My Story
With college experience in the field of Floriculture/Horticulture, this is a very good question. After working as a florist/wedding consultant for almost 20 years, the family business shut down and a precious relationship with a best girlfriend broke up. My daughters were young and my husband was working a lot. I began to suffer with anxiety in the form of panic attacks and was medicated. I hated it! At 35 years old, my energy was shot!
I’ve always been physically active, horses as a teen, jet skis in my 20’s, running and body building in my 30’s, ½ marathons in my 40’s and cycling events at 50. The running in my 30’s led me to a gym when the cold was more than I cared for. Running and eventually lifting weights relieved anxiety and I was able to manage the anxiety and get off the meds. Exercise, simply put, became my “drug of choice”.
“Gym Rat”
I earned the name “gym rat” and my first certification was as an aerobics instructor teaching step, partner step and water aerobics. My heart often reached out to the least fit on the back row or in the back of the room. I would stay after class to motivate, encourage and give nutritional advice to anyone who thought I could help them. I thought I was too old to be a personal trainer.
Certifying through the International Sports Science Association was the biggest leap I’d ever taken since college toward a total career change. The ladies on the back row of my aerobics classes? They became my first personal training clients along with their spouses and family members. For 9 month I worked in a public facility. Soon, I gutted a 1,000 foot garage with attached apartment, bought used equipment and began Your Personal Best Training Studio with 8 regular clients in a home studio gym behind our home.
As my business has grown, so has my sense of the spirit in the body and mind connection. It is clear to me that what I do for a living is a ministry. Finally I have a regular meditation practice that completely keeps the anxiety at bay. Now, I exercise for the sheer joy of it and as a Fitness Professional, encourage others to do the same.