Welcome! I started this blog to help others in finding healthy lives and to get into the groove of writing. I wanted to do this before I’m officially an entrepreneur with my own Health Coaching practice; complete with website, newsletters and all else. Currently I’m a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN). This will be my final career and the most fulfilling.
My dream job was Cartography, but the company went bust and at that time new jobs in the field were requiring GIS and most were in cities. And anywhere but where I was and wanted to stay. I have had other very enjoyable jobs: Geologist Assistant, crew leader in forest field research, crew leader in a research greenhouse, and teaching Tree Identification as a graduate student.
I’ve also done many other things: pizza maker, waitress, Office Assistant/Manager, Sales Associate/Shift Manager at a convenience store, Sales Associate at a Garden Center and Nursery, Lead Cashier and Grocery Clerk at a natural foods cooperative, apartment painter, house cleaner, personal assistant to the disabled, landscaping, and work from home, scoring state and nationally administered grade schools test. (Before you start calculating, I will simply tell you, I’m 53).
But this budding career is the one. Nutrition has been an almost life-long interest. In the 1980’s I picked up a book titled “The Food Pharmacy” by Jean Carper and was fascinated. When I decided to go back to school in 1990, I had to choose between Forestry, Nutrition, something with computers, or Botany. The dreamier part of me chose Forestry, specializing in Outdoor Recreation Management, and then finished 99% of a Master’s degree in Forest Ecology. I had previously gotten an Associates in Applied Science degree in Petroleum Technology just after high school. Mixed bag, huh?
A long, long string of bad luck, and all around rotten life got in the way. So I never finished the Masters and became quite “stuck” in life. I had lost so much I no longer had the energy or motivation to see beyond that.
Then a couple of years ago a customer where I worked told me of the IIN program. And just after that, thanks to Facebook, by ex-husband found me and we were back together in no time. We really should never have divorced all those years (17) before. Then one last kick in the gut; a flood that destroyed my home and most of my belongings, and I landed back in my hometown with my husband/ex-husband, my 5 cats and his 2 dogs, out in the country where we can relax, enjoy nature, and garden. And now I’m a student again.
I never abandoned my interest in nutrition, or anything alternative as in herbal healing, ancient Chinese medicine, protecting the earth and the animals, etc. I also never quite practiced all I learned about nutrition for myself. It was pretty hit and miss. But now the 2 of us are working on it and feeling better. It’s been baby steps with this horribly cold winter. As far as health coaching goes in this little backwards area of the country, I’m in pretty much unchartered territory and in for a challenge. But I’m ready!
Finding Health and The Cat Lady 