Wellbeing Stories

For many on the journey to wellness, there is usually some big motivator keeping them on the path. But for Sara Webb, most of what she does comes from discipline, not motivation.

Her physical health journey began when she started running in college. When she had kids she found it hard to continue with that path until Becky Lewis, Associate Director of Programs and Administration for Rec Well, introduced her to Beachbody. She even still uses it today — now just called BODi — but without her discipline and the routine she has it would be much harder.

“This is just what I do. So there isn't an excuse or a reason not to, it's like my alarm goes off at five I get up and I do it,” Webb says. “And so that discipline is just a really important part of how you keep a habit like this going. Because if it was about motivation, I would have stopped a long time ago.”

For Webb, this routine includes getting up at 5 a.m. Monday through Friday to workout and then walking on the weekends. Working out at home, she uses the BODi app which includes a mix of cardio, strength training and yoga.

A big part of working out at home for Webb is less distractions, waking up at 5 a.m. simply because no one else is up. She is able to knock out her workout and then get on with her day at work, which she keeps separate from her home life.

“Home is home. I really try to break down that barrier. When I leave the office, it stays in the office and it'll wait for tomorrow when I come back,” Webb says.

“And that I think just helps balance your life in general and the different components of your life that don't always have to necessarily mix together,” she adds.

It does help that at work Webb does feel great with the people she works with and the culture of her department. The team comes together to support each other and care about the work they do, and while home is separate she says it does feel like home too.

Robert King has realized the journey of wellness is full of ups and downs. He has always been a physically active person; football being one way he enjoyed getting physical activity during college. His wellness journey changed when training for a marathon and being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Despite a family history of the disease, he never thought much of it and went through his life as normal. Since then his definition of the term wellness has adapted, and he is now proactive rather than reactive and has adjusted his healthy lifestyle to stand up to the disease. He hasn’t let the diagnosis dictate his life and focuses on staying active and well in all aspects of the word.

He likes to stay active by hiking and walking especially while connecting with this family. King says he is almost always moving, taking advantage of the free facilities at the Rec Center and enjoying the sights and sounds of campus through walking.

One of his biggest motivators to continue to live a healthy lifestyle is his family. King has seen through his family how staying active and playing sports can contribute to longevity.

“I remember my granddad, 68 years old, when I was in the height of my college football playing days, could get out and he could run with us,” he reminisces. “Just always having folks around. When I was younger, on Sundays after church, my family would go to this big park and we played softball together. We played basketball together. Being active was a huge part of it.”

King plans his activities throughout the week and aims to have a bit of “me” time while planning, in hopes of creating a better transition between work and life and staying grounded and connected to his thoughts and his faith as a way to fuel his spirits.

While she may have always been an active person, it was during college where Lauryn Miceli picked up a hobby that would follow her the rest of her life: running. What started as a couch to 5k program during college has turned into over 10 marathons up to this point.

She’s currently training for the Chicago Marathon, where her regimen involves running six days a week with one long run (which is about 21 to 22 miles). The goal wasn’t always to run marathons, as Miceli initially started running to lose weight in college.

“I remember the first time I ran an hour I was so excited. It was just on the track and I just ran in circles for an hour but I remember calling my mom,” Miceli recalls. “I was so happy and then I started thinking about races and the first one I did was just a 5k that wasn’t timed or anything.”

Now it not only is something she enjoys but she feels the positive effects it has on her health.

“I can feel a difference if I’m not running or if I'm not eating well… I just like the way I feel and I want to continue to be able to do these things,” she says.

“A big part of why I continue to exercise is to manage stress. Running, in particular, has always helped me to relieve stress. It can be meditative as well, a time when I can clear my head,” she adds.

Part of the fun of running for Miceli is the fact she is able to be social and run with people she knows. During COVID-19, most group runs were canceled and it was hard to stay motivated so Miceli took it into her own hands to create her own race for her and her friends.

“I've always wanted to run my birthday years in miles and this is the time to do it,” she says. “[It gave] me something to train for and then I won't be so disappointed that everything is canceled.”

Nowadays she runs right on campus the days she is here, but her favorite is the dirt roads close to where she lives.

Two priorities for pre-med student, Khalil Roy, are his mental and physical well-being. Through clubs like ECLIPSE (Explorations in Collaborative Leadership and InterProfessional Education) and the men’s volleyball club, he is able to regularly work on these areas of his well-being. He has been in ECLIPSE since he was a freshman and has played volleyball since he was a sophomore.

When it comes to his physical health, one of Roy’s main motivators is the future and wanting to be mobile and active later in life. He has seen firsthand how hard it is for loved ones to lose their mobility when they get older which is why eating right and being active now is necessary.

When it comes to his mental health, Roy practices mindfulness throughout the week by self reflection and journaling with an emphasis on consistency. One of the biggest things that Roy works on is acknowledging the low points that he has and using them as stepping stones to achieve the greatness he has set himself up for.

“Recently I started therapy, just to like, try to unpack some things that happened in the past,” he says. “It wasn't what I thought it would be. But it was good that I went anyway… I had a skewed mindset about a lot of things.”