Optimizing and Prioritizing Your Wellbeing with Christin Collins By: Marla Bautista
As a writer, I have the privilege of hearing a raw and unedited version of the TEDx Westshore speakers’ talks. I get to watch their ideas unfold in real-time. It's astonishing. Christin speaks about something we all have experience with, healthcare. Her perspective genuinely opened my eyes to the increasing need for preventive healthcare and the need for education about personal wellbeing. Purchase your ticket to hear her speak, live October 29, 2021, at TEDx Westshore.
Marla: Congratulations on being selected as a 2021 TEDx Westshore Speaker. Tell me about your topic.
Christin: I will be shedding light on the definition of health and well-being in a loving way. Being an executive in the healthcare industry, I realized I traded my power for a comfortable lifestyle. The current healthcare industry uses a reparative healthcare model. I don’t wholly agree with this practice. I stepped out of the traditional healthcare arena to heal my mind and body. I hope to inspire others to maintain their wellness and stop looking for the pill.
Marla: When you speak about the reparative healthcare model, are you talking about the medical intervention we seek after our bodies have experienced an affliction?
Christin: Yes, in reparative healthcare, we are looking for the answers outside of ourselves. We’re showing up at the doctor to have a seven-minute appointment, where we are prescribed medicine or advised to have surgery. We wait until we have acute symptoms or telltale signs before we take action for our health. However, optimal well-being is knowing, sensing, loving yourself, and being comfortable in your skin. Furthermore, it is the opportunity to experience life in the present time, all the highs and lows and the ups and downs. So we can show up in our lives from a place of wholeness; there’s no need to seek happiness externally.
Marla: Do you have a company promoting optimal wellbeing?
Christin: I do. I took the opportunity to exit traditional healthcare during the pandemic. I created my own company, Christin Collins. I work with individuals and companies to help them visualize what a thriving life through the lens of optimal well-being looks and feels like for them. I don’t claim to have a model or framework for optimal health care that everyone can plug into and receive healing. For each human that lives and breathes, their journey to optimal well-being is vastly different. We are all unique in design and purpose.
Marla: Sounds like your approach to health care would save us a lot of money.
Christin: It would save us a lot of money, time, and a lot of pain. I’m not saying we can all live in a utopia without hurt, worry, or other issues. However, much of the angst we experience comes from needing to control our environment to feel safe, negatively affecting our health. We need to release that heaviness. We must remove that need for control.
Marla: What was the tipping point for your exit from the traditional healthcare system during the pandemic?
Christin: For me, the stirring began years before COVID. I was no longer happy. There was not one incident or day; It was a slow dissipation of support and equity in my field. I was doing a lot of research and a lot of soul-searching. I was looking for a model of optimal well-being that I could infuse within the traditional healthcare space. Ultimately, after about two years of looking for something outside of myself, I realized that it was up to me to put this together. I spent three months at my dining room table defining how a hospital can serve as an anchor agency for a community’s health and well-being. I needed to figure out how to operationalize this method. During the pandemic, many people questioned their life’s goals, purpose, and well-being. My work became more vital during this time. I realized that I don’t have all the answers, but I can help others navigate their roads to optimal well-being.
Marla: How would hospitals implement a plan like this?
Christin: That’s a real questioned that I, too, contemplated. The current healthcare model is more than fifty years old. It would take a significant overhaul to implement a shift in medical practice. But, it’s not unfathomable. I was so frustrated because I wanted everyone to see what I saw in healthcare. I quickly realized it wasn’t up to me to make people believe, think, or even understand what I did. I don’t have to convince anyone to live like me. However, individuals tend to seek out comfort in the face of inconvenience. I have learned growth comes from discomfort. With the pandemic, we’ve had a total disruption of life. We are out of touch with self, love, and kindness, and this is a giant wake-up call. The pandemic created an opportunity and a genuine reason for pivoting our health care practices and optimal living.
