Five Practical Ways to Prioritize Health, Even When Work Is Demanding
If you're deep in that cycle now, it can be hard to imagine what change looks like. So here are a few grounded, doable ways to start shifting your energy and focus, without needing to pause your career or rearrange your life.
1. Audit Your Inputs
Start with the basics: Are you getting 7–8 hours of sleep most nights? Are you eating meals that keep your energy steady? Are you moving your body regularly, even a walk? These aren't extra credit, they're essential for clear thinking and steady leadership.
2. Catch the Cultural Creep
Sometimes it's not your boss asking you to be available 24/7, it's the unspoken norms you've picked up. Pay attention to how those patterns formed. Are you always responding first? Always saying yes? Taking calls at odd hours without question? You don't have to blame the culture or yourself. Just notice what you're participating in, and ask if it's still working for you.
3. Separate Work Ethic from Overwork
A strong work ethic is a good thing, until it becomes the reason you never rest. Being reliable doesn't require being constantly available. You can maintain high standards while still setting boundaries. Long-term performance depends on it.
4. Start Small and Build
You don't need to overhaul your life to feel better. It could be a walk instead of plowing through lunch. Maybe it's a real breakfast before you open your laptop. It may be setting a non-negotiable bedtime three nights a week. Tiny shifts add up.
5. Redefine What Success Looks Like
The version of success that requires you to sacrifice your health won't hold up over time. Create a version that includes feeling clear-headed, emotionally steady, physically strong, and present in your life. That kind of success is sustainable.
Your Health Isn't a Side Project
High-achieving people are often the ones holding it all together for their families, their teams, their communities. They take care of everyone else, meet deadlines, manage logistics, and rarely miss a beat. But in all that doing, it’s easy to put your own health on the back burner. Not intentionally. It just quietly slips down the list, behind everything and everyone else that feels more urgent.
And when you finally do think about taking time for yourself, it can feel...selfish. Like you’re choosing a workout over your kids, or prioritizing rest over one more work task. But a healthier, more energized version of you will show up stronger for everyone around you.
Neglecting your health doesn’t make you more committed. It makes everything harder. And if you burn yourself out in the process, no one wins. Your well-being is the foundation, it isn’t extra credit.
If I could go back to the version of me who ended up in that courtyard, I'd ask her how things might have been different if she had been sleeping more, moving regularly, and eating meals that gave her energy instead of just getting through the day. I wonder if she would've had more capacity to manage the pressure, or at least a bit of clarity to make decisions that supported her.
Maybe she wouldn't have hit a wall quite so hard. Maybe she wouldn't have ended up getting sick in the bushes outside the office. She would have felt a little steadier, more like herself, while working hard and pursuing her goals.
That's what I help people build now. A version of health that doesn't require perfect routines, just enough consistency to make the rest of life feel more doable, giving yourself what you need to handle what's already on your plate, with more strength, more clarity, and a little more ease
Questions? I’d love to help.
Lea
Lea Genders is a board-certified health coach, personal trainer, and workplace wellness consultant based in Fort Worth, TX. She offers corporate wellness programs for employee health and productivity, as well as in-person and virtual training / coaching for individuals worldwide. Her blog shares expert guidance on strength training, running, and sustainable nutrition @fortworth_trainer
If you’ve built a career, led a team, or managed a full plate of responsibilities, then you already have what it takes to improve your health.
Time management, focus, adaptability, these are the same skills that help you stay consistent with your workouts, eat in a way that supports your energy, and take care of your body long term. You just have to apply what you already know in a new direction.
Your health supports your success.