Self-Care and Life Coaching with Madeleine Onstwedder
Thanks to the global pandemic, for over 15 months now, I think every single person on this planet has experienced trauma, from adjusting to a new normal, to new work scenarios, to new social scenarios, to new travel scenarios and so much more. I firmly feel this has taken it’s toll on all of us to varying degrees and now more than ever is a time to think about not only how we’re going to process this trauma, but how do we move forward and take the lessons we’ve learned to move us into the appropriate next chapter of my life. There are a number of places to go to begin to do this work, but I happen to be a big fan of life coaching and the benefits it can bring to your work life, your personal life and so much more. Joining me today is Madeleine Onstwedder, a Life Coach for social impact professionals to discuss why she chose this career and share some of her free and cheap tips to live a better life
What are we drinking?
Madeleine - Water
Shannon - Black Cherry Schweppes
Podcast Notes
Madeleine is a life coach for social impact professionals. Her desire to help others and her creativity helped her manifest her altruism through art. She studied history and sociology at university.
She has worked at art museums in curating and educational roles.
After working an art-related job in Germany that lacked a larger positive impact on others, Madeleine took on odd jobs and then discovered life coaching. She then pursued a life coach certification program, which she finished in November, 2020. During the course of her training, she set up her business and started acquiring a clientele.
Madeleine sees the role of a life coach as someone who can help you with your emotional well-being, figuring out your goals (and reaching them). She sees the role of a therapist as being able to do the same, plus the support for mental health conditions. She cites Oprah Winfrey referring to a life coach as being a “brainstorming partner”.
Shannon discusses how meeting with a life coach became the genesis for The Financial Gym. She elaborates the details of the meeting and the clarity it provided her.
There is emerging research that looks into the correlation between a person’s sense of purpose and fulfillment with their well-being, as well as physical health.
In Madeleine’s experience, life coaching combined with therapy can have a positive, synergistic effect.
Dealing with many different problems and issues, Madeleine discovered the need for those in the social impact space to focus more on their general well-being. 90% of the people who leave the non-profit sector do so because of burnout/non-sustainability.
Madeleine noticed women, who naturally took on the nurturer role, have been more hesitant to prioritize their own self-care needs.
Self-care doesn’t need to be expensive or require a lot of time in order to be effective.
Madeleine rates adequate sleep to be the top self-care priority and is foundational to all the other self-care actions.
Being kind to oneself is another self-care fundamental. We have a tendency of being most critical of ourselves. Giving yourself grace and being compassionate to oneself can be so important. This can require more energy than assumed.
Self-care can be different things to different people, what it means to one person can be entirely different to what it means to someone else. It’s best to be cognizant of what works for you and take the time to practice it.
A life coach can help you discover which self-care practices work for you and your lifestyle.
Madeleine encourages experimentation in researching which self-care practices work for you. Sometimes the smallest of these practices can be the most effective.
Being in tune with our bodies and seeing what things felt like when we are 100% sure (either for or against) about a decision, action or issue can be beneficial in identifying effective self-care practices. Remembering the last time you felt when being in a “true yes” frame of mind can give you insight into how the body feels when both the mind and body are aligned. Being more self-aware of how you are feeling can provide guidance to this alignment.
Review your schedule and daily routines to see where small self-care actions can be integrated. Small “pockets’ of time for self-care can be so important.
Designate time and mark your calendar for larger time slots and work around that schedule to make self-care a priority.
Try to make your self-care more social. We associate self-care with being alone, positive results can also be achieved by exercising social interaction.
Madeleine also encourages finding fun in your self-care; this is a need rather than a luxury. The more fun you could get into your day-to-day life, the more impactful it can be.
Takeaway: My biggest takeaway is the value of investing in your mental health. It doesn’t have to cost money, but it’s certainly worth giving some time to it, especially acknowledging that we’ve all been through so much these past 15 months.
Random Three Questions
Except for sleeping, what is the thing you most love to do to self-care?
What is something you’ve binged over the pandemic?
If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?
Connect with Madeleine
Instagram Handle: @madeleineonstwedder
Website URL: https://madeleineonstwedder.com
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/with-purpose/id1547854209
If you have any topics you would like me to cover on this podcast, or if you’d like to get in the financially naked hot seat, I encourage you to email me to Shannon@fingyms.com, or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group, and let me know what you want to hear.
In addition to helping clients save, spend, and build wealth, a primary role of our trainers play at The Financial Gym is the role of financial educator. If you are someone who didn’t learn financial literacy at home, in school or on the job, I hope you’ll think of The Financial Gym as the place to go and your financial trainer as your BFF (Best Financial Friend), who’s there to help you navigate the jargon and understand the language of personal finance in a fun and empowering way.
I’m so excited to share with you that other than monthly memberships, we have so many other ways you can support Financial Gym’s mission. We have recently launched a series of courses ranging from basics of personal finance to investing, first time home buying and family planning. These are truly amazing and you can buy them for yourselves or your loved ones. We’ve also launched our BFF affiliate page. If you’re looking for a new credit card, personal loan, or investment account, check that out and support the Gym at the same time. Later next month we’ll be launching a starter Gym membership at $35 a month and in September a monthly Mastermind group led by me to people looking to level up their finances. So go to or send friends to financialgym.com to see all of the ways you can work with us and level up your finances.