Hello! Welcome to Full Bloom Acres! I am so happy you are here! I thought for my first blog post, I would share a little bit about my story and why I am starting this business (especially why I chose now, amongst all the chaos and uncertainty). Imagine this….

Just kidding. I won’t bore you with my entire life story! But I will take you back to my college years, well, some of it since my mom is probably going to read this and some things are best left in those dorm rooms! But I digress…

Sometime in college, something in me shifted. It wasn’t from a major life event or near-death experience; it was just something in the way I saw the world around me changed. I found myself looking for answers. Answers to why the food system in the United States seemed upside-down, why everyday products were full of chemicals, and why others did not seem to care. I started reading lots of books on everything from gardening to making my own personal care products to factory farming.

Over the years, one thing led to another as I climbed further and further down the proverbial rabbit hole. I dove headfirst into learning all I could about various holistic areas – herbs, essential oils, nutrition, gardening, animal welfare. How to put it all together was the challenge. Having a bunch of knowledge on seemingly random things was great for me, but to say I was a bit scattered is a serious understatement! So I carried on my merry little way oblivious to what was coming.

Another major shift happened about three years ago. Working an incredibly stressful job finally caught up to me. I was at the top of my field and hungry for more, but deep inside, I knew something wasn’t right. I was experiencing some pretty major health issues that I tried ignoring for some time. But soon, I started listening to my body, something that seems so simple yet so easily forgotten. My body was telling me I needed to make some changes. Now, one thing you should probably know about me is that I cannot do anything on a small scale. When I have an idea, I go all in. When most people decide to make changes to reduce stress, they eliminate things from their lives. But not me! I decided to add something TO my life which has been my biggest undertaking yet…

I decided to pursue my Master’s degree in Holistic Nutrition. Why not?! It’s okay, you can judge me, I judged me too! This was the start of my journey to become a wellness coach. But not just any wellness coach. I wanted to channel all my interests and knowledge gained over the years (after all, I was constantly experimenting on myself and my VERY forgiving husband) to help others more naturally. Guess what? That actually has a name! It’s called holistic wellness!

One of the beautiful things about the field of holistic wellness is that it encompasses a wide range of modalities. Even the field of holistic nutrition goes beyond what foods to eat. It looks at how stress impacts digestion, how physical activity can boost or hinder the immune system, and how herbs or essential oils can aid in healthy absorption of nutrients. All these random topics I studied could be put to good use. What seems so “scattered” to me in the past became what can be referred to simply as my “holistic” education.

So, why now? Well, for starters, I just completed grad school so that’s as good of a reason as any! But with everything going on in the world right now, isn’t starting a business the last thing on anyone’s mind? Not mine! The simple reason is that I believe we NEED this now more than ever before! A holistic approach to health is the way of the future. I think it is becoming clear that the way we have been doing things for the past several decades is not working. For example, the #1 cause of death in the US is heart disease, despite the radical advances in heart surgery and pharmaceutical interventions. I don’t know about you, but that alone shows that something isn’t quite right. We MUST be missing something!

That’s where a shift in perspective comes in. I don’t claim to have the answers and wellness coaching is likely not the entire solution. What I believe the holistic approach to wellness could accomplish is to start healing our bodies. Your body. Your family’s bodies. Your community’s bodies. Your town’s bodies…. See where I’m going? I truly believe that to make any major changes, we need to start with ourselves and then our communities. That will be the gateway to making major advances on a much larger scale! I know from personal experience when I am ill or not feeling well, it is damn near impossible to try to take on the world. Let’s start small. Let’s work together. And let’s do this!

I hope you will join me on my journey to change the world.