Wellness and fitness coach Corey Lewis empowers his clients by providing personalized fitness and nutrition plans to meet their goals and make them feel their best. As someone who supports his clients daily, he reflects, “When you give so much of yourself, even when you're doing something that fulfills you and makes you happy, it can still exhaust you.” In order to protect his own mental, physical, and spiritual health, he turns to a journaling and meditation practice to “dig deep and express how I’m really feeling. It centers me and reminds me that in order to keep giving to others, I have to give to myself. I also deserve self-love and the care that I give to others.”

As the in-demand owner of coaching company 1AND1 Life, tapping into these wellness habits is undoubtedly one of the best gifts Lewis could give himself, especially regular journaling. According to a study by the American Psychological Association, the key to writing’s effectiveness “is in the way people use it to interpret their experiences, right down to the words they choose. Venting emotions alone, whether through writing or talking, is not enough to relieve stress, and thereby improve health,” the study emphasizes.“ To tap writing's healing power, people must use it to better understand and learn from their emotions.” Other health benefits include healing frmanaging and learning from negative experiences, strengthening immune systems as well as the mind. 

Lewis admits getting into the habit, “was challenging at first, but it became easier for me once I got started. Journaling and meditation have helped me practice the three D's: Drudgery, Discipline, and Delight. When I first started journaling, I dreaded taking the time to do it, but as I continued this practice, I became more disciplined and felt delighted more and more. It's really changed me as a person and the way I operate. I can see firsthand the journey I was going through and how not everything is permanent. I look back on the hard things and see how I overcame them. It's a constant reminder to keep going.”

He hopes that being so candid about his mental health will encourage other Black men to do the same. “Black men deserve to be able to talk about their feeling and struggles and not suffer in silence. Giving Black men the space to talk about what they may hide has given them the freedom to show their emotions and grow.” He says, “We are so much more than our anger or sadness, and I think many Black men are seeing that they can be happy and express that, as well as needing love. We have some healing to do and it starts with having this dialogue. We're doing the work on ourselves to be healers and catalysts for our family and those around us.”