We recently connected with Cassie Hirschberg-Brown and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Cassie, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
This is such an interesting and challenging question. Partly because it can be difficult to distinguish between purpose and passion… but also because I believe that our purpose isn’t static. It’s something that shifts and evolves depending on our environment and responsibilities. When I reflect on my passion and purpose through the lens of my career, I would say that my passion is educating and empowering people to live a healthier and happier life. After doing that for over 12 years now, I would hypothesize that my purpose is to be a gentle, positive influence and an empathetic support system for people as they improve their quality of life. All that is to say: I believe that my passion reflects what I’m interested in and most deeply value, whereas my purpose reflects the innate qualities I bring to my work – the things that don’t require a conscious effort and come to me naturally.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
As a full-time health coach and fitness professional, my goal is to help people feel more comfortable, capable and confident in their bodies. I do that through individual and small group sessions, as well as corporate wellness seminars. Something I take a lot of pride in is my ability to collaborate with clients to weave fitness and wellness rituals into their lifestyle so that we can enhance their life without completely disrupting it. I always tell my clients that “short term changes lead to short term results”, which is why I’m a firm believer in creating gradual, lasting and meaningful change.
In a culture of convenience and flashy sound bytes, I often feel like I’m swimming against the current when I share and promote my approach. I take a lot of pride in having stood firmly in my integrity, though. Helping people improve their quality of life is a delicate balance of applying my knowledge about the human body and accepting the complexity of human behavior. I’ve seen my fair share of coaches and programs that overlook that critical element – human behavior – and I have so much empathy for the people who are confused and frustrated when it comes to diet and exercise. A plan or program can be perfect on paper, but if it can’t be executed then what good does it do for the client? That’s why my approach can shock clients initially. Simplicity can be extremely underwhelming when the only approach you’ve ever tried is to completely overhaul who you are and how you live your life. The buy-in comes as people develop an awareness of what does and doesn’t resonate with their body. Once you start doing more of what makes you feel good, (and less of what makes you feel lousy), you develop a confidence and independence that no infomercial, social media ad or any fad can shake. That confidence and independence can also mean that clients don’t need me anymore… and to that I say: mission accomplished!
I’m so excited to announce the launch of my new brand OC Coastal Fitness, my local offering of coaching and corporate wellness services. You can find more information about my approach, ethos and services on my new website: https://occoastalfitness.com/
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Making time to rest and recover, (and not for the reason you may assume). At the beginning of my career, I was desperate to demonstrate my work ethic and commitment to my career. After several years of being the go-to person at my places of employment, I found that I was completely unfulfilled. When I forced myself to slow down, I realized that a lot of what I’d agreed to was more about being what I thought other people wanted or needed, but it wasn’t necessarily what I wanted or needed. When you don’t give yourself the time to slow down, you rob yourself of the time to reflect and assess where you’re at and where you want to end up. That’s how you end up in situations that leave you baffled and asking “how did I end up here?!” Making the time to rest and check in with yourself can save you a lot of frustration and heartache in the longterm.
2. Nurture your personal relationships and personal interests. Said another way: don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Everything in life is shifting and evolving and your career is no different. There will be ebbs and flows, and if you attach the entirety of your self-worth to your career, the low points will feel isolating, painful and all-consuming. It doesn’t have to be that way.
3. Get to know your mind, it’s patterns and it’s common narratives. This doesn’t just help you to be more present and practical in interactions and when making decisions, it also shifts the way you exist in relation to others. You understand that every single person has their own patterns and common narratives that effect the way they show up in the world too. Then, you view things more objectively and take things less personally. You simultaneously develop a thicker skin and a softer demeanor.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
How To Do The Work by Nicole LePera completely changed how I think and operate.
I bought this book to start my own journey of learning about and understanding myself, but it had just as much of an impact, (if not, more of an impact), on how I perceive and interact with others. I show up as a coach completely differently after reading it. Having learned about the nervous system in the context of physiology and motor control, I was astounded to learn just how much of an impact our mental and emotional state have on the function of, not just our nervous system, but our entire body. “Whereas normative stress helps us grow and adapt, chronic stress – stress that is constant and persistent – wears us down and harms every system in our body.” Although I knew this intuitively, once I read this book I realized that I needed to lean into the psychological component of coaching people a lot more than I had previously. I also realized that, outside of coaching clients, pretty much everyone is operating from a state of adaptation, which gave me a greater sense of empathy and compassion toward others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://occoastalfitness.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cassiebstrong/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CassieBStrong
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandra-brown-26640b64/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYgnW-cMGW7GqQVsA6hVn7g
