Every Friday I am going to feature a woman that I adore. They exude all the qualities of an Alpha Female and I want to dig into their lives to get some nuggets of knowledge to help us all live happier, healthier lives balancing life & work.
Definition of an Alpha Female
An Alpha Female is a powerful and assertive woman. Her confidence is due to being an intelligent and intellectual problem-solver. Being an Alpha Female is a State of Mind based on choosing ambition and being proud of it. She strives for a happy and healthy work/life harmony.
She is the brightest star in her constellation. When an Alpha Female stays true to their authentic selves and their missions they shine. An Alpha Female puts herself first so that she can fill up her cup and then have more energy for her friends, family, and coworkers. She strives for synergy with the world around her. She knows that work/life harmony is found by staying true to your priorities and what makes you happy. She is never complacent about striving for better and nurtures relationships with all the people in her life.
Meet Alexa Federico!
Alexa Federico is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner in-training who is passionate about using real, whole foods as medicine to reach optimal health. Every since her diagnosis of Crohn’s disease ten years ago, she has developed a passion for all things health and wellness and teaching others that they can improve their illnesses with nutrition. You can connect with Alexa at her blog or Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.
What do you think of the definition and how are you an Alpha Female?
I think your definition of an Alpha Female hits on so many important points. I will say that I do consider myself an Alpha Female by your definition, but I would not have several years ago. I used to lack confidence and be afraid of not pleasing people. Now, I am confident in myself to produce good work and my ability to help others in their healing journeys.
I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education, but I felt strongly that with the unpredictability of Crohn’s disease, it was not the right career path for me at this time. This month I took a leap and started an online training program to be a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. I feel so confident in that decision and I truly know it was the right one to make.
I want to highlight in your definition you stated an Alpha Female fills up her cup first in order to be successful and have healthy relationships. I believe so much in the power of self-care and putting yourself first, so I love that!
What are you most passionate about?
I am most passionate about real food. Without receiving a chronic illness diagnosis, I would never have tuned into a truly healthy lifestyle. Once I learned how far we as a society have strayed from nourishing our bodies and about all of the junk that is put into our food, I was hooked. Eventually, I want to do some kind of work around spreading this knowledge on a big scale and getting the fake ingredients, additives, dyes, and GMO’s out of our food system.
The list of bodily systems and aches, pains, and illnesses that are linked to our gut health is growing and growing. I think so many people are unnecessarily suffering just because they don’t know any better.
What does work/life harmony look like for you?
My work/life harmony is still in development! I graduated college last May in 2016 and since then I have been nannying and blogging. However, since starting the NTP training program, now I have another “job” to add to the mix.
Harmony is achieved when I don’t feel overworked and completely depleted of energy. I babysit a lot on the side as well, and I have had to consciously work at turning down opportunities when they come up to allow for “me” time, which is so necessary for optimal health!
Share with us a time when work/life balance was out of whack? What was your aha moment that taught you it was ok to take care of yourself first.
There have been several times over the past year while I have been a nanny and occasional babysitter that I have known I said, “yes” to too many things. While I enjoy the hustle and the tire after a day of work, there was nothing left in my “cup” for myself. I took those times to reevaluate the amount of hours I can realistically put in without feeling overworked.
How do you nourish yourself?
First and foremost I nourish myself with food. I cannot feel my best or do my best work when my body is not being nourished nutritionally. High-quality food is extremely important to me. Because I have an autoimmune disease, I want to minimize the stress and toxins my body has to deal with. So this means buying organic, pasture-raised, and foods with short ingredient lists and then spending the time to prepare them.
Listening to my body is another way I nourish myself, which is more nourishment of my soul and mental/emotional wellbeing. If I get to a point in the day where I feel like I can’t look at screen anymore, I know I have spent too much time there. I will put my laptop and phone away and pull out a book for pleasure and relax. I struggle with the notion in my head that there is always more work to be done and more things to check off my list. In college, I really hit my peak for this kind of thinking and I am actively working on not becoming stressed and anxious when I take time out for myself.
What is your weekly fitness routine like?
My fitness routine is extremely simple. I’ll be honest, I have never pushed myself into exercising. I was on sports teams as a kid and through high school, but high-intensity workouts were never my thing. When I was diagnosed with Crohn’s I experienced serious fatigue and it’s still something that comes up now and again, but was especially prevalent in my first years of living with IBD. I gravitated to being sedentary more often than not from fatigue or not feeling well.
One of my personal goals for 2017 was to walk at least three times a week, 30 minutes a time, minimum. I have been meeting and usually exceeding this goal, which I am proud to say! I really enjoy how I feel after getting in movement and bringing my heart rate up. It has been giving me more physical energy and motivation to get work done.
What are your daily habits for winding down at night and reducing stress?
Writing my to-do list for the following day is a big stress-reliever for me. Otherwise, I lay I bed going over what I accomplished that day and what I still need to get done, which causes my brain go a mile a minute and then there goes sleeping!
For winding down I try to stop doing work at least half an hour before going to bed. If I am blogging or doing homework for my NTP program up until I go to sleep, my mind is still super active and it’s hard to relax and fall asleep. Usually, I am reading a book or watching a little TV curled up on the couch.
What are some pain points of being an Alpha Female that you have to problem solve for?
Definitely overworking myself is my most prominent pain point. I can be my own worst enemy! Managing my time to have free time for enjoyment, friends, or straight up relaxing is something I am always working on. My mindset is naturally to do more, faster, and then do it better! It sounds like a good plan until I am burnt out.
What is your definition of happiness?
For me, good health is the biggest piece of my happiness pie. Feeling well and energized most of the time (I try not to be hard on my body), which in turn gives me the ability to have time for the people and things I love. That is happiness to me. I am a simple-pleasures kind of girl.