Let’s start with a little back story about why being and helping others become PositivityActivators in all parts of their lives is so important to me. I am not the person that was born overly happy. I DEFINITELY wasn’t the life of any party. I wasn’t even very outgoing. I was raised as a military brat, moving frequently, which had its good and bad points. I was not a child of the electronic leash era, so staying connected was a lot more challenging…and I just wasn’t good at it. All my friends were military brats and they moved to. There were letters that never got to the intended recipients and there were letters never sent, even more there are many letters “I meant to write”. On the plus side, I saw 49 states, lived in England and Germany, traveled Europe and enjoyed meeting new people and learning about different cultures.
I grew up with a very strong work ethic and a self imposed set of strict rules. I don’t know where they came from but I never cut school, smoked, drank (I actually had my first real drink, a Cosmopolitan, which I still enjoy – at a work event when I was 33. There was no sampling of drugs – no not even marijuana. I daydreamed a lot, but never really determined where I wanted to go our what I wanted to do. My first off the books jobs were helping a neighbor decorate cakes and babysitting. My first W-2 earnings came about when my dad told me he’d get me a car if I got a job. We just returned to the USA from Germany, I was 16 1/2 and the school offered Drivers Ed over the summer before my Junior year. I promptly went to the mall and was hired as a Cinnamon Roll baker and counter person at Cindy’s Cinnamon Rolls.
Why am I telling you all this? That is where my love affair with work began. You see I was super excited when my dad bought me that Datsun B210. I realized the importance of making my own money. Unfortunately, I never paid a lot of attention to budgeting or different kinds of income until later in life. I knew this though: work hours = money. I enjoyed working with the customers and tried to implement a program were the leftover cinnamon rolls would be donated. Instinctually, I knew I wanted to help people (I realize cinnamon rolls weren’t saving people’s lives, but it did provide them a treat and made them smile). I ended up with three to four jobs at a time in high school.
My dad’s final move was at the end of my high school career and changed my college plans. I ended up attending The University of Alabama starting in the Spring of 1990. It is a great University. Not knowing what career path I was looking for made it challenging. I was a resident assistant for a year. I was able to help other students and in return my housing was provided. I also worked for the Chamber of Commerce. I was introduced to the world of Emergency Medical Services and in the span of five semesters earned my Paramedic Certificate. I loved helping people, learning about our bodies, minds, and how we work down to the cellular level. I would spend short periods with people in emergency situations, but it changed their lives forever. Things I saw formed very strong feelings on subjects like drinking and driving, child/spousal abuse, violence, the drug epidemic, the mental health crisis in this country, and the cost of stress…it’s paid in heart attacks, strokes, alcoholism, opioid addiction and so many more ways than that.
I was living to work instead of working to live. Many of us are guilty of this. I left EMS after 11 years and moved to the field of Organ, Eye and Tissue donation. Once again I get to change and save lives. I sat with families after they just received the worst news of their life and offered them the opportunity to let their loved one have an everlasting legacy. These gifts then changed the lives of the recipients that received them. These gifts have a ripple effect that never ends. I loved what I did, but I also realized extra 24 hr call shifts meant extra money…remember the bills. I was never late paying a bill, I would even pay bills off, but I didn’t budget for the next item and pay in cash, I just added yet another bill.
I picked up side jobs and did some travel work by using my vacation time. I loved going on work trips to learn new things. I’d bring the information back and start more projects or develop new processes. I AM VERY PROUD of all I accomplished and cannot express the amount of gratitude for all the patients, donors, families, and colleagues I have had the honor of spending time with during my journey. I have learned, grown, traveled, taught, cried and laughed. In 2018 I met someone I consider a great friend. Her name is Tonia and she was on a path to self-discovery. We talked, she shared, I listened. She recommended books, I read. She sent me links to YouTube videos, I watched. She is the reason I realized I needed to change.
I still wanted to save lives, but I also needed to save myself. Save myself from the burnout that was hitting me like a freight train. Save myself from putting money over all else. I took the time to do a burnout survey I had done previously, (and ignored after a couple weeks). I scored off the charts and that’s not a good thing. I did an exercise where you list your closest friends. I had let many of the important people in my life take a second seat to working. Bills = need for money, money = more bills for me. Somewhere along the line I stopped allowing the fun loving inner child out. Yes, pieces of that child need to remain with you as an adult. I had allowed myself to wallow in debt, lack of money, overwork, become overweight, overstressed and developed the feeling that I was responsible for everything.
Truth be told, I was just making myself less effective and drifting further from my goals in life. It took months to even begin to slow down. Once I did I started to do the things I enjoyed I was able to move my professional career forward. When you direct your energy you can manifest a life of abundance. You can move around the life sections shown on the wellness wheel. You learn to direct your energy to the needed areas. You know when to focus more on your spiritual life than your social life. You spend more time organizing within a section…let’s use the financial piece of the wellness pie as an example. Instead of relating financial success to $ in my paycheck I read, listed and learned about investing, residual income, savings, models of debt repayment. I also realized there is bad and good debt. Learning to focus your energy wisely will allow you to enjoy your life to the fullest.
The more I learned about the wellness wheel, manifestation and directing my energy the happier my life has become. I have become an independent consultant for a health and wellness company. It allows me to educate people on cellular activation using all natural products and the opportunity to improve their health. I have learned how to use BACH Flower Remedies to subtly and gently restore calm emotional balance. I studied essential oils and made my own soaps. I have trained and become certified by John Maxwell. I use his works to help people investigate their leadership styles, discover if their DREAM truly is and how to reach it. I continue to read, learn, teach, and share. I may not be your cup of tea (on a side note I have loved tea, sweetened, with cream since I lived in England) and that’s ok. You see the other thing I have learned is, to do what makes me happy. That for me is reaching out, sharing, connecting and collaborating! Life can be tough and recently has been even more physically, emotionally, and financially stressful due to the global epidemic so sharing positivity is a must and something I have long felt compelled to do.
If one person that reads this see any piece of my journey in them and decides to slow down, focus their energy or reach for a dream I have been successful. If someone decides to reach out and hear about my wellness products or explore the opportunity to become a distributor and entrepreneur in one of the 23 countries we are in, then I have been successful. If I make one person sit still and think about all they have and what they love, I have been successful. If I connect with new clients to coach or groups to present to, I am successful.
You see life is a journey to live activated. LIVE LIFE ACTIVATED! POSITIVELY ACTIVATED. Then share your experiences, your journey, help others and be a POSITIVITY ACTIVATOR!
PositivityActivator 