The first issue that drove me out of traditional Western-focused medical offices and into the arms of functional medicine (sometimes called “root-cause” medicine) and holistic, alternative approaches, was a worsening case of hair loss. I was in my 30s. The next was the sobering news that the cause of my four tootsie-roll-looking, swollen toes was Rheumatoid Arthritis. The final kicker was a devastating case of insomnia that would rack my body and mind into extreme adrenal fatigue, and erratic, seemingly unpredictable highs and lows of energy and sleeplessness. While I had initially resolved the Rheumatoid Arthritis through auto-immune protocols, during the extreme stress of prolonged insomnia, I was given a Lupus diagnosis. Clearly, my person was begging for change, screaming for attention; and yet, I felt I had tried everything, implemented the most cutting-edge strategies—therapy, psychiatry, nutritional supplementation, elimination diets, sleep hygiene, meditation, yoga, prayer, and more. Literally: everything.

My body finally broke in 2016. It had little left to give. Like a runner physically depleted of the ability to keep going, I hit what felt like an insurmountable wall. I transitioned off of sleep meds that never worked, quit my job of working with lawyers in crisis (indeed I was one at this point), and redoubled my efforts to find answers. Functional medicine came through when I decided to undergo genetic testing. An important find was histamine intolerance. Another was the MTHFR genetic mutation. But, it wasn’t only the expertise provided by these healers that would ultimately change my life. Also instrumental were the self-efficacy and self-determination found in the blood, sweat and tears of my persistence to heal and my drive to uncover answers. It was also the holistic grace to know that it was time to live more authentically, forgive others and make amends, find my true self and vocation, alter my diet to suit my unique set of needs, practice gratitude, stay present, and more.

Today my hair does not fall out, I have neither Rheumatoid Arthritis nor Lupus, and I sleep. I have achieved my optimal health, as I now know it to be, and I am the happiest I have ever been. Please understand: this isn’t a story to tell you I have a perfect life—for I do not. What I have is a life centered in my values and strengths and a deep sense of purpose to utilize the gifts (including the suffering) of my journey to empower others to find their way, to encounter the healthiest versions of themselves in their own unique ways of knowing and being.

As your health coach, I draw upon my diverse professional career and personal experiences to witness your story, to find the keys to your intrinsic motivation, sweetly buried in your one-of-a-kind amalgam of humanity. The late poet Mary Oliver asked,

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

It’s a line that stokes the fire of you over and over again. “What do I want?” you ask. “What is possible?” And me? I can’t wait to behold you—the person you are now, the person you are becoming.