If a year ago you would have told me that at this very moment I would be a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and working for myself, I would have thought you were crazy!
For years, I knew the career path I was heading down wouldn't be for me forever. Sure, I was successful and there were certainly bright spots in my 10 year advertising & marketing career, but I always knew there was some missing. I knew there was more. I knew I could be more.
To say my wellness journey has had many starts and stops would be an understatement. I first started focusing on my wellness in college when after several years of suffering, I finally admitted my issues with disordered eating and body image issues. I sought help and began to heal slowly. While many would say that incorporating pizza and beer into my diet wasn't healthy, it was healthy for me to begin having a normal relationship with food!
Overtime, I began to get my focus my efforts on healthier foods. Even in my senior year of college, I would travel every week to the "better" supermarket which sold farm fresh produce and other quality products. I was that person cooking salmon when everyone else was eating mac & cheese for dinner. Cooking for myself was a form of freedom and a way to treat my body well after so many years of mistreatment.
When I graduated, I had high ambitions to put my degree in Marketing/Advertising to good use. I moved back in with my parents but commuted everyday to New York City once I found what appeared to be a dream job in a large, well-known advertising agency. I worked long hours and often found myself commuting an hour home after 11pm only to be back before 8am the next day.
And soon, I started to see my hard work pay off and be recognized as I continued to move up the ladder. Looking back, I think on the surface I was happy, but I was tired and deep down something just wasn't right.
As I got deeper into my corporate career, I began to look at ways to keep my passion for cooking alive. I was constantly cooking with any spare time I had and relied on home cooking to keep my expenses down when I finally moved into the city by myself. I started a food blog but with my schedule it was almost impossible to upkeep.
While health and wellness had been a part of my life for awhile it was always focused on food. At one point, I considered going back to culinary school but at only a year or two out of college and with the small paychecks to prove it, that just wasn't in the cards.
Then, after a few more years in the corporate world, I first discovered the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. A friend from college was working in the Marketing department and had herself become an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. After doing some research on my own, I reached out to her and we spoke about the program.
I was so fascinated by everything I saw about the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. As someone who had struggled with disordered eating, I appreciated that "wellness" wasn't just about the food you put on your plate and also dove deep into spiritual practices and overall well-being.
Unfortunately, reality soon set in and I recognized it just wasn't right for me at the time. I'm not sure if it was the money, or the time commitment but while I knew this could be something for me, I knew I
So instead, I continued to push my body and mind in a career that didn't fulfill me. This continued for awhile until I reached a point of overall exhaustion.
Coming Up: How I recognized the imbalances in my life as they related to work and broke through the barriers that held me back from pursuing my dream life. Read about it here.
Interested in becoming an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach? Contact me with any questions or download the IIN Curriculum Syllabus here.
