MY STORY

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First, my boyfriend's brother passed away. I got a call in the middle of the night that he had taken his own life at only 18 years old. Struggling with mental health, he finally gave up his fight. Shortly after that he and I broke up and I moved away. Simmering in pain from a messy breakup and still feeling the grief over the loss of my ex’s brother, I decided it was time for a change. I still remember the day I chose to quit smoking. I was sitting on my uncle's porch, having my morning smoke, coughing, and feeling nauseous, and I started to cry. ‘I hate myself’, I thought.  I was at an all-time low, I wanted to quit so bad, and I wanted to lose the extra weight so bad. I knew there was another version of me inside of me that was screaming to come out.

 

So, I decided that day I would quit smoking. I read Allen Carr’s Easy Guide To Quit Smoking and quit one week after that day on the porch. I’ve been smoke-free for 13 years. And the really beautiful thing about growth is once you make one change, usually things snowball. As soon as I quit smoking I joined a gym. I didn't know what to do so I would just run. I would picture my ex’s brother, every time I got tired, and think ‘ he can’t run anymore, so run for him.’ And that’s how it began. 

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From Bingeing to Barbells

 

Soon after, I got a job at the front desk at the gym I frequented, and started to build my new life. Proximity is power, so surrounding myself with people who worked out kept me accountable. I started reading books on nutrition and learning about food and what I should be eating. I was on a roll, slowly making progress, until my second blow came in February of 2013 when my Grandfather passed away. Being the man who raised me, I felt immense grief and loss. There was so much I still wanted to learn from him, and so much I wanted to show him, to make him proud. I decided that even though I was grieving, I wouldn't allow this to stop me, instead, I would use it as fuel to push me further down the path of my new life. I got a personal trainer to help me get in shape and understand fitness and weight lifting. I lost my excess weight and got into the best shape of my life. 

 

From that experience, I decided (with some encouragement) to become a personal trainer myself and help others the way I was helped. It began my coaching journey and led me to this very spot. With 6 years of personal training, 10 overall in coaching, and 6 years now of entrepreneurship, I can say without a doubt that every pain I experienced was a great gift and a catalyst for growth and success.