My story began with the bold drama of real life. I was the last and final heart’s desire of Shirley. Pat, my biological mother, placed me for adoption before I was born. It was this act of desperate love and sacrifice that fulfilled Shirley’s wish and brought me adoring parents.
Shirley passed when I was about 3 ½. My father Ken and I struggled to heal, while he learned how to be a single father. Dad made sure I felt loved and special, but he sure didn’t cook very well. I am not sure what would have happened to me if it weren’t for poached eggs and school lunches!
I used food as just a treat: going out to dinner, visiting relatives or even a school party. I ate only if I wanted to.
I was very physically active and all seemed well until Dad married Donna. That woman sure knew how to cook. I now had yummy food to eat daily and even home baked sweets. I wanted to eat every day, yet I had no format for how to do that well.
As I began to enter adolescence, I started to fill out. Neither the athletics nor the ballet prepared me for the curves or the self-conscious angst of teenhood. Then it happened- someone called me fat. I took a look at my body and decided (in error) that person was correct.
I started to diet, my stepmom at my side. The program was very specific and after a few months I hated the thought of food. The measuring and counting and planning were pure torment for me. I decided I would go back to what I knew and eat only if I wanted to.
That is the perfect storm which culminated with me slipping in to a coma, on life support, less than 2 years later. This dark time in my life was when my quest for personal wellbeing really began. After I came out of the coma I did some serious soul searching.
I began to remember always being captivated with how the human body worked, even as a small child. As I grew older, I learned that the mind and emotions are very much connected to the body. I became equally amazed and curious about how the human mind worked. I later even completed the education for a Masters in Counseling.
In addition to my training, I have overcome several serious physical and emotional issues in my life. While I won’t list them here, I will say that I know transition, struggle, trauma and recovery from the inside out. Within the past couple of years, I realized that my own health and wellness needed a renovation. The ‘crisis management with special focus on aging well’ approach I was using just wasn’t giving me the results I needed.
My coaches talked about ‘self-love’ and ‘living great minutes’. It all sounded like sunshine and daisy chains, cliché and overplayed. As it turns out, it was the beginning of a personal revolution. I guarantee that changing a lifetime of ways and habits has been one of the most rewarding periods of my epic life so far!
It is this exciting and scary process that led me to enroll in The Institute for Integrative Nutrition to gain certification. I now get to bring my lifetime of experience, training, and education together to help others have great minutes. How awesome is that?
Thank you for spending this time with me.