My journey began shortly after graduating from college. My teens and college years were wild and looking back now I can see how lost I was. I subsequently gained a lot of experience and learned many difficult lessons early in life. At that point in my life, I was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, experimenting with recreational drugs, drinking alcohol and energy drinks, not sleeping much, and eating mostly convenience store junk food. I was in the middle of a divorce from a toxic relationship. I was living paycheck to paycheck and there was never enough money. I was depressed and unhappy with how my life had turned out. I was on the wrong path and it just seemed to get worse every day. It was at that point, when I felt I was at rock bottom, that I knew I had to make a drastic change if I wanted to make something out of my life.
When I made the decision to change my life, I went all in and things started moving very swiftly. I was ambitious to make something of myself and be successful. With a degree in Business Management I knew that I wanted to build and operate businesses. I got a job in sales, selling recreational goods – swimming pools, hot tubs, pool tables, patio furniture. I was learning how to help people find exactly what they wanted and needed while providing outstanding service every step of the way. It was a lot of fun.
When I met Bill, now my husband, we knew that we were the perfect match for each other from our very first date. I had never experienced such love and joy as when we were together. Being truly in love, the world was a little brighter and I felt like I was finally supported and capable of doing anything. He started teaching me about the power of positive thinking and personal development.
I felt like I really needed to improve myself in order to get where I wanted to go in life. First of all, I quit smoking. I continued making small changes to become just a little bit better with each passing day. Getting started was difficult since I was so stuck in the bad habits that had taken years to develop. Each small positive habit that I changed and mastered pushed me towards the next habit that needed to be upgraded. On and on I went one small habit shift at a time as I started my journey towards ultimate health and happiness.
My husband is a very ambitious man and I realized if I supported him that together we could achieve great things. We started our first business together within a few months of our first date. Several months later we bought a 36’ motorhome, sold everything we owned, and traveled the country. We took our fledgling business on the road and worked on it diligently every single day as we traveled around to some of the cheapest campgrounds in the United States. We were so broke that we were putting all the expenses on our credit cards and hoping our business would take off so we could pay the credit card bills before they were maxed out. It was an exciting time. Our relationship deepened and we discovered that we could be truly happy anywhere and doing anything as long as we were together.
After traveling aimlessly for a year, we settled down and concentrated on making our business successful and improving ourselves. That same business has brought in over $48 million in sales in the past 14 years.
We started going to the gym everyday and I was learning how to cook. Lots of mistakes were made along the way, and it was always a learning experience. I tried everything to see what works best for me. I kept meticulous journals and spreadsheets detailing my eating and workout routines for years.
Shortly after I started my own health and fitness journey I knew that I had found my passion. I was consuming as much knowledge about health and wellness as I could get my hands on. After a period of time, I found a good maintenance program that balanced healthy living with moderate indulgence and was feeling great. This period of time was very conducive to me reaching for new goals and striving to make myself better. Our business became very successful and I felt like I was at the top of my game. We added more successful businesses and an airplane to the mix. Life was very good.
Fast forward several years of hedonistic adaptation and I felt like I was stuck in a rut and not really making any new progress. I was drinking more alcohol and making less than ideal food choices. My weight stayed consistent because I was still exercising every day. After a series of poor personal and business decisions, I found myself depressed and joyless, struggling to get through each day. I knew that I needed to level up and get out of my comfort zone.
I made the decision that I was going to start following my dreams to get into the health and wellness industry. I enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition Health Coach Training Program and knew this was going to be the catalyst I needed to continue making massive positive changes in my life.
When I first enrolled in IIN, I honestly had no clue what a Health Coach even was. It seemed like a great program to learn about how to live a healthy lifestyle and I thought that maybe I could do something with the certification someday. My expectation was for training in regards to diet, nutrition, and physical activity. What I was not expecting was the larger focus on holistic health and in-depth training on how to create a healthy mind, body, and soul. As I worked my way through the lessons I was using myself as “client zero” and exploring all the different methods of caring for oneself and creating a healthy lifestyle.
Next, I met a group of enthusiastic and motivated women all on their own unique health and wellness journeys. I felt like I had finally found my tribe of positive, loving, supportive, and abundance-minded sisters. I started reading as many personal development books as I could get my hands on. I hired my own coaches and I did the work.
Most importantly, I discovered my “why” or my major motivating factors for this stage of my life. I want to be healthy and happy. I want to have a positive impact and make this world a better place by helping others to do the same.
Now, with all this self-work and personal development behind me, I feel as though my story is just getting started.
