Leader Spotlight: Alyssa Towns
Please welcome our newest Gratitude Plus Leader, Alyssa Towns.
Alyssa is a project management and change management guru for a digital marketing and analytics company by day and a freelance writer by night. She loves writing (and talking) about time management, the world of work, and making work more efficient (and fun!). Her goal is to help make others’ working lives slightly better than they were before through tools, knowledge, best practices, and organizational structure.
What inspired you to be in the wellness world?
I suppose I fell into the wellness world, not necessarily by choice (but I'm so grateful I did!) In 2015, I unexpectedly lost one set of my grandparents, ten weeks apart from one another. My grandmother and grandfather were in their early/mid-sixties, and grief shook my world. My only living grandfather passed away from esophageal cancer in April of this year at age 64. Why do their ages matter? I've thought long and hard about the kind of life I want to lead because we never know how much time we have left. I live my life in honor of those I've lost, and prioritizing wellness helps me do that.
What do you wish to accomplish with your role as a Gratitude Plus leader?
As a Gratitude Plus leader, I hope to help others build gratitude practices that help carry them when they need it most. I want to encourage and teach others about the life-changing magic of gratitude and help them find more ways to infuse moments of gratefulness into all aspects of their lives.
What does having a “gratitude practice” mean to you?
For me, having a "gratitude practice" always used to be about jotting down a few moments I'm most grateful for each day. However, now, having a "gratitude practice" means finding moments of joy and details of life to be thankful for, no matter the circumstances we are against. The day my Papa passed away earlier this year was an unimaginably grief-filled day. Even on a hard day like that, I found myself pausing and expressing gratitude for his life, legacy, and our memories together. My "gratitude practice" reminds me that there is always something to be thankful for.
Besides your gratitude practice, what is your favorite part of your personal health + wellness/ self care routine?
While I haven't mastered this routine year-round (cut me some slack, it snows a lot here in the winter!), I'm a big fan of long summer walks with a coffee in hand in the early mornings or an afternoon walk with a podcast. Going outside for a walk helps me feel balanced and provides a much-needed break from my world of screens. Some of my other favorite personal health + wellness activities include rolling out my yoga mat for a Yoga with Adriene YouTube video practice and indulging in night-time skincare products..
We’re so grateful to have Alyssa as part of the GP team! To learn more about Alyssa:
Visit her website here
Follow her on Twitter here
Follow her on Instagram here
Join her gratitude circle here
To learn more about becoming a Gratitude Plus Leader, visit our website here.