Somewhere along the way, many of us were taught that health information belongs to someone else, the doctor, the specialist, the person with the letters after their name, and that our job is simply to nod, take the prescription, and hope for the best. I want to gently push back on that. You are allowed to understand your own body. You are allowed to ask why, more than once, until the answer actually makes sense to you.
This is the heart of the second pillar in the W.E.A.L.T.H. Framework: E, Education.
Why This Pillar Matters
Education, in the way we practice it here, is not about becoming an expert in biochemistry or memorizing every study on hormones and metabolism. It is about health literacy rooted in clarity, curiosity, and self-trust, the kind of understanding that lets you walk into a doctor's appointment, a grocery store, or a hard decision about your own care and feel grounded instead of lost.
So many women I work with have spent years being handed advice without context. Take this supplement. Cut this food group. Try this program. And when it does not work, or when it stops working the way it used to, they are left wondering what is wrong with them, instead of wondering what they were never actually taught.
Nothing is wrong with you. You were simply never given the fuller picture.
What Education Looks Like in Real Life
This pillar shows up in the everyday moments of our work together, not in a classroom, but in conversation:
- You come to me confused about why a habit that used to work for your body suddenly does not, and instead of a new quick fix, we slow down and talk through what has actually changed for you, in this season, in this body.
- You come to me overwhelmed by conflicting advice from every direction, and we sort through it together, not so I can hand you my own list of rules, but so you can learn to recognize what is credible and what is noise.
- You come to me unsure how to talk to your doctor about something that has been bothering you, and we practice the language together, so you can walk into that appointment as a partner in your own care, not a passenger.
Education, here, is never about proving how much I know. It is about helping you trust what you are learning to know for yourself.
Curiosity Is Not the Same as Doubt
I want to say this clearly, because I think many women have been made to feel otherwise: asking questions about your own health is not defiance, and it is not distrust. It is wisdom. A woman who understands her own body is not harder to help. She is easier to walk alongside, because she is an active participant in her own healing instead of a bystander waiting to be told what to do next.
You are allowed to be curious about yourself. You are allowed to keep asking until you understand. That curiosity is not a character flaw to manage. It is a form of self-respect.
Wherever you are today, weary or hopeful or somewhere quietly in between, there is a place for you here.
With care and kindness,
Coach Kia Joy
This post is the second in a six-part series exploring each pillar of the W.E.A.L.T.H. Framework. Next up: A, Adaptability, and why the wellness that lasts is the wellness that bends.