About Me

“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.” – Buddha 

Health and wellness, and all things included in these categories, have always been deep-seeded interests of mine. My interests range from nutrition and fitness to allopathy and complimentary medicine. Nutrition is an important aspect in my life; I believe it is a key element for leading a healthy lifestyle. I enjoy learning about various diets such as raw food, vegan and vegetarian lifestyles and their affects on wellbeing. Fitness is and will remain an integral part of my life I believe the amount of exercise a person participates in directly and substantially influences their state of health. Throughout my undergraduate degree at Ithaca College I studied an array of medical therapies. It became clear that neither is superior, but using therapies, such as allopathic remedies and complimentary medicine, together in the treatment of a patient’s disease or illness is most beneficial. Having so many interests made it difficult to decide on what line of work I would pursue in my master studies. When it came time to decide where to go to school and what program to choose I became overwhelmed with all of the choices. I knew I had a strong need to be able to help others, but wasn’t sure as to how. I debated with myself for months and worried about choosing the wrong career and about being unhappy in my choice, during this time I talked myself into and out of every career in the health field, confusing myself more, losing myself until finally it came to me and I ended up settling on an old career interest of mine. I don’t understand why I lost hold of my love for this career as it seems like the logical path I should have seen and taken. I was blind, but now I can see. I don’t think I am alone; I think that this dilemma is one that affects many graduated students fresh from completing their undergraduate degree. If you didn’t yet figure out your reason for going to school in the first place, don’t have a clear, set path to your career interest or just lost sight of your goals like me, you know how lost I felt. After digging deep and clearing the fog in my mind, which was created too much worrying and way too many “what ifs”, I could see that the answer to what I should pursue was one that I had always known.

A passion for this career was sparked at a very young age due to the result of injuries my father sustained from a trucking accident that nearly claimed his life and changed my life forever. The injuries he sustained from his accident were substantial. Learning how to cope with his injuries took years and even today he struggles with pain management. For a large portion of his recovery he relied heavily on physical therapy. I enjoyed attending many of his appointments with him; I loved the quality time with my dad and I also enjoyed being able to witness the effect physical therapy had on his recovery, this experience had impacted me greatly, it opened my eyes to a passion to pursue a career in physical therapy. At the young age of thirteen my desire to help people as my father had been helped was as strong as ever. I had huge dreams and even now I envision myself in the future opening a one of a kind facility with a mission that incorporates my passions, values and interests to provide quality care to everyone, revolutionizing people’s current understanding of what qualifies as extraordinary patient care. An obsession with health has been a constant theme in my life, one that replays itself over and over. In my spare time I enjoy learning about new ways to improve my health, practicing what I have learned by including it in my life and then sharing my experiences with others. Nutrition is a hobby of mine and eating delicious healthy food is a mission! I can always be found reading a new cookbook or searching for new recipes online in hopes that it will inspire me to conjure up something spectacular of my own. When I have the time I go to Barnes and Noble and to the library in hopes to find new resources focused on the impact of diet on health.

In the months prior to the beginning of the year I had done a lot of research on raw food and vegan diets. Some of my favorite reads include “Skinny Bitch”, “Skinny Bitch in the Kitch”, “Raw Food, Real World”, “Vegan with a Vengeance”, and “The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods”. I tried a raw food life style and only lasted five days. I found my addiction to cooked food and my weakness for coffee was too strong. After five days of extreme moodiness due to feeling almost ravenous I felt that ‘making it’ five days was a tremendous accomplishment. I was and always will be one to rip the band aid off fast- a ‘cold turkey’ type of a person, but I realized that going from being a meat eater to the limitation of just raw foods was a difficult leap to make especially lacking proper motivation and preparation. Deciding to experiment and challenge myself with a vegan diet for New Years was the next step for me and one of the best decisions I had made in my life thus far. I am so happy I made this choice because I have found my new lifestyle to be so easy, the benefits to my health are enormous and also it feels great to see my lifestyle choice as something that positively influences the lives of others around me.  I found though my research and personal experiences that eating a vegan diet with a strong focus on the addition of raw foods is the ultimate combination for feeling energized and healthy. When combining this lifestyle with regular exercise the impacts on your health are immense. I attribute my success in becoming and staying vegan to my interests, to my passion to live a long, healthy and happy life, but mostly to my strong support system, my family.

Theories of health and wellness are ever changing and will continue to grow and evolve. My passion is so strong that I can say I am dedicated to a lifelong commitment of continued learning and I am dedicated to finding a way to integrate these interests and many other aspects of health and wellness into my future line of work. My fear about my future is gone and I am now reacquainted with an excitement that is so refreshing and centering. There are so many things that I wish I could go back and change. Sometimes I find myself dwelling on my past mistakes that impacted my present and future. I shake myself out of it and realize that there is no use being sad about the past. There is something great in using that energy to be proactive about my future. Now is the time.