My Delusion to Inspire
When I was a freshman music major back in 1986/87, there were two things I figured out. The first was how much I hated spending my afternoons in the cramped closets that were the music practice rooms. The second was how much I loved my Fundamentals of Physical Fitness class that all students were required to take as part of our liberal arts education. That class was the first step toward changing my major, and it proved to be a catalyst for what would become my life’s passion.
Don’t get me wrong. There is NOTHING I truly love about exercise. What I loved (and still do) was the idea of physical fitness, the knowledge surrounding health and fitness, and the power they gave me to control part of my life. I also loved sharing this amazing information about health and fitness with others. I had dreams of becoming an aerobics teacher, but lacked the courage to just do it. I had thought I might go to graduate school to study exercise physiology at Texas A&M and someday work as a cardiac rehabilitation specialist. Instead, my passions turned toward a wonderful man and the idea of having babies in the same small town in which I had lived all my life. My passion for health and fitness morphed into a job as an elementary physical education teacher. The master’s degree came from West Texas A&M, and it included not only health and physical education emphasis, but elementary education, as well.
My role in the realm of health and physical fitness transformed over the years, but the passion never died. As life sped by and my babies grew into young adults, my desire to help others find health never faded. I searched and fate handed me another way to live my passion—holistic nursing. Somewhere in the interconnectedness of mind, body, spirit, and emotion lies the whole person. Dis-ease takes a toll on many, and teaching, supporting, and guiding those who so desire back to a state of balance (ease) is one of the most rewarding endeavors I can imagine.
The search for tools, techniques, strategies, and knowledge to help both myself and others find healthy balance continues to this day. Not everything science says should work does work. Exercise doesn’t always consistently push glucose into the cells preventing or reversing pre-diabetes and diabetes. I know this because I am living that journey. Cutting carbohydrates helps, but it doesn’t solve the problem. There is more to find, more to research, more to learn, and more to share. We are similar in many ways, yet we are all different. We are different makes, different models, and different styles. My desire is to bring my experiences, trials, frustrations, and successes to you to evaluate. My delusion is that my efforts might inspire you to be your best self and together we can change the world.
