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 Robyn Srigley!
Robyn Srigley is The Hormone Diva, Holistic Nutritionist and Women’s Health and Nutrition Coach. Robyn’s own journey with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) jumpstarted her passion for helping women replace their anxieties with joy to open possibility in their lives and break free of hormonal imbalance. Robyn runs a successful 1-1 coaching and online program practice where she uses diet, movement, botanicals and a self-love lifestyle to transform the lives of women with PCOS, Endometriosis, PMS, Painful Periods and much more. You can find out more about her work at www.thehormonediva.com
How are you an Alpha Female?
I am an Alpha Female because I’m fierce about protecting both my time and my energy. I create boundaries and stick to them, which allows me to easily manifest my goals and succeed both in business and personal life.
What does work/life harmony look like for you?
As a business owner, it can be really difficult to find balance because my business is me and I am my business. My face and persona are incredibly important to my work. So for me, it comes down to those boundaries and being fierce about my time. During my work time, I don’t do any personal ‘to-dos’. I know my “magic time”and I do my most important tasks during this time to stay productive. After my work day is over, I counteract all the “doing” and energy by putting a big focus on self-care, including fun, yoga, exercise, meditation and making sure I have time for myself.
During the times that I stick with these non-negotiables, I feel much more in harmony – I stress less, I’m less reactive and I’m able to be much more mindful and present both with my loved ones and clients.
What are you most passionate about?
I am most passionate about health. I’m a total nutrition nerd and am always reading, listening and watching health-related stuff. The more I know, the more I want to know! Part of the reason I’m so passionate about it is because I’ve used natural methods to balance my own health, and I know that when my health is a top priority, I feel SO amazing, and that reflects on my actions with others, causing a sort of ripple effect in the lives of my loved ones as well.
What are you daily health habits that keep your immune system boosted?
There’s a lot of them! I start my day with water, then I sit and meditate for about 10 minutes. I like to visualize the day ahead and think about the type of energy and mood I want to bring to each activity. I follow that up with yoga and possible a HIIT workout. I’m also really strict about having a high-fat, low-carb breakfast – it’s the only thing that seems to set me up for a good blood sugar and mood day. Throughout the day as necessary I’ll take breaks to step outside, lie down and throw my legs up the wall or have a cup of tea. I love to diffuse essential oils to assist my uplifting my mood, increasing my energy or helping my focus. As the day comes to a close, I might have more tea, maybe a bath, and I’ll generally do a 15 minute meditation while lying on my acupressure mat in legs up the wall before bed. I usually fall asleep reading- not looking at a screen, which really helps my sleep.
What is your weekly fitness routine like?
This changes depending on weather. During the coldest parts of the year, my daily walks generally don’t happen as often. My temperature cut off is -15 degrees Celsius! Besides walking outdoors whenever possible, I do yoga daily. I try to do more intense yoga sessions in the early part of my menstrual cycle, when I have the most energy. I also do HIIT training 3-4 times weekly depending on my schedule. All of my fitness gets scheduled in my planner like any other ‘to-do’or appointment. If I don’t do that- it doesn’t get done!
How do you challenge yourself fitness wise?
This is something I’ve always struggled with. One of my 2017 goals is to challenge myself more in this area- nothing good ever came from staying in your comfort zone! My plan is to increase both the intensity and length of yoga sessions and to slowly work my way up to longer and more advanced HIIT sessions. Currently I use the “Seven” app, which provides tons of different HIIT workouts, and you can increase to the number of circuits you want to do. This takes the guesswork out of what moves to do and when- I can just turn it on, do my workout and be done! Easy peasy.
What are you daily/weekly nutrition habits that keep you well nourished?
There’s a lot of them! Daily, I start with water and a low-carb, high-fat breakfast like a bulletproof matcha latte. I’m currently obsessed with this breakfast. I check in with my self between meals to see if I need a snack, and if do I stick with fruit and nuts/seeds generally to keep my blood sugar stable between meals. My lunches and dinners are often prepped on Sundays, making it easy for me to heat and eat during my busy work week. They include healthy fats, quality proteins and a variety of veggies. Making different sauces like homemade mayo, pesto, and others help me add flavour and fat to my meals. If I don’t do this, I’m prone to eating crap, which makes me feel like crap so I meal plan and prep most of the time. At night, I like to enjoy a calming herbal tea, like lavender/tulsi and maybe a protein snack to help me stay asleep at night.
What are your daily habits for winding down at night and reducing stress?
My nightly routine consists of turning off all screens about an hour before bed, and I wear blue-light blocker glasses in the evening up until that point. I chat with my boyfriend on the phone and say goodnight. I’ll then look over tomorrow’s work day, so I know what’s coming. I’ll lay out my clothes for the morning, and make sure I have a glass of water ready. As I mentioned before, I finished with a meditation on my acupressure mat (Heavenly Mats, Spoonk) while in legs up the wall. I’ll usually diffuse some calming essential oils like lavender, cedarwood and sage for good sleep. Then I’ll get into bed and ready until I’m ready to fall asleep!
What are some pain points of being an Alpha Female that you have to problem solve for?
Sometimes it’s hard to keep that alpha mindset because sometimes friends and family don’t ‘get it’ and wonder why it matters so much whether or not I do personal stuff during my work day, or try to reduce interruptions, or being a planner and organizer.
It’s also hard for me to do it myself sometimes, as of course it always seems easier to just sit on the couch and do nothing- but I’m not satisfied with that as being a well-lived life, and I have some major goals so I keep those goals in mind to motivate me to keep moving forward and using the daily habits that support me.
I also delegate when I can- it takes a village, and I know I can’t do it all alone. So I have a couple of assistants in my biz so I can focus on the important things and not stress with too many random little things to do.
What is your definition of happiness?
Happiness to me is feeling good in myself, having fun with my loved ones and generally feeling like everything is coming together in the perfect way (even if it’s not the exact way I imagined it happening). I know I feel the happiness when I’m smiling for no reason, extra nice to random people I come across day to day, and feel like I’m a badass sexy alpha female who’s got a lot of awesome stuff going on. Happiness makes it all easier.