Lifestyle medicine specialist sharing advice on Instagram: ‘I’m happy where I am’

“We consider value to be something that we actively pursue. For many years I have not taken any intoxicants, I have created a pleasant physical activity regime, I take care of my sleep and emotional health hygiene. I also have some rules in nutrition, but here, as in other aspects of life, there is no strictness. Rather flexibility, adaptability. It allows you to feel harmony.

Because of this, like any other person, I sometimes eat just for pleasure, and when I am lazy, I allow myself to not exercise for a few days. For those who can’t find the balance, I would advise not to be too hard on yourself. The best results come when we move from a place of acceptance and compassion rather than tension, rigidity and haste. Lifestyle is not a sprint, but a marathon,” shares the thoughts of a graduate of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) lifestyle medicine study program.

Kotryna did not enroll in the master’s studies in lifestyle medicine right away – several years after she obtained her bachelor’s degree in public health. She used the gap between her studies to get to know herself.

“During those few years, I traveled, became interested in spirituality, and completed yoga instructor courses. There arose the desire to know a person as an indivisible whole – physical, mental and spiritual. Feeling the hunger for knowledge that connects all these parts, I returned to Lithuania. While I was here, I noticed an ad for the last remaining place in the MSc program in lifestyle medicine and decided to give it a try. I accepted the fact that I enrolled as a confirmation of the correct choice of further direction”, says the girl. The experience gained in studies and various courses encouraged Kotryna to start sharing her knowledge with others. For this, she used the social network Instagram.

“Engaging in spiritual and physical practices, I felt their undeniable impact. I wanted to share this with others. Especially since at that time the philosophy of Buddhism or the religion of Hinduism, based on yoga, meditation and breathing exercises, were not yet popular. As my expertise grew, so did the topics I touched on Instagram. In a very organic way, I began to connect more often physical health, fear of food and stress about eating, the damage of dietary thinking to body image and self-acceptance with tools that help me to be comfortable in all situations. That’s how the female audience began to become more and more actively involved in the content I create.”

According to Kotryna, it is women who more often try to meet the appearance standards dictated by society. “Every day I receive a lot of letters filled with pain, tension and self-loathing. To me, it makes me realize the damage that sociocultural pressure to conform to standards of beauty and the ideal body has done and continues to do universally. The feedback from women motivates me to react and create at least some counterbalance to neutralize that pressure,” says the lifestyle medicine specialist.

She says that each client’s story is unique and sensitive in its own way, and people of all ages, backgrounds and professions seek help. “I remember one woman of almost retirement age who applied because of her growing weight and fear of food. When asked at what age she started dieting, she replied that she was 13 years old. Then, when she was still a teenager, her mother asked her to keep the company while losing weight. The patient realized that since then she never stopped doing it. After a few months, it was good to watch a woman discover the freedom of food and, after all these years of fear, get to know the pleasure it brings.

I still remember a young, competent woman in sports training who was afraid to fulfill her dream of working as a sports trainer because of her body size and shape. A few weeks later, inspired, she not only gave up the habit of weighing herself daily and restricting her food, but also set out to make this dream come true. Now she works successfully as a sports coach. I also meet men at work. I watch how, at the risk of losing not only their family, but also their lives, some of them in the office dare to call the addiction center for the first time. Such stories are everyday, but individually important, like the whole world,” the girl claims.

Although many young people dream of becoming doctors and do not even think about the profession of lifestyle medicine specialist, Kotryna says that this is an increasingly valued field that opens up wide opportunities for self-realization and financial opportunities. The most important thing is to be motivated and want to use them.

“If you are passionate about something and stick to it, your passion will be noticed and appreciated.” For me, appreciation has never been about financial returns. Much more motivating is the feedback from customers, together with the changes in their lives. Perhaps this is a sign that I am on the right path to self-realization. Today, there are not enough lifestyle medicine specialists, there are more and more jobs, so employers offer really competitive conditions and tend to attract specialists and adapt. The specialty is broad and covers many aspects of life, so you can definitely find your niche. Social media can be used as a tool,” Kotryna shares her insights.

According to her, too broad opportunities in this field can sometimes become a challenge. She experienced firsthand how, after setting goals that were too big, human resources were not enough to realize them.

“After graduating, I got a job in two clinics, and I also worked as an assistant with Masters students in lifestyle medicine. In addition to all this, activity on the Instagram platform also became more active. As I worked with passion, I started to get successful, I received various other offers that became more and more difficult to refuse. My goal was to help patients settle into their lives, but I began to feel that I was becoming too difficult in mine.

Work at the expense of personal life and empathy fatigue among health care professionals has led to fewer counseling hours and more creative activities in life. Now that I can devote time to another goal of mine – writing a book about the challenges of achieving holistic well-being, life really has a lot more balance. Of course, such a decision was not easy to make, but it was helped by the clinical experience gained during the working year, self-belief as a specialist and earned trust of patients, clients and audience on social media. I’m happy to be where I am.”