I have to share with you my love-hate relationship with my passion to help others improve their life. Living the life of a trainer, fitness enthusiast and health education junkie for more than 19 years, has truly taught me a great deal about the human body. When you research and live what you learn, you truly get the chance to experience the outcome. The cause and effect of our choices. When I first started in this career of wellness, I could only understand how I felt from my choices and what happened when I worked out a certain way or followed a certain diet etc. Now after years of working with individuals as young as 5 years old up to 86 years young, I have gained the true gift of being able to see the future. My profession is one of the ONLY professions who actually has the opportunity to spend anywhere from 1 hour to thousands of hours with their clients. These hours are spent learning about their symptoms, their insecurities, their goals, diet plans, life stressors etc. Through this time, I get to learn not only from my mistakes or successes, but also from theirs. I get to see what a life with no activity leads to. I get to see what crazy weight loss plans create and I am also able to see the years many of us waste thinking lesser of ourselves. Each of these experiences have taught me something new.
Meeting with more than 3,500 people and coaching them for more than 19,000 hours has helped me identify trends, effective programming and ineffective programming. This combined with years of formal education, has given me the gift to recognize the cause of many health issues, training injuries and weight loss failures. Not only can I almost take an x-ray of your posture with my eyes, I can almost guarantee you I have an answer as to why a person may have chronic fatigue syndrome, bronchitis, irritable bowel syndrome and thyroid issues. Not only can I give you an answer as to what caused the “sudden” onset of symptoms, I can also give you solutions to the problem.
How can I do this? Why do I think I can?
Do I know it all? No.
Am I a doctor? No.
Am I a VooDoo practitioner? No.
What is it then?
I ask questions. I listen. I am PASSIONATE about what I do. It is embedded within my soul to help others live their fullest life. I seek the best of the best and I train under them. When I don’t have an answer, I seek it out. I find someone who does. When I can’t get a clear answer, I research what happened before the problem began and identify the trends. I track, test, follow through and tailor my programs to my client’s need. I live what I preach and learn from what I live.
When you do anything with passion over a period of years, you become an expert, a master of your trade. If you are like me, you then want to top what you know. You want to gain more answers and give more solutions. This is what I LOVE! I love being able to give someone a solution to their want or need, particularly when it comes to a better mind, body and health. Many times the solutions are simpler than what one might expect and then other times, a chronic condition may take time to heal, but it CAN be done and if it can not be 100%, a person can drastically slow the progression of their symptoms through the proper guidance. How do I know this? I experience it everyday of my life.
Now what do I hate about this passion? What I hate about this passion is really my issue. Have you ever lived something, made a mistake and then saw someone you love about to make the same mistake? Have you ever tried to stop them? What happened? Did they listen? Did they believe you? I am sure sometimes they did. You may have helped them avoid a misery you already lived. A lesson you learned from experience.
What do you feel like when they don’t listen? When your daughter still stands on the counter after you told her not to and then she falls and hurts herself. Or when your sibling keeps dating someone whose tearing them down and it kills you inside. Or when you see your family member continue to abuse themselves through food, alcohol or drugs with no thought of what they are doing to you or their own body? Does it bother you inside? Don’t you want to help them because you know the results of their actions? I would assume most of you would say yes. I know some are built to walk away and let others just live their journey, but for me it’s not that easy.
When you have been given the gift of being able to absorb so much knowledge and experience from others and self, it’s almost impossible to not want to help others avoid chronic mistakes I see on a day-to-day basis. Many mistakes creating misery, depression, feelings of failure and early death. When I see someone who gives up on themselves because the scale didn’t respond fast enough or someone who is over exercising, under eating or cutting out whole food groups to live “healthy”, it literally kills me inside. Why? Because I have been there and done that. I know the consequences. I know the short and long-term results. I know the years of quality life people are shaving off their future and the rapid aging they are creating. I know how they are impacting their family’s future by their choices and how they will miss their goal yet again.
I have people I care about deeply hire me to help them and then negate everything I coach them to do or throw everything out the window once they are on their own. It’s so tough to see them work harder versus smarter, reliving the mistakes I have seen lived a million times over again. But I have to understand, it’s their journey. It’s their lesson to learn and their choice to make, not mine. It’s taken me some time, but I have learned that I can not put my passion on to others. I can not make them want to trust what I tell them. They have to choose what they want and I have to realize I will help some avoid issues all together and I will spend the rest of the time helping people regain the health they lost.
Having the “crystal ball” has definitely helped me live in the moment, love myself for who I am and value taking care of the body I have today. With two-thirds of adults struggling with weight, over 26 million having diabetes and over $83 billion dollars spent on depression each year, I have a true passion to help slow the statistics. A passion to spread my knowledge to each of you and help you live it on a day-to-day basis. One person at a time, we can be the change we wish to see in the world. Many of us have knowledge, but knowledge is nothing unless it’s applied. So if you know me, you have worked with me in the past or you meet with me in the future, know that when I give you A LOT of information and I send you emails of support, it’s not to tell you what to do. It’s not to seem like a know it all and it’s definitely not to mislead you. It’s just because I have had the chance to see the future and I have learned how to live balanced and happy in the present. It is my passion to help you achieve full vitality and performance. You deserve it. Our children deserve it. And our community deserves it.
I hope you will allow me to share my crystal ball with you! It’s definitely worth the outcome.
Pat calia says
Great article! I KNOW how dedicated you are to those around you and I understand you passion. It shows in everything you do. You are the greatest as a trainer and as a human being!!!
sarah Parham says
Excellent! Love the way you brought it around to if it hurts enough? do you want to get well? Ultimately it is your choice to listen and take advice or do your own thing which has led you down the path of ???? Thank You Kim
Diana Uhlich says
Well said Kim, there is only one journey we are on and we have to treat our bodies that way, but it is hard when you know the consequences and see others running towards them.
Edna Gough says
love this article it made me cry. you aer a passionate person . i like learning from you and try hard to remember what you say and do. keep spreading that love and more people will follow . thanks for being my friend,trainer,and teacher. love you.
Penny Oliver says
Yes, like when I warned my daughter about her ‘social smoking’ plan?! You see it happening, you know it’s coming, they JUST will NOT listen. God bless you for all that you do and for all the many ways you have enriched our lives to be healthier and happier!!! GREAT blog as always. 🙂